This informative post will be published on Saturday in place of my regular one.  You are invited to participate with the opening question.

Brain Teaser Question

Waiting in a young girl’s bedroom, I have hands but cannot hold, a mouth but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see.  What am I?

(answer found at the end of this post)

Featured Facts

John Fitzgerald Kennedy is elected President of the United States and assumes the nation’s highest office in 1961.  He becomes the 35th President and youngest ever elected.

Here are a few interesting facts about President Kennedy:

• Political Party:  Democratic
• State Represented:  Massachusetts
• Birthdate:  May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts
• Death:  November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas
• College:  Harvard University (graduated June, 1940)
• Other Elected Offices:  U.S. House of Representatives (1947-1953), U.S. Senate (1953-1961)

Born in the family home, Kennedy becomes the first President born in the 20th century.  His middle name of Fitzgerald is his mother’s maiden name.  His parents are Joseph and Rose.

Kennedy’s senior thesis at Harvard University is published in 1940 as a book, Why England Slept.  It recounts the international landscape before World War II, and the rise of fascist Germany and Italy.  He contrasts their rise to power with the strategy of appeasement from the rest of Europe.  

As war clouds appear over America, Kennedy is drafted while in college.  After receiving a deferment while finishing his degree, he enters the U.S. Navy and is commissioned as a Lieutenant.  He is assigned to command PT-109 as part of a torpedo boat squadron in the Pacific Theater.

Following the war, Kennedy turns to politics.  He runs for and earns a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives during the election of 1946.  After serving three terms in Congress, he is elected to two terms in the U.S. Senate (1953-1961).

Facing recovery time following back surgery, Kennedy authors a book which is published in 1956.  Well-received, his Profiles in Courage earns a Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957.

Encouraged by his parents, family and others, Kennedy pursues the Presidency in the election of 1960.  Facing Richard M. Nixon, the Republican nominee, Kennedy carries a razor-thin margin of 112,803 in the popular vote of slightly over 68 million ballots.  He narrowly wins the Electoral College 303 to 219.

Using less than 1,900 words, Kennedy’s inaugural address lasts just over 16 minutes.  His ending words continue to be immortalized even today:

My fellow American:  ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.

Despite his abbreviated term of office, Kennedy oversees many significant developments and world events:

• His “New Frontier” vision for America brings a revitalized approach to both domestic and foreign policy
• Establishes the Peace Corps in 1961
• Sets a goal for America to successfully land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s
• Successfully leads the nation through the tumultuous moments of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October, 1962

On a sunny day in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.  His tragic death marks the fourth such event of an American President (Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley).

top left and MOVING clockwise:  presidential portrait, birthplace at brookline family home, kennedy compound at hyannis port, gravesite at arlington national CEMETERY, member of congress, youthful years, with wife jacqueline and daughter caroline, u.s. navy lieutenant, sharing his passion for sailing.  (Courtesy of Pinterest)

Answer to Brain Teaser Question