JFK Established Brilliant Record Of Gov't Service

The assassination yesterday of President John F. Kennedy ended a brilliant public career. Born May '29, 1917, into a family with deep-rooted political interests, Mr. Kennedy achieved distinction as a naval officer and as a congressman and senator from Massachusetts. He became at 43 the thirty-fifth President of the United States and the youngest man ever elected to the Presidency. He was also the sixth alumnus of Harvard to attain the nation's highest office.

Mr. Kennedy assumed the Presidency at a difficult moment in the nation's history. In his Inaugural Address on Jan.20, 1961, the new President recognized the challenging tasks before him.

"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life... In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hours of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility; I welcome it."

Came From Political Family

Long before he took upon himself the ponderous tasks of the Presidency, John Kennedy had become familiar with political responsibility.

One grandfather, Patrick J. Kennedy, was a state representative and senator and a powerful figure in the Boston wards. Mr. Kennedy's grandfather on his mother's side was John F. Fitzgerald, who as the colorful "Honey Fitz" was first elected mayor of Boston in 1910.

Mr. Kennedy received his secondary education at the Canterbury School in New Millford. Conn.. and at Choate. After spending the summer of 1935 at the London School of Economics, where his father had sent him to study with the late Harold , he entered Princeton in the fall. However, till with jaundice, he was forced to leave before Christmas, never to return. He entered Harvard the next fall and was duly graduated cum laude four years later in 1946.

Active in Athletics, Clubs

At Harvard Kennedy was interested more in sports than in studies for his first two years. He swam, played football, and was a champion sailor. He was also active in Winthrop House and the Spee Cub and was a member of the CRIMSON.

Kennedy was granted permission to spend the spring semester of 1939 in Europe. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was then ambassador to England. The young Kennedy's tour of the European capitals led to his total improvement the following year in his senior thesis. "Appeasement at Munich." The thesis received a magna, and was subsequently published as the book, Why England slept, selling 40,000 copies.

Mr. Kennedy's entry into politics came in 1946, when he ran successfully for the House from the 11th Massachusetts Congressional District, which included East Boston, Charlestown. Somerville, Cambridge, and Harvard. He served three terms.

In 1952, Kennedy withstood an Eisenhower landslide in Massachusetts to defeat Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Jr. by 70,737 votes. With the victory over Lodge, he rose to national prominences almost overnight.

By 1966 Kennedy had become such an attractive political figure that he was able to give Eates Kefauver a battle for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination. Four years later Mr. Kennedy mounted one of the most impressively organized campaigns in American political history and swept to the Presidency.

As President, Mr. Kennedy demonstrated his capacity for clear thinking and decisive action. He was a political realist, but few could accuse him of lacking commitment. And of him his own words, from his Pulitzer Prize history, profiles in Courage, speak most fittingly.

"The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures and that is the basic of all human morality

Active in Athletics, Clubs

At Harvard Kennedy was interested more in sports than in studies for his first two years. He swam, played football, and was a champion sailor. He was also active in Winthrop House and the Spee Cub and was a member of the CRIMSON.

Kennedy was granted permission to spend the spring semester of 1939 in Europe. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was then ambassador to England. The young Kennedy's tour of the European capitals led to his total improvement the following year in his senior thesis. "Appeasement at Munich." The thesis received a magna, and was subsequently published as the book, Why England slept, selling 40,000 copies.

Mr. Kennedy's entry into politics came in 1946, when he ran successfully for the House from the 11th Massachusetts Congressional District, which included East Boston, Charlestown. Somerville, Cambridge, and Harvard. He served three terms.

In 1952, Kennedy withstood an Eisenhower landslide in Massachusetts to defeat Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Jr. by 70,737 votes. With the victory over Lodge, he rose to national prominences almost overnight.

By 1966 Kennedy had become such an attractive political figure that he was able to give Eates Kefauver a battle for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination. Four years later Mr. Kennedy mounted one of the most impressively organized campaigns in American political history and swept to the Presidency.

As President, Mr. Kennedy demonstrated his capacity for clear thinking and decisive action. He was a political realist, but few could accuse him of lacking commitment. And of him his own words, from his Pulitzer Prize history, profiles in Courage, speak most fittingly.

"The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures and that is the basic of all human morality