Thousands of Americans celebrate the life and legacy of President John F. Kennedy on the day he would have turned 100.
A wreath-laying ceremony was held to honor the 35th U.S. president at his gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Kennedy served as president from January 1961 until he was assassinated Nov. 22, 1963. He was 46.
In Boston, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum held a birthday celebration that included a cake made by the family of the baker who made the engagement cake for then-Sen. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier, museum officials said.
"There's no one issue or one event that we could do to highlight the different facets of (Kennedy),"said Steven Rothstein, the library foundation's executive director. "Many of his key ideas are timeless. We fundamentally believe that JFK is a visionary who never goes out of style."
The U.S. Postal Service also commemorated Kennedy's centennial with a dedication of a JFK postage stamp in Brookline, a Boston suburb where he was born on May 29, 1917.
The image on the stamp is a 1960 photograph by Ted Spiegel of Kennedy when he was campaigning for president in Seattle. Boston Postmaster Nick Francescucci said the stamp was selected because of the way Kennedy was looking up.
"His eyes were high, they were looking to the sky (and) it looked like there was a big bright future ahead of us," Francescucci said.
In commemoration of JFK’s 100th birthday, Fox News has compiled a rundown on the life of the 35th president:
- Born on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts to Joseph “Joe” Kennedy and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy
- In 1940, Kennedy graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in government
- From 1941 to 1945, Kennedy commanded three patrol torpedo boats in South Pacific during World War II, including the PT-109 which was sunk by a Japanese destroyer
- In 1946, Kennedy was elected to Congress for Massachusetts' 11th congressional district and served three terms
- Elected to the U.S. Senate to represent Massachusetts in 1952
- Kennedy marries Jacqueline Bouvier, a writer with the Washington Times-Herald, in 1953
- Receives the Pulitzer Prize in 1957 for his book “Profiles in Courage”
- Elected President of the United States in 1960, becoming the youngest person elected to the country’s highest office, and the first Roman Catholic president.
- He is credited with overseeing the creation and launch of the Peace Corps
- Sent 3,000 U.S. troops to support the desegregation of the University of Mississippi after riots there left two dead and many others injured
- Approved the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961 intending to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro
- In 1962, Kennedy oversaw the Cuban Missile Crisis — seen as one of the most crucial periods of the U.S.’s Cold War with the Soviet Union
- Signed a nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviet Union in July 1963
- Asked Congress to approve more than $22 billion for Project Apollo with the goal of landing an American on the moon by the end of the 1960s
- Escalated involvement in the conflict in Vietnam and approved the overthrow of Vietnam's President Ngô Đình Diệm. By the time of the war's end in 1975, more than 58,000 U.S. troops were killed in the conflict
- Assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
