J.F. Kennedy with his wife and parents.1960. Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (Jack, JFK) US Democratic politician; Representative from Massachusetts 1947-1953; Senator from Massachusetts 1953-1960; wrote biographical collection "Profiles in Courage" 1956 (Pulitzer Prize for biography 1957); 35th president of US 1961-1963 (1st Catholic president, youngest elected president); established Peace Corps 1961; authorized attempted invasion of Bay of Pigs, Cuba, by US-trained Cuban exiles 1961 (invasion planned during Eisenhower administration); enunciated US objective of landing humans on moon by end of decade and initiated Project Mercury 1961; established Alliance for Progress 1961 to provide aid to Latin America; following discovery of Soviet-built offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba, demanded dismantling of missiles and imposed nuclear embargo on Cuba, ultimately leading Soviets to agree to dismantle Cuban missile sites in exchange for dismantling of US missile sites in Turkey (Cuban Missile Crisis) 1962; ordered end to racial discrimination in federal housing 1962 and supported Martin Luther King's civil rights crusade; saluted West Berlin as bulwark against Communism, delivering speech in West Berlin culminating in line "Ich bin ein Berliner" 1963; signed Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 1963, ending atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons; escalated number of US military advisors in South Vietnam while refusing to commit US combat troops, but criticized authoritarian regime of Ngo Dinh Diem and tacitly supported 1963 anti-Diem coup; assassinated, while riding in motorcade in Dallas, probably by Lee Harvey Oswald but possibly with other parties involved _1917-1963