10 things you didn’t know about John F. Kennedy

WASHINGTON — President John F. Kennedy, whose 100th birthday is May 29, was one of the United States’ most celebrated presidents. From “ask not what your country can do for you” to “ich bin ein Berliner” to the Cuban missile crisis, his legend is filled with stories and momentous events that affect Americans to this day, and which virtually every American knows.

But there’s always something new to learn.

Test your knowledge of the 35th president with this collection of questions and answers, collected from the John F. Kennedy Library and several other sites.

Question: Everyone knows John F. Kennedy won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957 for writing “Profiles in Courage” (albeit with serious help from Arthur Schlesinger, who won one of his own). He also wrote two other published books. What were they? (Answer on next slide) Photo Above: In this Dec. 8, 1960 file photo, President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy pose at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington with their son, John F. Kennedy Jr., following a baptism for the infant. The younger Kennedy was born Nov. 25. (AP Photo, File)

AP Photo, File

Answer: “Why England Slept” (1940), his thesis from Harvard, which was notable for going against the popular wisdom and saying that if England had confronted Hitler and Nazi Germany earlier in the run-up to World War II, it might have turned out even worse in the long run. Later, “A Nation of Immigrants” was published as a pamphlet in 1958, then in The New York Times Magazine in 1963, and as a book in 1964. It’s a history of immigration in the United States and proposals to liberalize immigration law. (Answer on next slide) Photo Above: In this May 3, 1962 file photo, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, right, meets with former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida in his White House office in Washington. (AP Photo/William J. Smith, File)

AP Photo/William J. Smith, File

Future president John F. Kennedy, at right, with his PT-109 crew. (Collections of the U.S. National Archives, downloaded from the Naval Historical Center) — **Question:** Everyone knows Kennedy won medals for heroism in the sinking of his boat, the PT-109, during World War II. But he retired from the Navy Reserve two months before the war was over. What did he do the rest of the war? (Answer on next slide) *Photo Above: Here, future President John F. Kennedy, at right, with his PT-109 crew. (Collections of the U.S. National Archives, downloaded from the Naval Historical Center)* (Collections of the U.S. National Archives, downloaded from the Naval Historical Center)

Jacqueline Kennedy lifts the skirt of her inaugural ball gown as she and her husband, President-elect John F. Kennedy, leave their Georgetown home in the snowfall en route to the inaugural concert in Washington, D.C., Jan. 19, 1961. (AP Photo) — **Answer:** He was a special correspondent for Hearst Newspapers, covering among other things the Potsdam Conference — one of the meetings that set up the political order of the postwar world. (Answer on next slide) Photo Above: Jacqueline Kennedy lifts the skirt of her inaugural ballgown as she and her husband, President-elect John F. Kennedy, leave their Georgetown home in the snowfall en route to the inaugural concert in Washington, D.C., Jan. 19, 1961. (AP Photo)

**Question:** After the Kennedys, the second-most famous political family in Massachusetts is arguably the Lodges. How many times did members of the two families vie for the same Senate seat? (Answer on next slide) Photo Above: Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy has a chuck under the chin for her husband moments after he became president, January 20, 1961. This exclusive picture by AP photographer Henry Burroughs was taken in the rotunda of the Capitol just after President John F. Kennedy left the inaugural stand. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs)

** FILE ** In this Jan. 20, 1961 black-and-white file photo, shows a general view of the crowd in Capitol Plaza to witness the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as President of the United States. President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration is expected to draw 1 million-plus to the capital, and already some lawmakers have stopped taking ticket requests and hotels have booked up. (AP Photo, File) — **Answer:** Three — Henry Cabot Lodge beat John F. Kennedy’s grandfather, John F. Fitzgerald, for the Senate seat in 1916; John F. Kennedy beat Henry Cabot Lodge II for the same seat in 1952; and Ted Kennedy beat George Lodge (son of Henry Cabot Lodge II) in the 1962 special election to finish President Kennedy’s Senate term. (Answer on next slide) *Photo Above: This Jan. 20, 1961 black-and-white file photo, shows a general view of the crowd in Capitol Plaza to witness the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as President of the United States.* (AP Photo, File)

President-elect John F. Kennedy addresses the audience attending the Inaugural Gala performance on the eve of his inauguration in Washington, Jan. 19, 1961. The big show, with top stars of the entertainment world, was sponsored by the Democratic National Committee as a fund-raising event. A snowstorm which swept the city and paralyzed traffic, cut down on the anticipated attendance. (AP Photo/Hans Von Nolde) — **Question:** Kennedy was buried in Arlington Cemetery. How many other presidents are buried there? (Answer on next slide) Photo Above: President-elect John F. Kennedy addresses the audience attending the Inaugural Gala performance on the eve of his inauguration in Washington, Jan. 19, 1961. The big show, with top stars of the entertainment world, was sponsored by the Democratic National Committee as a fundraising event. A snowstorm which swept the city and paralyzed traffic, cut down on the anticipated attendance. (AP Photo/Hans Von Nolde)

Answer: Only one: William Howard Taft. Photo Above: In this March 16, 1938 file photo, Joseph P. Kennedy, second from right, the new United States Ambassador to London, is shown as he welcomed the “first section” of his family — Mrs. Rose Kennedy, third from right, and five of their nine children — at Plymouth on their arrival in England. From left are Kathleen, Ambassador Kennedy, Mrs. Rose Kennedy, Patricia, Jean, Bobby. Teddy is in front. Joseph P. Kennedy was a financier and served as an ambassador to Great Britain under President Franklin Roosevelt. He was father to one U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, and two U.S. senators, Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and Edward Kennedy. He died in 1969 at age 81. (AP Photo, File)

AP Photo, File

Newly-elected President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy leave the White House, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 1961, for a series of visits to inaugural balls. The first lady wore her specially-designed haute couture white silk sheath and matching coat. As the 35th President of the United States, Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the 20th century by a plurality of just 114,000 votes. The Kennedys brought a cultured and glamorous era known as "Camelot" to American politics. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs) — **Question:** What was John F. Kennedy’s favorite poem? (Answer on next slide) Photo Above: Newly-elected President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy leave the White House, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 1961, for a series of visits to inaugural balls. The first lady wore her specially-designed haute couture white silk sheath and matching coat. As the 35th President of the United States, Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the 20th century by a plurality of just 114,000 votes. The Kennedys brought a cultured and glamorous era known as “Camelot” to American politics. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs)

**Answer:** “I Have a Rendezvous with Death,” by Alan Seeger, an American who served in the French Foreign Legion in World War I and was killed in 1916. It goes in part: God knows ‘there better to be deep
Pillowed in silk and scented down
…
But I’ve a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous. *Photo Above: Senator John F. Kennedy checking over a speech during the 1960 presidential campaign.* (Photo by Paul Schutzer/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum's "American Visionary" exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Jack with daughter Caroline, Georgetown, Washington, DC, March 25, 1958. © Ed Clark (Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) — **Question:** Was John F. Kennedy a healthy child? (Answer on next slide) *Photo Above: Baby Caroline peeks up at her father from her crib in Georgetown on March 25, 1958.* (Photo: Ed Clark)

Shortly after his acceptance of the Democratic Party endorsement for President. Senator (and future US President) John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963) and his wife, future First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929 - 1994), smiles and waves from the back of an open-top car, Massachusetts, July 1960. (Photo by Paul Schutzer/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) — **Answer:** Not hardly. He had whooping cough, measles, chickenpox and scarlet fever, and probably more. Once he was out of the woods, his family would sometimes joke that if a mosquito bit him, the mosquito would die. Photo Above: Shortly after his acceptance of the Democratic Party endorsement for President. Senator (and future US President) John F. Kennedy (1917 — 1963) and his wife, future First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929 — 1994), smiles and waves from the back of an open-top car, Massachusetts, July 1960. (Photo by Paul Schutzer/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Question: What was Jacqueline Bouvier’s job when she met Kennedy? (Answer on Next Slide) Photo Above: In this photo from Jan. 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivers his inaugural address after taking the oath of office on Capitol Hill in Washington. The son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States was assassinated in November 1963, at the age of 46, after serving less than three years. He was the youngest president ever elected and the first Roman Catholic. His book, “Profiles in Courage,” won the Pulitzer Prize in history. (AP Photo, File)

AP Photo, File

Answer: She was a writer with the Washington Times-Herald. Photo Above: In this June 3, 1961, file photo, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev walks with U.S. President John F. Kennedy at the residence of the U.S. ambassador in Vienna, Austria. (AP Photo)

AP Photo

Question: The Kennedy White House is famed for the way it championed the arts, but that was mostly the first lady’s doing. What did she once say JFK’s favorite song was? (Answer on next slide) Photo Above: In this Sept. 25, 1961 file photo, President John F. Kennedy speaks before the U.N. General Assembly in New York. (AP Photo, file)

AP Photo, file

**Answer:** “Hail to the Chief.” *Photo Above: President John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy and others walking to his Inauguration.* (Photo by Paul Schutzer/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

A photo-booth picture of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier, circa 1953. — **Question:** Where did Kennedy propose to Jacqueline Bouvier? (Answer on next slide) *Photo Above: John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier in a photo booth circa 1953.* (Scanned original 3x5" b&w negati/Anonymous)

Answer: At Martin’s Tavern on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and N Street in Georgetown. Photo Above: In this Feb. 9, 1944, file photo, U.S. Navy Lt. John F. Kennedy smiles at the Stork Club in New York. A diary written by Kennedy in 1945 during his brief stint as a journalist after World War II was auctioned on April 26, 2017, by RR Auction in Boston. (AP Photo/File)

AP Photo/File