Kennedy's 100th birthday: The legend of JFK

The son of rich parents, JFK enjoyed a privileged youth. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was stationed abroad, including in London. JFK went to private schools, and studied at the renowned Harvard University. This photo shows him in 1943 as an officer of the US Navy in Panama.

After his military service, John F. Kennedy became active in the Democratic Party, sat in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, and in 1960 ran for president. He was sworn in on January 20, 1961, and at 43 was the second-youngest person in the office. In his inauguration speech he told his compatriots: "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

From the German point of view, the most important day of the John F. Kennedy era was June 26, 1963. This was the day of his famous speech in front of the town hall in the West Berlin district of Schöneberg, where he pronounced the legendary sentence, "Ich bin ein Berliner" - I am a Berliner – expressing his solidarity with the people of the then-divided city.

Kennedy quickly won the hearts of many American citizens with his youthful charm. However, his time in office was also characterized by crises and conflicts - in particular the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, directed against the Communist Castro regime in Cuba. In 1962 the world came very close to nuclear war. Kennedy is also credited with averting the crisis.

John F. Kennedy's wife Jackie brought elegance and glamor with her to the White House. Her time as the president's wife lasted only a couple of years, but her highly fashionable style was adopted by a whole generation. To this day Jacqueline Kennedy is known as the American "Queen of Hearts," and had a great influence on subsequent first ladies.

Kennedy (right) had a reputation as a womanizer. He was said to have had many affairs, and to have associated with call girls. Probably the best-known of his extra-marital liaisons was, allegedly, with Marilyn Monroe (center). A Hollywood icon and sex symbol at the time, she was said also to have been linked to JFK's brother Robert (left). She died in 1962 in circumstances that are still unclear.

This famous picture shows the president in 1962, applauding his children Caroline and John as they play in front of him. But the Kennedy clan was not always this happy. The family had to cope with a series of heavy blows. JFK's brother Robert was also assassinated. Other Kennedys died in serious accidents, drug overdoses, plane crashes, or through suicide. And JFK's death overshadows them all.

Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963. Kennedy and his wife were on the campaign trail, driving through the city in an open-topped car. Several shots were fired, and Kennedy was fatally wounded. A whole country was plunged into collective mourning. It was a brutal end to many people's dream of a young, good-looking American president whose aim was to make the world a better place.

Two days after the murder of John F. Kennedy, his alleged attacker, casual laborer Lee Harvey Oswald (center), was shot dead by nightclub owner Jack Ruby (right). Harvey was arrested just a few hours after the assassination. The precise circumstances of the attack are still unclear, and rumors and conspiracy theories about who might have been pulling the strings are still rife today.

Even years after Kennedy's burial on November 25, 1963, his era is still affecting our own. Every subsequent president has been measured against JFK. What would his presidency have been like if he hadn't been murdered after just 1,036 days in office? How would the world have been different? Perhaps the legend is based precisely on the fact that there can be no answers to these questions.