John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 - November 22, 1963) served as the 35th President of the United States from January 20, 1961, until his assassination, becoming, at 43, the youngest person ever elected to the office and its first Roman Catholic occupant. His presidency was dominated by Cold War confrontation with the Soviet Union: in 1961 he authorized the failed Bay of Pigs invasion aimed at overthrowing Fidel Castro's government in Cuba, and in October 1962 he confronted the Cuban Missile Crisis after American reconnaissance discovered Soviet nuclear missiles stationed on the island, a standoff that brought the two superpowers close to nuclear war before a negotiated withdrawal. He committed the United States to landing a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s, founded the Peace Corps, supported the civil rights movement despite limited legislative success in his lifetime, and signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963. He was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963; Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and then killed by Jack Ruby before trial, and while the FBI and the Warren Commission concluded Oswald acted alone, the assassination has remained the subject of enduring conspiracy theories.