John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (JFK) in Tear Down This Wall

Basic Information

Name: John F. Kennedy

Nicknames: Jack, JFK

Born: May 29, 1917

Died: November 22, 1963

Nationality: American

Hometown: Brookline, Massachusetts

WORK & EDUCATION

Occupation: American statesman; POTUS from 1961 until his assassination in 1963

Education: BA in government, focus on international affairs, from Harvard in 1940

FAMILY & FRIENDS

Parents: Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald-Kennedy

Siblings: Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy Jr.; Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy; Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy; Rose Marie "Rosemary" Kennedy; Kathleen Agnes "Kick" Kennedy; Eunice Mary Kennedy; Patricia Helen "Pat" Kennedy; Jean Ann Kennedy (yep, that's nine children)

Spouse: Jacqueline Lee "Jackie" Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (survived as his widow)

Children: Caroline Kennedy; John F. Kennedy Jr.; Patrick Bouvier Kennedy; a stillborn child informally named Arabella

FriendsKirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings (they exploded a toilet seat together in high school), Israel, big bro Bobby was his BFF, Marilyn Monroe, U.S. Special Forces

Foes: Lee Harvey Oswald, Cuban missiles, Nikita Khrushchev (more like an uneasy ally that totally would have been an enemy if they didn't each rule a country that needed to maintain good relations with the other), communism, Fidel Castro, Addison's disease and hypothyroidism


Analysis

JFK was only in the White House for less than three years, but man, did a lot go on during that time. You can read all about it here.

In 1963, he visited West Berlin and gave his famed "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech ("I am a Berliner"), which demonstrated the U.S.'s solidarity with West Germany and led to mass applause among the 450,000 in attendance. It's this speech that Reagan is referencing in the first part of his own speech, when he tells his own audience that he always has a suitcase in Berlin.