American Experience

Who's Who: United States		return to index
	John F. Kennedy			31 of 41

A senator from Massachusetts, John Kennedy was elected president of the U.S. in 1960, becoming the youngest person ever to hold the post. Kennedy tripled the amount of American aid to Vietnam and increased the number of U.S. military advisors there; his administration supported the overthrow of South Vietnam's Ngo Dinh Diem. Three weeks after Diem died in a murderous coup, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.