John F. Kennedy as a Democrat ran in the 1960 presidential election against Richard Nixon who was a Republican. Some issues Kennedy faced in the election of 1960 were that Kennedy was a Catholic, how to get the economy moving forward, what to do with Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba, and trying to balance the nuclear arms race with Soviet Union. Many people feared him being a Catholic, so he addressed the Greater Houston Ministerial Association saying, "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters – and the Church does not speak for me." Also during this election marked the first presidential debate on television in U.S history. During this televised debate Kennedy was a lot more relaxed than Nixon which made the audience support Kennedy more. November 8, 1960 was the election day, and the day where JFK defeated Nixon is one of the closest election of the twentieth century. Kennedy for the national popular vote only won by two-tenths of one percent, 49.7% to 49.5%. The Electoral Votes came out a little differently, Kennedy won 303 of the votes and Nixon had 219 of the votes. Some people in Mississippi and Alabama voted for Harry Byrd of Virginia because they didn't want to support Kennedy due to the fact that he supported the civil rights movement. John F. Kennedy was the youngest man elected as president.
Kennedy as the 35th president spoke his inaugural address saying the famous quote "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." As president, JFK tried focusing on getting the economy moving again, and moving towards equal rights. He wanted the country to come together and work on human rights. Kennedy sent in people who were outcast in their country to try overthrow Castro, but it failed. Also in Cuba, the Russian started installing nuclear missiles, but when Kennedy heard of this he put up a barricade of ships to stop them, and they backed down.
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On November 22, 1963, one of the biggest mysteries in U.S history happened. While Kennedy was in Dallas, Texas for the start of his re-election campaign he was assassinated. At 12:30 JFK was shot in the upper back and then killed with the second shot to the head. A half hour later at 1:00 President Kennedy was announced dead. Lee Harvey Oswald was suspected and later charge for the murder of the president. Two days later, Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald before Oswald could be tried. After the assassination of Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson took over as president. Kennedy is now buried in Arlington National Cemetary.
I think JFK was a pretty good president. He worked hard to get the country going strong. I think that when he was assassinated many people were shock, and they are still curious about his death. Overall I think he was a wonderful leader.
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