Presidency of John F. Kennedy

The following is a timeline of the Presidency of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as the Kennedy Administration, which took place from his inauguration on January 20, 1961, to his assassination on November 22, 1963, a span of 1,036 days. The timeline also includes major events preceding and succeeding his presidency.

The timeline begins on January 2, 1960, just over a year before Kennedy's inauguration on January 20, 1961, when then-Senator John F. Kennedy first announced his intention to run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, and concludes on November 25, 1963, just three days after his assassination in Dallas, Texas abruptly ended his Presidency, when the slain President Kennedy's funeral was held, attended by representatives from over 90 countries.

After Kennedy's assassination, in accordance with Constitutional procedure in the case of the death of the President, his Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson, succeeded to the Office of the Presidency and took the oath of office of the President of the United States aboard Air Force One less than an hour after Kennedy died. Johnson served out the remainder of Kennedy's term, and was elected to the Presidency in his own right in a landslide in the 1964 presidential election, setting an electoral victory result which has not been exceeded by a Democratic presidential nominee since.

Kennedy was the first Catholic President, the youngest elected President (Theodore Roosevelt, who succeeded to the Presidency after William McKinley's assassination, was younger), and the fourth President to be assassinated.

Pre-presidency

1960

January

• January 2 - Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts officially announces his intention to run for the Presidency of the United States. ^[1]

July

has original text related to this article: John F. Kennedy's Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech

• July 15 - Senator Kennedy is officially nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate on the last day of the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California; he chooses Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas as his running mate.^[2][3]

September

has original text related to this article: Address of Senator John F. Kennedy to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

• September 12 - Senator Kennedy delivers a campaign speech in which he strongly reaffirms his support for separation of church and state, which successfully cooled tensions surrounding his Catholicism.^[4] When inaugurated, he became the first Catholic President in American history.^[5]
• September 26 - Senator Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon participate in the first televised presidential debate.^[6]

October

has original text related to this article: 1960 U.S. Presidential Debate - October 21

• October 7 - Kennedy and Nixon participate in the second presidential debate, held in Washington, D.C.; NBC journalist Frank McGee moderates.^[7]
• October 13 - Senator Kennedy and Vice President Nixon debate each other for the third time; former Face the Nation anchor Bill Shadel moderates. Kennedy participates from a New York studio, while Nixon participates from a Los Angeles studio.^[8]
• October 21 - Kennedy and Nixon participate in the fourth and final presidential debate in New York; ABC News journalist Quincy Howe moderates.^[9]

November

• November 8 - The 1960 presidential election is held, the first to have both candidates born in the 20th century, and the first in which the two most recently admitted states, Alaska (January 3, 1959) and Hawaii (August 21, 1959), participated.^[10]
• November 9 - Current Vice President and Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon concedes the presidency to Kennedy.^[11] Kennedy's official popular vote margin is 0.1% (112,827 votes) and his electoral margin is 84 electoral votes.^[12] Nixon won more states, 26 to 22.^[13] The electoral result proves to be the closest since the 1916 presidential election. The election of Kennedy and Johnson as President and Vice President was the last time until the 2008 election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden that two incumbent senators were elected on the same ticket.

December

• December 6: President-elect Kennedy meets with President Eisenhower.^[14]

1961

January

has original text related to this article: John F. Kennedy's first presidential press conference

• January 20 - Kennedy's presidency begins with his inauguration at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Kennedy is sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren and delivers a widely praised inaugural address, asking Americans to "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" and for the people of the world to "ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man".^[15][16] He is congratulated by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Kennedy also formally nominates his cabinet and attends the inaugural balls.
• January 21 - Kennedy meets with former President
• January 22 - Kennedy meets with the poet Robert Frost. President Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and Paul B. Fay attend mass at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. Kennedy establishes the three-member Government Ethics Committee. Kennedy appoints Hickman Price, Jr. and Roland Burnstan as Assistant Commerce Secretaries.
• January 23 - Kennedy meets with several defense, foreign policy, and intelligence advisers, including Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, CIA Director Allen Dulles, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Lyman Lemnitzer. Kennedy nominates Frank Burton Ellis for a federal judgeship on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
• January 24 - Kennedy meets with then-former Congressman (later Senator) George McGovern of South Dakota. He also meets with Democratic legislative leaders, and receives a tour of the shelter areas of the White House from Naval Aide, Cmdr. Tazewell Shepard. He is presented plans for what would become the Food for Peace program and designates McGovern Director.
• January 25 - Kennedy holds his first regular live televised press conference in the State Department Auditorium. He announces the release of two surviving USAF crewman by the Soviet Union after being captured when their RB-47 Stratojet was shot down on July 1, 1960.
• January 30 - Kennedy delivers his first State of the Union address.

February

• February 1 - President Kennedy holds his second presidential news conference; he announces the establishment of five pilot food stamp distribution projects. He later meets with economic and budget advisers. President Kennedy holds the first meeting of the National Security Council and sends a letter to Defense Secretary McNamara marking the scheduled launch of the USS Sam Houston (SSBN-609) the next day.
• February 2 - President Kennedy meets with NATO Supreme Allied Commander Lauris Norstad, Joint Chiefs Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer, and later with his cabinet. Kennedy appoints Burke Marshall as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, David K. E. Bruce as Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Kennedy telegrams the mayors of 297 cities urging an increase in urban renewal activities.
• February 3 - President Kennedy meets with Ambassador to Laos Winthrop G. Brown. Kennedy and Paul B. Fay attend the movie Spartacus at the Warner Theater. After meeting with Health, Education, and Welfare Secretary Abraham A. Ribicoff, Kennedy orders money and surplus food totalling $4 million for Cuban refugees in fiscal year 1961.

March

• March 1 - Emphasizing the theme of public service in his inaugural address, President Kennedy issues Executive Order 10924, establishing the Peace Corps on a "temporary pilot basis". Kennedy also sends to Congress a message requesting authorization of the Peace Corps as a permanent organization. President Kennedy holds his fifth presidential news conference. President Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt make a tape recording promoting the Youth Peace Corps. President Kennedy records a message for the American Red Cross. President Kennedy signs into law a joint resolution (H.J. Res. 155) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1861 (PL87-1).
• March 4 - President Kennedy meets with Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Walter Heller and later appoints Sargent Shriver to head the Peace Corps. He also dines at the home of his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and meets with Ambassador to the United Kingdom David K. E. Bruce.

April

• April 1 - Kennedy meets with Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Kennedy also declares parts of eastern Iowa flooded by the Cedar River to be a major disaster area.
• April 2 - Kennedy meets with journalists Albert Merriman Smith and Marvin Arrowsmith. The First Family view the film All in a Night's Work.
• April 12 - The Soviet Union's launch of Yuri Gagarin into low Earth orbit aboard Vostok 1 marks the first time a human being is launched into outer space. Kennedy messages Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, congratulating him on the successful launch of Vostok 1.
• April 17 - Continuing a concept originating in the administration of his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Kennedy orders the invasion of Cuba in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the communist regime.
• April 19 - The invasion of Cuba fails and results in a Cuban revolutionary victory. Kennedy's administration is severely embarrassed, so much so that Kennedy stated he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the wind".

May

has original text related to this article: Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs

• May 2 - The Freedom 7 spacecraft is readied for a launch attempt which would have resulted in the first American human spaceflight; it is canceled due to poor weather and rescheduled for May 5.
• May 5 - Alan Shepard is launched on Freedom 7 on a sub-orbital spaceflight aboard a Mercury-Redstone rocket, and becomes the first American in outer space. The flight lasts 15 minutes 22 seconds, and reaches an apogee of 187.42 kilometres (116.46 mi), and a maximum speed of 8,277 kilometres per hour (5,143 mph) (Mach 6.94).
• May 6 - Kennedy meets with Alan Shepard at the White House, to congratulate him on becoming the first American in space. He awards him the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in a ceremony on the White House lawn. The six other Mercury Seven astronauts attends the ceremony, the next of which, Gus Grissom, would launch into space less than three months later.
• May 25 - In an address to a Joint session of the United States Congress, Kennedy announces full presidential support for the goal to "commit...before this decade is out, to landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" and urges Congress to appropriate the necessary funds, eventually consuming the largest financial expenditure of any nation in peacetime.^[18] Though Kennedy had initially been convinced that NASA should attempt a manned mission to Mars, NASA Associate Administrator Robert Seamans spent three days and nights working, ultimately successfully, to convince him otherwise.^[19]

September

• September 25 - Address before the United Nations General Assembly (JFK's first of two) announcing the US intention to "challenge the Soviet Union, not to an arms race, but to a peace race".

1962

January

• January 11 - Kennedy delivers his second State of the Union address.

February

• February 12 - As Commander-in-chief, Kennedy commutes the military death sentence of seaman Jimmie Henderson to life imprisonment, marking the last time in the 20th century that an American president was faced with such a decision (the most recent such decision came on July 28, 2008, when President George W. Bush decided to deny clemency to Private Ronald A. Gray).^[20]
• February 20 - John Glenn is launched on Friendship 7 on an orbital spaceflight aboard a Mercury-Atlas rocket, and becomes the first American to orbit the Earth.

March

• March 22 - Kennedy signs into law HR5143 (PL87-423), abolishing the mandatory death penalty for first degree murder in the District of Columbia, the only remaining jurisdiction in the United States with a mandatory death sentence for first degree murder, replacing it with life imprisonment with parole if the jury could not decide between life imprisonment and the death penalty, or if the jury chose life imprisonment by a unanimous vote.^[21][22] The death penalty in the District of Columbia has not been applied since 1957, and has now been abolished.^[23]

May

• May 19 - Marilyn Monroe sings Happy Birthday, Mr. President to President Kennedy in Madison Square Garden as part of the President's 45th birthday celebrations (the birthday itself was on May 29).

File:Jfk rice university we choose to go to the moon.ogg

September

• September 12 - Kennedy delivers a speech at Rice University on the subject of the nation's plans to land humans on the Moon. Kennedy announces his continued support for increased space expenditures, saying "we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

October

• October 22 - In a televised address, Kennedy announces the October 14 discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba, making public the Cuban missile crisis. Kennedy also announces a naval "quarantine on all offensive military equipment" to that country.

November

• November 6 - The 1962 elections are held. The Democrats lose seats in the House to Republicans, but maintain their majority; they increase their majority in the Senate. Kennedy's brother Ted wins a special election in Massachusetts to represent the state as junior senator, in the seat his brother formerly held and was at the time occupied by Benjamin A. Smith II who had been appointed to the seat upon President-elect Kennedy's victory.

December

• December 25 - President and Mrs. Kennedy attend mass at St. Ann's Church in Palm Beach, Florida. The Kennedys later hold a party for members of the Secret Service and their families.

1963

January

has original text related to this article: John F. Kennedy's Third State of the Union Address

• January 10 - Kennedy meets with President-elect Juan Bosch of the Dominican Republic.
• January 11 - Kennedy meets with Labor Secretary W. Willard Wirtz and AFL-CIO President George Meany.
• January 12 - Kennedy announces the appointment of David L. Lawrence as Chairman of the President's Committee on Equal Opportunity in Housing. Kennedy also appoints Phil N. Bornstein as Federal Housing Commissioner.
• January 14 - Kennedy delivers the annual State of the Union address to a Joint session of the United States Congress.

February

• February 10 - The President and the First Lady attend the play Beyond the Fringe in New York City.
• February 20 - In a letter to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, President Kennedy denies clemency to Victor Feguer, a convicted murderer.^[24]

March

• March 15 - Victor Feguer is executed after Kennedy's February 20 denial of clemency. The execution marks the last federal execution until the execution of Timothy McVeigh on June 11, 2001.

June

has original text related to this article: Ich bin ein Berliner

• June 10 - Kennedy delivers the commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C.
• June 11 - Kennedy delivers a televised address on Civil Rights as to his orders regarding the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door and further calls for legislation to enact a civil rights bill.
• June 26 - Kennedy visits West Berlin and delivers his now-famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech advocating representative democracy and capitalism as a replacement for communist regimes around the world.

August

• August 28 - The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom occurs in Washington, D.C., culminating in the now-famous I Have A Dream speech by Martin Luther King. Estimates of the number of marchers range from 200,000 to 300,000.

September

• September 20 - Address before the United Nations General Assembly (JFK's second) stating various specific recommendations to "move the world to a just and lasting peace".
• September 28 - Dedication of Clair A. Hill Whiskeytown Dam just outside Redding, California in Shasta County. JFK touted the reservoir as the largest of the Trinity County Dams" that "could be used to benefit the farms and lands further south"

October

• October 3 - President Kennedy visits Cleburne County, Arkansas to dedicate the Greers Ferry Dam. This is the last public appearance before he was shot in Dallas.

• October 7 - President Kennedy signs the Partial Test Ban Treaty, prohibiting all nuclear weapons testing providing an exception for underground nuclear testing only.
• October 8 - President Kennedy announces an agreement with the Soviet Union to open negotiations for the sale of American wheat.

November

• November 21 - On the final full day of the Kennedy administration, the President asks his economic advisers to prepare the War on Poverty for 1964. Less than two months after the President's assassination, President Johnson introduces the legislation in his first State of the Union address on January 8, 1964, and two of the major pieces of related legislation – the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and the Social Security Act of 1965 – are signed into law on August 20, 1964 and July 30, 1965, respectively.
• November 22 - Kennedy's administration abruptly ends when he is assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested and charged with the murder. Oswald is shot and killed two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.

Post-presidency

1963

November

• November 22 - Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson succeeds to the Presidency and is sworn in aboard Air Force One.
• November 23 - Kennedy lies in repose in the White House East Room for a period of 24 hours. At 4:45 pm, President Johnson issues national day of mourning.
• November 24 - Kennedy lies in state for a period of 18 hours. NBC broadcasts live uninterrupted coverage of people passing through the Capitol rotunda during the overnight hours.
• November 25 - Kennedy's funeral service is held. Representatives from over 90 countries attend the ceremony. The President is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Upon the request of the now-former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy on the day before, an eternal flame, inspired by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, known later as the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame, is set up by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and first lit by Mrs. Kennedy.

References

 This article incorporates "The White House Diary".

External links

• White House Diary at the website of the John F. Kennedy Library
• , December 12, 1993.
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• The short film ]