Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States and the youngest man elected to office at 43 years old (although Roosevelt, at 42 years old, was the youngest to assume office). Kennedy was assassinated during his first term, also becoming the president who died at the youngest age - at just 46 years old.
In his inaugural address, Kennedy said the now world-famous phrase "ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country."
"The murder of Kennedy was also a temporary setback for the Jews of the Soviet Union," Rabbi Eli Kavon noted recently for The Jerusalem Post. "Kennedy was a pioneer – years before his presidency – in advocating for the oppressed Jews of the USSR. He had plans to speak out on their behalf after returning from Dallas. Alas, he was dead, as was his plan to speak out on behalf of Soviet Jewry."
His concern for Soviet Jews was not the only way in which Kennedy worked to help the Jewish people. As Passover approached in April 1962, a wheat flour shortage left US Jews searching for how they were going to make matzah (unleavened bread) for that year's Passover. Kennedy came to the rescue when he issued a special proclamation that granted special permission to import around five tons of wheat flour from Israel, in order to allow Jews the opportunity to make all the matzah they needed.
The Democratic nominee, Kennedy won the 1960 presidential election with 82% of the Jewish vote. This generous act would have likely have not done him any harm among Jewish voters had he survived to see another election.
Kennedy was born in Massachusetts in 1917. He studied at Harvard and served in the US Navy during World War II. He went on to be elected to Congress and then the Senate. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953.
Alex Winston contributed to this report.