President of the Day

What did Kennedy do with respect to the space program?

Kennedy played a vital role in the development of the U.S. space program. He claimed that a major goal of the country was to place a man on the moon before the end of the decade (an objective that was accomplished in 1969). Under Kennedy's watch, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched Project Mercury with a goal of putting American astronauts in space. Kennedy did not want to lag behind the Soviet Union, which was aggressively pursuing its own space program.

What book did Kennedy write while he was a senator that earned him a Pulitzer Prize?

Kennedy authored the book Profiles in Courage (1956), which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957. The book examined eight U.S. senators who showed courage in taking unpopular stands. The senators profiled in the book included: John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benson, Sam Houston, Edmund G. Ross, Lucius Lamar, George Norris, and Robert Taft.

What well-known volunteer program did Kennedy establish?

Kennedy established the Peace Corps by executive order in March 1961. Its stated purpose was "to promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower." Kennedy named his brother-in-law, Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., as the Peace Corps first director.

Which of his siblings also ran for president?

Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy both ran for president. Robert served as John's U.S. attorney general and later became a U.S. senator from New York. He likely would have captured the 1968 Democratic nomination for president, but was assassinated. Edward served as a U.S. senator from Massachusetts from 1962 until his death in 2009. He was the fourth-longest serving U.S. senator in American history--behind Robert Byrd, Daniel Inouye, and Strom Thurmond.

What famous phrase did Kennedy utter at his inaugural address?

Kennedy famously told the public during his inaugural address on January 20, 1961: "And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."

From The Handy Presidents Answer Book, Second Edition by David L. Hudson, Jr., JD., (c) Visible Ink Press(R) More than 1,600 things you never knew about our nation's leaders