Monday, October 15, 2012

President John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy 

Click Here to view the US Mint & Coin Acts 1782-1792

34th President of the United States


Under the Constitution of 1787
January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963


JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29, 1917, the second of the nine children of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and his wife, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Kennedy’s Irish ancestors had immigrated to Boston and his grandfather, Patrick J. Kennedy, was a Boston political leader as well as a successful businessman and saloon keeper. 


 May 27th, 1961, President John F. Kennedy, Seated at a Table with Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, Democratic National Committee Chairman John Bailey, and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Looks at his Birthday Cake at the President's Birthday Party at the National Guard Armory in Washington.


His maternal grandfather, John F. Fitzgerald was the mayor of Boston, popularly known as “Honey Fitz.” The Kennedy’s lived in a modest but comfortable frame house, but as the family grew, so did their father’s fortune. Joseph Kennedy had become quite wealthy by the time he was 30 making his fortune in stock-market speculation, motion pictures, shipbuilding and real estate. He also would hold several appointive positions in the federal government during the Roosevelt administration, and his driving ambition was to put a son in he White House.


On October 7, 1914, Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald  married Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. after a courtship spanning seven years. He was the elder son of Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy. political rival of Honey Fitz, who was the father of Rose. They couple first lived in a home in Brookline, which is the birth home  of President John F. Kennedy, which is now the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site. John F. Kennedy,  born on May 29, 1917, was the second son of nine children.


Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy

Kennedy’s childhood was happy, even though he was always in the shadow of his older brother Joseph, who dominated family competitions and was a better student. Young Kennedy also was a frail child, with prolonged illnesses that kept him from school. But despite his frequent illnesses, Kennedy was a good athlete. At 13, young Kennedy attended the private Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut. He became ill and never returned, graduating from Choate Preparatory School in Wallingford, Connecticut in 1935. After spending that summer studying at the London School of Economics, he entered Princeton University, but again illness forced him home during the Christmas recess because of an attack of jaundice. He resumed his studies in the fall of 1936 at Harvard University, where he continued to be an easygoing student, concentrating on swimming and with his brother Joe, won the intercollegiate sailing title. Kennedy made two more trips to Europe in 1937 and in 1939 when his father was serving as the United States Ambassador to Great Britain. Kennedy graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1940, and he used his undergraduate thesis as the basis for a book Why England Slept, which was a study of Britain’s response to German rearmament prior to World War II. After graduating from Harvard, Kennedy spent a few months studying at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in California.




In the spring of 1941, Kennedy volunteered for the Army, but was rejected because of his degenerative back problem that had plagued him for years. During that summer, he underwent a series of back-strengthening exercises, and in September the Navy accepted him. He sensed that if he did not participate in World War II, he was not going to have much of a public life in this country, and he wanted in. In March 1943, Kennedy took command of PT Boat 109 in the South Pacific. To have a man with such frail health as Kennedy’s as your commander could be dangerous and Kennedy should never have been there. 




On the night of August 2, 1943, his boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer in the waters off New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. Kennedy was thrown across the deck onto his back, the boat being sliced in half and two of the twelve men aboard were killed immediately. Kennedy rallied the survivors and they clung to the wreckage for hours, hoping for rescue. Giving up hope for an immediate rescue, they swam three miles to a small island, with Kennedy towing a wounded crew member, clenching the strap of Pappy McNulty’s life jacket between his teeth. The men remained on the island for four days, with Kennedy swimming daily along a water route that the American ships used, hoping to find a rescue ship. He finally encountered friendly natives on Cross Island that took a message for help, carved on a coconut shell, to the U.S. infantry patrol. The men were rescued and Kennedy was awarded the Purple Heart and the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism.   In a letter to   he writes to Inga Arvad, a married older woman he met through his sister Kathleen in wartime Washington, of the rescue: 
"I received a letter today from the wife of my engineers, who was so badly burnt that his face and hands and arms were just flesh, and he was that way for six days. He couldn't swim and I was able to help him, and his wife thanked me, and in her letter she said '...if he had died I don't think I would have wanted to go on living...' There are so many MacMahons that don't come through..." 
The ordeal had aggravated his back and he contracted malaria so he returned to the United States for medical treatment. After an operation on his back, he was discharged early in 1945.

Kennedy’s father had groomed his first son, Joseph, for politics – Joe was going to get the Kennedy’s into the White House. But young Joe was killed in action in 1944, and after working as a reporter for the Hearst International News Service, Kennedy decided to enter politics himself. His opportunity came early in 1946, when he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the House of Representatives seat for the 11th Congressional District of Massachusetts. He ran against nine other candidates and won the primary with 42 percent of the votes. In November, he defeated his Republican opponent and became a congressman at the age of 29, winning reelection in 1948 and 1950. In 1952, Kennedy decided to run against Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., defeating him by more than 70,000 votes, in a campaign the entire Kennedy family took part in.




On September 12, 1953, Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. The couple had three children: Caroline Bouvier (1957 – ); John Fitzgerald, Jr. (1960 – 1999); and Patrick Bouvier, who died less than 48 hours after his birth on August 7, 1963.

Increasingly troubled by his back, Kennedy underwent spinal surgery. Due to the fact that Kennedy suffered from Addison’s disease, the surgery had to be preformed in two separate procedures in October 1954 and again in February 1955. During his long convalescence, he occupied himself by writing Profiles in Courage, which was published in 1956 and received the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957.




Kennedy returned to the Senate in May 1955 and by the beginning of 1956, he aimed toward higher office. During he Democratic National Convention of that year, he almost was nominated for the vice presidency running with Adlai Stevenson, but he lost on the third ballot to Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. In 1958, Kennedy was reelected to the Senate, winning by the largest margin ever recorded in a Massachusetts senatorial contest. He spoke frequently throughout the country and in January 1960 he formally announced his candidacy for President. By the time of the Democratic National Convention, he had already won seven primary victories, overcoming opposition that a Roman Catholic could not win in a predominantly Protestant state. He won the nomination and the Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson ticket narrowly defeated their Republican opponents, Richard M. Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. at the November elections. The margin being only 119,450 votes out of the nearly 69,000,000 cast.
John F. Kennedy as President-Elect, Criticizing Liberals
 Autograph letter signed “Jack” to William S. White, journalist, biographer and friend of Lyndon Johnson.  White had sent Kennedy some press clippings and Kennedy returned this note with his thanks.  Dated December 1960, 2 pages on pale gray North Ocean Boulevard Palm Beach Florida letterhead, with accompanying envelope addressed, “Mr. William White.”



Envelope,  


President Dwight D. Eisenhower  and President-Elect John F. Kennedy
 Transcript:
 Sunday

Dear Bill:
             Many thanks for your thoughtfulness in sending the clippings.  The article on reflex reaction of the “liberals” was excellent.
            They have forgotten that the root word is “liberalas” – or “free”.  They have to themselves become imprisoned in the intense world of automatic responses.
           
All things look brighter here in the sun-
                                                                         Best regards,
                                                                        Jack    

Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic and at the age of 43, the youngest man ever elected President. Theodore Roosevelt was a few months younger than Kennedy when he took office after William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, but Kennedy was the youngest elected President. He was sworn in on January 20, 1961 and his inaugural address was widely acclaimed.  In his inaugural address reflected confidence that his administration would chart an historically significant course in both domestic policy and foreign affairs. Kennedy spoke of the need for all Americans to be involved citizens, famously saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." 


He appealed to foreign nations 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.

 White House Photo: January 21, 1961, swearing-In Ceremony of President Kennedy's Cabinet
Cabinet of President John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)
Vice President
Lyndon B. Johnson (1961–1963)
Secretary of State
Dean Rusk (1961–1963)
Secretary of the Treasury
C. Douglas Dillon (1961–1963)
Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara (1961–1963)
Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy (1961–1963)
Postmaster General
J. Edward Day (1961–1963)
 John A. Gronouski (1963)
Secretary of the Interior
Stewart Udall (1961–1963)
Secretary of Agriculture
Orville Freeman (1961–1963)
Secretary of Commerce
Luther H. Hodges (1961–1963)
Secretary of Labor
Arthur Goldberg (1961–1962)
W. Willard Wirtz (1962–1963)
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
Abraham A. Ribicoff (1961–1962)
Anthony J. Celebrezze (1962–1963)

February 23, 1961, visit of Attorney General Robert. Kennedy and Director of FBI J.Edgar Hoover to see the President at the  Oval Office. 

In April 1961, Kennedy supported a failed mission by anti-Castro Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. The next year, the Soviets put nuclear missiles in Cuba, but withdrew them after Kennedy imposed a naval blockade. 



October 10th, 1963, photograph of President John F. Kennedy Signing the Proclamation for the Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba


After the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev realized that they had come dangerously close to nuclear war. Both leaders sought to reduce tensions between their two nations. Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed begun to negotiate a nuclear test ban treaty, originally conceived by Adlai Stevenson in his 1956 presidential campaign.  In their Vienna summit meeting in June 1961, Khrushchev and Kennedy reached an informal understanding against nuclear testing, but the Soviet Union began testing nuclear weapons that September. The United States responded by conducting tests five days later. 



The White House
January 20, 1961 
To the Senate of the United States:

I nominate Dean Rusk, of New York, to be Secretary of State
I nominate Douglas Dillon, of New Jersey, to be Secretary of the Treasury.
I nominate Robert S. McNamara, of Michigan, to be Secretary of Defense.
I nominate Robert F. Kennedy, of Massachusettes, to be Attorney General.
I nominate J. Edward Day, of California, to be Postmaster General.
I nominate Stewart Lee Udall, of Arizona, to be Secretary of the Interior.
I nominate Orville L. Greeman, of Minnesota, to be Secretary of Argriculture.
I nominate Luther H. Hodges, of North Carolina, to be Secretary of Commerce.
I nominate Arthur J. Goldberg, of Illinois, to be Secretary of Labor.
I nominate Abraham Ribicoff, of Connecticut, to be Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. 
John F. Kennedy

The Cuban Missile crisis revived new interest in a Nuclear Test Ban agreement.  Khrushchev described it, "The two most powerful nations had been squared off against each other, each with its finger on the button." JFK remarked at a White House meeting, "It is insane that two men, sitting on opposite sides of the world, should be able to decide to bring an end to civilization." In a series of private letters, Khrushchev and Kennedy reopened a dialogue on banning nuclear testing.

In his commencement address at American University on June 10, 1963, Kennedy announced a new round of high-level arms negotiations with the Russians. He boldly called for an end to the Cold War. "If we cannot end our differences," he said, "at least we can help make the world a safe place for diversity." The Soviet government broadcast a translation of the entire speech, and allowed it to be reprinted in the controlled Soviet press.


In July 1963, Kennedy sent Averell Harriman to Moscow to negotiate a treaty with the Soviets.  The introductory sessions included Khrushchev, who later delegated Soviet representation to Andrei Gromyko. It quickly became clear that a comprehensive test ban would not be implemented, due largely to the reluctance of the Soviets to allow inspections that would 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 continue developing and testing its nuclear defenses.


John F. Kennedy signing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty


John F. Kennedy's signature on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 

Space A New Frontier:

During the Eisenhower administration, as a follow-up to Project Mercury, the Apollo program was conceived and planned. Eisenhower'opposed a manned mission to the Moon and while his successor, John F. Kennedy, had an open mind despite his advisers maintaining that a Moon flight would be prohibitively expensive.Kennedy appointed Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had worked diligently in the US Senate to create NASA,  chairman of the U.S. Space Council. 

Kennedy, in his January 1961 State of the Union address, proposed Soviet and US cooperation in space but Premier Khrushchev declined holding Russian rocketry and space capabilities cards close to his vest. Three months later,  Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space demonstarting that in space technolgy, the US was fare behind the Soviet Union. Kennedy, eager for the U.S. effectively compete in the Space, surprised everyone announcing the goal of 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."  Full text Wikisource has information on "Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs"


 February 15th, 1962, meeting with World Council of Churches Delegation. Bp. G. Brook Mosely, Sec. State Dean Rusk, , Dr. Kenneth L. Maxwell, Dr. O. Frederick Nolde, President Kennedy, Abp. Iakovos, Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, Bp. B. Julian Smith, Bp. John Wesley Lord, Judge J. M. Tunnel, Dr. Roswell P. Barnes. White House, Cabinet Room.


This was followed with a speech at Rice University on September 12, 1962, in which he said:
"There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the moon. 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, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency."
The following month in a cabinet meeting with NASA administrator James E. Webb Johnson assured the President  that lessons learned from the costly space program would have important scientific value. The projected $40 billion cost  of the Apollo program, Johnson also maintained, was not just an expenditure just to enhance US international prestige but would be of great military value. 

Despite Johnson wanting to keep the program in house, Kennedy was still interested in a joint venture Apollo program with the Soviet Union.  NASA reports:
On September 18th, 1963, the President met briefly with NASA Chief James Webb. Kennedy told him that he was thinking of pursuing the topic of cooperation with the Soviets as part of a broader effort to bring the two  countries closer together. He asked Webb, "Are you sufficiently in control to prevent my being undercut in NASA if I do that?" As Webb remembered that meeting, "So in a sense he didn't ask me if he should do it; he told me he thought he should do it and wanted to do it. . . ." What he sought from Webb was the assurance that there would be no further unsolicited comments from within the space agency. Webb told the President that he could keep things under control. 
Late on the following day, Bundy called Webb to tell him that the President had decided to include a statement about space cooperation with the Soviets in his U.N. address. Bundy informed Webb that Kennedy wanted "to be sure that you know about it."  The new paragraph, drafted by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., another Kennedy aide, had not been included in the earlier drafts of the speech circulated at NASA.65 Upon receiving the President's message, Webb immediately telephoned directions to the various NASA centers "to make no comment of any kind or description on this matter." 
The President's proposal for a joint expedition to the moon was intended to be a step toward improved Soviet-American relations. The impact of the speech was quite the reverse. Moscow and the Soviet press virtually ignored the U.N. address.  Officially, the Soviet government did not comment.  In the U.S., the public remarks either strongly supported the idea of a joint flight or equally forcefully opposed it. 
On July 20, 1969, almost six years after Kennedy's death, Apollo 11 landed the first manned spacecraft on the Moon without any help from the Soviet Union.

John F. Kennedy with Caroline Kennedy Halloween in the Oval Office 

Tensions eased somewhat with the Soviets with the 1963 nuclear test ban treaty, although the “space race” continued. Kennedy was a strong supporter of the arts, while being mindful of the disadvantaged. He and his wife attempted to make the White House the cultural center of the nation. He was an avid reader and was particularly interested in what the press had to say about his administration. He founded the Peace Corps and proposed wide-ranging civil rights legislation, but never lived to see its enactment.


December 6th, 1962, Kennedy Foundation Awards Banquet. Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy (Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy) and President Kennedy at the Statler Hilton Hotel, Washington, D.C


In the spring of 1963, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a civil rights mass protest in Birmingham, Alabama, which King called the most segregated city in America. Initially, the demonstrations had little impact. Then, on Good Friday, King was arrested and spent a week behind bars.  While in was jail eight clergyman wrote him a letter criticizing his work as unwise and wrong. Dr. King responded to the clergymen in an open letter, written on April 16, 1963.  This "Letter From A Birmingham Jail" is now one of the most celebrated documents in United States history. The letter not only defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, but also argues that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws, where he wrote one of his most famous meditations on racial injustice and civil disobedience, "Letter from Birmingham Jail." 

Meanwhile, James Bevel, one of King's young lieutenants, summoned black youths to march in the streets at the beginning of May. The Birmingham City Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor used police dogs and high-pressure fire hoses to put down the demonstrations. Nearly a thousand young people were arrested. The violence was broadcast on television to the nation and the world and the "Letter from Birmingham Jail." received national media attention.  Invoking federal authority, President Kennedy sent several thousand troops to an Alabama air base, and his administration responded by speeding up the drafting of a comprehensive civil rights bill.


The National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA), the only alumni association comprised of former NBA, ABA, Harlem Globetrotter and WNBA players, is commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 150th Anniversary of the 13th Amendment  – in conjunction with the University Honors Program at Loyola University New Orleans and ELEVATE, an academic, athletic and mentoring program for inner-city teens – by issuing a one-of-a-kind limited edition print of Martin Luther King's “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” signed by Dr. King and more than 50 former NBA players. This unique, historic, limited edition print is the perfect collectible for any history and/or sports fanatic.   The 1000 special edition “Path to Freedom” prints are only available as a gift, limit one per patron, for tax-deductible donations of $100.00 or more placed at www.SpecialEdition.us 

King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." ignited the protest efforts of his fellow activists all across the nation, which culminated in a March on Washington For Jobs And Freedom, in Washington D.C., on August 28th, 1963, to support civil rights legislation. The march was organized by a coalition of several civil rights organizations that had different approaches and different agendas. The "Big Six" organizers were James Farmer, of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); Martin Luther King, Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); John Lewis, of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); A. Philip Randolph, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Roy Wilkins, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and Whitney Young, Jr., of the National Urban League.  The stated demands of the march were the passage of meaningful civil rights legislation; the elimination of racial segregation in public schools; protection for demonstrators against police brutality; a major public-works program to provide jobs; the passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and private hiring; a $2 an hour minimum wage; and self-government for the District of Columbia, which had a black majority.




More than 200,000 Americans of all races celebrated the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation by joining the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Key civil rights figures led the march, including A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Bayard Rustin, and Whitney Young. But the most memorable moment came when Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

In the fall, the comprehensive civil rights bill cleared several hurdles in Congress and won the endorsement of House and Senate Republican leaders. It was not passed, however, before the November 22, 1963 assassination of President Kennedy. The Civil Rights Act was left in the hands of the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson. 

President Johnson's 20 years of experience as a Texas Congressman and a US Senator enabled him to capitalize on his connections with his fellow southern white congressional leaders.  This legislative expertise, coupled with nearly 90% Republican Congressional support and the outpouring of public emotion, enabled Johnson to coral a super majority of US Senators to break the Democratic Party's filibuster against the Civil Rights Act.  

The provisions of the Civil Rights Act passed on July 2nd, 1964, included
  1. protecting African Americans against discrimination in voter qualification tests; 
  2. outlawing discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce; 
  3. authorizing the U.S. Attorney General's Office to file legal suits to enforce desegregation in public schools; 
  4. authorizing the withdrawal of federal funds from programs practicing discrimination; 
  5. outlawing discrimination in employment in any business exceeding 25 people and creating an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to review complaints.
The passage of the Civil Rights Act was an historic step in achieving the civil rights movement's initial goal: full legal equality for minorities.


Assassination:

On November 22, 1963, while on his way to make a luncheon speech in Dallas, Texas, Kennedy and his wife sat in an open convertible waving to the crowds who had gathered to greet him. Suddenly, as the motorcade approached an underpass, an assassin fired several shots, striking the President in the neck and head. 


John F. Kennedy,  Wanted for Treason Broadside. This Man is wanted for treasonous activities against the United States: 1. Betraying the Constitution... , A rare inflammatory handbill, written by Robert A. Surrey and printed surreptitiously by an employee at a Dallas lithographic printing firm. According to later testimony to the Warren Commission, some 5,000 copies of the handbill were printed and distributed on the streets of Dallas, Texas, beginning a few days before Kennedy's scheduled visit which ended in his assassination.
He was pronounced dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital, never regaining consciousness. The bullets that killed Kennedy were fired from the window of a nearby warehouse. Dallas police arrested 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald for the President’s murder. Two days later, on November 24 in the basement of the Dallas police station, Oswald was fatally shot by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, as millions watched on television.


John F. Kennedy Funeral Protocol Instructions, ten pages Courtesy of The U.S. Presidency & Political Hospitality


John F. Kennedy Funeral Motorcade Instructions, six pages Courtesy of The U.S. Presidency & Political Hospitality
One page typed letter signed by  Sarah T. Hughes on United States District Court letterhead recounting swearing in Lyndon B. Johnson - “With regard to the swearing-in of President Johnson, after I had heard that Kennedy had been assassinated I went home, because there did not seem to be anything to do at the courthouse. I was called by my office and was told that Mr. Johnson was on the other line asking if I could come out to the airport to the presidential plane and swear him in. I drove my car to the air field which took about ten minutes from my home. When I arrived, I was handed a Bible and the oath and the swearing-in took place. After it was over, the President said, ‘Let’s get air borne,’ and I got off the plane.” 


On November 29, President Johnson appointed a commission to conduct a thorough investigation of the assassination headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren. The Warren Commission’s Report, made public on September 27, 1964, found no evidence of a conspiracy in the assassination and concluded that “the shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald.” However, in 1979, after two years of investigation, the House assassinations committee concluded that Oswald probably was part of a conspiracy that might have included members of organized crime.


The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America 


Continental Congress of the United Colonies Presidents 
Sept. 5, 1774 to July 1, 1776


September 5, 1774
October 22, 1774
October 22, 1774
October 26, 1774
May 20, 1775
May 24, 1775
May 25, 1775
July 1, 1776

Commander-in-Chief United Colonies & States of America

George Washington: June 15, 1775 - December 23, 1783



Continental Congress of the United States Presidents 
July 2, 1776 to February 28, 1781

July 2, 1776
October 29, 1777
November 1, 1777
December 9, 1778
December 10, 1778
September 28, 1779
September 29, 1779
February 28, 1781



Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled
March 1, 1781 to March 3, 1789

March 1, 1781
July 6, 1781
July 10, 1781
Declined Office
July 10, 1781
November 4, 1781
November 5, 1781
November 3, 1782
November 4, 1782
November 2, 1783
November 3, 1783
June 3, 1784
November 30, 1784
November 22, 1785
November 23, 1785
June 5, 1786
June 6, 1786
February 1, 1787
February 2, 1787
January 21, 1788
January 22, 1788
January 21, 1789


Presidents of the United States of America

D-Democratic Party, F-Federalist Party, I-Independent, R-Republican Party, R* Republican Party of Jefferson & W-Whig Party 


(1789-1797)
(1933-1945)
(1865-1869)
(1797-1801)
(1945-1953)
(1869-1877)
(1801-1809)
(1953-1961)
 (1877-1881)
(1809-1817)
(1961-1963)
 (1881 - 1881)
(1817-1825)
(1963-1969)
(1881-1885)
(1825-1829)
(1969-1974)
(1885-1889)
(1829-1837)
(1973-1974)
(1889-1893)
(1837-1841)
(1977-1981)
(1893-1897)
(1841-1841)
(1981-1989)
(1897-1901)
(1841-1845)
(1989-1993)
(1901-1909)
(1845-1849)
(1993-2001)
(1909-1913)
(1849-1850)
(2001-2009)
(1913-1921)
(1850-1853)
(2009-2017)
(1921-1923)
(1853-1857)
(20017-Present)
(1923-1929)
*Confederate States  of America
(1857-1861)
(1929-1933)
(1861-1865)

Chart Comparing Presidential Powers Click Here

United Colonies and States First Ladies
1774-1788


United Colonies Continental Congress
President
18th Century Term
Age
09/05/74 – 10/22/74
29
Mary Williams Middleton (1741- 1761) Deceased
Henry Middleton
10/22–26/74
n/a
05/20/ 75 - 05/24/75
30
05/25/75 – 07/01/76
28
United States Continental Congress
President
Term
Age
07/02/76 – 10/29/77
29
Eleanor Ball Laurens (1731- 1770) Deceased
Henry Laurens
11/01/77 – 12/09/78
n/a
Sarah Livingston Jay (1756-1802)
12/ 10/78 – 09/28/78
21
Martha Huntington (1738/39–1794)
09/29/79 – 02/28/81
41
United States in Congress Assembled
President
Term
Age
Martha Huntington (1738/39–1794)
03/01/81 – 07/06/81
42
07/10/81 – 11/04/81
25
Jane Contee Hanson (1726-1812)
11/05/81 - 11/03/82
55
11/03/82 - 11/02/83
46
Sarah Morris Mifflin (1747-1790)
11/03/83 - 11/02/84
36
11/20/84 - 11/19/85
46
11/23/85 – 06/06/86
38
Rebecca Call Gorham (1744-1812)
06/06/86 - 02/01/87
42
02/02/87 - 01/21/88
43
01/22/88 - 01/29/89
36

Constitution of 1787
First Ladies
President
Term
Age
April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797
57
March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
52
Martha Wayles Jefferson Deceased
September 6, 1782  (Aged 33)
n/a
March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1817
40
March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825
48
March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829
50
December 22, 1828 (aged 61)
n/a
February 5, 1819 (aged 35)
n/a
March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841
65
April 4, 1841 – September 10, 1842
50
June 26, 1844 – March 4, 1845
23
March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849
41
March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850
60
July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1853
52
March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857
46
n/a
n/a
March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865
42
February 22, 1862 – May 10, 1865
April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869
54
March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877
43
March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881
45
March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881
48
January 12, 1880 (Aged 43)
n/a
June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889
21
March 4, 1889 – October 25, 1892
56
June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889
28
March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901
49
September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909
40
March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913
47
March 4, 1913 – August 6, 1914
52
December 18, 1915 – March 4, 1921
43
March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923
60
August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929
44
March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933
54
March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945
48
April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953
60
January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
56
January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
31
November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
50
January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974
56
August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977
56
January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981
49
January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989
59
January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993
63
January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001
45
January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009
54
January 20, 2009 to date
45



Capitals of the United Colonies and States of America

Philadelphia
Sept. 5, 1774 to Oct. 24, 1774
Philadelphia
May 10, 1775 to Dec. 12, 1776
Baltimore
Dec. 20, 1776 to Feb. 27, 1777
Philadelphia
March 4, 1777 to Sept. 18, 1777
Lancaster
September 27, 1777
York
Sept. 30, 1777 to June 27, 1778
Philadelphia
July 2, 1778 to June 21, 1783
Princeton
June 30, 1783 to Nov. 4, 1783
Annapolis
Nov. 26, 1783 to Aug. 19, 1784
Trenton
Nov. 1, 1784 to Dec. 24, 1784
New York City
Jan. 11, 1785 to Nov. 13, 1788
New York City
October 6, 1788 to March 3,1789
New York City
March 3,1789 to August 12, 1790
Philadelphia
Dec. 6,1790 to May 14, 1800       
Washington DC
November 17,1800 to Present




Book a primary source exhibit and a professional speaker for your next event by contacting Historic.us today. Our Clients include many Fortune 500 companies, associations, non-profits, colleges, universities, national conventions, PR and advertising agencies. As a leading national exhibitor of primary sources, many of our clients have benefited from our historic displays that are designed to entertain and educate your target audience. Contact us to learn how you can join our "roster" of satisfied clientele today!



 
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Historic.us

 
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Primary Source Exhibits


727-771-1776 | Exhibit Inquiries

202-239-1774 | Office

202-239-0037 FAX 

Dr. Naomi and Stanley Yavneh Klos, Principals

Naomi@Historic.us
Stan@Historic.us

Primary Source exhibits are available for display in your community. The costs range from $1,000 to $35,000 depending on length of time on loan and the rarity of artifacts chosen. 

Website: www.Historic.us


     
U.S. Dollar Presidential Coin Mr. Klos vs Secretary Paulson - Click Here

The United Colonies of North America Continental Congress Presidents (1774-1776)
The United States of America Continental Congress Presidents (1776-1781)
The United States of America in Congress Assembled Presidents (1781-1789)
The United States of America Presidents and Commanders-in-Chiefs (1789-Present)