JFK's wife, she became one of America's most beautiful and cultured First Ladies, and a bellwether of fashion.
A Cuban revolutionary, he became Cuba's dictator in 1959 and quickly led his country into an alliance with the U.S.S.R. Castro's ascendance brought socialist ideology troublingly close to the U.S., leading to the U.S. invasion of Cuba in the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
Became famous as a general during World War II, and was President of the Unites States from 1953 to 1961.
Head of the F.B.I. during the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations.
JFK's rival for the 1960 Democratic nomination, who subsequently became JFK's Vice-President. Upon JFK's assassination in 1963, Johnson became President of the Unites States, and remained in office until 1969.
A leader in the Civil Rights Movement and a powerful advocate for black Americans.
JFK's daughter, born in 1957.
Known as "Teddy," he was JFK's youngest brother and later a Senator from Massachusetts.
JFK's son, born in 1960.
JFK's father. An Irish Catholic from Boston, he made a fortune investing in the stock market and was appointed Ambassador to Great Britain, where he supported the British policy of appeasing Hitler in the years preceding World War II. Joseph Kennedy, Sr.'s own political ambitions were blunted, so he transferred them to his children, particularly JFK.
JFK's older brother, who was always understood to be the favorite of Joe Sr. Joe Jr. was killed while still a young man, when his plane exploded during World War II.
JFK's favorite sister.
JFK's younger brother, he was named attorney general in the Kennedy administration.
Joseph Kennedy, Sr.'s wife, and JFK's mother.
Premier of the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, he was JFK's rival during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
A Republican Senator from Wisconsin, he became famous in the early 1950s for his allegations that the U.S. government was infiltrated by Communists.
A famous movie star with whom JFK had an affair.
A Republican congressman who became Eisenhower's Vice-President, and JFK's adversary in the 1960 presidential election.
An unstable ex-Marine charged with assassinating JFK in November 1963.
JFK's adviser and principal speechwriter. He did the bulk of the writing for Profiles in Courage, the 1956 book that won JFK the Pulitzer Prize.
The failed Democratic candidate for president in 1952 and 1956. Under Kennedy, he was appointed ambassador to the United Nations.
A Democrat, and the President of the United States from 1945 to 1953, while JFK was serving in the House of Representatives.
