Life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

1. Life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

1.1. Youth and Family

Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and is the son of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald.

Years later, it would be revealed that Kennedy had been diagnosed as a young man with Addison's Disease, a rare endocrine disorder. This and other medical disorders were kept from the press, and the public, throughout Kennedy's life.

Kennedy attended Edward Devotion School (from Kindergarten to 3rd Grade) and then Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut, one of the country's most elite private boarding schools, from which he graduated in 1935. He sailed to London and enrolled at the London School of Economics, with the intention to study there for a year. Unfortunately an illness hospitalized him and his dad forced him to come back to the U.S.. He enrolled at Princeton University, but became jaundice. A year after he started in Harvard College. After 2 years Kennedy was prescribed steroids to control his colitis, which only worsened his medical problems causing him to develop osteoporosis of the lower lumbar spine. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in international affairs in June 1940. Kennedy‘s honors thesis, called "Why England Slept" about the Munich Agreement became a bestseller.

In 1941 Kennedy volunteered for the U.S. Army, but was rejected- mainly because of his troublesome back. Half a year later he volunteered for the U.S. Navy, which also accepted him. He participated in many commands in the Pacific theater (the PTO is the term used in the U.S. for all military activities in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering to it, during World War II) and became lieutenant, commanding a patrol torpedo boat. On August 2, 1943, Kennedy's boat, the PT-109, was took part in a night-time military invasion near New Georgia (near the Solomon Islands) when it was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Kennedy was thrown across the deck, and injured his already troubled