James Watt

1781: Converted reciprocal engine motion to rotary motion. It was with this event that television matured as a news source rivalling that of newspapers. 1774: Started a business in Soho, near Birmingham, with Matthew Boulton to manufacture his improved Watt steam engine. Kennedy's funeral and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald were all broadcast live in America and in other places around the world. 1769: Patented separate condensing chamber for steam engine. networks switched to 24 hour news coverage for the first time ever. 1767: Surveyor of Forth and Clyde canal. U.S.

1765: While wandering through the Glasgow Green's "Golf Course", comes upon the idea of a separate condensing chamber for the steam engine. Television became the primary source by which people kept informed of events surrounding Kennedy's assassination, with newspapers the following day becoming more souveneirs than sources of updated information. 1763: Repaired a Newcomen steam engine, which started him thinking about ways to improve the engine. Among the most widely posited conspirators in the assassination are the CIA, organized crime, the KGB, Fidel Castro, and Vice-President Lyndon Baines Johnson. 1754: Learned the trade of mathematical-instrument making in London before returning to Glasgow. However, critics contend that Oswald did not act alone or was not involved at all and was framed and have proposed a number of conspiracy theories which contradict the government's official account. 1736: Born in Greenock, Scotland. The Warren Commission, as well the House Select Committee on Assassinations in the 1970s, concluded that Oswald was the assassin.

Johnson, created the Warren Commission, chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the assassination. Five days after Oswald was killed, the new president, Lyndon B. Oswald was fatally shot less than two days later in the basement of the Dallas police station by Jack Ruby. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged at 7:00 pm for killing a Dallas policeman by "murder with malice", and also charged at 11:30 pm for the murder of the president (there being no charge of "assassination" of a president at that time).

(who came to be known in the popular press as "John-John" though years later Jacqueline Kennedy denied that the family called him by that name). The White House also seemed like a more fun, youthful place, because of the Kennedys' two young children, Caroline and John Jr. Jacqueline Kennedy also gathered new art and furniture and eventually restored all the rooms in the White House. They believed that the White House should be a place to celebrate American history, culture, and achievement, and invited artists, writers, scientists, poets, musicians, actors, Nobel Prize winners and athletes to visit.

The Kennedys brought a new life and vigor to the atmosphere of the White House. Both Kennedy and his wife "Jackie" were very young in comparison to earlier presidents and first ladies, and were both extraordinarily popular in ways more common to pop singers and movie stars than politicians, influencing fashion trends and becoming the subjects of numerous photo spreads in popular magazines. Kennedy appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:.
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In 1969, six years after Kennedy's death, this goal was finally realized when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon. Kennedy asked Congress to approve more than twenty two billion dollars for Project Apollo, which had the goal of landing an American man on the Moon before the end of the decade. He said, "No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space" and "We choose to go to the Moon and to do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard". could catch up.

in its knowledge of space exploration and Kennedy was determined that the U.S. The Soviet Union was ahead of the U.S. Kennedy was eager for the United States to lead the way in the space race. history, surpassing the Reagan tax cut of 1981.

It is one of the largest tax cuts in modern U.S. Also on the domestic front, in 1963 Kennedy proposed a tax reform that included income tax cuts, but this was not passed by the Congress until after his death in 1964. George Wallace moved aside after being confronted by federal marshals, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, and the Alabama National Guard. President Kennedy had to step in in June 1963, when the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling.

As a result, many civil rights leaders viewed Kennedy as unsupportive of their efforts. However, as president, Kennedy initially believed the grassroots movement for civil rights would only anger many Southern whites and make it even more difficult to pass civil rights laws through Congress, which was dominated by Southern Democrats, and he distanced himself from it. Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife (Coretta Scott King) during the 1960 campaign, which drew much black support to his candidacy. Kennedy supported racial integration and civil rights, and called the jailed Rev.

Thousands of Americans of all races and backgrounds joined together to protest this discrimination. There also remained the practice of segregation on buses, in restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places. However, there were many schools, especially in southern states, that did not obey this decision. Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that racial segregation in public schools would no longer be permitted.

The U.S. The turbulent end of state-sanctioned racial discrimination was one of the most pressing domestic issues of Kennedy's era. Kennedy also promised an end to racial discrimination. It ambitiously promised federal funding for education, medical care for the elderly, and government intervention to halt the recession.

Kennedy used the term New Frontier as a label for his domestic program. (See The Ireland Funds). The mission of this organization was to foster connections between Americans of Irish descent and the country of their ancestry. On the occasion of his visit to Ireland in 1963, President Kennedy joined with Irish President Eamon de Valera to form The American Irish Foundation.

Kennedy signed the Treaty into law in August 1963, and believed it to be one of the greatest accomplishments of his administration. The United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were the initial signatories to the Treaty. Troubled by the long-term dangers of radioactive contamination and nuclear weapons proliferation, Kennedy also pushed for the adoption of a Limited or Partial Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited atomic testing on the ground, in the atmosphere, or underwater, but does not prohibit testing underground. Kennedy used the construction of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failures of communism - "Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in." The speech is known for its famous phrase Ich bin ein Berliner ("I am a Berliner").

While Kennedy was speaking, on the other side of the wall were the people of East Berlin who were applauding Kennedy showing their distaste in Soviet control. On June 26, 1963 Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave a public speech criticizing communism. forces were directly fighting the Vietnam War in the next administration. involvement in the area continually escalated until regular U.S.

U.S. special forces to the area. Determined to stand firm against the spread of communism, Kennedy continued the previous administration's policy of political, economic, and military support for the unstable South Vietnamese government, which included sending military advisers and U.S. Kennedy also used limited military action to contain the spread of communism.

Through this program, which still exists today, Americans volunteered to help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction. Another example of Kennedy's belief in the ability of nonmilitary power to improve the world was the creation of the Peace Corps, one of his first acts as president. He worked closely with Puerto Rican Governor Luis Muñoz Marín for the development of the Alliance of Progress, as well as developments on the autonomy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Arguing that "those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable", Kennedy sought to contain communism in Latin America, by establishing the Alliance for Progress, which sent aid to troubled countries in the region and sought greater human rights standards in the region.

The promise to never invade Cuba still stood as of 2005. Following this incident, which brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point before or since, Kennedy was more cautious in confronting the Soviet Union. ballistic missiles from Turkey within six months. would publicly agree never to invade Cuba, and also secretly agree to remove U.S.

Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles if the U.S. A week later, he and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev reached an agreement. Instead of "blockade", the word "quarantine" was chosen to address the issue, since international law defines a blockade as an act of war. Many military officials and cabinet members pressed for an air assault on the missile sites but Kennedy ordered a naval blockade and began negotiations with the Russians.

would appear to the world as weak in its own hemisphere. Another fear was that the U.S. may have been unable to retaliate. did nothing, it would endure the perpetual threat of nuclear weapons within its region, in such close proximity, that if launched pre-emptively, the U.S.

If the U.S. attacked the sites it might have led to nuclear war with the U.S.S.R. Kennedy faced a dire dilemma: if the U.S. The Cuban Missile Crisis began on October 14, 1962 when American U-2 spy planes took photographs of a Soviet intermediate range ballistic missile site under construction in Cuba.

Kennedy initiated no action to have it dismantled, and did little to reverse or halt the eventual extension of this barrier to a length of 155 km. Some claimed this action was in violation of the "Four Powers" agreements. On August 13, 1961, the East German government began construction of the Berlin Wall separating East Berlin from the Western sector of the city, due to the American military presence in West Berlin. The incident was a major embarrassment for Kennedy, but he took full responsibility for the debacle (See Bay of Pigs Invasion for more information).

After 20 months, Cuba released the exiles in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine. By April 19 Castro's government had killed or captured most of the exiles and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release for the 1,189 survivors. With support from the CIA, in what is known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1,500 U.S.-trained Cuban exiles, called "Brigade 2506" returned to the island in the hope of deposing Castro, but the CIA had overestimated popular resistance to Castro, made several mistakes in devising and carrying out the plan, and the exiles did not rally the Cuban people as expected. The operation's official name is in dispute, however some sources claim it was called Operation Zapata.

On April 17, 1961, Kennedy gave orders allowing a previously-planned invasion of Cuba to proceed. tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself". He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man.. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", he said.

In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President on January 20, 1961. The only change after the official recount was a win for Kennedy in Hawaii. Especially troubling were the unusually huge margins in Richard Daley's Chicago — which were announced after the rest of the vote in Illinois.

There were serious allegations that vote fraud in Texas and Illinois had cost Nixon the presidency[4]. In the general election on November 8, 1960, Kennedy beat Nixon in a very close race. Interestingly, many who listened on radio thought Nixon more impressive in the debate.[3] The debates are considered a political landmark: the point at which the medium of television played an important role in politics and looking presentable on camera became one of the important considerations for presidential and other political candidates. During the debates, Nixon looked tense, sweaty, and unshaven contrasted to Kennedy's composure and handsomeness, leading many to deem Kennedy the winner, although historians consider the two evenly matched as orators.

In September and October, Kennedy debated Republican candidate Vice President Richard Nixon in the first ever televised presidential debates. Major issues included how to get the economy moving again, Kennedy's Catholicism, Cuba, and whether or not both the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the U.S. He needed Johnson's strength in the South to win the closest election since 1916. Kennedy asked Johnson to be his Vice Presidential candidate, despite clashes between the two during the primary elections.

On July 13, 1960 the Democratic Party nominated Kennedy as its candidate for president. Kennedy won key primaries like Wisconsin and West Virginia and landed the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in 1960. Johnson of Texas, and Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956 who was not officially running but was a favorite write-in candidate. Humphrey of Minnesota, Senator Lyndon B.

In the Democratic primary election, he faced challenges from Senator Hubert H. In 1960, Kennedy declared his intent to run for President of the United States. He was able to say to both sides that he supported them. He voted for final passage, while earlier voting for the "jury trial amendment", which rendered the Act toothless.

An example of Kennedy's political suppleness, prior to the 1960 campaign, was his handling of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. However, Kennedy's efforts helped bolster the young Senator's reputation within the party. In 1956, Kennedy campaigned for the Vice Presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention, but convention delegates selected Tennessee senator Estes Kefauver instead. The book was awarded the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

Senators risked their careers by standing by their personal beliefs. During this period, he published Profiles in Courage, highlighting eight instances in which U.S. He underwent several spinal operations in the two following years, nearly dying (receiving the Catholic faith's "last rites" four times during his life), and was often absent from the Senate. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953.

Although Kennedy was ill during the 65–22 vote to censure McCarthy, he was criticized by McCarthy opponents such as Eleanor Roosevelt who later said of the episode, "he should have displayed less profile, and more courage". Kennedy briefly worked for McCarthy. McCarthy was a friend of JFK, JFK's father, dated the Kennedy sisters, and younger brother Robert F. government, because of McCarthy's popularity in Massachusetts.

Kennedy adroitly dodged criticizing fellow Senator Joseph McCarthy's controversial campaign to root out Communists and Soviet spies in the U.S. by a margin of about 70,000 votes. In 1952, Kennedy ran for the Senate with the slogan "Kennedy will do more for Massachusetts." In an upset victory, he defeated Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Truman and the rest of the Democratic Party.

He was reelected two times, but had a mixed voting record, often diverging from President Harry S. In 1946, Representative James Michael Curley vacated his seat in an overwhelmingly Democratic district to become mayor of Boston and Kennedy ran for that seat, beating his Republican opponent by a large margin. Kennedy, Jr., on whom his family had pinned many of their hopes but who was killed in the war). After World War II, Kennedy entered politics (partly to fill the void of his popular brother, Joseph P.

In May 2002 a National Geographic expedition found what is believed to be the wreckage of the PT-109 in the Solomon Islands [2]. He was honorably discharged in early 1945, just a few months before the Japanese surrendered. Kennedy's other decorations of the Second World War include the Purple Heart, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. For these actions, Kennedy received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal under the following citation:.

Kennedy said that he blacked out for periods of time during the ordeal. Still, Kennedy somehow towed a wounded man three miles through the ocean, arriving on an island where his crew was subsequently rescued. Kennedy was thrown across the deck, injuring his already troubled back. On August 2, 1943, Kennedy's boat, the PT-109, was taking part in a night-time military raid near New Georgia (near the Solomon Islands) when it was rammed by a Japanese destroyer.

He participated in various commands in the Pacific Theater and earned the rank of lieutenant, commanding a patrol torpedo boat or PT boat. Navy accepted him in September of that year. However, the U.S. Army, but was rejected, mainly because of his troublesome back.

In the spring of 1941, Kennedy volunteered for the U.S. His thesis, entitled Why England Slept, was published in 1940 and, with the aid of his affluent and powerful father, it became a best-seller. He graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in international affairs in June 1940. He was an average student at Harvard, never earning an A, but mostly B's and C's, with a single D in a sophomore history course.

In 1938, Kennedy wrote his honors thesis on the British portion of the Munich Agreement. This and other medical disorders were kept from the press and the public throughout Kennedy's life. Years later, it would be revealed that Kennedy had been diagnosed as a young man with Addison's Disease, a rare endocrine disorder. In 1937, Kennedy was prescribed steroids to control his colitis, which only heightened his medical problems causing him to develop osteoporosis of the lower lumbar spine [1].

James's. Kennedy traveled to Europe twice during his years at Harvard, visiting the United Kingdom, while his father was serving as Ambassador to the Court of St. The next fall, he began attending Harvard University. In the fall of 1935, he enrolled in Princeton University, but was forced to leave during Christmas break after contracting jaundice.

Before enrolling in college, he attended the London School of Economics for a year, where he studied political economy. As a young man he attended The Choate School, an elite private school in Wallingford, Connecticut. and Rose Fitzgerald. Kennedy, Sr.

Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Joseph P. . Johnson. He is rated highly in many surveys that rank presidents, but his political agenda was still incomplete at his death with most of his civil rights policies coming to fruition through his successor, Lyndon B.

Major events during his presidency included the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, early events of the Vietnam War, and the Civil Rights Movement. Senator immediately before becoming President, and the last President to die in office. He is also the only Roman Catholic ever to be elected President, the last Democratic Party candidate from a Northern state to be elected President, the first President to serve who was born in the 20th century, the last President elected who was a U.S. The youngest person ever to be elected President of the U.S., at the age of 43 (Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest ever to serve as president), Kennedy also died the youngest of any American President — at 46 years and 177 days.

Considered the icon of American Liberalism, his assassination on November 22, 1963 is often considered a defining moment of 20th century American history in its traumatic impact on the entire nation, and his elevation as an icon for a new generation of Americans and American aspirations. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to as Jack Kennedy or JFK, was the 35th President of the United States (1961–1963). Arthur Joseph Goldberg - 1962. Byron Raymond White - 1962.