John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy leaves the Saint Stephen Martyr Catholic church after attending mass in Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 1962. Getty Images/AFP

John Fitzgerald Kennedy would have become a centenarian Monday, May 29, 2017, if he were alive. One of America’s beloved presidents, Kennedy was born May 29, 1917.

Kennedy became the 35th president of the U.S. in 1961. He was assassinated in less than three years Nov. 22, 1963. He was 46 years old at the time.

Read: John F. Kennedy Quotes

Despite in the office for a short time, Kennedy — commonly referred to as JFK — was admired and loved by his fellow countrymen. Even today, he is remembered for his foreign policy challenges and much of his presidency was focused on handling relations with the Soviet Union.

Following are some of the facts on Kennedy, gathered from ABC News, AARP, Inc. (formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons) Constitution Daily and History:

  • After Kennedy was born, his father Joseph Kennedy Sr. narrowly escaped 1920 terror attack on the Wall Street. The bombing claimed 38 lives, but Kennedy Sr. was unharmed.
  • Kennedy briefly attended Princeton University, New Jersey.
  • He won a Pulitzer Prize for his first book “Why England Slept,” which he wrote in 1945.
  • Kennedy always traveled with a bathroom scale as he was obsessed with his weight.
  • He was the first president to dance with black women at an inaugural ball.
  • Kennedy reportedly installed a secret taping system in the White House.
  • He was afraid of running for reelection against George W. Romney, Mitt Romney’s father.
  • One of Kennedy’s legs was shorter than the other. Due to this, often faced chronic back problems.
  • He reportedly used 16 pens to sign the Limited Test Ban Treaty Sept. 24, 1963.
  • Kennedy donated all his White House annual income worth $100,000 to charity.
  • Kennedy desperately tried to learn French and even asked his daughter Caroline's teacher to teach him the language.
  • He bought about 1,200 high-grade Cuban cigars the day before he was set to order a ban on Cuban imports.
  • Kennedy was the only president to have been awarded the Purple Heart for his service in the Pacific during World War II.
  • Kennedy was the target of at least four assassination attempts before Dallas. About a month before he was elected president, a retired postal worker in a car loaded with dynamite, followed Kennedy from Hyannis Port to Georgetown to Palm Beach. "Brother, they could have gotten me in Palm Beach. There is no way to keep anyone from killing me," Kennedy told a Secret Service agent shortly after the man was detained, according to Thurston Clarke in "JFK's Last Hundred Days." The other two assassination plots were in Chicago and Tampa, Florida.
  • On Nov. 11, 1963, Kennedy laid a Veterans Day wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
  • He was buried at the cemetery exactly two weeks later.
  • He is the only president whose grandmother lived longer than him.
RELATED STORIES