After 50 years, JFK is remembered

The Boston Globe November 23, 1963

Sara Bistany, Veritas Staff

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as his motorcade drove past crowds in Dallas Texas.  On November 22, 2013 it will have been fifty years since the death of one of America’s most loved presidents.

No one was ever convicted but most people believe that  Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible. Oswald was shot and killed before he was put on trial.

Kennedy who was born in Brookline Massachusetts in 1917, ran for the Presidency in 1960. Kennedy  narrowly won the  race against Richard Nixon who was vice president at the time.

On January 20, 1961 he was sworn in as the 35th President of the United States. At the age of 43, he was the youngest president ever elected. He was also the first Roman Catholic to become President. His inauguration speech is remembered for the famous words: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

Kennedy came into office during the heat of the  Cold War between Communist Soviet Union and America’s Democratic system of government.

His handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis was one of Kennedy’s biggest accomplishments during his time as President. In 1962 an American spy plane photographed the Soviets assembling nuclear missile launchers in Cuba. Kennedy and his advisers decided to set up a naval blockade around Cuba. Several days later Khrushchev the leader of the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles as long as America promised not to invade Cuba.

Some of Kennedy’s other accomplishments as President include establishing the Peace Corps, putting more money into the space program and  signing a treaty with the Soviet Union banning nuclear testing.

Although he did not act right away, Kennedy finally stood up for the civil rights of the country’s African American citizens. During his televised Civil Rights Address to the nation on June 11, 1963 he said, “This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men were equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”

Kennedy’s death saddened Americans greatly. Hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral in Washington and millions watched it on television.

Although  he spent only a short 1,036 days in office, he will always be remembered as one of America’s greatest presidents.