Year 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.

January

January 1 – Thailand Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram decrees January 1 as the official start of the Thai solar calendar new year (thus the previous year that began April 1 had only 9 months).

January 3 – A decree in Germany outlaws the use of Blackletter Gothic typefaces in favour of Antiqua.

January 4 – The short subject Elmer's Pet Rabbit is released, marking the second appearance of Bugs Bunny, and also the first to have his name on a title card.

January 6 – The keel of the is laid at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn.

January 10 – Lend-Lease is introduced into the U.S. Congress.

January 13 – All persons born in Puerto Rico since this day are declared U.S. citizens by birth, through U.S. federal law . January 14 – WWII: Commerce raiding hilfskreuzer Pinguin captures the Norwegian whaling fleet near Bouvet Island, effectively ending Southern Ocean whaling for the duration of the war.

January 15 – John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford E. Berry describe the workings of the Atanasoff–Berry Computer in print.

January 19 – WWII: British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea.

January 20 – Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes swears in U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his third term.

January 22 – WWII: Battle of Tobruk: Australian and British forces capture Tobruk from the Italians.

January 23 – Aviator Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.

January 27 – WWII – Attack on Pearl Harbor: Joseph C. Grew, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, reports to Washington a rumor overheard at a diplomatic reception concerning a planned surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

January 30 – WWII – Australians capture Darnah, Libya from the Italians.

: Tobruk]]

February

February 3 – WWII: The Nazis forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy France.

February 4 – WWII: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.

February 5 – Air Training Corps: The Air Training Corps was formed.

February 6 – WWII – Fall of Benghazi to the Western Desert Force. Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel is appointed commander of Afrika Korps.

February 8 – WWII – The U.S. House of Representatives passes the Lend-Lease Act (260–165).

February 9 – Winston Churchill, in a worldwide broadcast, tells the United States to show its support by sending arms to the British: "Give us the tools, and we will finish the job."

February 12

* WWII: Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli.

Reserve Constable Albert Alexander, a patient at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, becomes the first person treated with penicillin intravenously, by Howard Florey's team. He reacts positively but there is insufficient supply of the drug to reverse his terminal infection. A successful treatment is achieved during May.

February 14 – WWII – Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura begins his duties as Japanese Ambassador to the United States.

February 19–February 22 – WWII: Three Nights' Blitz over Swansea, South Wales: Over these 3 nights of intensive bombing, which last a total of 13 hours and 48 minutes, Swansea's town centre is almost completely obliterated by the 896 high explosive bombs employed by the Luftwaffe. A total of 397 casualties and 230 deaths are reported.

February 23 – Glenn T. Seaborg isolates and discovers plutonium.

March

March 1

* WWII: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact, thus joining the Axis powers.

* W47NV begins operations in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming the first FM radio station.

* Arthur L. Bristol becomes Rear Admiral for the U.S. Navy's Support Force, Atlantic Fleet.

March 4 – WWII: Operation Claymore - British Commandos carry out a successful raid on the Lofoten Islands off the north coast of Norway.

March 8 – WWII: The U.S. Senate passes the Lend-Lease Act (60–31).

March 11 – WWII: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law.

March 15 – Richard C. Hottelet is arrested by the Gestapo on "suspicion of espionage". He is eventually released in July as part of a prisoner exchange.

March 16 – A group of U.S. warships arrive in Auckland, New Zealand on a goodwill visit. On March 20, they visit Sydney, Australia.

March 17

* In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

* British Minister of Labour Ernest Bevin calls for women to fill vital jobs.

March 22 – Washington's Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate electricity.

March 24 – WWII: Rommel launches his first offensive in Cyrenaica.

March 25 – WWII: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers in Vienna.

March 27

* WWII: An anti-Axis coup d'état in Yugoslavia forces Prince Paul into exile; 17-year-old King Peter II assumes power.

* WWII – Attack on Pearl Harbor: Empire of Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrives in Honolulu, Hawaii and begins to study the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

* WWII – Battle of Cape Matapan: Off the Peloponnesus coast in the Mediterranean, British naval forces defeat those of Italy, sinking 5 warships. Battle ends on March 29.

March 30

* All German, Italian, and Danish ships anchored in United States waters are taken into "protective custody".

German Lorenz code machine operator sent a 4,000 character message twice, allowing British mathematician Bill Tutte to decipher the machine's coding mechanism.

April

April 4 – WWII: Axis forces capture Benghazi.

April 6 – WWII: Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece.

April 9 – The U.S. acquires full military defense rights in Greenland.

April 10 – WWII: The U.S. destroyer , while picking up survivors from a sunken Dutch freighter, drops depth charges on a German U-Boat (the first "shot in anger" fired by America against Germany).

April 12 – WWII: German troops enter Belgrade.

April 13 – The Soviet Union and Japan sign a neutrality pact.

April 15 – WWII: Axis forces reach Halfaya Pass on the Libyan-Egyptian frontier.

April 17 – WWII: The Yugoslav Royal Army capitulates.

April 18 – WWII: Prime Minister of Greece Alexandros Koryzis commits suicide as German troops approach Athens.

April 19 – Bertolt Brecht's anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children () receives its first theatrical production at the Schauspielhaus Zürich.

April 21 – WWII: Greece capitulates. Commonwealth troops and some elements of the Greek Army withdraw to Crete.

April 23 – The America First Committee holds its first mass rally in New York City, with Charles Lindbergh as keynote speaker.

April 25 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, criticizes Charles Lindbergh by comparing him to the Copperheads of the Civil War period. In response, Lindbergh resigns his commission in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve on April 28.

April 27 – WWII: German troops enter Athens.

May

May 1

* The breakfast cereal Cheerios is introduced as CheeriOats by General Mills.

* Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane premieres in New York City.

* The first Defense Bonds and Defense Savings Stamps go on sale in the United States, to help fund the greatly increased production of military equipment.

May 5 – WWII: Emperor Haile Selassie enters Addis Ababa, which had been liberated from Italian forces; this date has been since commemorated as Liberation Day in Ethiopia.

May 6 – At California's March Field, entertainer Bob Hope performs his first USO Show.

May 9 – WWII: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the British Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine, which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.

May 10

* WWII: The British House of Commons is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.

* Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland, claiming to be on a peace mission.

May 12 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

May 15

* The first British jet aircraft, the Gloster E.28/39, is flown.

* Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak begins as the New York Yankee center fielder goes one for four against Chicago White Sox Pitcher Eddie Smith.

May 20 – WWII: The Battle of Crete begins as Germany launches an airborne invasion of Crete.

May 24 – WWII: In the North Atlantic, the German battleship Bismarck sinks battlecruiser HMS Hood, killing all but 3 crewmen aboard the pride of the Royal Navy.

May 26 – WWII: In the North Atlantic, Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the carrier HMS Ark Royal cripple the steering of Bismarck in an aerial torpedo attack.

May 27

* WWII: President Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency."

* WWII:Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic, killing 2,300.

May 30 – WWII: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas tear down the Nazi swastika on the Acropolis in Athens, and replace it with the Greek flag

June

June 5

* Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing.

* A Serbian ammunition depot explodes at Smederevo on the outskirts of Belgrade, Serbia, killing 2,500, and injuring over 4,500.

June 8 – WWII: British and Free French forces invade Syria.

June 13 – TASS, the official Soviet news agency, denies reports of tension between Germany and the Soviet Union.

June 14

* Mass deportations by Soviet Union authorities take place in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

* All German and Italian assets in the United States are frozen.

June 16 – All German and Italian consulates in the United States are ordered closed and their staffs to leave the country by July 10.

June 20

* Army Air Forces.

* Walt Disney's live-action animated feature, The Reluctant Dragon, is released.

June 22

* WWII: Italy and Romania declare war on the Soviet Union.

* WWII: Germany invades the Soviet Union under Operation Barbarossa.

* WWII: Winston Churchill promises all possible British assistance to the Soviet Union in a worldwide broadcast: "Any man or state who fights against Nazidom will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe."

* WWII: The First Sisak Partisan Brigade, the first anti-fascist armed unit in occupied Europe, is founded by partisans near Sisak, Croatia.

June 23 – WWII: Hungary and Slovakia declare war on the Soviet Union.

June 24 – Founding of RIA Novosti.

June 25 – WWII: Finland attacks the Soviet Union to seek the opportunity of revenge in the Continuation War.

June 28 – WWII: Albania declares war on the Soviet Union.

July

July – The British Army's Special Air Service is formed.

July 2 – WWII: Empire of Japan calls up 1 million men for military service.

July 3 – WWII: Joseph Stalin, in his first address since the German invasion, calls upon the Soviet people to carry out a "scorched earth" policy of resistance to the bitter end.

July 4 – The Mass murder of Polish scientists and writers is committed by German troops in the captured Polish city of Lwów.

July 5 – WWII: German troops reach the Dnieper River.

July 5–July 31 – War is fought between Peru and Ecuador.

July 7

* WWII: American forces take over the defense of Iceland from the British.

* WWII: German troops take over Estonia from the Soviets.

July 13 – WWII: Montenegro starts the second popular uprising in Europe against the Axis Powers, the first being the so-called February strike against deportation of Jews in Amsterdam and surroundings on February 25th, 1941.

July 14 – WWII: Vichy France signs armistice terms, ending all fighting in Syria and Lebanon.

July 17 – Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak ends.

July 19

* WWII: A BBC broadcast by "Colonel Britton" calls on the people of occupied Europe to resist the Nazis under the slogan "V for Victory".

* The first episode The Midnight Snack in which Tom and Jerry are officially named, more than a year after their first production Puss Gets the Boot.

July 25 – The Postal Code system is introduced in Germany.

July 26

* WWII: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.

* WWII: General Douglas MacArthur is named commander of all U.S. forces in the Philippines; the Philippines Army is ordered nationalized by President Roosevelt.

July 31 – WWII – Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring orders S.S. General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question."

August

August – Political Warfare Executive is formed in the United Kingdom.

August 1 – The first Jeep is produced.

August 6 – Six-year-old Elaine Esposito goes to an appendix operation in Florida and lapses into a coma. She dies in 1978, still in a coma.

August 9 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet at Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Atlantic Charter is created as a result.

August 16 – The HMS Mercury, Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School open at Leydene, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England.

August 18 – Adolf Hitler orders a temporary halt to Nazi Germany's systematic euthanasia of the mentally ill and handicapped due to protests. However, graduates of the T-4 Euthanasia Program are then transferred to concentration camps, where they continue in their trade.

August 22 – WWII – France: The German Occupation Authority announces that anyone found either working for or aiding the Free French will be sentenced to death.

August 24 – WWII: A Luftwaffe bomb hits an Estonian steamer with 3,500 Soviet-mobilized Estonian men on board, killing 598 of them.

August 25 – WWII: Operation Countenance begins with United Kingdom and Soviet forces invading Iran.

August 27 – WWII – Pierre Laval is shot in an assassination attempt at Versailles, France.

August 28 – WWII: The Soviets announce the destruction of the massive Dnieper River dam at Zaporozhye, to prevent its capture by the Germans.

August 31 – The Great Gildersleeve debuts on NBC Radio.

September

September 6 – Holocaust: The requirement to wear the Star of David with the word "Jew" inscribed, is extended to all Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas.

September 8 – WWII – The Siege of Leningrad begins: German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad. Stalin orders the Volga Germans deported to Siberia.

September 11 – WWII: Charles Lindbergh, at an America First Committee rally in Des Moines, Iowa, accuses "the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt administration" of leading the United States toward war. Widespread condemnation of Lindbergh follows.

September 12 – WWII: The first snowfall is reported on the Russian front.

September 14 – The State of Vermont declares war on Germany.

September 15 – The Estonian Self-Administration, headed by Hjalmar Mäe, is appointed by the German military administration.

September 16 – Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran is forced to resign in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, under pressure from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.

September 22 The town of Reshetylivka in the Soviet Union is occupied by German forces.

September 27 – The first Liberty Ship, the SS Patrick Henry, is launched at Baltimore, Maryland.

September 29 – WWII: The Moscow Conference begins; U.S. representative Averill Harriman and British representative Lord Beaverbrook meet with Soviet foreign minister Molotov to arrange urgent assistance for Russia.

September 29–September 30 – Holocaust: Babi Yar massacre – German troops, assisted by Ukrainian police and local collaborators, killed 33,771 Jews of Kiev, Ukraine.

October

October 1 – Holocaust: the Nazi German extermination camp Konzentrationslager Lublin (commonly known as "Majdanek") opens in occupied Poland on the outskirts of the town Lublin. Between October 1941 and July 1944 at least 200,000 people were killed in the camp.

October 2 – WWII: Operation Typhoon begins as Germany launches an all-out offensive against Moscow.

October 7 – John Curtin becomes the 14th Prime Minister of Australia.

October 8 – WWII: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.

October 11–October 12 – Fire destroys a Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. plant in Fall River, Massachusetts, consuming 15,850 tons of rubber and causing a setback to the United States war effort.

Mid-October – First production P-38E Lightning fighter produced by Lockheed.

October 16 – WWII: The Soviet Union government moves to Kuibyshev (modern Samara), but Joseph Stalin remains in Moscow.

October 17 – WWII: The destroyer is torpedoed and damaged near Iceland, killing 11 sailors (the first American military casualties of the war).

October 18 – General Hideki Tojo becomes the 40th Prime Minister of Japan.

October 21 – WWII: The Germans rampage in Yugoslavia, killing thousands of civilians.

October 23 – Walt Disney's animated film Dumbo is released.

October 24 – Franz von Werra disappears during a flight over the North Sea.

October 30 – WWII: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves US$1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.

October 31

* Last day of carving on Mount Rushmore.

* WWII: The destroyer USS Reuben James is torpedoed by a German U-boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors.

November

November 6 – WWII: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin addresses the Soviet Union for only the second time during his three-decade rule (the first time was earlier that year on July 2). He states that even though 350,000 troops have been killed in German attacks so far, that the Germans have lost 4.5 million soldiers (a gross exaggeration) and that Soviet victory is near.

November 7 – WWII: The Soviet hospital Ship Armenia is sunk by German planes while evacuating refugees, wounded military and the staff of several Crimean hospitals. It is estimated that over 5,000 people die in the sinking.

November 10 – In a speech at the Mansion House in London, Winston Churchill promises, "should the United States become involved in war with Japan, the British declaration will follow within the hour."

November 12 – WWII: As Battle of Moscow begins, temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 °C, and the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.

November 14 – WWII: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sinks after being torpedoed by U-81.

November 17 – WWII – Attack on Pearl Harbor: Joseph Grew, the United States ambassador to Japan, cables to Washington a warning that Japan may strike suddenly and unexpectedly.

November 18 – WWII: Operation Crusader in North Africa begins

November 19 – WWII: Both commerce raiding hilfskreuzer Kormoran and Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney sink following a battle off the coast of Western Australia. There are no survivors from the 645 Australian sailors aboard Sydney.

November 21 – The radio program King Biscuit Time is broadcast for the first time (it later becomes the longest running daily radio broadcast in history and the most famous live blues radio program).

November 22 – WWII: HMS Devonshire sinks commerce raiding hilfskreuzer Atlantis, ending the longest warship cruise of the war. (622 days without in-port replenishment or repair)

November 26 – WWII – Attack on Pearl Harbor: A fleet of 6 aircraft carriers commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo leaves Hitokapu Bay for Pearl Harbor under strict radio silence

November 27

* A group of young men stop traffic on U.S. Highway 99 south of Yreka, California, handing out fliers proclaiming the establishment of the State of Jefferson.

* WWII: Germans reach their closest approach to Moscow. They are subsequently frozen by cold weather and attacks by the Soviets.

December

ablaze after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]]

December 1

* WWII: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs , creating the Civil Air Patrol under the authority of the United States Army Air Force.

* WWII: A state of emergency is declared in Malaya and the Straits Settlements.

December 2 – WWII – Attack on Pearl Harbor: The code message "Climb Mount Niitaka" is transmitted to the Japanese task force, indicating that negotiations have broken down and that the attack is to be carried out according to plan.

December 4 – The State of Jefferson is declared in Yreka, California, with judge John Childs as a governor.

December 6

* WWII – Soviet counterattacks begin against German troops encircling Moscow. Wehrmacht is subsequently pushed back over 200 miles.

* WWII – The United Kingdom declares war on Finland.

December 7

* (December 8, Japan standard time) – The Japanese Navy launches a surprise attack on the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor, thus drawing the United States into World War II. The attack is announced on radio stations in the US at about 2:26 p.m. EST (19.26 GMT).

* WWII – Canada declares war on Japan.

* Tobruk's garrison is relieved.

December 8

* WWII: The United States, United Kingdom, China and The Netherlands officially declare war on the Empire of Japan.

President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Infamy" Address to a Joint Session of Congress at 12:30 p.m. EST (17.30 GMT) and transmitted live over all four major national networks attracts the largest audience ever for an American radio broadcast, over 81% of homes.

* WWII: Empire of Japan launches invasions in Hong Kong, Malaya, Manila, Singapore and the Philippines.

* Holocaust: the Nazi German extermination camp Chelmno opens in occupied Poland near a small village called Chełmno nad Nerem. Between December 1941-April 1943 and June 1944-January 1945 at least 153,000 people were killed in the camp.

December 10 – WWII: The British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse are sunk by Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea north of Singapore.

December 11 – WWII: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The U.S. responds in kind.

December 12

* WWII: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.

* WWII: British India declares war on Empire of Japan.

WWII: The United States seizes the French ship .

* WWII: The Kimura Detachment of the Japanese Imperial forces is occupied in Legaspi, Albay in Eastern Philippines.

December 13 – Sweden's low temperature record of -53°C is set in a village within the Vilhelmina Municipality.

December 19 – WWII: Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army.

December 23 – WWII: A second Japanese landing attempt on Wake Island is successful, and the American garrison surrenders after a full night and morning of fighting.

December 24 – WWII: British forces capture Benghazi.

December 25 – WWII: The British and Canadians are defeated by the Japanese at Hong Kong.

December 26 – WWII: Winston Churchill becomes the first British Prime Minister to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

December 27 – WWII: British Commandos raid the Norwegian port of Vaagso, causing Hitler to reinforce the garrison and defenses, drawing vital troops away from other areas.

Date unknown

The Valley of Geysers is discovered in Russia.

Results of the Ives–Stilwell experiment are published, showing that ions radiate at frequencies affected by their motion.

In Sweden, Victor Hasselblad forms the Hasselblad Camera Company.

The Indochina Communist party, led by Ho Chi Minh, combines with the Nationalist party to form the Viet Minh.

Births

January

January 3 – Van Dyke Parks, American composer, producer, and musician

January 4

* John Bennett Perry, American actor

* Maureen Reagan, American actress (d. 2001)

January 5

* Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese filmmaker

* Kevin Keelan, English footballer

January 7

* Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (d. 2004)

* Manfred Schellscheidt, German American soccer coach

* John E. Walker, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

January 8 – Graham Chapman, English comedian (d. 1989)

January 9 – Joan Baez, American singer and activist

January 11

* Dave Edwards, American musician (d. 2000)

* Jimmy Velvit, American singer/songwriter

January 12 – Long John Baldry, British singer (d. 2005)

January 14

* Faye Dunaway, American actress

* Milan Kučan, Slovenian politician and statesman

* David Johnston, retired Australian newsreader

January 15 – Captain Beefheart, American singer (d. 2010)

January 18 – David Ruffin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1991)

January 19 – Pat Patterson, Canadian professional wrestler

January 20 – Allan Young (d. 2009)

January 21

* Plácido Domingo, Spanish-born tenor

* Richie Havens, American musician

January 24

* Neil Diamond, American singer and songwriter

* Aaron Neville, American singer

January 25

* Theo Berger, German criminal

January 26

* Scott Glenn, American actor

* Henry Jaglom, English film director

January 27 – Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer (d. 1981)

January 30

* Dick Cheney, former Vice President of the United States

* Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer

January 31

* Dick Gephardt, American politician

* Jessica Walter, American actress

February

February 1 – Jerry Spinelli, American children's author

February 3 – Dory Funk, Jr., American professional wrestler

February 5

* David Selby, American actor

* Kaspar Villiger, Swiss Federal Councilor

* Stephen J. Cannell, American director and producer (d. 2010)

February 6 – Howard Phillips, American politician

February 7 – Peter Foxhall, Australian evangelist

February 8 – Nick Nolte, American actor

February 10 – Michael Apted, English film director

February 12 – Naomi Uemura, Japanese adventurer (d. 1984)

February 13

* Sigmar Polke, German painter

* David Jeremiah, American televangelist

February 19 – David Gross, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

February 20 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, American singer

February 26 – Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer (d. 1972)

February 27 – Paddy Ashdown, British politician

February 28 – Suzanne Mubarak, Egyptian first lady

March

March 1 – Joo Hyun, South Korean actor

March 4

* Adrian Lyne, English film director

* John Aprea, American actor

March 5 – Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian chess player

March 6 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player (d. 2001)

March 13 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian prominent poet and writer of prose (d. 2008)

March 14 – Wolfgang Petersen, German film director

March 15 – Mike Love, American musician (The Beach Boys)

March 16

* Robert Guéï, military ruler of Côte d'Ivoire (d. 2002)

* Chuck Woolery, American game show host

March 17 – Paul Kantner, American rock guitarist (Jefferson Airplane)

March 18 – Wilson Pickett, American singer (d. 2006)

March 20 – Kenji Kimihara, Japanese long-distance runner

March 23 – Jim Trelease, American educator and author

March 26 – Richard Dawkins, British scientist

March 28 – Jim Turner, American football player

March 29 – Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., American astrophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate

March 30 – Wasim Sajjad, President of Pakistan

April

April 2 – Dr. Demento (Barret Eugene Hansen), American radio disc jockey and novelty music collector

April 3

* Eric Braeden, German-born American actor

* Philippe Wynne, American musician (d. 1984)

April 8 – Peggy Lennon, American singer (The Lennon Sisters)

April 9 – Kay Adams, American country singer

April 11 – Shirley Stelfox, English actress

April 12 – Bobby Moore, English football player and World Cup winning captain (d. 1993)

April 13 – Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

April 14

* Julie Christie, British actress

* Pete Rose, American baseball player

April 20 – Ryan O'Neal, American actor

April 23

* Paavo Lipponen, Prime Minister of Finland

* Ed Stewart, English disc jockey

April 24 – John Williams, Australian guitarist

April 27 – Lee Roy Jordan, American football player

April 28

* Ann-Margret, Swedish-born American actress, singer and dancer

* K. Barry Sharpless, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

* Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet

May

May 5 – Alexander Ragulin, Russian hockey player (d. 2004)

May 6 – Ivica Osim, Bosnian football player and manager

May 11 – Eric Burdon, English singer (The Animals)

May 13

* Senta Berger, Swedish actress

* Ritchie Valens, American singer (d. 1959)

May 19

* Bobby Burgess, American dancer and singer

* Nora Ephron, American film, producer, director, and screenwriter

May 20 – Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister of Singapore

May 21 – Bobby Cox, American baseball manager

May 22 – Menzies Campbell, British politician

May 24 – Bob Dylan, American poet and musician

May 26 – John Kaufman, English sculptor

May 31 – Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

June

June 2 – Stacy Keach, American actor

June 4 – Erkin Koray, Turkish musician

June 5

* Martha Argerich, Argentine pianist

* Spalding Gray, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2004)

June 6 – Neal Adams, American comic book artist

June 8

* Robert Bradford, Irish footballer and politician (d. 1981)

* Fuzzy Haskins, American musician (P-Funk)

June 9 – Jon Lord, organist of Deep Purple, the "Lord of the Hammond organ"

June 10

* Mickey Jones, American actor and musician

* Valeri Zolotukhin, Soviet/Russian actor

* James A. Paul, American writer and non-profit executive

June 12 – Marv Albert, American sports announcer

June 14 – Roy Harper, English guitarist

June 15 – Harry Nilsson, American musician (d. 1994)

June 19

* Conchita Carpio-Morales, Filipino Supreme Court jurist

* Vaclav Klaus. President of the Czech Republic

June 21 – Joe Flaherty, American-Canadian actor and comedian

June 22

* Ed Bradley, American journalist (60 Minutes) (d. 2006)

* Michael Lerner, American actor

* Terttu Savola, Finnish politician

June 24

* Bill Reardon, American politician and educator

* Charles Whitman, American mass murderer (d. 1966)

June 27 – Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish film director (d. 1996)

June 28 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (d. 2006)

July

July 1

* Alfred G. Gilman, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

* Myron Scholes, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate

July 6 – Harold Leighton Weller, American conductor

July 7 – Bill Oddie, English comedian and ornithologist

July 10 – Jackie Lane, English actress

July 11 – Tommy Vance, English disc jockey (d. 2005)

July 12

* Benny Parsons, American race car driver (d. 2007)

* John Lahr, "New Yorker" senior drama critic

July 14

* Maulana Karenga, American author and activist

* Andreas Khol, Austrian politician

July 16 – Hans Wiegel, Dutch politician

July 19

* Vikki Carr, American singer

* Neelie Kroes, Dutch politician

July 27 – Bill Baxley, Alabama politician

July 28 – Riccardo Muti, Italian conductor

July 29

* Jennifer Dunn, American politician (d. 2007)

* David Warner, English actor

July 30 – Paul Anka, Canadian-American singer and songwriter

July 31 – Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician

August

August 3 – Martha Stewart, American television and magazine personality

August 2 – Ede Staal, Dutch singer-songwriter

August 6 – Lyle Berman, American poker player

August 8 – George Tiller, American physician (d. 2009)

August 12 – Deborah Walley, American actress (The Mothers-in-Law) (d. 2001)

August 14

* Connie Smith, American singer

* David Crosby, American singer (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)

August 16

*David Dickinson, British antiques expert and television presenter

*Théoneste Bagosora, former Rwandan army officer and alleged planner of the Rwandan Genocide

August 17 – Ibrahim Babangida, former President of Nigeria

August 20 – Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia (d. 2006)

August 22 – Bill Parcells, American football coach

August 28 – Joseph Shabalala, South African musician (Ladysmith Black Mambazo)

September

September 2

* David Bale, South African–born activist (d. 2003)

* John Thompson, American basketball coach

September 3 – Sergei Dovlatov, Russian short-story writer and novelist (d. 1990)

September 4 – Sushilkumar Shinde, Indian politician

September 9

* Otis Redding, American musician (d. 1967)

* Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist

September 10

* Christopher Hogwood, English conductor and harpsichordist

* Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese computer game producer (d. 1997)

September 13

* Tadao Ando, Japanese architect

* Ahmet Necdet Sezer, former President of Turkey

September 14 – Alberto Naranjo, Venezuelan musician

September 15

* George Saimes, American football player

* Mirosław Hermaszewski, first Polish cosmonaut in space

September 17 – Bob Matsui, U.S. Congressman from California (d. 2005)

September 19 – Cass Elliott, American singer (d. 1974)

September 20 – Dale Chihuly, American glass sculptor

September 24

* Guy Hovis, American singer

* Linda McCartney, American activist, musician and photographer (d. 1998)

September 26 – Martine Beswick, British actress and model

September 27 – Gay Kayler Ashcroft, Australian country music singer

October

October 2 – Zareh Baronian, Archimandrite doctor, theologian of the Armenian Church, Bucarest

October 4

* Elizabeth Eckford, American activist

* Anne Rice, American writer

* Roy Blount, Jr., American writer and comedian

October 5 – Eduardo Duhalde, President of Argentina

October 8 – Jesse Jackson, American clergyman and civil rights activist

October 9 – Trent Lott, former United States Senate Minority Leader and United States Senate Majority Leader

October 10 – Peter Coyote, American actor

October 13 – Paul Simon, American singer and composer

October 16 – Tim McCarver, American baseball commentator

October 20 – Anneke Wills, British actress

October 23 – Mel Winkler, American actor

October 25

* Helen Reddy, Australian singer and actress

* Anne Tyler, American novelist

October 27 – Gerd Brantenberg, Norwegian feminist author and gay rights activist

October 28

* John Hallam, Irish actor

* Hank Marvin, British guitarist, singer and songwriter (The Shadows)

October 30 – Theodor W. Hänsch, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics

October 31 – Sally Kirkland, American actress

November

November 1

* Nigel Dempster, British journalist, author, broadcaster and diarist (d. 2007)

* Robert Foxworth, American actor

November 2 – Bruce Welch, British guitarist, singer and songwriter (The Shadows)

November 5 – Art Garfunkel, American singer

November 6 – Doug Sahm, American musician (d. 1999)

November 17 – Tova Traesnaes, American cosmetician and fifth wife of Ernest Borgnine

November 18 – David Hemmings, English actor (d. 2003)

November 21 – Juliet Mills, English actress

November 23 – Derek Mahon, Irish poet

November 25

* Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi, Sufi, author, poet and a growing following consider him to be the Mehdi, Messiah & Kalki Avatar

* Ralph Haben, American politician, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

November 26 – G. Alan Marlatt, American psychologist

November 27 – Eddie Rabbitt, American country musician (d. 1998)

November 29 – Bill Freehan, American baseball player

December

December 9 – Beau Bridges, American actor

December 10 – Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer and actor (d. 1985)

December 11 – J. Frank Wilson, American singer (J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers) (d. 1991)

December 13 – John Davidson, American singer and actor

December 18 – Prince William of Gloucester

December 19 – Lee Myung Bak, 17th president of South Korea

December 21 – Lo Hoi Pang, Hong Kong actor

December 23

* Ron Bushy, American rock musician (Iron Butterfly)

* Tim Hardin, American musician (d. 1980)

December 24 – John Levene, English actor

December 30 – Mel Renfro, American football player

December 31 – Alex Ferguson, English football manager (Manchester United)

Deaths

January–February

January 4 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1859)

January 5 – Amy Johnson, English aviator (b. 1903)

January 8 – Lord Robert Baden-Powell, English soldier and founder of the Boy Scouts (b. 1857)

January 10

* Frank Bridge, English composer (b. 1879)

* Sir John Lavery, Irish artist (b. 1856)

* Joe Penner, American comedian and actor (b. 1904)

January 13 – James Joyce, Irish writer (b. 1882)

February 6 – Banjo Paterson, Australian poet & journalist (b. 1864)

February 9 – Aaron S. Watkins, American temperance movement leader (b. 1863)

February 11 – Rudolf Hilferding, German economist and Minister of Finance (b. 1877)

February 21 – Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1891)

February 24 – Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, German submariner (b. 1886)

February 27 – William D. Byron, U.S. Congressman (b. 1895)

February 28 – King Alfonso XIII of Spain (b. 1886)

March–July

March 5 – Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, Russian royal (b. 1891)

March 6 – Gutzon Borglum, American sculptor (Mount Rushmore) (b. 1867)

March 8 – Sherwood Anderson, American author (b. 1876)

March 15 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian painter (b. 1864)

March 28

* Virginia Woolf, English writer (b. 1882)

* Kavasji Jamshedji Petigara, Indian police commissioner (b. 1887)

April 5 – Sir Nigel Gresley, English steam locomotive engineer (Flying Scotsman and Mallard) (b. 1876)

April 13 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (b. 1863)

April 16 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, Bt, GCB, GBE, FBA, British civil servant, industrialist, economist, statistician and banker (b.1880)

April 24 – Karin Boye, Swedish poetess (suicide) (b. 1900)

April 30 – Edwin S. Porter, American film director (b. 1870)

May 1 – Jenny Dolly, American singer (b. 1892)

May 11 – Peggy Shannon, American actress (b. 1910)

May 12 – Ruth Stonehouse, American actress (b. 1892)

May 16 – Minnie Vautrin, American missionary and heroine of the Nanjing Massacre (b. 1887)

May 30 – Prajadhipok, Rama VII, king of Thailand (b. 1893)

June 1 – Hugh Walpole, British writer (b. 1884)

June 2 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (b. 1903)

June 4 – Wilhelm II, last Emperor of Germany (b. 1859)

June 6 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born automobile builder and race car driver (b. 1878)

June 21 – Elliott Dexter, American actor (b. 1870)

June 29 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist, composer, and third Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1860)

July 3 – Friedrich Akel, Estonian diplomat and politician (b. 1871)

July 4 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (b. 1881)

July 10 – Jelly Roll Morton, African-American jazz musician and composer (b. 1890)

July 11 – Arthur Evans, English archaeologist (b. 1851)

July 15 – Walter Ruttmann, German director (b. 1887)

July 20 – Lew Fields, American vaudeville performer (b. 1867)

July 25 – Allan Forrest, American actor (b. 1885)

July 26 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician (b. 1875)

July 29 – James Stephenson, British actor (b. 1889)

August–December

August 7 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)

August 13 – James Stuart Blackton, American film producer (b. 1875)

August 14 – Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)

August 30 – Peder Oluf Pedersen, Danish engineer and physicist (b. 1874)

August 31 – Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (suicide) (b. 1892)

September 1 – Karl Parts, Estonia military commander (b. 1886)

September 12 – Hans Spemann, German embryologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1869)

September 18 – Fred Karno, British music hall comedian (b. 1866)

October 5 – Louis Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1856)

October 8

* Gus Kahn, German songwriter (b. 1886)

* Valentine O'Hara, Irish author and authority on Russia and the Baltic States (b. 1875)

October 9 – Helen Morgan, American singer and actress (b. 1900)

October 26

* Arkady Gaidar, Russian writer (b. 1904)

* Victor Schertzinger, American composer and director (b. 1888)

October 29 – Harvey Hendrick, American baseball player (b. 1897)

November 16 – Miina Härma, Estonian composer (b. 1864)

November 18

* Émile Nelligan, Canadian poet (b. 1879)

* Walther Nernst, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)

* Chris Watson, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1867)

November 21 – Henrietta Vinton Davis, American elocutionist, dramatist, impersonator, public speaker (b. 1860)

November 26 – Niels Hansen Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and ceramist (b. 1861)

November 30 – Esmond Romilly, British socialist (b. 1918)

December 3 – Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (b. 1856)

December 7 – Isaac Campbell Kidd, American admiral (died in the attack on Pearl Harbor) (b. 1884)

December 12 – César Basa, Filipino pilot (b. 1915)

December 25 – Blanche Bates, stage actress (b. 1873)

December 30 – El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (b. 1890)

Nobel Prizes

Physics – not awarded

Chemistry – not awarded

Medicine – not awarded

Literature – not awarded

Peace – not awarded

References

1941 Coin Pictures

Coordinates	42°25′″N2°44′″N
Office	35th President of the United States
Vicepresident	Lyndon Johnson
Term start	January 20, 1961
Term end	November 22, 1963
Predecessor	Dwight Eisenhower
Successor	Lyndon Johnson
Jr/sr2	United States Senator
State2	Massachusetts
Term start2	January 3, 1953
Term end2	December 22, 1960
Predecessor2	Henry Lodge
Successor2	Benjamin Smith
State3	Massachusetts
District3	11th
Term start3	January 3, 1947
Term end3	January 3, 1953
Predecessor3	James Curler
Successor3	Tip O'Neill
Birth date	May 29, 1917
Birth place	Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death date	November 22, 1963
Death place	Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Jacqueline Bouvier
Children	ArabellaCarolineJohnPatrick
Alma mater	Harvard College
Profession	Author
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature	John F Kennedy Signature 2.svg
Signature alt	Cursive signature in ink
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Navy
Serviceyears	1941–1945
Rank	Lieutenant
Unit	Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109
Battles	World War IISolomon Islands campaign
Awards	Navy and Marine Corps Medal Purple Heart American Defense Service Medal American Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (3 bronze stars) World War II Victory Medal

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29, 1917 November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.

After military service as commander of the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 and Motor Torpedo Boat PT-59 during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat. Thereafter, he served in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960. Kennedy defeated then Vice President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. He was the youngest elected to the office, at the age of 43, the second-youngest President (after Theodore Roosevelt), and the first president to have been born in the 20th century. Kennedy is the only Catholic president, and is the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize. Events during his presidency included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the African American Civil Rights Movement and early stages of the Vietnam War.

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the crime but was shot and killed two days later by Jack Ruby before any trial. The FBI, the Warren Commission, and the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that Oswald was the assassin, with the HSCA allowing for the probability of conspiracy based on disputed acoustic evidence. Today, Kennedy continues to rank highly in public opinion ratings of former U.S. presidents.

Early life and education

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts on Tuesday, May 29, 1917, at 3:00 pm, the second son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and Rose Fitzgerald; Rose, in turn, was the eldest child of John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, a prominent Boston political figure who was the city's mayor and a three-term member of Congress. Kennedy lived in Brookline for ten years and attended Edward Devotion School, Noble and Greenough Lower School, and the Dexter School, through 4th grade. In 1927, the family moved to 5040 Independence Avenue in Riverdale, Bronx, New York City; two years later, they moved to 294 Pondfield Road in Bronxville, New York, where Kennedy was a member of Scout Troop 2 (and was the first Boy Scout to become President). Kennedy spent summers with his family at their home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts, and Christmas and Easter holidays with his family at their winter home in Palm Beach, Florida. For the 5th through 7th grade, Kennedy attended Riverdale Country School, a private school for boys. For 8th grade in September 1930, the 13-year old Kennedy attended Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut. In late April 1931, he had appendicitis requiring an appendectomy, after which he withdrew from Canterbury and recuperated at home.

In September 1931, Kennedy was sent to The Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, for his 9th through 12th grade years. His older brother Joe Jr., was already at Choate, two years ahead of him, a football star and leading student in the school. Jack spent his first years at Choate in his brother's shadow, and compensated for this with rebellious behavior that attracted a coterie. Their most notorious stunt was to explode a toilet seat with a powerful firecracker. In the ensuing chapel assembly, the strict headmaster, George St. John, brandished the toilet seat and spoke of certain "muckers" who would "spit in our sea". The defiant Jack Kennedy took the cue and named his group "The Muckers Club", which included roommate and friend Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings. While at Choate, Kennedy was beset by health problems, culminating in 1934 with his emergency hospitalization at Yale - New Haven Hospital. In June 1934, he was admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and diagnosed with colitis. Kennedy graduated from Choate in June 1935. For the school yearbook, of which he had been business manager, Kennedy was voted the "Most likely to Succeed".

In September 1935, he made his first trip abroad, with his parents and sister Kathleen, to London, with the intent of studying at the London School of Economics (LSE) as his older brother Joe had done. There is uncertainty about what he did at LSE before returning to America in October 1935, when he enrolled late and spent six weeks at Princeton University. He was then hospitalized for two months of observation for possible leukemia at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. He convalesced further at the Kennedy winter home in Palm Beach, then spent the spring of 1936 working as a ranch hand on a 40,000-acre (160 km²) cattle ranch outside Benson, Arizona. That summer he raced sailboats at the Kennedy home in Hyannisport.

In September 1936, Kennedy enrolled at Harvard College, where he produced that year's annual "Freshman Smoker", called by a reviewer "an elaborate entertainment, which included in its cast outstanding personalities of the radio, screen and sports world". He tried out for the football, golf, and swim teams and earned a spot on the varsity swim team. In July 1937, Kennedy sailed to France, with his convertible on board, and spent ten weeks driving through Europe with Billings. In June 1938, Kennedy sailed overseas with his father and brother Joe to work with his father, Roosevelt's U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, at the American embassy in London. In August the family went to a villa near Cannes. In 1939, Kennedy toured Europe, the Soviet Union, the Balkans, and the Middle East in preparation for his Harvard senior honors thesis. He then went to Czechoslovakia and Germany before returning to London on September 1, 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. On September 3, 1939, the family was in the House of Commons for speeches endorsing the United Kingdom's declaration of war on Germany. Kennedy was sent as his father's representative to help with arrangements for American survivors of the SS Athenia, before flying back to the U.S. from Foynes, Ireland to Port Washington, New York on his first transatlantic flight.

As an upperclassman at Harvard, Kennedy became a more serious student and developed an interest in political philosophy. In his junior year he made the Dean’s List. In 1940, Kennedy completed his thesis, "Appeasement in Munich", about British participation in the Munich Agreement. He initially intended his thesis to be private, but his father encouraged him to publish it. He graduated from Harvard College with a S.B. cum laude in international affairs in 1940. Kennedy enrolled and audited classes at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In early 1941, he helped his father complete the writing of a memoir of his three years as an American ambassador and then traveled throughout South America.

Military service

In September 1941, after medical disqualification by the Army for his chronic lower back problems, Kennedy joined the U.S. Navy, with the influence of the director of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), former naval attaché to Joseph Kennedy. Kennedy was an ensign serving in the office of the Secretary of the Navy when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. He then attended the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps and Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training Center, was assigned duty in Panama and later in the Pacific theater where he earned the rank of lieutenant, commanding a patrol torpedo (PT) boat.

On August 2, 1943, Kennedy's boat, PT-109, along with PT-162 and PT-169, were ordered to continue nighttime patrol near New Georgia in the Solomon Islands, when it was rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri. Kennedy gathered his surviving crew members together in the water around the wreckage, to vote on whether to "fight or surrender". Kennedy stated, "There's nothing in the book about a situation like this. A lot of you men have families and some of you have children. What do you want to do? I have nothing to lose." Shunning surrender, the men swam towards a small island. Kennedy, despite re-injury to his back in the collision, towed a badly burned crewman through the water with a life jacket strap clenched between his teeth. He towed the wounded man to the island and later to a second island from where his crew was subsequently rescued. For these actions, Kennedy received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal with the following citation:

For extremely heroic conduct as Commanding Officer of Motor Torpedo Boat 109 following the collision and sinking of that vessel in the Pacific War Theater on August 1–2, 1943. Unmindful of personal danger, Lieutenant (then Lieutenant, Junior Grade) Kennedy unhesitatingly braved the difficulties and hazards of darkness to direct rescue operations, swimming many hours to secure aid and food after he had succeeded in getting his crew ashore. His outstanding courage, endurance and leadership contributed to the saving of several lives and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

In October 1943, Kennedy took command of a PT boat converted into a gun boat, PT-59, which in November took part in a Marine rescue on Choiseul Island. Kennedy was honorably discharged in early 1945, just prior to Japan's surrender. Kennedy's other decorations in World War II included the Purple Heart, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three bronze service stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Congressional career

House of Representatives

While Kennedy was still serving, his older brother Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. was killed in action on August 12, 1944 while part of Operation Aphrodite. Since Joe Jr. had been the family's political standard-bearer, the task now fell on John.

In 1946, U.S. Representative James Michael Curley vacated his seat in the strong Democratic 10th Congressional district in Massachusetts to become mayor of Boston. Kennedy ran for the seat, beating his Republican opponent by a large margin; this, despite not having previously included politics in his career planning. He was a congressman for six years but had a mixed voting record, often diverging from President Harry S. Truman and the rest of the Democratic Party.

Senate

In 1952, he defeated incumbent Republican Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. for the U.S. Senate. The following year he was married to wife Jacqueline.

Kennedy underwent several spinal operations over the following two years, was at times critically ill and received Catholic last rites, and was often absent from the Senate. During his convalescence in 1956, he published Profiles in Courage, a book about U.S. Senators who risked their careers for their personal beliefs, and which received the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1957.

At the 1956 Democratic National Convention, Kennedy was nominated for Vice President, for the presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson, but finished second in that balloting to Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. Kennedy received national exposure from that episode; his father thought it just as well that his son lost, due to the political debility of his Catholicism, and the strength of the Eisenhower ticket.

One of the matters demanding Kennedy's attention in the Senate was President Eisenhower's bill for the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Kennedy cast a procedural vote on this which was considered by some as an appeasement of Southern Democratic opponents of the bill. Kennedy also voted for Title IV, termed the "Jury Trial Amendment". Many civil rights advocates at the time criticized that vote as one which would weaken the act. A final compromise bill, which Kennedy supported, was passed in September 1957. In 1958, Kennedy was re-elected to a second term in the Senate, defeating his Republican opponent, Boston lawyer Vincent J. Celeste, by a wide margin.

Senator Joseph McCarthy was a friend of the Kennedy family; Joseph Kennedy, Sr. was a leading McCarthy supporter, Robert F. Kennedy worked for McCarthy's subcommittee, and McCarthy dated Patricia Kennedy. In 1954, when the Senate voted to censure McCarthy, Kennedy had drafted, but not delivered, a speech supporting the censure, but was in the hospital. Though absent, he could have participated procedurally by "pairing" his vote against that of another senator, but did not do so. He never indicated how he would have voted, but the episode damaged Kennedy's support in the liberal community, including Eleanor Roosevelt, in the 1956 and 1960 elections.

1960 presidential election

On January 2, 1960, Kennedy initiated his campaign for President in the Democratic primary election, where he faced challenges from Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon. Kennedy defeated Humphrey in Wisconsin and West Virginia, Morse in Maryland and Oregon, as well as token opposition (often write-in candidates) in New Hampshire, Indiana, and Nebraska. Kennedy made a point of visiting a coal mine in West Virginia; most miners and others in that predominantly conservative, Protestant state were quite wary of Kennedy's Roman Catholicism. His victory in West Virginia confirmed his broad popular appeal. At the Democratic Convention, he gave his well-known "New Frontier" speech, saying: "For the problems are not all solved and the battles are not all won—and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier ... But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises—it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them."

, March 1960]] With Humphrey and Morse eliminated, Kennedy's main opponent at the Los Angeles convention was Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. Kennedy overcame this formal challenge as well as informal ones from Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956, Stuart Symington, as well as several favorite sons, and on July 13 the Democratic convention nominated Kennedy as its candidate. Kennedy asked Johnson to be his Vice Presidential candidate, despite opposition from many liberal delegates and Kennedy's own staff, including brother Robert. He needed Johnson's strength in the South to win what was considered likely to be the closest election since 1916. Major issues included how to get the economy moving again, Kennedy's Roman Catholicism, Cuba, and whether the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the U.S. To address fears that his being Catholic would impact his decision-making, he famously told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on September 12, 1960, "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters – and the Church does not speak for me." Kennedy questioned rhetorically whether one-quarter of Americans were relegated to second-class citizenship just because they were Catholic, and once stated that, "No one asked me my religion [serving the Navy] in the South Pacific."

In September and October, Kennedy appeared with Republican candidate Richard Nixon, then Vice President, in the first televised U.S. presidential debates in U.S. history. During these programs, Nixon, with a sore injured leg and his "five o'clock shadow", looked tense, uncomfortable, and perspiring, while Kennedy, choosing to avail himself of makeup services, appeared relaxed, leading the huge television audience to favor Kennedy as the winner. Radio listeners either thought Nixon had won or that the debates were a draw. The debates are now considered a milestone in American political history—the point at which the medium of television began to play a dominant role in politics. After the first debate Kennedy's campaign gained momentum and he pulled slightly ahead of Nixon in most polls. On Tuesday, November 8, Kennedy defeated Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the twentieth century. In the national popular vote Kennedy led Nixon by just two-tenths of one percent (49.7% to 49.5%), while in the Electoral College he won 303 votes to Nixon's 219 (269 were needed to win). Another 14 electors from Mississippi and Alabama refused to support Kennedy because of his support for the civil rights movement; they voted for Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia. He was the youngest man elected president, succeeding Eisenhower who was then the oldest (Ronald Reagan surpassed Eisenhower as the oldest president in 1981).

Presidency

John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President at noon on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens, famously saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." He added: "All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin." In closing, he expanded on his desire for greater internationalism: "Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you."

In its scope, the address also reflected Kennedy’s confidence that his administration would chart a historically significant course in both domestic policy and foreign affairs. The contrast between this optimistic vision and the pressures of managing daily political realities at home and abroad would be one of the main tensions running through the early years of his administration.

Kennedy brought to the White House a stark contrast in organization compared to the decision making structure of the former general, Eisenhower; and he wasted no time in dismantling it. Kennedy preferred the organizational structure of a wheel, with all the spokes leading to the president. He was ready and willing to make the increased number of quick decisions required in such an environment, and did a monumental job of selecting his cabinet and other appointments, some experienced and some not. In those cases of inexperience, he stated, "we can learn our jobs together". There were a couple instances where the president got ahead of himself, as when he announced in a cabinet meeting, without prior notice, that Edward Lansdale would be Ambassador to South Vietnam, a decision which Secretary of State Rusk later had Kennedy alter. There was also the rapid appointment of Harris Wofford who was summoned and arrived at the White House for swearing in, without knowing the position he was to assume.

Kennedy further demonstrated his decision making agility with Congress and his staff. Much to the chagrin of his economic advisors who wanted him to reduce taxes, he quickly agreed to a balanced budget pledge when this was needed in exchange for votes to expand the membership of the House Rules Committee in order to give the Democrats a majority in setting the legislative agenda. The president insisted on a focus upon immediate and specific issues facing the administration, and quickly voiced his impatience with ponderings of deeper meanings. Deputy national security advisor, Walt Whitman Rostow, once began a diatribe about the growth of communism and Kennedy abruptly cut him off, asking, "What do you want me to do about that today?"

Foreign policy

President Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American-Soviet confrontations, manifested by proxy contests in the early stage of the Cold War. In 1961 Kennedy anxiously anticipated a summit with Nikita Khrushchev. Unfortunately, he [Kennedy] started off on the wrong foot by reacting aggressively to a routine Khrushchev speech on Cold War confrontation in early 1961. The speech was intended for domestic audiences in the Soviet Union, but Kennedy interpreted it as a personal challenge. His mistake helped raise tensions going into the Vienna Summit. On the way to the summit was a stop in Paris in June to meet Charles de Gaulle, whose advice to Kennedy was to expect and ignore the abrasive style of Khrushchev. The French president was nationalistic, and disdainful of the United States' presumed influence in Europe, in his talks with Kennedy. Nevertheless de Gaulle was quite impressed with the young president and family. Kennedy picked up on this in his speech in Paris, saying he would be remembered as "the man who accompanied Jackie Kennedy to Paris."

On June 4, 1961 the president met with Khrushchev in Vienna and left the meetings angry and disappointed that he had allowed the Premier to bully him, despite warnings received. Khrushchev for his part was impressed with the president's intelligence but thought him weak. Kennedy did succeed in conveying the bottom line to Khrushchev on the most sensitive issue before them, a proposed treaty between Moscow and East Berlin. He made it clear that any such treaty which interfered with U.S access rights in West Berlin would be regarded as an act of war. of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in the White House Cabinet Room on April 13, 1962]] Shortly after the president returned home, the U.S.S.R. announced an intent to treat with East Berlin, regardless of any third party occupation rights in either sector of the city. A depressed and angry president then assumed his obligation was to prepare the country for nuclear war as the only option, and which he then personally thought had a one in five chance of occurring.

In the weeks immediately after the Vienna summit, more than 20 thousand people fled from East Berlin to the western sector in reaction to statements from the U.S.S.R. Kennedy began intensive meetings on the Berlin issue, where Dean Acheson took the lead in recommending a military buildup with NATO allies as the appropriate response. In a July 1961 speech, Kennedy announced his decision to add $3.25 billion to the defense budget, along with over 200 thousand additional troops for the military, saying an attack on West Berlin would be taken as an attack on the U.S. The speech received an 85% approval rating. The following month, the U.S.S.R. and East Berlin officials began blocking any further passage of East Berliners into West Berlin, erecting barbed wire fences across the city, which were quickly upgraded to the Berlin Wall. Kennedy's initial reaction was to ignore this, as long as free access from West to East Berlin continued. This course was altered when it was learned that the West Berliners had lost confidence in the defense of their position by the United States. Kennedy sent V.P. Johnson, along with a host of other military personnel, in convoy through West Germany, including Soviet armed checkpoints, to demonstrate the continued commitment of the U.S. to West Berlin.

John F. Kennedy gave a speech at Saint Anselm College on May 5, 1960, regarding America's conduct in the emerging Cold War. Kennedy's speech detailed how American foreign policy should be conducted towards African nations, noting a hint of support for modern African nationalism by saying that "For we, too, founded a new nation on revolt from colonial rule".

Cuba and the Bay of Pigs Invasion

Prior to Kennedy's election to the presidency, the Eisenhower Administration created a plan to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba. Central to the plan, led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with help from the US Military, but with no covert help from the United States, was the arming of a counter-revolutionary insurgency composed of anti-Castro Cuban exiles U.S.-trained Cuban insurgents, led by CIA paramilitary officers were to invade Cuba and instigate an uprising among the Cuban people in hopes of removing Castro from power. On April 17, 1961, Kennedy ordered the previously planned invasion of Cuba to proceed. In what is known as the "Bay of Pigs Invasion", 1,500 U.S.-trained Cubans, called "Brigade 2506," returned to the island in the hope of deposing Castro. In keeping with prior plans, no U.S. air support was provided. As CIA director Allen Dulles latter stated, they thought that once the troops were on the ground any action required for success would be authorized by the president to prevent failure. By April 19, 1961, the Cuban government had captured or killed the invading exiles, and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release of the 1,189 survivors. After twenty months, Cuba released the captured exiles in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine. Furthermore, the incident made Castro wary of the U.S. and led him to believe that another invasion would occur. According to biographer Richard Reeves, Kennedy primarily focused on the political repercussions of the plan rather than the military considerations; when it failed, he was convinced the plan was a set up to make him look bad. Nevertheless, in the end, Kennedy took the blame himself. Afterwards, he opined, "...We got a big kick in the leg and we deserved it. But maybe we'll learn something from it."

Late in 1961 the White House formed the "Special Group (Augmented)", headed by Robert Kennedy and including Edward Lansdale, Sec. McNamara and others. The group's objective, to overthrow Castro via espionage, sabotage and other covert tactics, was never pursued.

Cuban Missile Crisis

in 1961]]

On October 14, 1962, CIA U-2 spy planes took photographs in Cuba of intermediate-range ballistic missile sites under construction by the Soviets in previous months. The deployment of these missiles had come to the attention of the intelligence community when Soviet shipments to Cuba began and a debate had ensued in the National Security Council (NSC) as to whether the intended use of the weapons was offensive or defensive. The photos were shown to Kennedy on October 16, 1962, and a consensus was reached that the missiles were offensive in nature and thus posed an immediate nuclear threat. Kennedy faced a dilemma: if the U.S. attacked the sites, it might lead to nuclear war with the U.S.S.R., but if the U.S. did nothing, it would be faced with the increased threat from close range nuclear weapons. The U.S. would as well appear to the world as less committed to the defense of the hemisphere. On a personal level, Kennedy needed to show resolve in reaction to Khrushchev, especially after the Vienna summit.

More than a third of the members of the NSC favored an unannounced air assault on the missile sites, but for some of them this conjured up an image of "Pearl Harbor in reverse". There was as well some reaction from the international community (asked in confidence) that the assault plan was an overreaction in light of U.S. missiles placed in Turkey by Eisenhower. There also could be no assurance from the Council that the assault would be 100% effective. In concurrence with a majority vote of the NSC, Kennedy decided on a naval quarantine, and on October 22 dispatched a message of this to Khrushchev and announced the decision on TV.

The U.S. Navy would stop and inspect all Soviet ships arriving off Cuba, beginning October 24. The Organization of American States surprisingly gave unanimous support to the removal of the missiles. The president exchanged two sets of letters with Khrushchev to no avail. UN Secretary General U Thant requested both parties reverse their decisions and allow a cooling off period. Khrushchev said yes but Kennedy replied no. After one Soviet-flagged ship was stopped and boarded, on October 28 Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missile sites subject to UN inspections. The U.S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba and privately agreed to remove its Jupiter missiles in Turkey, which were at that time obsolete and had been supplanted by missile-equipped US Navy Polaris subs. This crisis had brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point known before or since. In the end, "the humanity" of the two men prevailed. The crisis improved the image of American willpower and the president's credibility. His approval rating increased from 66% to 77% immediately thereafter.

Latin America and communism

Arguing that "those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable," Kennedy sought to contain communism in Latin America by establishing the Alliance for Progress, which sent aid to troubled countries and sought greater human rights standards in the region. He worked closely with Governor of Puerto Rico Luis Muñoz Marín for the development of the Alliance of Progress, as well as developments in the autonomy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

When the president took office the Eisenhower administration, through the CIA, has begun putting into place assassination plots in Cuba against Castro and in the Dominican Republic against Rafael Trujillo. Kennedy instructed the CIA privately that any such planning must include plausible deniability by the U.S. His public position was in opposition. In June 1961 the Dominican Republic's leader was assassinated; in the days following the event, Undersecretary of State Chester Bowles led a cautious reaction by the nation, and Robert Kennedy, substituting for his brother who was in France, and who saw an opportunity for the U.S., called him "a gutless bastard" to his face.

Peace Corps

As one of his first presidential acts, Kennedy asked Congress to create the Peace Corps. Since 1961, over 200,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps, serving in 139 countries.

Southeast Asia

When briefing Kennedy, Eisenhower emphasized the communist threat in Southeast Asia as requiring priority; Eisenhower considered Laos to be "the cork in the bottle" in regards to the regional threat. In March 1961, Kennedy voiced a change in policy from supporting a "free" Laos to a "neutral" Laos, indicating privately that Vietnam, and not Laos, should be deemed America's tripwire for communism's spread in the area. In May 1961, he dispatched Lyndon Johnson to meet with South Vietnam's President Ngo Dinh Diem. Johnson assured Diem of more aid in molding a fighting force that could resist the Communists. Kennedy announced a change of policy from support to partnership with Diem in defeat of communism in South Vietnam.

Kennedy initially followed Eisenhower's lead, by using limited military action to fight the Communist forces led by Ho Chi Minh. Kennedy continued policies providing political, economic, and military support for the South Vietnamese government. Kennedy increased the number of helicopters, military advisors and undeclared U.S. Special Forces in the area, but he was still reluctant to order a full scale deployment of troops. Kennedy formally authorized escalated involvement when he signed the "National Security Action Memorandum – Subversive Insurgency (War of Liberation)" in early 1962. Secretary of State, Dean Rusk voiced strong support for U.S. involvement, as illustrated in his emphatic statement in fall 1962 that, "...neutralism [in South Vietnam] is not neutralism at all; it's tantamount to surrender". "Operation Ranch Hand", a broad scale aerial defoliation effort began on the roadsides in South Vietnam. in the Oval office in 1963]]

In April 1963, Kennedy expressed his assessment of the situation in Vietnam: "We don't have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those people hate us. They are going to throw our asses out of there at any point. But I can't give up that territory to the Communists and get the American people to re-elect me". By July 1963, Kennedy faced a crisis in Vietnam; despite increased U.S. support, the South Vietnamese military was only marginally effective against pro-Communist Viet Cong forces.

On August 21, just as the new U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge arrived, Ngo Dinh Diem, and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu ordered South Vietnam forces, funded and trained by the CIA, to quell Buddhist demonstrations. The crackdowns heightened expectations of a coup d'état to remove Diem with (or perhaps by) his brother, Nhu. Lodge was instructed to try to get Diem and Nhu to step down and leave the country. Diem would not listen to Lodge. Cable 243 (DEPTEL 243), dated August 24, followed, declaring Washington would no longer tolerate Nhu's actions, and Lodge was ordered to pressure Diem to remove his brother, Nhu. If Diem refused, the Americans would explore alternative leadership. Lodge replied, stating the only workable option was to get the South Vietnamese generals to overthrow Diem and Nhu, as originally planned. At week's end, Kennedy learned from Lodge that the Diem government might, due to France's assistance to Nhu, be dealing secretly with the Communists – and might ask the Americans to leave; orders were sent to Saigon and throughout Washington to "destroy all coup cables". At the same time, the first formal anti-Vietnam war sentiment was expressed by U.S. clergy from the Ministers' Vietnam Committee.

A White House meeting in September was indicative of the very different ongoing appraisals; the President was given updated assessments after personal inspections on the ground by the Department of Defense (Gen. Victor Krulak) and the State Department (Joseph Mendenhall). Krulak said the military fight against the communists was progressing and being won, while Mendenhall stated that the country was civilly being lost to any U.S. influence. Kennedy reacted, saying, "Did you two gentlemen visit the same country?" The president was unaware the two men were at such odds they did not speak on the return flight.

In October 1963, the president appointed Defense Secretary McNamara and Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor to a Vietnam mission in another effort to synchronize the information and formulation of policy. The objective of the McNamara Taylor mission "emphasized the importance of getting to the bottom of the differences in reporting from U.S. representatives in Vietnam". In meetings with McNamara, Taylor and Lodge, Diem again refused to agree to governing measures insisted upon by the U.S., helping to dispel McNamara's previous optimism about Diem. Taylor and McNamara were also enlightened by Vietnam's Vice President, Nguyen Ngoc Tho (choice of many to succeed Diem should a coup occur), who in detailed terms obliterated Taylor's information that the military was succeeding in the countryside. The mission report, after it had been through the NSC, nevertheless retained, at Kennedy's insistence, a recommended schedule for troop withdrawals: 1000 by year's end and complete withdrawal in 1965, something the NSC considered strategic fantasy. The final report also portrayed military progress, an increasingly unpopular Diem-led government, not vulnerable to a coup, albeit possible internal assassination.

In late October, intelligence wires again reported a coup of the Diem government was afoot. The source, Duong Van Minh a/k/a "Big Minh" wanted to know the U.S. position. Kennedy's instructions to Lodge were to offer covert assistance to the coup, excluding assassination, but to ensure deniability by the U.S. Later that month, as the coup became imminent, Kennedy ordered all cables routed through him, and a policy of "control and cut out" was initiated – to insure presidential control of U.S. responses, while cutting him out of the paper trail. On November 1, 1963, South Vietnamese generals, led by "Big Minh", overthrew the Diem government, arresting and then killing Diem and his brother Nhu. Kennedy was shocked by the deaths and by finding out afterwards that Minh had asked the CIA field office to secure safe passage out of the country for Diem and Nhu, but was told 24 hours was needed to get a plane. Minh responded that he could not hold them that long and thus handed them a death sentence. Initially after news of the coup, there was renewed confidence in America and South Vietnam, that now the war might be won. McGeorge Bundy drafted a National Security Action Memo to present to Kennedy upon his return from Dallas. It reiterated U.S. resolve to fight communism in Vietnam, with both military and economic aid at a higher level, including operations in Laos and Cambodia. Before leaving for Dallas, Kennedy told Mike Forrestal that "after the first of the year ... [he wanted] an in depth study of every possible option, including how to get out of there ... to review this whole thing from the bottom to the top". When asked what he thought the president meant, Forrestal said, "it was devil's advocate stuff."

Historians disagree on whether Vietnam would have escalated to the point it did, had Kennedy survived and been re-elected in 1964. Fueling the debate are statements made by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in the film, "The Fog of War", that Kennedy was strongly considering pulling out of Vietnam after the 1964 election. The film also contains a tape recording of Lyndon Johnson stating that Kennedy was planning to withdraw, a position Johnson states he strongly disapproved. Further, Kennedy had signed National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) 263, dated October 11, 1963, which ordered the withdrawal of 1,000 military personnel by the end of 1963. Nevertheless, given the reasons stated for the overthrow of the Diem government, such action would have been a policy reversal, but Kennedy was moving in a less hawkish direction since his acclaimed speech about World Peace at American University on June 10, 1963. According to historian Lawrence Freedman, Kennedy's statements about withdrawing from Vietnam, were "less of a definite decision than a working assumption, based on a hope for stability rather than an expectation of chaos". Some of the details of Kennedy's involvement in Vietnam were classified until the release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

U.S. involvement in the region escalated until Lyndon Johnson, his successor, directly deployed regular U.S. military forces for fighting the Vietnam War. After Kennedy's assassination, the new President Lyndon B. Johnson immediately reversed his predecessor's order to withdraw 1,000 military personnel by the end of 1963 with his own NSAM 273 on November 26, 1963.

American University speech

, June 10, 1963.]]

On June 10, 1963, Kennedy delivered the commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C., "to discuss a topic on which too often ignorance abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived - yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace...I speak of peace because of the new face of war...in an age when a singular nuclear weapon contains ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied forces in the Second World War...an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and air and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn...I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men...world peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor - it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance...our problems are man-made - therefore they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants." The president also made two announcements - that the Soviets had expressed a desire to negotiate a nuclear test ban treaty and that the U.S had postponed planned atmospheric tests.

West Berlin speech

governing mayor Willy Brandt, March 1961]]

In 1963, Germany was enduring a time of particular vulnerability, due to Soviet aggression to the east, de Gaulle's French nationalism to the west, and the impending retirement of German Chancellor Adenauer. On June 26, 1963, Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave a public speech reiterating American commitment to Germany and criticizing communism; he was met with an ecstatic response from a massive audience. Kennedy used the construction of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failures of communism: "Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in." The speech is known for its famous phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a citizen of Berlin"). Nearly five-sixths of the population was on the street for the speech. He remarked to Ted Sorensen afterwards: "We'll never have another day like this one, as long as we live."

Israel

with President Kennedy (1962)]] Kennedy encountered problems with the Israeli government regarding the production of nuclear weapons in Dimona. After the existence of a nuclear plant was initially denied by the Israeli government, David Ben-Gurion, in a speech to the Israeli Knesset on December 21, 1960, stated that the purpose of the nuclear plant at Beersheba was for "research in problems of arid zones and desert flora and fauna". When Ben-Gurion met with Kennedy in New York, he claimed that Dimona was being developed to provide nuclear power for desalinization and "for the time being the only purposes [of the nuclear plant] are for peace". The State Department argued that if Israel wanted arms, it should in return accept international supervision of its nuclear program. Dimona was never placed under IAEA safeguards. On May 1, 1968, Undersecretary of State Katzenbach told President Johnson that Dimona was producing enough plutonium to produce two bombs a year. Attempts to write Israeli adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) into contracts for the supply of U.S. weapons continued throughout 1968.

Iraq

In 1963, the Kennedy administration backed a coup against the government of Iraq headed by General Abdel Karim Kassem, who five years earlier had deposed the Western-allied Iraqi monarchy. The CIA helped the new Ba'ath Party government led by Abdul Salam Arif in ridding the country of suspected leftists and Communists. In a Ba'athist coup, the government used lists of suspected Communists and other leftists provided by the CIA, to systematically murder untold numbers of Iraq's educated elite—killings in which Saddam Hussein himself is said to have participated. The victims included hundreds of doctors, teachers, technicians, lawyers, other professionals, military and political figures. According to an op-ed in The New York Times, the U.S. sent arms to the new regime, weapons later used against the same Kurdish insurgents the U.S. supported against Kassem and then abandoned him. American and UK oil and other interests, including Mobil, Bechtel, and British Petroleum, were conducting business in Iraq. He also visited the original cottage at Dunganstown, near New Ross, where previous Kennedys had lived before emigrating to America, and said: "This is where it all began ..." On December 22, 2006, the Irish Department of Justice released declassified police documents that indicated that Kennedy was the subject of three death threats during this visit. Though these threats were determined to be hoaxes, security was heightened.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Troubled by the long-term dangers of radioactive contamination and nuclear weapons proliferation, Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed on the desirability of negotiating a nuclear test ban treaty, originally conceived in Adlai Stevenson's 1956 presidential campaign. In their Vienna summit meeting in June 1961, Khrushchev and Kennedy reached an informal understanding against nuclear testing, but Khrushchev began testing nuclear weapons that September and Kennedy responded by conducting tests 5 days later. Shortly thereafter, new U.S satellites began delivering images which made it clear that the Soviets were substantially behind the U.S. in the "missile gap". Nevertheless, the greater nuclear strength of the U.S. was of little value as long as the U.S.S.R. perceived themselves to be at parity.

In July 1963 the stage was set for negotiations, and Kennedy sent Averell Harriman to Moscow to negotiate a treaty with the Soviets. The introductory sessions began with Khrushchev, who then delegated Soviet representation to Andrei Gromyko. It quickly became clear that the stated objective of a comprehensive test ban would not reach fruition, due largely to the reluctance of the Soviets for inspections to verify compliance. Ultimately, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union were the initial signatories to a limited treaty, which prohibited atomic testing on the ground, in the atmosphere, or underwater, but not underground; the U.S. Senate ratified this and Kennedy signed it into law in October 1963. France was quick to declare that it was free to further develop and test its nuclear defenses.

Domestic policy

Kennedy called his domestic program the "New Frontier". It ambitiously promised federal funding for education, medical care for the elderly, economic aid to rural regions, and government intervention to halt the recession. Kennedy also promised an end to racial discrimination. In his 1963 State of the Union, he proposed substantial tax reform and reduction, in income tax rates, from the current range of 20-90% to a range of 14-65%; he proposed a reduction in the corporate tax rates from 52 to 47%. Congress did not act until 1964, after his death. To the Economics Club of N.Y., he spoke in 1963 of "...the paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high and revenues too low; and the soundest way to raise revenue in the long term is to lower rates now." Few of Kennedy's major programs passed Congress during his lifetime, although, under his successor Johnson, Congress did vote them through in 1964–65.

Economy

Kennedy ended a period of tight fiscal policies, loosening monetary policy to keep interest rates down and encourage growth of the economy. Kennedy presided over the first government budget to top the $100 billion mark, in 1962, and his first budget in 1961 led to the country's first non-war, non-recession deficit. The economy, which had been through two recessions in three years and was in one when Kennedy took office, accelerated notably during his brief presidency. Despite low inflation and interest rates, GDP had grown by an average of only 2.2% during the Eisenhower presidency (scarcely more than population growth at the time), and had declined by 1% during Eisenhower's last twelve months in office. Stagnation had taken a toll on the nation's labor market, as well: unemployment had risen steadily from under 3% in 1953 to 7%, by early 1961.

The economy turned around and prospered during the Kennedy administration. GDP expanded by an average of 5.5% from early 1961 to late 1963, industrial production rose by 15% and motor vehicle sales leapt by 40%. This rate of growth in GDP and industry continued until around 1966, and has yet to be repeated for such a sustained period of time.

The major steel companies announced in April 1962 a 3.5% price increase (the first in 3 years) within a day of each other. This came just days after the companies had reached a settlement with the steelworkers' union, providing in chief a wage increase of 2.5%. The administration was furious, with Kennedy saying, "Why did they do this? Do they think they can get away with this? God, I hate the bastards." The president took personal charge of a campaign against the industry, assigning to each cabinet member a statement regarding the effects of the price increase on their area. Robert Kennedy, echoing his brother's own sentiments, "We're going for broke...their expense accounts, where they've been and what they've been doing...the FBI is to interview them all...we can't lose this." Robert took the position that the steel executives had illegally colluded in doing this. There was genuine concern about the inflationary effects of the price increase. The administration's actions influenced US Steel not to institute the price increase. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the administration had acted "by naked power, by threats, by agents of the state security police." Yale law professor Charles Reich wrote in The New Republic his opinion that the administration had violated civil liberties by calling a grand jury to indict US Steel for collusion so quickly. Nevertheless, the administration's Bureau of Budget reported the price increase would have resulted in a net gain for GDP as well as a net budget surplus.

Kennedy had little knowledge of the agricultural sector of the economy, and farmers were definitely not on his list of priorities, at least in his 1960 campaign. After giving a speech to a farming community, he rhetorically asked an aide, "Did you understand any of what I just said in there? I sure didn't."

Federal and military death penalty

As President, Kennedy oversaw the last pre-Furman federal execution, and, as of 2008, the last military execution. Governor of Iowa Harold Hughes, a death penalty opponent, personally contacted Kennedy to request clemency for Victor Feguer, who was sentenced to death by a federal court in Iowa, but Kennedy turned down the request and Feguer was executed on March 15, 1963. Kennedy commuted a death sentence imposed by military court on seaman Jimmie Henderson on February 12, 1962, changing the penalty to life in prison.

On March 22, 1962, Kennedy signed into law HR5143 (PL87-423), abolishing the mandatory death penalty for first degree murder in the District of Columbia, the only remaining jurisdiction in the United States with a mandatory death sentence for first degree murder, replacing it with life imprisonment with parole if the jury could not decide between life imprisonment and the death penalty, or if the jury chose life imprisonment by a unanimous vote. The death penalty in the District of Columbia has not been applied since 1957, and has now been abolished.

Civil rights

The turbulent end of state-sanctioned racial discrimination was one of the most pressing domestic issues of the 1960s. The Supreme Court of the United States had ruled in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Many schools, especially in southern states, did not obey the Supreme Court's decision. Segregation had also been prohibited by the Court at other public facilities (e.g. buses, restaurants, theaters, courtrooms, bathrooms, and beaches) but continued nonetheless. Kennedy verbally supported racial integration and civil rights; during the 1960 campaign he telephoned Coretta Scott King, wife of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who had been jailed while demonstrating for equal access of African Americans; Kennedy secured the early release of King, which drew additional black support to his candidacy.

Nevertheless President Kennedy believed the grass roots movement for civil rights would anger many Southern whites and make it more difficult to pass civil rights laws in Congress, which was dominated by conservative Southern Democrats, and he distanced himself from it. He also was more concerned with other issues early in his presidency, e.g. the "Bay of Pigs" fiasco and Southeast Asia. As articulated by brother Robert, the administration's early priority was to "keep the president out of this civil rights mess". As a result, many civil rights leaders viewed Kennedy as lukewarm, especially concerning the Freedom Riders who organized an integrated public transportation effort in the south, and who were repeatedly met with violence by whites, including law enforcement both federal and state. Kennedy assigned federal marshals to protect the Freedom Riders as an alternative to using federal troops or uncooperative FBI agents. Robert Kennedy, speaking for the president, urged the Freedom Riders to "get off the buses and leave the matter to peaceful settlement in the courts."

In September 1962, James Meredith enrolled at the University of Mississippi, but was prevented from entering. Attorney General Robert Kennedy responded by sending some 400 U.S. Marshals, while President Kennedy reluctantly federalized and sent 3,000 troops after the situation on campus turned violent. Campus Riots left two dead and dozens injured, but Meredith did finally enroll in his first class. On November 20, 1962, Kennedy signed Executive Order 11063, prohibiting racial discrimination in federally supported housing or "related facilities".

In early 1963, Kennedy related to Martin Luther King, Jr., about the prospects for civil rights legislation: "If we get into a long fight over this in Congress, it will bottleneck everything else, and we will still get no bill." However, civil rights clashes were very much on the rise that year. Brother Robert and Ted Sorenson pressed Kennedy to take more initiative on the legislative front. On June 11, 1963, President Kennedy intervened when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two African American students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending. Wallace moved aside only after being confronted by Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and the Alabama National Guard, which had just been federalized by order of the President, and which had hours earlier been under Wallace's command. That evening Kennedy gave his famous civil rights address on national television and radio, launching his initiative for civil rights legislation - to provide equal access to public schools and other facilities, and greater protection of voting rights. His proposals became part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The day ended with the murder of a N.A.A.C.P. leader, Medgar Evers, at his home in Mississippi. As the president had predicted, the day after his TV speech, and in reaction to it, House Majority leader Carl Albert called to advise him that his two year signature effort in Congress to combat poverty in Appalachia (Area Redevelopment Administration) had been defeated, primarily by the votes of Southern Democrats and Republicans.

Kennedy signed the executive order creating the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women on December 14, 1961. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt led the commission. The Commission statistics revealed that women were also experiencing discrimination; their final report documenting legal and cultural barriers was issued in October 1963. Earlier, on June 10, 1963, Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, a federal law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex.

Over a hundred thousand, predominantly African Americans, gathered in Washington for the civil rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. Kennedy feared the March would have a negative effect on the prospects for the civil rights bills in Congress, and declined an invitation to speak. He turned over some of the details of the government's involvement to the Dept. of Justice, which channelled hundreds of thousands of dollars to the six sponsors of the March, including the N.A.A.C.P. and Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). To ensure a peaceful demonstration, the organizers and the president personally edited speeches which were inflammatory and agreed the March would be held on a Wednesday and would be over at 4:00 pm Thousands of troops were placed on standby. Kennedy watched King's speech on TV and was very impressed. The March was considered a "triumph of managed protest", and not one arrest relating to the demonstration occurred. Afterwards, the March leaders accepted an invitation to the White House to meet with Kennedy and photos were taken. Kennedy felt the March was a victory for him as well and bolstered the chances for his civil rights bill.

Nevertheless, the struggle was far from over. Three weeks later, a bomb exploded on a Sunday at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham; at the end of the day six children had died in the explosion and aftermath. As a result of this resurgent violence, the civil rights legislation underwent some drastic amendments that critically endangered any prospects for passage of the bill, to the outrage of the president. Kennedy called the congressional leaders to the White House and by the following day the original bill, without the additions, had enough votes to get it out of the House committee.

Civil liberties

In 1963, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who hated civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and viewed him as an upstart troublemaker, presented the Kennedy Administration with allegations that some of King's close confidants and advisers were communists. Concerned that the allegations, if made public, would derail the Administration's civil rights initiatives, Robert Kennedy and the president both warned King to discontinue the suspect associations. After the associations continued, Robert Kennedy felt compelled to issue a written directive authorizing the FBI to wiretap King and other leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King's civil rights organization. Although Kennedy only gave written approval for limited wiretapping of King's phones "on a trial basis, for a month or so", Hoover extended the clearance so his men were "unshackled" to look for evidence in any areas of King's life they deemed worthy. The wire tapping continued through June 1966 and was revealed in 1968.

Immigration

John F. Kennedy initially proposed an overhaul of American immigration policy that later was to become the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, sponsored by Kennedy's brother Senator Edward Kennedy. It dramatically shifted the source of immigration from Northern and Western European countries towards immigration from Latin America and Asia and shifted the emphasis of selection of immigrants towards facilitating family reunification. Kennedy wanted to dismantle the selection of immigrants based on country of origin and saw this as an extension of his civil rights policies.

Space program

required an American response.]]

As a senator, Kennedy had been opposed to the manned space program. The Apollo program was conceived early in 1960, during the Eisenhower administration, as a follow-up to America's Mercury program. While NASA went ahead with planning for Apollo, funding for the program was far from certain given Eisenhower's ambivalent attitude to manned spaceflight. Early in his presidency, Kennedy was considering plans to dismantle the Apollo program due to its cost, but postponed any decision out of deference to his vice president whom he had appointed chairman of the U.S. Space Council and who strongly supported NASA due to its new Manned Spacecraft Center in Texas. In his January 1961 State of the Union address, Kennedy had suggested international cooperation in space. Sergei Khrushchev said Kennedy approached his father, Nikita, twice about a "joint venture" in space exploration—in June 1961 and autumn 1963. On the first occasion, the Soviet Union was ahead of America in many aspects of space technology.

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space, reinforcing American fears about being left behind in a technological competition with the Soviet Union. Kennedy was eager for the U.S. to take the lead in the Space Race for strategic reasons. Kennedy first announced the goal for landing a man on the Moon in the speech to a Joint Session of Congress on May 25, 1961, stating:

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."

Kennedy later made a speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962, in which he said:

"No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space."

and

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

On November 21, 1962, in a Cabinet Room meeting with NASA Administrator James E. Webb and other officials, Kennedy said:

"This is important for political reasons, international political reasons... Because otherwise we shouldn't be spending this kind of money, because I'm not that interested in space. I think it's good, I think we ought to know about it, we're ready to spend reasonable amounts of money. But...we’ve spent fantastic expenditures, we’ve wrecked our budget on all these other domestic programs, and the only justification for it, in my opinion, to do it in the pell-mell fashion is because we hope to beat them [the Soviets] and demonstrate that starting behind, as we did by a couple of years, by God, we passed them. I think it would be a helluva thing for us."

On the second approach to Khrushchev, the Ukrainian was persuaded that cost-sharing was beneficial and that American space technology was forging ahead. The U.S. had launched a geosynchronous satellite in July 1962 and Kennedy had asked Congress to approve more than $25 billion for the Apollo program.

In September 1963, during a speech before the United Nations, Kennedy again proposed a joint lunar program to the Soviet Union. The proposal was not enthusiastically received by Khrushchev. Kennedy's death only a little more than a month later essentially made the proposal irrelevant. On July 20, 1969, almost six years after his death, Apollo's goal was realized when Americans landed on the Moon.

Native American relations

Construction of the Kinzua Dam flooded of Seneca nation land that they occupied under the Treaty of 1794, and forced approximately 600 Seneca to relocate to the northern shores upstream of the dam at Salamanca, New York. Kennedy was asked by the American Civil Liberties Union to intervene and halt the project but he declined citing a critical need for flood control. He did express concern for the plight of the Seneca, and directed government agencies to assist in obtaining more land, damages, and assistance to help mitigate their displacement.

Assassination

President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 pm Central Standard Time on November 22, 1963, while on a political trip to Texas to smooth over frictions in the Democratic Party between liberals Ralph Yarborough and Don Yarborough (no relation) and conservative John Connally. He was shot once in the upper back and was killed with a final shot to the head. He was pronounced dead at 1:00 pm. Only 46, President Kennedy died younger than any U.S. president to date. Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository from which the shots were suspected to have been fired, was arrested on charges for the murder of a local police officer and was subsequently charged with the assassination of Kennedy. He denied shooting anyone, claiming he was a , but was killed by Jack Ruby on November 24, before he could be indicted or tried. Ruby was then arrested and convicted for the murder of Oswald. Ruby successfully appealed his conviction and death sentence but became ill and died of cancer on January 3, 1967, while the date for his new trial was being set.

President Johnson created the Warren Commission—chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren—to investigate the assassination, which concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. The results of this investigation are disputed by many. The assassination proved to be an important moment in U.S. history because of its impact on the nation and the ensuing political repercussions.

Funeral

A Requiem Mass was held for Kennedy at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on November 25, 1963. Afterwards, John F. Kennedy's body was buried in a small plot, (20 by 30 ft.), in Arlington National Cemetery. Over a period of 3 years, (1964–1966), an estimated 16 million people had visited his grave. On March 14, 1967, Kennedy's body was moved to a permanent burial plot and memorial at the Cemetery. The funeral was officiated by Father John J. Cavanaugh. It was from this memorial that the graves of both Robert and Ted were modeled.

The honor guard at JFK's graveside was the 37th Cadet Class of the Irish Army. JFK was greatly impressed by the Irish Cadets on his last official visit to the Republic of Ireland, so much so that Jackie Kennedy requested the Irish Army to be the honor guard at the funeral.

Kennedy's wife, Jacqueline and their two deceased minor children were buried with him later. His brother, Senator Robert Kennedy, was buried nearby in June 1968. In August 2009, his brother, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, was also buried near his two brothers. JFK's grave is lit with an "Eternal Flame." Kennedy and William Howard Taft are the only two U.S. Presidents buried at Arlington.

Administration, Cabinet and judicial appointments 1961–1963

{| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4" style="margin:1px; border:1px solid Black; float:left" |- ! style="background:#dcdcdc;" colspan="3"|The Kennedy Cabinet |- |align="left"|OFFICE||align="left"|NAME||align="left"|TERM |- ! style="background:black;" colspan="3"| |- |align="left"|President||align="left"|John F. Kennedy||align="left"|1961–1963 |- |align="left"|Vice President||align="left"|Lyndon B. Johnson||align="left"|1961–1963 |- ! style="background:black;" colspan="3"| |- |align="left"|State||align="left"|Dean Rusk||align="left"|1961–1963 |- |align="left"|Treasury||align="left"|C. Douglas Dillon||align="left"|1961–1963 |- |align="left"|Defense||align="left"|Robert McNamara||align="left"|1961–1963 |- |align="left"|Justice||align="left"|Robert F. Kennedy||align="left"|1961–1963 |- |align="left"|Postmaster General||align="left"|J. Edward Day||align="left"|1961–1963 |- |align="left"| ||align="left"|John A. Gronouski||align="left"|1963 |- |align="left"|Interior||align="left"|Stewart Udall||align="left"|1961–1963 |- |align="left"|Agriculture||align="left"|Orville Freeman||align="left"|1961–1963 |- |align="left"|Commerce||align="left"|Luther H. Hodges||align="left"|1961–1963 |- |align="left"|Labor||align="left"|Arthur Goldberg||align="left"|1961–1962 |- |align="left"| ||align="left"|W. Willard Wirtz||align="left"|1962–1963 |- |align="left"|HEW||align="left"|Abraham A. Ribicoff||align="left"|1961–1962 |- |align="left"| ||align="left"|Anthony J. Celebrezze||align="left"|1962–1963 |}

Judicial appointments

Supreme Court

Kennedy appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: Byron White 1962 Arthur Goldberg 1962

Other courts

In addition to his two Supreme Court appointments, Kennedy appointed 21 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 102 judges to the United States district courts.

Image, social life and family

in Hyannis Port in 1963]] John Kennedy met his future wife, Jacqueline Bouvier, when he was a congressman. Charles L. Bartlett, a journalist, introduced the pair at a dinner party. They were married a year after he was elected senator, on September 12, 1953. Kennedy and his wife were younger in comparison to the presidents and first ladies that preceded them, and both were popular in ways more common to pop singers and movie stars than politicians, influencing fashion trends and becoming the subjects of numerous photo spreads in popular magazines. Although Eisenhower had allowed presidential press conferences to be filmed for television, Kennedy was the first president to ask for them to be broadcast live and made good use of the medium. Jacqueline brought new art and furniture to the White House, and directed its restoration. They invited a range of artists, writers and intellectuals to rounds of White House dinners, raising the profile of the arts in America. The Kennedy family is one of the most established political families in the United States, having produced a President, three senators, and multiple other Representatives, both on the federal and state level. John Kennedy's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was a prominent American businessman and political figure, serving in multiple roles, including Ambassador to the United Kingdom, from 1938 to 1940. , November 22, 1963]]

Outside on the White House lawn, the Kennedys established a swimming pool and tree house, while Caroline attended a preschool along with 10 other children inside the home.

The president was closely tied to popular culture, emphasized by songs such as "Twisting at the White House." Vaughn Meader's First Family comedy album—an album parodying the President, First Lady, their family and administration—sold about four million copies. On May 19, 1962, Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" at a large party in Madison Square Garden, celebrating Kennedy's upcoming forty-fifth birthday. The charisma of Kennedy and his family led to the figurative designation of "Camelot" for his administration, credited by his wife to his affection for the then contemporary Broadway musical of the same name.

Behind the glamorous facade, the Kennedys also experienced many personal tragedies. Jacqueline had a miscarriage in 1955 and a stillbirth in 1956. Their newborn son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, died in August 1963. Kennedy had two children who survived infancy. One of the fundamental aspects of the Kennedy family is a tragic strain which has run through the family, as a result of the violent and untimely deaths of many of its members. John's eldest brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., died in World War II, at the age of 29. It was Joe Jr. who was originally to carry the family's hopes for the Presidency. Then both John himself, and his brother Robert died as a result of assassinations. Edward had brushes with death, the first in a plane crash and the second as a result of a car accident, known as the Chappaquiddick incident. Edward died at age 77, on August 25, 2009, from the effects of a malignant brain tumor.

Years after Kennedy's death, it was revealed that in September 1947, at age 30, and while in his first term in Congress, he was diagnosed by Sir Daniel Davis at The London Clinic with Addison's disease, a rare endocrine disorder. In 1966, his White House doctor, Janet Travell, revealed that Kennedy also had hypothyroidism. The presence of two endocrine diseases raises the possibility that Kennedy had autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2 (APS 2). He also suffered from chronic and severe back pain, for which he had surgery and was written up in the AMA's Archives of Surgery. Kennedy’s condition may even have had diplomatic repercussions, as he appears to have been taking a combination of drugs to treat severe pain during the 1961 Vienna Summit with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The combination included hormones, animal organ cells, steroids, vitamins, enzymes, and amphetamines, and potential side effects included hyperactivity, hypertension, impaired judgment, nervousness, and significant mood swings. Kennedy at one time was regularly seen by no less than three doctors, one of whom, Max Jacobson was unknown to the other two, as his mode of treatment was controversial and used for the most severe bouts of pain. There was often disagreement among his doctors, as in late 1961, over the proper balance of medication and exercise, with the president preferring the former as he was short on time and desired immediate relief.

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy was born in 1957 and is the only surviving member of JFK's immediate family. John F. Kennedy, Jr. was born in 1960, just a few weeks after his father was elected. John died in 1999, when the small plane he was piloting crashed en route to Martha's Vineyard, killing him, his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and his sister-in-law.

In October 1951, during his third term as Massachusetts's 11th district congressman, the then 34-year-old Kennedy embarked on a seven-week Asian trip to India, Japan, Vietnam, and Israel with his then 25-year-old brother Robert (who had just graduated from law school four months earlier) and his then 27-year-old sister Patricia. Because of their eight-year separation in age, the two brothers had previously seen little of each other. This trip was the first extended time they had spent together and resulted in their becoming best friends, in addition to being brothers. Robert was campaign manager for Kennedy's successful 1952 Senate campaign and later, his successful 1960 presidential campaign. The two brothers worked closely together from 1957 to 1959 on the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor and Management Field, when Robert was its chief counsel. During Kennedy's presidency, Robert served in his cabinet as Attorney General and was his closest advisor.

Some corroborated reports allege, but others deny, that Kennedy had affairs with a number of women, including: Marilyn Monroe, Gunilla von Post, Judith Campbell, Mary Pinchot Meyer and Mimi Beardsley Alford. There was some medical opinion that the drugs the president required for Addison's had the side effect of increasing virility. Kennedy inspired affection and loyalty from the members of his team and his supporters. According to author Reeves, this included "the logistics of Kennedy's liaisons...[which] required secrecy and devotion rare in the annals of the energetic service demanded by successful politicians."

Kennedy was a Life Member of the National Rifle Association. Kennedy came in third (behind Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa) in Gallup's List of Widely Admired People of the twentieth century.

Ancestors

The Kennedy family originally came from Dunganstown, County Wexford. In 1848, Patrick Kennedy left his farm and boarded a ship in New Ross bound for Liverpool on his way to Boston. It was here he met the woman he was to marry, Bridget Murphy. Patrick Kennedy came to Boston, took a job as a migrant worker, and died within eight or nine years, of cholera. He left behind a widow and children to carry on.

Legacy

Television became the primary source by which people were kept informed of events surrounding John F. Kennedy's assassination. Newspapers were kept as souvenirs rather than sources of updated information. In this sense it was the first major "TV news event" of its kind, the TV coverage uniting the nation, interpreting what went on and creating memories of this space in time. All three major U.S. television networks suspended their regular schedules and switched to all-news coverage from November 22 through November 25, 1963, being on the air for 70 hours, making it the longest uninterrupted news event on American TV until 9/11. Kennedy's state funeral procession and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald were all broadcast live in America and in other places around the world. The state funeral was the first of three in a span of 12 months. The other two were for General Douglas MacArthur and Herbert Hoover. All three have two things in common: the commanding general of the Military District of Washington during those funerals was Army Major General Philip C. Wehle and the riderless horse was Black Jack, who also served in that role during Lyndon B. Johnson's funeral.

The assassination had an effect on many people, not only in the U.S. but around the world. Many vividly remember where they were when first learning of the news that Kennedy was assassinated, as with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 before it and the September 11 attacks after it. UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson said of the assassination: "all of us... will bear the grief of his death until the day of ours." Many people have also spoken of the shocking news, compounded by the pall of uncertainty about the identity of the assassin(s), the possible instigators and the causes of the killing as an end to innocence, and in retrospect it has been coalesced with other changes of the tumultuous decade of the 1960s, especially the Vietnam War.

Special Forces have a special bond with Kennedy. "It was President Kennedy who was responsible for the rebuilding of the Special Forces and giving us back our Green Beret," said Forrest Lindley, a writer for the newspaper Stars and Stripes who served with Special Forces in Vietnam. This bond was shown at JFK's funeral. At the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of JFK's death, Gen. Michael D. Healy, the last commander of Special Forces in Vietnam, spoke at Arlington Cemetery. Later, a wreath in the form of the Green Beret would be placed on the grave, continuing a tradition that began the day of his funeral when a sergeant in charge of a detail of Special Forces men guarding the grave placed his beret on the coffin.

Kennedy was the first of six Presidents to have served in the U.S. Navy, and one of the enduring legacies of his administration was the creation in 1961 of another special forces command, the Navy SEALs, which Kennedy enthusiastically supported.

Ultimately, the death of President Kennedy and the ensuing confusion surrounding the facts of his assassination are of political and historical importance insofar as they marked a turning point and decline in the faith of the American people in the political establishment—a point made by commentators from Gore Vidal to Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. and implied by Oliver Stone in several of his films, such as his landmark 1991 JFK.

Kennedy's continuation of Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower's policies of giving economic and military aid to the Vietnam War preceded President Johnson's escalation of the conflict. This contributed to a decade of national difficulties and disappointment on the political landscape.

Many of Kennedy's speeches (especially his inaugural address) are considered iconic; and despite his relatively short term in office and lack of major legislative changes coming to fruition during his term, Americans regularly vote him as one of the best presidents, in the same league as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Some excerpts of Kennedy's inaugural address are engraved on a plaque at his grave at Arlington.

He was posthumously awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of goodwill to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in Terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth.'

President Kennedy is the only president to have predeceased both his mother and father. He is also the only president to have predeceased a grandparent. His grandmother, Mary Josephine Hannon Fitzgerald, died in 1964, just over eight months after his assassination.

Throughout the English-speaking world, the given name Kennedy has sometimes been used in honour of President Kennedy, as well his brother Robert.

Eponyms

John F. Kennedy International Airport, American facility (renamed from Idlewild in December 1963) in New York City's Queens County; nation's busiest international gateway

John F. Kennedy Memorial Airport American facility in Ashland County, Wisconsin, near city of Ashland

John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge American seven-lane transportation hub across Ohio River; completed in late 1963, the bridge links Kentucky and Indiana

John F. Kennedy School of Government, American institution (renamed from Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration in 1966)

John F. Kennedy Space Center, U.S. government installation that manages and operates America's astronaut launch facilities

John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School - trains United States Army personnel for the United States Army Special Operations Command and Army Special Operation Forces

John F. Kennedy University, American private educational institution founded in California in 1964; locations in Pleasant Hill, Campbell, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz

, U.S. Navy aircraft carrier ordered in April 1964, launched May 1967, decommissioned August 2007; nicknamed "Big John"

John F. Kennedy High School is the name of many secondary schools.

, U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to begin construction in 2012, and to be placed in commission in 2018.

Memorials

Coat of arms

In 1961, Kennedy was presented with a grant of arms for all the descendants of Patrick Kennedy from the Chief Herald of Ireland. The design of the arms strongly alludes to symbols in the coats of arms of the O'Kennedys of Ormonde and the Fitzgeralds of Desmond, from whom the family is believed to be descended. The crest is an armored hand holding four arrows between two olive branches, elements taken from the coat of arms of the United States of America and also symbolic of Kennedy and his brothers.

Kennedy received a signet ring engraved with his arms for his 44th birthday as a gift from his wife, and the arms were incorporated into the seal of the USS John F. Kennedy. Following his assassination, Kennedy was honored by the Canadian government by having a mountain, Mount Kennedy, named for him, which his brother, Robert Kennedy, climbed in 1965 to plant a banner of the arms at the summit.

Media

In other media and popular culture

Kennedy's assassination was the subject of the Oliver Stone film JFK, and footage of him appears in the Robert Zemeckis film Forrest Gump.

He features in the video games and .

During his lifetime Kennedy was the focal point of a Superman comicbook, Superman's Mission for President Kennedy.

Kennedy appears in the 2011 superhero film, in archive footage of his address to the nation regarding the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

See also

Abraham Zapruder, photographer of the primary film of assassination, the Zapruder film.

Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

History of the United States (1945–1964)

Jesuit Ivy

John F. Kennedy International Airport

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Park (in Ireland)

Kennedy Curse

Kennedy Doctrine

Kennedy Family

Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences urban legend

List of assassinated American politicians

List of Presidents of the United States

List of Presidents of the United States who died in office

Operation Northwoods

Orville Nix, photographer of the second film of assassination

Peace Corps

"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" retort by Senator Lloyd Bentsen, 1988 VP debate

US Presidents on US postage stamps

Kennedy half dollar

Footnotes

References

Alford, Mimi Beardsley & Newman, Judith. Once Upon A Secret (2010)

Ballard, Robert. Collision with History: The Search for John F. Kennedy's PT 109 (2002)

Barnes, John. John F. Kennedy on Leadership (2007)

Bilharz, Joy Ann. The Allegany Senecas and Kinzua Dam: forced relocation through two generations (1998)

Blight, James G. "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara" (2005)

Brauer, Carl. John F. Kennedy and the Second Reconstruction (1977)

Bugliosi, Vincent. "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy" (2007)

Burner, David. John F. Kennedy and a New Generation (1988)

Casey, Shaun. The Making of a Catholic President: Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960 (2009)

Collier, Peter & Horowitz, David. The Kennedys (1984)

Cottrell, John. Assassination! The World Stood Still (1964)

Dallek, Robert. (2003)

Davis, F. Moving the Mountain: The Women's Movement in America since 1960 (1999). See also: Martin, J. M. The Presidency and Women: Promise, Performance, and Illusion (2003).

Donovan, Robert J. PT-109: John F. Kennedy in WW II, 40th Anniversary Edition (1961, 2001)

Douglass, James W., JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters (2008), positive assessment

Dunnigan, James & Nofi, Albert. Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War (2000)

Fay, Paul B., Jr. The Pleasure of His Company (1966)

Freedman, Lawrence. Kennedy's Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam (2000)

Frum, David. How We Got Here: The '70s (2000)

Fursenko, Aleksandr and Timothy Naftali. One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro and Kennedy, 1958–1964 (1997)

Garrow, David J. The FBI and Martin Luther King (2002)

Giglio, James. The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (1991), standard scholarly overview of policies

Goldzwig, Steven R. and Dionisopoulos, George N., eds. In a Perilous Hour: The Public Address of John F. Kennedy, text and analysis of key speeches (1995)

Hamilton, Nigel. JFK: Reckless Youth (1992)

Harper, Paul, and Joann P. Krieg eds. John F. Kennedy: The Promise Revisited (1988), scholarly articles on presidency

Harris, Seymour E. The Economics of the Political Parties, with Special Attention to Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy (1962)

Heath, Jim F. Decade of Disillusionment: The Kennedy–Johnson Years (1976), general survey of decade

Hellmann, John. The Kennedy Obsession: The American Myth of JFK (1997), negative assessment

Hersh, Seymour. The Dark Side of Camelot (1997), highly negative assessment

Herst, Burton. Bobby and J. Edger (2007)

House Select Committee on Assassinations. Final Assassinations Report (1979)

Hove, Duane. American Warriors: Five Presidents in the Pacific Theater of World War II (2003)

Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam, A History (1991)

Kenney, Charles. John F. Kennedy: The Presidential Portfolio (2000)

Kunz, Diane B. The Diplomacy of the Crucial Decade: American Foreign Relations during the 1960s (1994)

Lynch, Grayston L. Decision for Disaster Betrayal at the Bay of Pigs (2000)

Maier, Thomas. The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings (2004)

McNamara, Robert S. "Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy" (2000)

Manchester, William. Portrait of a President: John F. Kennedy in Profile (1967)

Manchester, William. The Death of a President: November 20-November 25 (1967)

Newman, John M., JFK and Vietnam: Deception, Intrigue, and the Struggle for Power (1992)

O'Brien, Michael. John F. Kennedy: A Biography (2005), the most detailed biography

Parmet, Herbert. Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy (1980)

Parmet, Herbert. JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (1983)

Parmet, Herbert. "The Kennedy Myth". In Myth America: A Historical Anthology, Volume II. Gerster, Patrick, and Cords, Nicholas. (editors.) (1997)

Piper, Michael Collins. Final Judgment (2004: sixth edition). American Free Press

Reeves, Richard. President Kennedy: Profile of Power (1993), balanced assessment of policies

Reeves, Thomas. A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy (1991) hostile assessment of his character

Sabato, Larry J. The Kennedy Half-Century: The Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy (forthcoming, 2013)

Salt, Jermey. "The Unmaking of The Middle East" (2008)

Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (1965, 2002), Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, by a close advisor

Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr. Robert Kennedy And His Times (1978, 2002), National Book Award

Smith, Jean Edward. Kennedy and Defense: The Formative Years. Air University Review (March–April 1967)

Smith, Jean E. The Defense of Berlin (1963)

Smith, Jean E. The Wall as Watershed (1966)

Sorensen, Theodore. Kennedy (1966), by a close advisor

Walsh, Kenneth T. Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and Their Planes (2003)

Wyden, Peter, Bay of Pigs: The Untold Story (1979)

External links

John F. Kennedy: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress

New video footage released of JFK's last moments

Unpublished Photos From JFK's 1960 Campaign from LIFE

Video of Vincent Bugliosi discussing JFK assassination

Kennedy's Secret White House Recordings via the Miller Center of Public Affairs (UVa)

Video, Audio, Text of John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Kennedy discusses Cuban Missile Crisis with former President Eisenhower

John F. Kennedy Library

The White House Biography

JFK: Unpublished, Never-Seen Photos - slideshow by Life magazine

The Kennedys museum in Berlin, Germany with special exhibit on Kennedy's visit

Birthplace of John F. Kennedy: Home of the Boy Who Would Be President, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places lesson plan

Essay on JFK with shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs

Kennedy Administration from Office of the Historian, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

{| class="navbox collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%; margin:auto;" |- ! style="background:#ccf;"|Titles and Succession |- | |- |- |- |- |- |}

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Coordinates	42°25′″N2°44′″N
Name	Bee Gees
Caption	The Bee Gees performing on Dutch television in 1968. From left to right: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb
Origin
Background	group_or_band
Genre	Pop, soft rock, blue-eyed soul, disco
Years active	1958–2003, 2009–present
Label	Polydor, RSO, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Andy Gibb
Website
Current members	Barry GibbRobin Gibb
Past members	Maurice GibbColin PetersenVince MelouneyGeoff Bridgford

The Bee Gees are a musical group that was originally made up of three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a foremost act of the disco music era in the late 1970s. The group sang three-part tight harmonies that were instantly recognisable; Robin's clear vibrato lead was a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B; falsetto became their signature sound during the late 1970s and 1980s. The brothers co-wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists.

Born in the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived their first few years in Chorlton, Manchester, England, then moved in the late 1950s to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, where they began their musical careers. After achieving their first chart success in Australia with "Spicks and Specks" (their 12th single), they returned to the United Kingdom in January 1967 where producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. It has been estimated that the Bee Gees' career record sales total more than 220 million, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; the presenter of the award to "Britain's first family of harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of the Beach Boys, a "family act" also featuring three harmonising brothers. The Bee Gees' Hall of Fame citation says "Only Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees".

History

Early years

.]]

Barry Gibb (born 1946) and twin brothers Robin (born 1949) and Maurice Gibb (1949–2003) were born on the Isle of Man, but the family returned to father Hugh Gibb's home town of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England where they went to Oswald Road Primary School, in the early 1950s where the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks) and as they were running to the theatre, the heavy 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live and received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career.

In 1958, the Gibb family, including infant brother Andy (1958–1988), emigrated to Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia. The young brothers began performing where they could to raise pocket money. First called the Rattlesnakes, later Wee Johnny Hayes & the Bluecats, they were introduced to radio DJ Bill Gates by racetrack promoter Bill Goode (who saw them perform at Brisbane's Speedway Circuit). Gates renamed them the "Bee Gees" after his and Goode's initials – thus the name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief.

By 1960, the Bee Gees were featured on television shows, and in the next few years began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Barry drew the attention of Australian star Col Joye for his songwriting, and Joye helped the boys get a record deal with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records in 1963 under the name "Bee Gees." The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists.

A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. However, by 1966 Festival was on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. It was at this time that they met American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R; manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for Festival being granted the Australian distribution rights to the group's recordings.

Through Kipner, the Bee Gees met engineer-producer Ossie Byrne. He produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small self-built St Clair Studio, in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966 and the group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that would become their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda) – as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as The Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son.

Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs decided to return to England in late 1966. Ossie Byrne travelled with them, and Colin Petersen, who eventually became the group's drummer, followed soon after. While at sea in January 1967, they learned that "Spicks and Specks", a No. 1 hit in October 1966 had been awarded Best Single of the Year by Go-Set, Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper.

Late 1960s – first international fame

Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein who managed The Beatles and was director of NEMS, a British music store and promoter. Brian Epstein had passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees were signed to a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would be the Bee Gees' record label in the United Kingdom, and ATCO Records would be the United States distributor. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Robert Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release.

Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The Most Significant New Talent Of 1967" and thus began the immediate comparison to The Beatles. Their second British single (their first UK 45 rpm issued was "Spicks and Specks"), "New York Mining Disaster 1941", was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new Beatles' single and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the Top 20 in both the United Kingdom and the United States. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' second single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody" was a soulful ballad sung by Barry, which has since become a pop standard covered by hundreds of artists including Gram Parsons, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Tyler, Janis Joplin, The Animals, Nina Simone, and Michael Bolton. Another single, "Holiday" was released in the United States, peaking at No. 16. The parent album, the erroneously titled Bee Gees 1st, peaked at No. 7 in the United States and No. 8 in the United Kingdom.

Following the success of Bee Gees 1st, the band (which now consisted of Barry on rhythm guitar, Maurice on bass, Vince Melouney on lead guitar and Colin Petersen on drums),. Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at France's Château d'Hérouville studio.

During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a Top Ten hit (the Bee Gees sang back-up vocals). Barry also wrote the title song to the movie version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. During this period, the Bee Gees' younger brother Andy followed his older siblings into a music career, and enjoyed considerable success. Produced by Barry, Andy Gibb's first three singles all topped the US charts. In March 1978, The Bee Gees held the top 2 positions on the US Charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top ten at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance hadn't been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number one hits in the US breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever", "If I Can't Have You".

The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) loosely inspired by the classic 1967 Beatles album. The film had been heavily promoted prior to release, and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, the disjointed film was savaged by the movie critics, and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. Previously, the Bee Gees had recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" and "Sun King" – for the transitory musical documentary All This and World War II.

The Bee Gees' follow-up to Saturday Night Fever was the Spirits Having Flown album. It yielded three more No. 1 hits: "Too Much Heaven", "Tragedy", and "Love You Inside Out." This gave the act six consecutive No. No. 1 singles in America within a year and a half (a record surpassed only by Whitney Houston). "Too Much Heaven" ended up as the Bee Gees' musical contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in January 1979, a benefit organised by the Bee Gees, Robert Stigwood, and David Frost for UNICEF that was broadcast worldwide. The brothers donated the royalties from the song to the charity. Up to 2007, this song has earned over $11 million for UNICEF. During the summer of 1979, The Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track of "Too Much Heaven" directed by Miami-based film-maker, Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers.

The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love On Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made Top 40 on the country charts. In 1981, Conway Twitty's version of "Rest Your Love On Me" topped the country charts.

The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around America began promoting "Bee Gee Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act would have only one more top ten single in the US, and that would not come until 1989. The Bee Gees' international popularity sustained somewhat less damage. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse:

1980s

Robin and Barry Gibb released various solo albums in the 1980s but only with sporadic and moderate chart success. However, the brothers had continuing success behind the scenes, writing and producing for several artists. In 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album Guilty. He co-produced and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand, and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No.1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date.

In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No.2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her album of the same name written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No.3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US where it was certified Gold.

A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US No. 1 hit and Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, Eyes That See In The Dark, was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum.

In 1985, Diana Ross released the album Eaten Alive, written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No.1 hit.

In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album Living Eyes, their last release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show Tomorrow's World. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40. Two singles from the album fared little better - "He's a Liar" reached No. 30 in the US and "Living Eyes" reached No. 45, breaking the Bee Gees' Top 40 streak which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". In 1983, the Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You".

In 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed that the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later.

The Bee Gees released the album E.S.P. in 1987, which sold over 3 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including Britain, but was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75. The Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the States.

On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy died at the age 30 as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. His brothers acknowledge that Andy's past drug and alcohol use probably made his heart more susceptible to the ailment. Just before Andy's death, it was decided by the group that Andy would join them, which would have made the group a four piece. This did not come to pass, however. The Bee Gees' following album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US top ten hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One". After the album's release, they embarked on their first world tour in ten years.

1990s

In 1990, Polydor Records issued the box set , which contained all of the group's singles (except 1981's "Living Eyes"), rare B-sides, unreleased tracks, solo material, and live performances. Many songs received new stereo mixes by Bill Inglot with some songs making their CD debut. At the time of its release, Tales was one of the first box sets issued in the music business and it was considered an honour for a group to have one. In the UK, Polydor issued a single disc hits collection from Tales called The Very Best of the Bee Gees, which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best selling albums in that country, eventually being certified Triple Platinum.

Following their next album, High Civilization (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he also suffered from arthritis, and at one point, it was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years, with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label, and released the album Size Isn't Everything, which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love" only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the parent album stalled at No. 153.

In 1997, they released the album Still Waters, which sold over four million copies, and reached No.2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No.11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. Still Waters would be the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era.

On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called One Night Only. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The CD of the performance sold over 5 million copies. The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to an audience exceeding 105,000.

In 1998, the group's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998 the brothers recorded Ellan Vannin for Isle of Man charities. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth.

The Bee Gees closed the decade with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as BG2K, on 31 December 1999.

2000s

In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material as a group, This Is Where I Came In. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The album gave each each member of the group a chance to write in his own way, as well as composing songs together. For example, Maurice's compositions and leads are the "Man in the Middle" and "Walking on Air," while Robin contributed "Déjà Vu," "Promise the Earth," and "Embrace," and Barry contributed "Loose Talk Costs Lives," "Technicolour Dreams", and "Voice in the Wilderness". The other songs are collaborative in writing and vocals. They performed many tracks from This Is Where I Came In, plus many of their biggest hits, on the live televised concert series Live by Request, shown on the A&E; Network. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the Love and Hope Ball in 2002.

Maurice, who had been the musical director of the Bee Gees during their final years as a group, died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003 at the age of 53 from a heart attack, while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory. But as time passed they decided to retire the group name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together.

The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album Magnet was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony.

Although there was talk of a memorial concert featuring both surviving brothers and invited guests, nothing materialised. Barry and Robin continued to work independently, and both released recordings with other artists, occasionally coming together to perform at special events.

After the Bee Gees

In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old," the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album Guilty Pleasures, released as Guilty Too in the UK as a sequel album to the previous Guilty. Robin continued touring in Europe. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single.

In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since the death of brother Maurice. Barry and Robin also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006.

In October 2008, Robin performed a couple of songs in London as part of the BBC Electric Proms Saturday Night Fever performance. This involved various other performers and the BBC Concert Orchestra and was screened on the BBC and BBC interactive services.

Return to performing

On 1 September 2009, Barry Gibb, in an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough, mentioned on the subject of future tours that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin Gibb disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry Gibb and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again".

Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009.

On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth season finale of American Idol.

In October 2010, Robin Gibb was interviewed by the Daily Mail, and confirmed that the story of the Bee Gees is to be made into a Hollywood movie by Steven Spielberg. The Oscar-winning director believes the group’s journey from unknowns in Manchester to worldwide fame will prove box-office gold. Robin told the Daily Mail: "The movie is going to be done by some very important people. It will be our life story. Barry and I will be involved in the technical side". One of the challenges for Spielberg will be replicating the brothers’ distinctive three-part harmonies and Barry’s falsetto voice. Robin said: "I’d like our original recordings to be used because it’s very hard to emulate them."

Songwriting success

The Bee Gees have sold in excess of 220 million records worldwide. At one point in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing 9 of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40.

At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Their most popular composition is "How Deep Is Your Love", with 400 versions by other artists in existence. Among the artists who have covered their songs are Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Al Green, Eric Clapton, Lulu, Elton John, Tom Jones, Nina Simone, John Frusciante (who has covered "How Deep Is Your Love" during Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts), Feist, Billy Corgan, Michael Bolton, Robert Smith, Ardijah, Jinusean, Faith No More, The Flaming Lips and Destiny's Child. The band's music has also been sampled by dozens of hip hop artists.

Songs written by the Gibbs, but largely better known through versions by other artists, include:

"Immortality" by Celine Dion

"If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman

"Chain Reaction" by Diana Ross

"Spicks and Specks" by Status Quo

"Emotion" by Samantha Sang and by Destiny's Child

"Come On Over" by Olivia Newton-John

"Warm Ride" by Graham Bonnet and by Rare Earth

"Guilty" and "Woman in Love" by Barbra Streisand

"Heartbreaker" & "All The Love In The World" by Dionne Warwick

"Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

"Grease" by Frankie Valli

"Hold On To My Love" by Jimmy Ruffin

"Only One Woman" by The Marbles

"Morning of My Life" by Abi and Esther Ofarim

"Rest Your Love on Me" by Conway Twitty

"Buried Treasure" by Kenny Rogers (backing vocals The Gatlin Brothers)

"Ain't Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You" by Teri DeSario

"I Will Be There" by Tina Turner

Awards and recognition

Inductions

1979 Hollywood Walk of Fame

1994 Songwriters Hall of Fame

1995 Florida's Artists Hall of Fame

1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

1997 ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Hall of Fame

2001 Vocal Group Hall of Fame

2004 Dance Music Hall of Fame

2005 London's Walk of Fame

Grammy Awards

1978 Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Group – "How Deep Is Your Love"

1979 Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group – "Saturday Night Fever"

1979 Best Arrangement Of Voices – "Stayin' Alive"

1979 Album Of The Year – "Saturday Night Fever"

1979 Producer Of The Year – "Saturday Night Fever"

1981 Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal – "Guilty" (Barry Gibb with Barbra Streisand)

2000 Lifetime Achievement Award

2003 Legend Award

2004 Hall Of Fame Award – "Saturday Night Fever"

World Music Awards

1997 Legend Award

American Music Awards

1979 Favorite Pop / Rock Band, Duo Or Group

1979 Favorite Soul / R&B; Album – "Saturday Night Fever"

1980 Favorite Pop / Rock Band, Duo Or Group

1980 Favorite Pop / Rock Album – "Spirits Having Flown"

1997 International Artist Award

BRIT Awards

1997 Outstanding Contribution To Music

BMI Awards

On 15 May 2007, The Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards.

Commemorative stamps

In October 1999 the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of 6 stamps honouring their native sons' music. The official launch took place at the London Palladium where the stage show of Saturday Night Fever was playing. A similar launch was held in New York shortly after to coincide with the show opening across the Atlantic. The songs depicted on the stamps are "Massachusetts", "Words", "I've Gotta Get A Message To You", "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive" and "Immortality".

Civic honours

In 1978, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the Governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time.

All three brothers (including Maurice, posthumously) were appointed Commanders in the Order of the British Empire, one level underneath knighthood, in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place on 27 May 2004.

On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice, thereby conveying the award of the town of their birth to all three brothers. On 20 November 2009, Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Title ! US Chart ! UK Chart |- | 1965 | style="text-align:left;"|The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs | — | — |- | 1966 | style="text-align:left;"|Spicks and Specks | — | — |- | 1967 | style="text-align:left;"|Bee Gees 1st | 7 | 8 |- | 1968 | style="text-align:left;"|Horizontal | 12 | 16 |- | 1968 | style="text-align:left;"|Idea | 17 | 4 |- | 1969 | style="text-align:left;"|Odessa | 20 | 10 |- | 1970 | style="text-align:left;"|Cucumber Castle | 94 | 57 |- | 1970 | style="text-align:left;"|2 Years On | 32 | — |- | 1971 | style="text-align:left;"|Trafalgar | 34 | — |- | 1972 | style="text-align:left;"|To Whom It May Concern | 35 | — |- | 1973 | style="text-align:left;"|Life in a Tin Can | 68 | — |- | 1974 | style="text-align:left;"|Mr. Natural | 178 | — |- | 1975 | style="text-align:left;"|Main Course | 14 | — |- | 1976 | style="text-align:left;"|Children of the World | 8 | — |- | 1979 | style="text-align:left;"|Spirits Having Flown | 1 | 1 |- | 1981 | style="text-align:left;"|Living Eyes | 41 | 73 |- | 1987 | style="text-align:left;"|E.S.P. | 96 | 5 |- | 1989 | style="text-align:left;"|One | 68 | 29 |- | 1991 | style="text-align:left;"|High Civilization | — | 24 |- | 1993 | style="text-align:left;"|Size Isn't Everything | 153 | 23 |- | 1997 | style="text-align:left;"|Still Waters | 11 | 2 |- | 2001 | style="text-align:left;"|This Is Where I Came In | 16 | 6 |}

Live albums

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Title ! US Chart ! UK Chart |- | 1977 | style="text-align:left;"|Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live | 8 | — |- | 1998 | style="text-align:left;"|One Night Only | 72 | 4 |}

Soundtrack releases

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Title ! US Chart ! UK Chart |- | 1977 | style="text-align:left;"|Saturday Night Fever | 1 | 1 |- | 1978 | style="text-align:left;"|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | 5 | 38 |- | 1983 | style="text-align:left;"|Staying Alive | 6 | 14 |}

Catalogue reissue

The Gibbs recently gained ownership rights to their back catalogue, and set up a new distribution arrangement with Warner/Rhino/Reprise Records where they have since reissued digitally remastered versions of Saturday Night Fever, their later Bee Gees Greatest album, and a new boxed set: The Studio Albums: 1967–1968.

Additionally, more recent titles such as Still Waters and This Is Where I Came In were among the first batch of re-releases. The band's three Warner Bros. releases, E. S. P., One and High Civilisation were also made available on iTunes for the first time since the albums went out of print in North America in the mid-90s.

According to Robin Gibb's website, three more reissues were planned for the 2008 holiday season: Best of Bee Gees, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2 and Love Songs. The double album Odessa was released on 13 January 2009 in a special 3-disc deluxe edition complete with the original red velvet cover with remastered stereo and mono versions of the album as well as alternate versions and unreleased tracks.

Limited edition

was recorded in 1997 as a 1,000 quantity limited edition single for Isle of Man charities. The song was featured in the Bee Gees World Tour and on ITV's "An Evening With ..." but to date has not been released generally. The single was subsequently also available as part of the 1999 Bee Gees Stamp issue.

50th anniversary collections

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of The Bee Gees (when they started calling themselves 'Bee Gees' in 1959), Rhino Records is releasing two new collections. Mythology is a four-disc collection highlighting each brother, including Andy, with tracks personally selected by Barry, Robin, Maurice's wife Yvonne (with his children Adam and Samantha), and Andy's daughter Peta. Maurice's disc contains two unreleased tracks called "Angel Of Mercy" and "The Bridge". Andy's disc contains the unreleased track "Arrow Through The Heart". Mythology also features a scrapbook of family photos, many never-before published, along with tributes from artists such as George Martin, Brian Wilson, Elton John, Graham Nash and the band's longtime manager Robert Stigwood.

The second collection, The Ultimate Bee Gees is a more modest two-disc, 40-track collection highlighting their biggest hits which will include a bonus DVD of unreleased videos, previously unreleased television appearances, live performances, and promo videos. Each disc is themed with the first disc being the more upbeat songs called 'A Night Out' and the second disc being more ballad focused called 'A Night In'.

Band instrumentalists

Barry Gibb played rhythm guitar.

During the early 1970s, Robin Gibb played piano and violin occasionally, but most of the time he only sang. Although he keeps on playing strings and keyboards privately, he has not played any instrument on stage since mid-'70s.

Maurice Gibb played bass guitar, rhythm and lead guitar, piano, organ, harpsichord, electric piano, mellotron, and electronic keyboards, synthesisers and drum tracks. From 1966 to 1972 he played multiple instruments on many records. During the late 1970s he played mainly bass guitar. From about 1986 onward he usually played keyboards and guitars. Maurice was credited by the brothers as being the most technologically savvy member of the band, and had built his own home studio. The bootleg CD ESP Demos allegedly includes rough versions of tracks from the album of the same name that were recorded at that studio.

These musicians were considered members of the band:

Colin Petersen – drums 1967–69

Vince Melouney – lead guitar 1967–68

Geoff Bridgford – drums 1969–72

Alan Kendall – lead guitar 1971–80, 87–01

Dennis Bryon – drums 1974–80

Blue Weaver – keyboards 1975–80

Here are some other musicians who backed up the Bee Gees live and in the studio:

Carlos Alomar – guitar

Ray Barretto – bongos

Reb Beach – guitar

David Foster – keyboards

Steve Gibb – guitar

Scott Glasel – Synthesizer and Drum Programming

Steve Jordan – drums

Manu Katché – drums

Jim Keltner – drums 1973

Rhett Lawrence – Synthesizer Programming

Marcus Miller – bass guitar

Pino Palladino – bass guitar

Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Jeff Porcaro – drums

Russ Powell—bass guitar

Steve Rucker – drums

Raphael Saadiq – bass guitar, guitar, drum programming, vocals

Stephen Stills – percussion

Peter-John Vettese – keyboards

Waddy Wachtel – guitar

Joe Walsh – guitar

Filmography

1969: Cucumber Castle

1978: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

1979: The Bee Gees Special

1990: One For All Tour

1997: Keppel Road

1998: One Night Only

2001: This Is Where I Came In

2002: Live By Request

2010: In Our Own Time

In pop culture

Australian music quiz show Spicks and Specks takes its name from the Bee Gees song of the same name, and features the song in its opening titles

A TV sketch by Kenny Everett in which he played all three Gibbs as well as an interviewer, had the Bee Gees answering all of his questions with song quotes

They were parodied by Philip Pope, Angus Deayton, and Michael Fenton Stevens recording as The Hee Bee Gee Bees, singing "Meaningless Songs (in Very High Voices)"

In an episode of The Simpsons while at a yard sale Homer and Disco Stu perform the "Staying Alive" parody "Table Five"

In 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2011 Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake parodied Barry and Robin Gibb on Saturday Night Live in the show's Barry Gibb Talk Show sketches.

The pop punk band Blink 182 parodied the Bee Gees in their "First Date" video

A MADtv parody shows Barry Gibb, portrayed by Michael McDonald, making an American soundtrack with Randy Newman and other celebrities like Chaka Khan (Aries Spears) and Destiny's Child (Debra Wilson)

In 1998, the British television comedy sketch show Big Train featured a sketch starring Simon Pegg, Mark Heap and Kevin Eldon as the Bee Gees depicted as outlaws being killed by lawman Chaka Khan in a Western-style shoot-out

In The Mighty Boosh episode "The Legend of Old Gregg", The Bee Gees are one of the bands who wanted a piece of The Funk

In The Goodies episode "Saturday Night Grease", Tim imitated the high-pitched voices of the Bee Gees used in the soundtrack Staying Alive

In The Fairly OddParents, Cosmo refers to the untrue history of the Bee Gees, and mentions that "there's too much Bee Gees".

References

External links

Bee Gees – official website

Barry Gibb – official website

Robin Gibb – official website

Bee Gees at Rolling Stone

Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage

Bee Gees at bmi.com

* Category:Musical groups established in 1958 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Category:ARIA Award winners Category:ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Category:Australian rock music groups Category:Disco groups Category:English dance music groups Category:English rock music groups Category:Family musical groups Category:Grammy Award winners Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Musical groups from Manchester Category:Manx musical groups Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:Queensland musical groups Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Sibling musical trios Category:UNICEF people