John Fitzgerald Kennedy, our thirty-fifth president, was in office only two years and ten months before he was shot to death on November 22, 1963. He is remembered as a charismatic, optimistic leader who believed we could solve problems if we put our country's interests before our own and worked together.
This fabulous site was built as a companion to the PBS American President series, and has quite an extensive Kennedy section. Start with Fast Facts (good for short school reports or your research project outline) and then get more depth by visiting the sixteen additional chapters (look for them in the left-hand menu.) Noteworthy ones include First Lady, American Franchise, In His Own Words, Gallery, and Web Resources.
"Travel back in time nearly four decades in time to relive one of the saddest chapters in American history: the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas' Dealey Plaza." But before you can reach this special report, you must register with your name, email address, mailing address, and year of birth. But please don't let that stop you, because the primary source material here is incredible. View original newspapers articles, listen to radio clips, and watch television news snippets, all from local Dallas media.
Kennedy was inaugurated as the thirty-fifth president of the United States on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 1961. During his inauguration address, Kennedy, the youngest man ever elected President, declared "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans" and the oft-quoted: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Visit the History Channel Speech Archive to hear the entire fourteen-minute speech in Real Audio format.
This marvelous annotated photo gallery of Kennedy's life is divided into four sections: Early Years, War Hero, Politician and President. As you progress through the gallery, click on the thumbnail photos for a larger view. I found the War Hero section particularly interesting, as it tells the tale of how Jack entered politics, starting in 1939 London, where his father was serving as United States Ambassador to England. Best of all, The History Place grants permission to use these photos in offline school reports.
This one-page illustrated biography from the JFK Library is chock-full of links to audio files and additional photos, and a real find for teachers and home-schooling parents: six pages of printable worksheets for grades three through five, downloadable in either Adobe PDF or Word format. After reading the biography, visit the rest of the online library, by clicking on Home. Best front page clicks, such as Speeches and Photographs, are found listed under Historical References.
The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Encarta: John F. KennedyJFK: 35th Anniversary | JFK ResourcesWhite House: Biography of John F. Kennedy |
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