Portrait from John F. Kennedy’s first formal photo session, ca. November 1917

John –“Jack,” as he was called by his family and close friends—was the second of nine children born into a close-knit, politically-connected Irish Catholic family in Brookline. He had three brothers and five sisters, one of whom was born with an intellectual disability. Politics was in JFK’s blood. Both of his grandfathers—sons of immigrant who came to the United States from Ireland to escape the potato famine in the 1840s—held elective office.

JFK’s mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy was the daughter of John Francis “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, who served as a U.S. Congressman, and mayor of Boston. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, an enormously successful businessman, would come to hold high government posts, including Ambassador to Great Britain. Both parents instilled in their children strong values of faith, family and public service, as well as a thirst for learning and a drive to succeed, making full use of their God-given talents.