The Peace Corp president who encouraged mutual cultural acceptance in Americans, he inspired a movement to change the world. Famously assassinated just a thousand days into his presidency, the 35th President Of The United States’ hold on popular imagination has been everlasting.

Boston 1917: John F Kennedy, known as Jack to his family, is born into a politically connected and wealthy family. Being one of eight siblings, competition was natural to him. Kennedy not only proved himself an intellectual at Harvard with a thesis-gone-bestseller, he also returned from WW2 battlefront as a naval hero and began a legendary career in politics in 1946. In 1960, he won the presidential campaign head-to-head with Richard Nixon. Democrat Kennedy’s strong sense of conviction came through in his inauguration speech that moved a generation, “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

Kennedy made many inspirational political moves in his career: his persistence to fight segregation later became the 1964 Civil Rights Act and his administration managed to navigate away from nuclear war with the Soviet Union. But he was not without fault, with his foreign policy getting off on the wrong foot with the Bay of Pigs incident. On November 22nd 1963 Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Oswald Harvey. Speculation of the shooting has transformed his death into one of the most enduring conspiracies to date.

Living through the ‘Golden Age’ of photojournalism Kennedy is remembered as a romanticised leader, with a charismatic smile, glamorous family, and shocking death. The figure of the fallen leader still resonates with Americans today; reminding the country of its incalculable potential.

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