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Fachbereichsarbeit
Englisch

Gesamtschule Hückelhoven

2, Lambertz, 2019

Clemens K. ©
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Leonardo da Vinci-Gesamtschule


Term paper in English LK

Subject teacher:
Mrs. Lambertz

Life of John F. Kennedy and his influence on the world

Written by:
,

School year: 2018/19

Hueckelhoven, 9th October 2018

Deadline: 6th March 2019

Index


Introduction………………………………………………………………… 3

The life of John F. Kennedy until his presidential career…….….….… 4

Childhood and teenage years

Military career

JFK’s political life……………………………………………………………5

Beginning of his political career

The 35th president of the United States

His love-lives and affairs………………………………………………… .6

Marilyn Monroe

Mimi Alford

Marlene Dietrich

Judith Campbell Exner

The tragic death of John……………………………………………………7

The president’s last day

Autopsy

Conspiracy theories……………………………………………… .………8

An inside job: The CIA

Cubans and Soviets

Umbrella Man

His influence on America and other countries………………………… .9

Conclusion………………………………………………………………….10

Bibliography…………………………………………………………….11-12

Selbstständigkeitserklärung………………………………………………13


Introduction


While looking for a topic to write about I found my old book “An unfinished life – John F. Kennedy” written by Robert Dallek. I got interested in writing my term paper about him, because it really is interesting what an impact JFK had with his nearly three-year long career as the president of the United States. Seeing how much he influenced the US and other countries with his way of dealing with problems is fascinating.

Also, because the case of his death is more of the mysterious ones and that caught my attention. There are many conspiracy theories about his assassination and mysteries that need to be cleared.
It’s also impressive how calm he approached crises that could have affected the whole US. For example, the Cuban missile crisis. How he dealt with problems is still special.
In this term paper I will inform you about how his life was before his presidency and how he eventually got into politics.

I’m also going to tell something about his affairs which he had while being in a marriage and his last day as the president. Some conspiracy theories will also be explained and lastly what an influence he had on the US itself and other countries.

The life of John F. Kennedy until his presidential career


Childhood and teenage years

John Fitzgerald Kennedy is known as the 35th President of the United States of America. He was born on the 29th May 1917 in Brookline, a suburb of Boston. He was the second child of his three brothers and five sisters, and his nickname was Jack. Unfortunately, Jack was a not so healthy kid. He often became ill as a child, but on February 20, 1920 when he wasn´t even three years old, he became sick with scarlet fever.

He needed to stay in hospital for approximately two months. After his recovery and third birthday, the Kennedy’s moved to a new home just outside of Boston. Because his father was a successful businessman, they had a wealthy life. They had all what they needed. He attended the Canterbury parochial school (1930-1931) and the Choate school, an elite boarding school in Connecticut. (1931-1935).

His teachers said, that he wasn’t the best student, but was liked because of his personality. In the same year as his graduation, he enrolled at Princeton University, but was forced to withdraw because of illness. After his recovery, he went to Harvard University where he studied politics.1


Military career

Soon after graduating, both Joe and John joined the Navy. Joe was a flyer and was sent to Europe, while John was made a Lieutenant and commander of a patrol torpedo boat, the PT-109. The job of him and his crew was eliminating the Japanese shipping known as “Tokyo Express”. But on the 2nd of August 1943, their boat was sliced in two by a Japanese destroyer. Two men of his crew were killed.

The others were severely injured and one of them was unconscious, so Jack needed to rescue him. They swam three miles to a small island where they were rescued. For his great courage, endurance and leadership, he was awarded with the “Purple Heart2”.3


JFK´s political life


Beginning of his political career

JFK planned on becoming a journalist or a teacher, but his plans changed with the death of his brother. After many discussions with Joseph about his future, he was convinced to run for Congress in Massachusetts’ eleventh congressional district and eventually won the election in 1946 as a Democrat to the US House of Representatives by approximately three to one over his Republican opponent.4
After working six years as a Democrat, he was elected to the US Senate in 1952 and beat the Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge Jr Soon after being elected, he married the 24-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier, a writer for the Washington Times-Herald.

Unfortunately, his back started to hurt again, and he had two serious operations. While recovering from surgery he wrote the best-seller Profiles in Courage. In 1957 it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In the same year, his first child, Caroline, was born.5


The 35th President of the United States

In 1956 he was almost picked to run for vice president, but he decided to run for president in the next election. He began working most of the time and travelling around the United States and had hardly time for his family. On the 13th July 1960, he was nominated as a candidate for the presidency by the Democratic party. He eventually won the election against Richard Nixon and was the first Roman catholic president of the US.

Weeks after the election, his second child, John Jr., was born. John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural speech, he spoke about how every American needs to be an active citizen. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,”6 he said. Even the nations of the world were asked to fight with America against the “common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.7
After his speech, almost three quarters of America’s population approved of their new president.


His love-lives and affairs


Marilyn Monroe

John F. Kennedy was a playboy, and everybody knew that. But most of the people don’t know that he had many affairs while being married to Jackie. When he was young, his father encouraged him to have sex as often as he can.
His most famous possible affair was the Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe. Jack met her at a dinner party in 1962 and invited her to a weekend in Bing Crosby’s house in Palm Springs.

After this she wanted more. She desperately wanted to be the second First Lady and even called Jackie Kennedy. She told her everything about the affair. But Jackie responded by telling her that it’s great if she marries John, because she then would have all the responsibilities and problems the First Lady has.9


Mimi Alford

Another affair he had was with Mimi Alford. She started her internship in the White House press office and met him while taking a dip in the White House pool. He swam up to her and invited her to after-work drinks. On this day he offered Mimi a private White House tour and eventually seduced her in “Mrs. Kennedy’s Room”. In this affair, that lasted 18 months, she only called him “Mr. President”.10


Marlene Dietrich

The long-time friend and lover of JFK’s father, Marlene Dietrich, accepted an invitation by John to have drinks at the White House. She was 20 years older than John but that didn’t stop him from having sex with her. After their 20-minute love play, he fell asleep, but she shook him awake because she didn’t know how to get out of the White House.11


Judith Campbell Exner

She met John at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas while she was performing with Frank Sinatra. He only paid attention to her. They often had sex and she even claimed that she needed to abort his child.12

The tragic death of John


The president’s last day

On the 21st November in 1963, President Kennedy flew with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy and vice president Lyndon B. Johnson to Texas to give numerous political speeches. The day after, his stop was the Trade Mart in Dallas, where Kennedy was scheduled to deliver another speech. At 12:30 p.m., while his car passed the Texas School Book Depository and drove past cheering crowds, shots rang out.

He fired the shots from the sixth floor of the school book depository with a rifle, which had a telescopic sight on it. On November 23, he was arraigned for the murder but one day after, on his way to a more secure jail, he was shot by Jacob Rubenstein with a concealed .38 revolver. He was sentenced to death. One year later, while waiting for a new trial, he died of lung cancer.14


Autopsy

After the motorcade arrived at the hospital, Kennedy was brought to an emergency room where he was attended by Dr. Malcolm Perry. In his autopsy protocol, it is written that the fatal missile entered above and to the right of the external occipital protuberance. The other missile entered the right superior posterior and produced contusions of the right pleura and of the apical portion of the right upper lobe of the lung15.

It also damaged the trachea and made its exit through the anterior surface of the neck.16


Conspiracy theories


An inside job: The CIA

Many people believe to this day that the assassination was an inside job. Many theories state, that the CIA saw Kennedy as a target because he said that he would split the CIA into thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.17 This made him a target. It also says that Lyndon B. Johnson, the vice president, was involved too. So, it’s believed that they were the ones that ordered the killing of John.


Cubans and Soviets

Some believe that Oswald received his orders by Soviet or Cuban agents while he was in Mexico City two months before the assassination. He also had contact with Valeriy Kostikov, a soviet KGB officer. He was believed to work for the KGB Department 13, that was seen as “the department charged with sabotage and assassination”.19


Umbrella Man

One of the most mysterious and famous theories is the “Umbrella Man”. One onlooker had, instead of a flag or a hat like the others, a black umbrella that he lifted into the air. As the limo passed by, he waved his umbrella in a clockwise motion. It was like he wanted to signalize something. Right after that, the deadly shots were fired. It seemed to coordinate perfectly.
But 15 years later, a person named Louie Steven Witt claimed to be the Umbrella Man.

He brought the black umbrella with him to annoy the president and not to kill him.20

His influence on the United States and other countries


Kennedy played an immense role in revolutionizing American politics. A big part of the people thought that he was too inexperienced for being president, but he was the person, who redefined the way of campaigning for the White House. John also set the standard of all future debates by participating in the first-ever televised presidential debate in which the presidents showed up.

Many American authors also published books about his life, how he changed the nation and its politics and how he influenced many people’s lives.
Besides the United States, he influenced many other countries. A good example is Germany. His “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech was a message of solidarity to West Berlin. At the time of the Cold War, Berlin was the center of the battleground of the East and West.

With his charismatic personality, Kennedy motivated the people and reduced their fear of this dangerous situation.22
The Soviet Union was also influenced by his actions.
At first, there was the chance of a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the US, but some time later they made the decision to demilitarize West Berlin and make it a neutral city. Afterwards they even agreed on the “red telephone”.

It’s a direct connection between Moscow and Washington to give both countries a quick way to reach the other and prevent critical situations like a nuclear war. The red telephone was also known as the “Washington-Moscow Direct Communications Link”.23
JFK also played a role in Vietnam. He supported the Vietnamese military forces by increasing the military advisers from 700 to nearly 16.000 and sent them helicopters, tanks and artillery.


Conclusion


John Fitzgerald Kennedy was blessed with a big heart and charisma. He did not only influence America as a president but also by participating in the World War and rescuing people. I wonder what he would have been if he had started a job as a teacher or journalist instead of being president. He worked himself up until he was in the presidential candidacy. And after the January 20th, 1961, the day he was sworn in, he changed many lives and a big part of the politics.
Maybe some people were right.

Maybe he was a little bit too unexperienced to be a president of a nation like the US. But he still managed to make America better. He set up a new way for presidential candidates to promote themselves, many presidents after him mentioned his name and actions in their speeches and inspired them. All this shows that he had an immense influence on the country and its people.

And he also gave countries like Germany hope. Hope for something better to come after the bad days.
He was nevertheless still a playboy. He had multiple affairs while being married to Jacqueline. Most of them were famous persons, for example actresses. He even invited them to the White House. It’s just insane, how nobody knew about these affairs while he was still alive.
The most interesting thing for me was his death day and the following autopsy and conspiracy theories.


Bibliography (Texts):


(1) Advameg, Inc. (2019): John F. Kennedy Biography. (visited on 25.02.2019)

(2) A&E Television Networks, LLC. (2019): John F. Kennedy.
(visited on 04.01.2019)

(3) A&E Television Networks, LLC. (2019): John F. Kennedy assassinated.
(visited on 23.01.2019)

(4) Dallek, Robert: An Unfinished Life. John F. Kennedy. First edition. New York. Back Bay Books 2003.

(5) Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (2019): Assassination of John F. Kennedy.
(visited on 23.01.2019)

(6) Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (2019): Lee Harvey Oswald.
(visited on 25.02.2019)

(7) Irish Studio LLC (2017): The women John F. Kennedy is rumored to have had affairs with
(visited on 04.03.2019)

(8) JFK Lancer / LioraMedia (2013): Presidency
(visited on 25.02.2019)

(9) Katie Serena (2018): The Mysterious Umbrella Man Who Conspiracy Theorists Think Signaled JFK’s Assassination
(visited on 04.03.2019)

(10) National Archives and Records Administration (2006): John F. Kennedy in WWII.
(visited on 04.03.2019)

(11) National Archives and Records Administration (2006): Life of John F. Kennedy.
(visited on 25.02.2019)

(13) Peter Klages (2019): Leben und Wirken: Außenpolitik
(visited on 25.02.2019)

(14) Peter Klages (2019): Leben und Wirken: Innenpolitik
(visited on 25.02.2019)

(15) Sara Stewart (2013): All the president’s women
(visited on 04.03.2019)

(16) Shmoop University (2019): John F. Kennedy: Childhood, Illness & Harvard.
(visited on 25.02.2019)

(17) Stephen Evans (2013): John F. Kennedy: How 'Ich bin ein Berliner' gave a city hope
(visited on 25.02.2019)

(18) The Washington Post (2017): Who killed JFK? The CIA? The Russians? Ted Cruz’s dad?
(visited on 04.03.2019)

(19) The Week Ltd. (2018): Who killed JFK? The Kennedy conspiracy theories
(visited on 04.03.2019)

(20) Thom Patterson (2018): One JFK conspiracy theory that could be true
(visited on 04.03.2019)


Bibliography (Illustrations):


(1) Cecil Stoughton, White House (1963): John F. Kennedy, White House Color Portrait
(visited on 04.03.2019)

(2) Wikimedia Foundation Inc. (2019): Purple Heart
(visited on 13.02.2019)

(3) JFK Lancer / LioraMedia (2013): JFK Assassination Evidence: Autopsy photos and Xrays.
(visited on 23.01.2019)





Hiermit erkläre ich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst und keine anderen als die im Literaturverzeichnis angegebenen Hilfsmittel verwendet habe. Insbesondere versichere ich, dass ich alle wörtlichen oder sinngemäßen Übernahmen aus anderen Werken als solche kenntlich gemacht habe.
Zudem bestätige ich die Kenntnisnahme der „Handreichung zur Facharbeit in der Jahrgangsstufe Q1“.


_______ _______

Ort, Datum Unterschrift


1 “Childhood, Illness & Harvard “, in: John F. Kennedy (2018), under (visited on 25.02.2019).

2 The Purple Heart was a medal that was given to those, who were wounded or killed while serving. (Illustration: (downloaded on 13.02.2019)).

3 John F. Kennedy in WWII (2006), under (visited on 04.03.2019)

4 John F. Kennedy Biography (2019), under (visited on 25.02.2019).

5 “John F. Kennedy Becomes The 35th President of the United States”, in: Life of John F. Kennedy (2006), under (visited on 25.02.2019).

6 Ebd.: Life of John F. Kennedy (2006).

8 Vgl. Dallek, Robert: An Unfinished Life. John F. Kennedy. First edition. New York: Back Bay Books 2003, S. 327.

9 The women John F. Kennedy is rumored to have had affairs with (2017), under: (visited on 04.03.2019)

10 All the president’s women (2017), under: (visited on 04.03.2019)

11 Ebd. All the president’s women

12 Ebd. All the president‘s women

13 Ebd.: S. 694.

14 Lee Harvey Oswald (2019), under (visited on 25.02.2019).

15 Autopsy photo that shows his bullet wound on his throat.
(Illustration: (downloaded on 23.01.2019)).

16 Autopsy Report and Supplemental Report (1963), under (visited on 23.02.2019)

17 Vgl. “The CIA”, in Who killed JFK? The Kennedy conspiracy theories (2018), under: (visited on 04.03.2019)

18 “The CIA did it“, in One JFK conspiracy theory that could be true (2018), under: (visited on 04.03.2019)

19 Vgl. “Cubans and Soviets”, in Who killed JFK? The CIA? The Russians? Ted Cruz’s dad? (2017), under: (visited on 04.03.2019)

20 The Mysterious Umbrella Man Who Conspiracy Theorists Think Signaled JFK’s Assassination (2018), under: (visited on 04.03.2019)

22 “How 'Ich bin ein Berliner' gave a city hope”, in: John F. Kennedy (2013), under (visited on 25.02.2019).

23 „Außenpolitik“, in: Leben und Wirken (2019), under (visited on 25.02.2019).

24 Ebd.: Leben und Wirken (2019).


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