John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy—known in his family as Jack—is born in Brookline, Massachusetts in a wealthy suburb of Boston. John F. Kennedy was born into a rich, politically connected Boston family of Irish-Catholics. Both of his Grandfathers had been involved in Boston politics. Kennedy’s father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was a successful businessman who served as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration. When John F. Kennedy ran for office, more than 70 percent of African Americans across the nation voted for him with high expectations for the new administration. When John F. Kennedy became president in 1961, African Americans throughout much of the South were denied the right to vote, barred from public facilities, subjected to insults and violence, and could not expect justice from the courts. In the North, black Americans also faced discrimination in housing, employment, education, and many other areas. During these times of struggle for African Americans, men such as John F. Kennedy would be making great contributions and important progress to the civil rights movement. John F. Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives from Massachusetts in November 1946. He served in the House for six years, during which time the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union came to dominate world politics. FK was frequently ill during these years. He was diagnosed with Addison's Disease, a potentially fatal condition, in 1948, but cortisone treatments enabled him to fight the disease, and his condition was never revealed to the general public. In 1952, Kennedy ran successfully for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, in the same year that Dwight Eisenhower was elected president. The next year, Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier, a beautiful young woman who would become one of the most famous First Ladies in history. John F. Kennedy was now one of the Democratic Party's rising stars. In 1958, while facing a tough opponent named Estes Kefauver, Kennedy lost his seat in the Senate. Despite this loss, at age forty-one, Kennedy had already had an extremely successful political career and decided to take the next step. Kennedy started campaigning for the 1960 Presidential Election. Kennedy gave more than 150 speeches the first year of his campaign, 200 speeches the following year, and in 1960, he announced that he was running for President. He focused his campaign on unemployment and the slowness of the economy. His opponent was the Republican Vice President Richard Nixon, and it was a very close election, but Kennedy won. When he became President on January 20, 1961, he was the youngest man ever to be elected. Throughout his presidency, Kennedy managed to create a public image immensely attractive to much of America. He was the first "television President." He used his charm and good looks to capture the hearts of Americans. In one of his speeches, he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," he said. He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common