John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a complex boy from a wealthy family, who refused to conform to expectations. This desire to stay true to himself and push the limits helped him break boundaries throughout his short life. The second born son of Joseph Patrick Kennedy accomplished much throughout his life. Among his list of achievements is a Pulitzer Prize for his book Profiles in Courage (Schlesinger and Marcovitz). However, perhaps his most notable accomplishment was becoming the youngest man, and first Roman Catholic, to ever be elected to the U.S. Presidency (“Life of John F. Kennedy”). There were social, economic, and cultural influences on John Fitzgerald Kennedy which affected his lifetime achievements. Many people influenced him throughout his life, but no one was more influential than his family. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, or …show more content…
Jack and older brother Joe were first sent to Dexter, a private school in 1924 at the ages of 7 and 9 respectively (Dallek 26-27). Jack became sick very young and illnesses would continue to plague him throughout his life. As previously mentioned, his parents were not around a lot, but when they were, they seldom interacted with the children, so Jack had to learn to keep himself busy. Whenever he was sick he would read constantly. A favorite book of his was King Arthur and the Round Table which told the story about Camelot. Unbeknownst to him at the time, his Presidency would come to be nicknamed “Camelot”. (Dallek 27). His mother Rose was Irish-Catholic, and after Dexter, sent Jack to a catholic boarding school in New Milford, CT. While there, he was isolated from the outside world which he was miserable about. His grades in school were average at best, excelling only in government and history related classes. Jack was always interested in current events so he subscribed to the New York Times (Dallek