Growing up, John had nine siblings, four boys and five girls, all expecting to become very successful. Although we know now that John did indeed become successful with his life, he was not very successful when it came to his health. As an infant, all the way up to his death, he was constantly sick. On February 20, 1920 when John was not yet three years of age, he became severely sick with scarlet fever. At the time this was an exceedingly infectious and potentially life-threatening disease, so as expected the Kennedy’s were worried to a great degree, that he may die. About a month after his diagnosis and when it looked as if he had no hope left of survival, he made a quick recovery, but it was definitely not the last time he would be fighting a severe illness. Eventually he and his family started to make jokes of his lack of immunity, towards, more or less, everything. They started to say things such as how great the great risk a mosquito took in biting him, “with some of his blood the mosquito was almost sure to die!” When John was three, the Kennedys moved to another home a couple blocks from their old home in Brookline, an area just outside of Boston. It was a dazzling house with twelve rooms, and more than enough elbow room for him to grow and prosper into the adult he was destined to become. …show more content…
In 1960 John F. Kennedy ran for president against Vice President Richard Nixon. When the votes were tallied in November, Kennedy earned 49.7% of the popular vote to Nixon 's 49.5%. The electoral college awarded the election to Kennedy by a 303-219 margin, despite Nixon winning more states than Kennedy. At the inauguration on January 20, 1960, the first U.S. president born in the twentieth century was sworn into office. Kennedy 's inaugural address included the challenge: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." He had not known it yet, but during his presidency, he would have to overcome a tremendous amount of crisis. On April 17, 1961, 1,400 Cuban exiles, supported by the U.S. invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. On April 18 the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev sent a note to Kennedy stating that his government would help the Cuban government to resist an attack. By April 20 the invasion had failed, but even though not fully his wrongdoing he took full responsibility. Being said, although the Bay of Pigs had failed, he had proved his eligibility to face a disaster properly. In 1961 the Congress of Racial Equality, a civil rights group, organized a group of people to protest against segregation. In response The Kennedy’s sent six hundred Federal marshals to Alabama to protect these "Freedom Riders." And again in 1962 they sent hundreds