JFK was born on May 29, 1917, at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts.

On May 19, 1962, Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" at a large party in Madison Square Garden, celebrating Kennedy's upcoming forty-fifth birthday. The extent of his relationship with Monroe is not fully known, although it has been reported that they spent a weekend together in March 1962 while Kennedy was staying at Bing Crosby's house.

The FBI and the Warren Commission (which took its unofficial name from its chairman, Chief Justice Earl Warren) officially concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin, but various groups believed that Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy.

Profiles in Courage is a 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of short biographies describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators. The book profiles senators who defied the opinions of their party and constituents to do what they felt was right and suffered severe criticism and losses in popularity because of their actions.

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination, but he was never prosecuted due to his murder by Jack Ruby two days later.

On the night of August 1, 1943, while performing nighttime patrols near New Georgia in the Solomon Islands, Kennedy's boat was struck and cut in half by the destroyer Amagiri, costing two PT-109 crew members their lives.

In 1940, Kennedy graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in government, concentrating on international affairs.

He served in the House for six years, joining the influential Education and Labor Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

He was a member of the Democratic Party who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate prior to becoming president.

In addition to Caroline and John, Jr., the Kennedys had two other children. In 1956, Jackie gave birth to a stillborn girl whom the couple intended to name Arabella, and on August 7, 1963, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was born five-and-a-half weeks early. The baby weighed under five pounds and died two days later from a pulmonary disease.