Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
Janet G. Travell

Janet G. Travell

Janet Graeme Travell was appointed by John F. Kennedy as his personal physician in 1961. She was the first female doctor to hold this position.

External link

http://www.pain-education.com/100143.php

John F. Kennedy

For other uses, see JFK (disambiguation) or John Kennedy (disambiguation). John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917–November 22, 1963), often referred to as John F Kennedy, JFK, or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. He served from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. A member of the prominent Kennedy political family, he is considered an icon of American liberalism. Kennedy is the youngest person ever to have been elected president of the country, at the age of 43. (Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest ever to serve as President of the country.) Major events during his presidency included the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, early events of the Vietnam War, and the American Civil Rights Movement. In rankings of U.S. presidents, historians usually grade Kennedy above average, but among the general public he is often regarded as among the greatest presidents. Kennedy is also the only Roman Catholic ever to become President, the first president to serve who was born in the 20th century, the last to die while still in office, the last Democrat from the North to be elected, and the last to be elected while serving in the U.S. Senate. Kennedy died the youngest of any U.S. president, at 46 years and 177 days, when he was assassinated on November 22, 1963. The assassination is often considered a defining moment in U.S. history both because of its traumatic impact on the entire nation, and because of Kennedy's elevation as an icon for a new generation of Americans and American aspirations.

Early life and Education

Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. Years later, it would be revealed that Kennedy had been diagnosed as a young man with Addison's Disease, a rare endocrine disorder. This and other medical disorders were kept from the press and the public throughout Kennedy's life. Kennedy attended The Choate School in Connecticut, one of the country's most elite, and he graduated in 1935. Before enrolling in college, he attended the London School of Economics for a year, where he studied political economy under the tutelage of Professor Harold Laski. In the fall of 1935, he enrolled in Princeton University, but was forced to leave after contracting jaundice. The next fall, he began attending Harvard College. Kennedy traveled to Europe twice during his years at Harvard, visiting the United Kingdom, while his father was serving as Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. In 1937, Kennedy was prescribed steroids to control his colitis, which only heightened his medical problems causing him to develop osteoporosis of the lower lumbar spine [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1276266]. In 1938, Kennedy wrote his honors thesis, entitled "Why England Slept" on the British portion of the Munich Agreement. He graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in international affairs in June 1940. His thesis was published in 1940 and became a best-seller.

Military service

In the spring of 1941, Kennedy volunteered for the U.S. Army, but was rejected, mainly because of his troublesome back. However, the U.S. Navy accepted him in September of that year with the influence of the director of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), a former naval attaché to ambassador Joseph Kennedy. As an ensign, he served in the office that supplied bulletins and briefing information for the Secretary of the Navy. It was during this assignment that the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. It was also during this time that he began a romantic relationship with Inga Arvad, a suspected Nazi spy. The relationship ended, however, when Kennedy was transferred to the ONI field office in South Carolina. He attended the Naval Reserve Officers Training School and Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training Center before being assigned for duty in Panama and eventually the Pacific theater. He participated in various commands in the Pacific theater and earned the rank of lieutenant, commanding a patrol torpedo boat (PT boat).[http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-2.htm] patrol torpedo boat On August 2, 1943, Kennedy's boat, the PT-109, was taking part in a night-time military raid near New Georgia (near the Solomon Islands) when it was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Kennedy was thrown across the deck, injuring his already troubled back. Still, Kennedy somehow towed a wounded man three miles through the ocean, arriving on an island where his crew was subsequently rescued. Kennedy said that he blacked out for periods of time during the ordeal. For these actions, Kennedy received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal under the following citation: :"For heroism the rescue of 3 men following the ramming and sinking of his motor torpedo boat while attempting a torpedo attack on a Japanese destroyer in the Solomon Islands area on the night of Aug 1-2, 1943. Lt. KENNEDY, Capt. of the boat, directed the rescue of the crew and personally rescued 3 men, one of whom was seriously injured. During the following 6 days, he succeeded in getting his crew ashore, and after swimming many hours attempting to secure aid and food, finally effected the rescue of the men. His courage, endurance and excellent leadership contributed to the saving of several lives and was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service." Kennedy's other decorations of the Second World War include the Purple Heart, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. He was honorably discharged in early 1945, just a few months before the Japanese surrendered. In May 2002, a National Geographic expedition found what is believed to be the wreckage of the PT-109 in the Solomon Islands [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0709_020710_kennedyPT109.html].

Early political career

PT-109 After World War II, Kennedy entered politics (partly to fill the void of his popular brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., on whom his family had pinned many of their hopes but who was killed in the war). In 1946, Representative James Michael Curley vacated his seat in an overwhelmingly Democratic district to become mayor of Boston and Kennedy ran for that seat, beating his Republican opponent by a large margin. He was reelected twice, but had a mixed voting record, often diverging from President Harry S. Truman and the rest of the Democratic Party. Harry S. Truman commencement.]] In 1952, Kennedy ran for the Senate with the slogan "Kennedy will do more for Massachusetts." In an upset victory, he defeated Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. by a margin of about 70,000 votes. Kennedy adroitly dodged criticizing fellow Senator Joseph McCarthy's controversial campaign to root out Communists and Soviet spies in the U.S. government, because of McCarthy's popularity in Massachusetts. McCarthy was a friend of JFK's father, dated the Kennedy sisters, and younger brother Robert F. Kennedy briefly worked for McCarthy. Although Kennedy was ill during the 65–22 vote to censure McCarthy, he was criticized by McCarthy opponents such as Eleanor Roosevelt who later said of the episode, "he should have displayed less profile, and more courage". Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on September 12, 1953. He underwent several spinal operations in the two following years, nearly dying (receiving the Catholic faith's "last rites" four times during his life), and was often absent from the Senate. During this period, he published Profiles in Courage, highlighting eight instances in which U.S. Senators risked their careers by standing by their personal beliefs. The book was awarded the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. In 1956, Kennedy campaigned for the Vice Presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention, but convention delegates selected Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver instead. However, Kennedy's efforts helped bolster his reputation within the party. An example of Kennedy's political suppleness prior to the 1960 campaign was his handling of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He voted for final passage, while earlier voting for the "jury trial amendment", which some people feel rendered the Act toothless. He was able to say to both sides that he supported them. In 1958, Kennedy published the first edition of his book A Nation of Immigrants, closely following his involvement in the Displaced Persons Act and the 1957 bill to bring families together.

1960 Presidential election

A Nation of Immigrants In 1960, Kennedy declared his intent to run for President of the United States. In the Democratic primary election, he faced challenges from Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, and Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956 who was not officially running but was a favorite write-in candidate. Kennedy won key primaries like Wisconsin and West Virginia. In the latter state, Kennedy made a visit to a coal-mine, and talked to the mine workers to win their support, as most people in that conservative, mostly Protestant state were deeply suspicious about Kennedy being a Catholic. Kennedy emerged as a universally acceptable candidate for the party after that victory. On July 13, 1960 the Democratic Party nominated Kennedy as its candidate for president. Kennedy asked Johnson to be his Vice Presidential candidate, despite clashes between the two during the primary elections. He needed Johnson's strength in the South to win what was considered likely to be the closest election since 1916. Major issues included how to get the economy moving again, Kennedy's Catholicism, Cuba, and whether or not both the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the U.S. To allay fears that his Roman Catholicism would impact his decision-making, he said in a famous speech in Houston, Texas (to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association), on September 12, 1960, "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters - and the Church does not speak for me." [http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/johnfkennedyhoustonministerialspeech.html] (Also see Al Smith, the first Catholic to receive the presidential nomination for a major party, in 1928.) In September and October, Kennedy debated Republican candidate Vice President Richard Nixon in the first televised US presidential debates. During the debates, Nixon looked tense, sweaty, and unshaven compared to Kennedy's composure and handsomeness, leading many to deem Kennedy the winner, although historians consider the two evenly matched as orators. Interestingly, many who listened on radio thought Nixon more impressive in the debate.[http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/kennedy-nixon/kennedy-nixon.htm] The debates are considered a political landmark: the point at which the medium of television played an important role in politics and looking presentable on camera became one of the important considerations for presidential and other political candidates. In the general election on November 8, 1960, Kennedy beat Nixon in a very close race. There were serious allegations that vote fraud in Texas and Illinois had cost Nixon the presidency[http://www.leanleft.com/archives/cat_reviews.html]. There were unusually large margins in Richard Daley's Chicago — which were announced after the rest of the vote in Illinois. The only change after the official recount was a win for Kennedy in Hawaii.

Presidency

Hawaii] Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", he said. He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." [http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/jfk-inaug.htm]

Foreign policies

On April 17, 1961, Kennedy gave orders allowing a previously-planned invasion of Cuba to proceed. With support from the CIA, in what is known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1,500 U.S.-trained Cuban exiles, called "Brigade 2506" returned to the island in the hope of deposing Castro, but the CIA had underestimated popular support for Castro, made several mistakes in devising and carrying out the plan, and the exiles did not rally the Cuban people as expected. By April 19 Castro's government had killed or captured most of the invading exiles and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release for the 1,189 survivors. After 20 months, Cuba released the captured exiles in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine. The incident was a major embarrassment for Kennedy, but he took full responsibility for the debacle. On August 13, 1961, the East German government began construction of the Berlin Wall separating East Berlin from the Western sector of the city, due to the American military presence in West Berlin. Kennedy claimed this action was in violation of the "Four Powers" agreements. Kennedy initiated no action to have it dismantled, and did little to reverse or halt the eventual extension of this barrier to a length of 155 km. The Cuban Missile Crisis began on October 14, 1962 when American U-2 spy planes took photographs of a Soviet intermediate range ballistic missile site under construction in Cuba. Kennedy faced a dire dilemma: if the U.S. attacked the sites it might have led to nuclear war with the U.S.S.R. If the U.S. did nothing, it would endure the perpetual threat of nuclear weapons within its region, in such close proximity, that if launched preemptively, the U.S. may have been unable to retaliate. Another fear was that the U.S. would appear to the world as weak in its own hemisphere. Many military officials and cabinet members pressed for an air assault on the missile sites but Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine in which the U.S. Navy inspected all ships. He began negotiations with the Soviets and a week later, he and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev reached an agreement. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles while the U.S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba, and also secretly promised to remove U.S. ballistic missiles from Turkey within six months. Following this incident, which brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point before or since, Kennedy was more cautious in confronting the Soviet Union. Arguing that "those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable", Kennedy sought to contain communism in Latin America, by establishing the Alliance for Progress, which sent aid to troubled countries in the region and sought greater human rights standards in the region. He worked closely with Puerto Rican Governor Luis Muñoz Marín for the development of the Alliance of Progress, as well as developments on the autonomy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Another example of Kennedy's belief in the ability of non-military power to improve the world was the creation of the Peace Corps, one of his first acts as president. Through this program, which still exists today, Americans volunteered to help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction. Kennedy also used limited military action to contain the spread of communism. Determined to stand firm against the spread of communism, Kennedy continued the previous administration's policy of political, economic, and military support for the unstable South Vietnamese government, which included sending military advisers and U.S. special forces to the area. U.S. involvement in the area continually escalated until regular U.S. forces were directly fighting the Vietnam War in the next administration. On June 26, 1963 Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave a public speech criticizing communism. While Kennedy was speaking, some people on the other side of the wall in East Berlin were applauding Kennedy and showing their distaste for Soviet control. Kennedy used the construction of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failures of communism - "Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in." The speech is known for its famous phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner". Troubled by the long-term dangers of radioactive contamination and nuclear weapons proliferation, Kennedy also pushed for the adoption of a Limited or Partial Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited atomic testing on the ground, in the atmosphere, or underwater, but does not prohibit testing underground. The United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were the initial signatories to the Treaty. Kennedy signed the Treaty into law in August 1963, and believed it to be one of the greatest accomplishments of his administration. On the occasion of his visit to Ireland in 1963, President Kennedy joined with Irish President Eamon de Valera to form The American Irish Foundation. The mission of this organization was to foster connections between Americans of Irish descent and the country of their ancestry. (See The Ireland Funds)

Domestic policies

The Ireland Funds]] Kennedy used the term New Frontier as a label for his domestic program. It ambitiously promised federal funding for education, medical care for the elderly, and government intervention to halt the recession. Kennedy also promised an end to racial discrimination. The turbulent end of state-sanctioned racial discrimination was one of the most pressing domestic issues of Kennedy's era. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that racial segregation in public schools would no longer be permitted. However, there were many schools, especially in southern states, that did not obey this decision. There also remained the practice of segregation on buses, in restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places. Kennedy started his fight for civil rights when he appealed to Black voters during his campaign in 1962. In 1962 James Meredith tried to enroll at the University of Mississippi, but he was prevented by white students. Kennedy responded by sending some 400 federal marshals and 3000 troops to ensure that Meredith could enroll in his first class. Kennedy also assigned federal marshals to protect Freedom Riders. Thousands of Americans of all races and backgrounds joined Kennedy in protesting racial discrimination. Kennedy supported racial integration and civil rights, and during the 1960 campaign he telephoned Coretta Scott King, wife of the jailed Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which drew much black support to his candidacy. However, as president, Kennedy initially believed the grassroots movement for civil rights would only anger many Southern whites and make it even more difficult to pass civil rights laws through Congress, which was dominated by Southern Democrats, and he distanced himself from it. As a result, many civil rights leaders viewed Kennedy as unsupportive of their efforts. On June 11, President Kennedy intervened when the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling. George Wallace moved aside after being confronted by federal marshals, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, and the Alabama National Guard. That evening Kennedy gave his famous Civil Rights Address on National television and radio. [http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/johnfkennedycivilrights.htm] Kennedy proposed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964. [http://www.mass.gov/statehouse/statues/jfk_landing.htm] [http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/39.htm] Also on the domestic front, in 1963 Kennedy proposed a tax reform that included income tax cuts, but this was not passed by the Congress until after his death in 1964. It is one of the largest tax cuts in modern U.S. history, surpassing the Reagan tax cut of 1981.

Support of space programs

Neil Armstrong.]] Kennedy was eager for the United States to lead the way in the space race. The Soviet Union was ahead of the U.S. in its knowledge of space exploration and Kennedy was determined that the U.S. could catch up. In a speech made at Rice University in September 1962, he said , "No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space" and "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."[http://webcast.rice.edu/speeches/19620912kennedy.html] Kennedy asked Congress to approve more than twenty two billion dollars for Project Apollo, which had the goal of landing an American man on the Moon before the end of the decade. In 1969, six years after Kennedy's death, this goal was finally realized when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon.

Cabinet


Buzz Aldrin ----

Supreme Court appointments

Kennedy appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
- Byron Raymond White - 1962
- Arthur Joseph Goldberg - 1962

Image, social life and family

Both Kennedy and his wife "Jackie" were very young in comparison to earlier presidents and first ladies, and were both extraordinarily popular in ways more common to pop singers and movie stars than politicians, influencing fashion trends and becoming the subjects of numerous photo spreads in popular magazines. The Kennedys brought a new life and vigor to the atmosphere of the White House. They believed that the White House should be a place to celebrate American history, culture, and achievement, and invited artists, writers, scientists, poets, musicians, actors, Nobel Prize winners and athletes to visit. Jacqueline Kennedy also gathered new art and furniture and eventually restored all the rooms in the White House. The White House also seemed like a more fun, youthful place, because of the Kennedys' two young children, Caroline and John Jr. (who came to be known in the popular press as "John-John" though years later Jacqueline Kennedy denied that the family called him by that name). Outside the White House Lawn, the Kennedys established a pre-school, swimming pool, and tree house. John Jr. Behind the glamorous facade, the Kennedys also suffered many personal tragedies. Jacqueline suffered a miscarriage in 1955, and gave birth to a stillborn daughter in 1956. (Although the daughter was unnamed - and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to her parents with a marker reading "Baby Girl" Kennedy - later reports indicated that the Kennedys had intended to call her Arabella.) The death of their newborn son Patrick Bouvier Kennedy in August 1963 was a great loss. Information revealed after Kennedy's death leaves no doubt that he had many extramarital affairs while in office, including liaisons in the White House with some female staff, prostitutes, members of the press and others. In his era, though, such issues were not considered fit for publication, and in Kennedy's case, they were never publicly discussed during his life, even though there were some public clues of an involvement with Marilyn Monroe, such as the manner in which she sang Happy Birthday Mr. President at his televised birthday party in May 1962. In the years after his death, many liaisons were revealed, including one with Judith Campbell Exner, who was simultaneously involved with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana. The charisma of Kennedy and his family posthumously led to the figurative designation of "Camelot" for his administration.

Assassination and aftermath

Camelot President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963 at 12:30 pm CST while on a political trip through Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged at 7:00 pm for killing a Dallas policeman by "murder with malice", and also charged at 11:30 pm for the murder of the president (there being no charge of "assassination" of a president at that time). Oswald was fatally shot less than two days later in the basement of the Dallas police station by Jack Ruby. Five days after Oswald was killed, the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, created the Warren Commission, chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the assassination. It concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. A later investigation in the 1970s by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) also concluded that Oswald was the assassin, however, it added that he was likely part of a conspiracy to kill the president, although the committee did not uncover sufficient evidence to identify any other members of the conspiracy. Critics have proposed a number of Kennedy assassination theories which contradict the various theories on exactly how the assassination took place that have been proposed by the government's official reports. There is no consensus among government investigations, let alone amongst their critics, on the number of bullets fired at the president, the direction from which all the bullets were fired, and which of the bullets struck the president, and Governor John Connally who was also wounded in the attack. Lee Harvey Oswald denied shooting anyone, and claimed he was being set up as a "patsy". He claimed the photograph of him holding the alleged murder weapon was a fabrication, and that he would prove his face was pasted on the body of someone else holding the rifle. However, because of his own murder by Jack Ruby, Oswald's guilt or innocence was never determined in a court of law. Some critics contend that Oswald was not involved at all and that he was framed. Among the most widely posited conspirators in the assassination are the CIA, the mafia, the KGB, and Fidel Castro, Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson, and some sort of military-industrial complex led by U.S. Army Generals.

Legacy and memorials

Lyndon B. Johnson Television became the primary source by which people kept informed of events surrounding John F. Kennedy's assassination, with newspapers the following day becoming more souvenirs than sources of updated information. U.S. networks switched to 24 hour news coverage for the first time ever. Kennedy's state funeral and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald were all broadcast live in America and in other places around the world. It was with this event that television matured as a news source rivalling that of newspapers. Lee Harvey Oswald On March 14, 1967 Kennedy's body was moved to a permanent burial place and memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson said of the assassination that "all of us...will bear the grief of his death until the day of ours." Kennedy is buried with his wife and their deceased children, and his brother Robert is also buried nearby. His grave is marked with an "Eternal Flame". Many of Kennedy's speeches, especially his inaugural address are considered iconic, and despite his relatively short term in office, and a lack of major legislative changes during his term, Americans regularly vote him as one of the best presidents, in the same league as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Kennedy's legacy has been memoralized in various aspects of American culture. New York Idlewild International Airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 24, 1963 to honor his memory, and the USS John F. Kennedy was awarded on April 30, 1964 as a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. The John F. Kennedy Library opened in 1979 as Kennedy's official presidential library. John F. Kennedy University opened in Pleasant Hill, California in 1964 as a school for adult education. John F. Kennedy National Historic Site preserves his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy in 1963, but reverted to its original name in 1973. Hundreds of schools across the U.S were also renamed in his honor. The Phi Kappa Theta chapter at Worcester Polytechnic Institute made Kennedy an honorary brother of the fraternity. fraternity Posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, Kennedy's portrait now appears on the United States half dollar coin.

Criticism

Kennedy is among the most popular former presidents of the United States; however, a number of critics argue that his reputation is largely undeserved. While he was young and charismatic, he had little chance to achieve much during his presidency. Under this reasoning, his immense popularity results from the fact that his short time in office was marked by the optimistic beginnings of many programs declared to be of great benefit to the United States, its people, and various global issues. Unlike the tenures of other U.S. presidents, Kennedy's time in office, generally speaking, thereby lacked the scandals and controversies seen in the terms of many other presidents who served longer. The Civil Rights Act which he sent to Congress in June of 1963 was, at least in part, conceived by his brother and Attorney-General Robert F. Kennedy, and largely implemented by his successor, Lyndon Johnson, in 1964. Kennedy's personal life has attracted the ire of critics, some of whom argue that lapses in judgment in his personal life impacted his professional life. Many of these criticisms stem from revelations about the extent to which the Kennedy family went to hide his serious, potentially life-threatening health issues (e.g. he suffered from Addison's disease) from the voting public, his heavy medication regimen, his long history of extra-marital dalliances, and alleged, circuitous links to organized crime figures. Seymour Hersh's The Dark Side of Camelot (1998) presents such a critical argument. Robert Dallek's An Unfinished Life (2003) is a more balanced biography, but contains much detail on Kennedy's health issues. Another of Kennedy's critics is U.S. intellectual Noam Chomsky, whose book Rethinking Camelot: JFK, the Vietnam War, and US Political Culture (1993) presents an image of the Kennedy administration opposite to the one that lingers in mainstream memory. The book is a criticism of policy rather than his personal life, and explores information not usually presented about the 35th president. In particular, Chomsky and many other critics highlight the ill-planned increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict under Kennedy's tenure.

Media

See also


- John F. Kennedy assassination
- Kennedy assassination theories
- Kennedy family
- John F. Kennedy, Jr.
- Robert F. Kennedy
- Robert F. Kennedy assassination
- Kennedy Compound
- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts
- U.S. presidential election, 1960
- History of the United States (1945–1964)
- Jesuit Ivy
- Peace Corps
- John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame
- John F. Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede, England
- Kennedy Memorial Trust
- Five cents John Kennedy, postage stamp
- Whiz Kids
- Evelyn Lincoln, personal secretary to the President
- Kennedy Doctrine
- Lincoln/Kennedy Coincidences
- Coincidence theory
- Kennedy curse

References


-
-
- [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000107 Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress]
- Gretchen Rubin radio interview. November 4, 2005 on Up To Date. [www.kcur.org/UTDarchive.html]

External links


- [http://www.jfklibrary.org/ John F. Kennedy Library]
- [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jk35.html The White House Biography]
- [http://search.yale.edu:8765/query.html?col=ycsg&col=opa&col=yaleuniv&col=dynamic&qt=John+F.+Kennedy&charset=iso-8859-1&qp=%2Burl%3Awww.yale.edu%2Flawweb%2Favalon JFK at the Avalon Project]
- [http://www.whitehousetapes.org/pages/tapes_jfk.htm JFK's Secret White House Recordings @ University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs]
- [http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/showfindingaid.cfm?findaidid=KennedyJF Audio clips of Kennedy's speeches and other commentary]
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKindex.htm Assassination of President Kennedy Encyclopaedia]
- [http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm McAdams website about JFK]
- [http://www.csicop.org/si/2005-01/strange-world.html article: Facts and Fiction in the Kennedy Assassination]
- [http://www.rootdig.com/john_f_kennedy.html John F. Kennedy in United States Census Records]
- Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. ko:존 F. 케네디 ja:ジョン・F・ケネディ simple:John F. Kennedy th:จอห์น เอฟ. เคนเนดี้

1961

1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). As MAD Magazine pointed out on its cover for the March issue, this was the first "upside-up" year—i.e., one that looked the same upside down—since 1881, and the last until 6009.

Events

January

1881 in January 1961]]
- January 1 - The farthing coin, used since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
- January 3 - President Dwight Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.
- January 3 - SL-1, an atomic reactor, exploded at National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho Falls, Idaho, killing 3 military technicians.
- January 5 - Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti marches into US consulate in Rome and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
- January 7 - Following a four-day conference in Casablanca, five African chiefs of state announced plans for a NATO-type African organization to ensure common defense. The Charter of Casablanca involved were Morocco, the United Arab Republic, Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.
- January 8 - In France, referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria
- January 9 - British authorities announce that they have discovered a large Soviet spy ring in London
- January 12 - President Dwight Eisenhower gave his final State of the Union Address to Congress.
- January 17 - Assassination of Patrice Lumumba
- January 20 - John F. Kennedy becomes President of the United States
- January 24 - US B-52 bomber with two 24-megaton nuclear bombs crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina
- January 24 - Musician Bob Dylan said to have made his way to New York City after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin. Dylan was likely on his way to visit his idol Woody Guthrie. He later found fame in the Greenwich Village protest folk music scene.
- January 25 - In Washington, DC John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential news conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union had freed the two surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down by Soviet flyers over the Barents Sea July 1, 1960. (see RB-47H shot down)
- January 25 - Acting to halt 'leftist excesses,' a junta comprised of two army officers and 4 civilians takes over the rule of El Salvador, ousting another junta that had ruled for three months.
- January 26 - John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman held this appointment.
- January 30 - President John F. Kennedy delivered his first State of the Union Address.
- January 30 - Martin Luther King Jr. has a son - Dexter Scott King.
- January 31 - Ham, a 37 pound male chimpanzee, was rocketed into space in a test of the Project Mercury capsule designed to carry U.S. astronauts into space.

February-March

astronaut, Israel.]]
- February 3 - China buys grain from Canada with $60 million
- February 4 - The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola.
- February 5 - The Sunday Telegraph publishes its first issue.
- February 9 - In Congo, president Joseph Kasavubu names Joseph Ileo as a new prime minister
- February 11 - Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
- February 13 - Congo government announces that villagers have killed Patrice Lumumba
- February 14 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized (Berkeley, California).
- February 15 - A Sabena Boeing 707 crashes near Brussels, Belgium killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.
- February 26 - Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco.
- March 1 - President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
- March 1 - First elections held in Uganda and it becomes self-governing.
- March 2 - US president John F Kennedy creates Peace Corps
- March 3 - Hassan II is crowned King of Morocco.
- March 8 - Max Conrad circumnavigates the earth in eight days, 18 hours and 49 minutes setting a new world record.
- March 8 - First US Polaris submarines arrive at Holy Loch.
- March 13 - Black and white £5 notes cease to be a legal tender in the UK
- March 13 - A dam bursts on the Dnieper river in the USSR - 145 dead.
- March 15 - South Africa withdraws from the British Commonwealth.
- March 18 - Ceasefire in the Algerian War of Independence
- March 29 - The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, DC to vote in presidential elections.
- March 30 - Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs signed at New York.

April


- April 5 - New Guinea Council of western Papua installed
- April 11 - Trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem
- April 12 - Albert Kalonji takes a title of Emperor Albert I Kalonji of South Kasai
- April 12 - Yuri Gagarin is the first human in space.
- April 17 - Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba begins, ending in failure April 19.
- April 20 - Fidel Castro announces that all invaders of the Bay of Pigs invasion have been defeated
- April 22 - Three French generals who oppose De Gaulle's policies in Algeria fail in a coup attempt.
- April 23-24 - Vasa raised in the Stockholm harbor.
- April 25 - Robert Noyce is granted the first patent for an integrated circuit.
- April 25 - General Maurice Challe, who lead the Algerian army rebels, surrenders
- April 26 - In Congo, soldiers arrest Moise Tsombe in a political conference
- April 27 - Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom.
- April 29 - NSW votes at referendum to retain Legislative Council

May


- May 5 - Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space.
- May 8 - British George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying.
- May 14 - American civil rights movement: A Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.
- May 16 - A military coup in South Korea - Do Young Tsang takes over.
- May 19 - Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (however the probe had lost contact with earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
- May 21 - American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
- May 24 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.
- May 25 - Apollo program: President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the moon" before the end of the decade.
- May 27 - Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaya holds a press conference in Singapore announcing his idea of formation of the Federation of Malaysia comprising Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo(Sabah).
- May 28 - Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
- May 30 - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, totalitarian despot of the Dominican Republic since 1930, is killed in an ambush, putting an end to the second longest-running dictatorship in Latin American history.
- May 31 - In France, rebel generals Maurice Challe ja Andre Zelelr are sentenced to 15 years in prison
- May 31 - South Africa officially leaves the British Commonwealth

June-September


- June 4 - John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet during two days in Vienna. They talk about nuclear tests, disarmament and Germany.
- June 17 - Paris-Strassbourg train derails near Ventyr-le-Francois – 24 dead, 109 dead
- June 17 - The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.
- June 19 - British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becames an emirate
- June 21 - Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev requests asylum in France while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet
- June 22 - Moise Tshombe released for lack of evidence to connection to murder of Patrice Lumumba
- June 25 - US philanthropist George Vanderbilt is found dead at the base of a San Francisco skyscraper
- June 25 - Iraqi president Abdul Karim Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait - Kuwaiti government ask British help in June 27. British army begin to send in troops.
- July 4 - Soviet submarine K-19 explodes in the North Atlantic - 22 dead
- July 5 - The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2 was launched.
- July 8 - Mine explosion in Czechoslovakia - 108 dead
- July 21 - Mercury program: Gus Grissom piloting the Mercury 4 capsule "Liberty Bell 7" becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital).
- July 31 - At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain.
- August 10 - Britain applies for membership of the EEC.
- August 21 - Jomo Kenyatta released from prison in Kenya
- August 13 - Construction of the Berlin Wall begins. Movement between East Berlin and West Berlin remains restricted for the next 28 years, until November 9, 1989.
- August 21 – Jomo Kenyatta is fully released in Kenya.
- September 14 - New military government of Turkey sentences 15 members of the previous government to death
- September 17 - Military rulers in Turkey hang publicly former president Adnan Menderes
- September 17-18 - Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo.
- September 21 - In France, OAS slips an anti-de Gaulle message to TV programming
- September 24 - The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg returned to its newly rebuilt house as the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
- September 28 - A military coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria

October-November


- October 10 - Volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha - whole population evacuated.
- October 12 - The death penalty abolished in New Zealand.
- October 17 - "Battle of Paris": French police attack in Paris about 30,000 protesting a curfew applied solely to Algerians. Official death toll is 3, but human rights groups claim 240 dead.
- October 19 - Arab League takes over protection of Kuwait - last British troops leave.
- October 25 - The first edition of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine.
- October 27 - Armistice begins in Katanga, Congo
- October 27 - Mongolia and Mauretania join the United Nations
- October 30 - Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates a 58 megaton yield hydrogen bomb over Novaya Zemlya (this is still the largest nuclear device to ever be detonated). Nikita Kruschev announces that the scientists had planned to make it 100 megatons, but had reduced the yield so as to avoid breaking all the windows in Moscow.
- October 31 - In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin's body is removed from Lenin's Tomb.
- October 31 - Hurricane Hattie hits Belize City. 400 dead, 65.000 made homeless.
- November - Despite public protest, the demolition of Euston Arch in London starts.
- November 2 - Congo government troops march into Katanga
- November 3 - U Thant of Burma elected United Nations Secretary General
- November 12 - Stalingrad's name changed to Volgograd.
- November 13 - Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny succeeds Aleksandr Nikolayevich Shelepin as head of the KGB.
- November 16 - British Conservative government introduces the Commonwealth Immigration Bill, limiting immigration from British Commonwealth countries to Britain.
- November 29 - Mercury program: Mercury-Atlas 5 is launched with Enos the chimp aboard (the spacecraft orbited the Earth twice and splashed-down off the coast of Puerto Rico).

December


- December 1 - Netherlands New Guinea raises new Morning Star flag and changes name to West Papua
- December 2 - Cold War: In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism.
- December 5 – US president John F. Kennedy gives support to Volta Dam project in Ghana.
- December 9 - Tanganyika gains independence and declares itself a republic with Julius Nyerere as its first President.
- December 9 - The Australian government of Robert Menzies is re-elected for a sixth term.
- December 10 - Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Albania.
- December 11 - Vietnam War officially begins as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel.
- December 11 - Adolf Eichmann is pronounced guilty
- December 15 - An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish holocaust.
- December 17 - India occupies Goa
- December 19 - Goa officially ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule.
- December 19 - Sukarno announces that he will take West Irian by force if necessary
- December 21 - In Congo, Katangan primne minister Moise Tshombe recognizes Congolese constitution
- December 30 - Congolese troops capture Albert Kalonji of South Kasai (who soon escapes)
- December 31 - The Marshall Plan expires after having distributed more than $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
- December 31 - Ireland's first national television station, Teilifís Éireann, (later RTÉ) begins broadcasting.

Unknown dates


- John F. Kennedy begins the Apollo program of U.S. manned spaceflight
- The first quasar is discovered by Allan Sandage at Mt Palomar, California

Births

January-March


- January 2 - Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
- January 2 - Todd Haynes, American film director
- January 8 - Calvin Smith, American athlete
- January 13 - Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress
- January 17 - Maia Chiburdanidze, Georgian chess player
- January 18 - Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player
- January 26 - Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey player
- January 31 - Lloyd Cole, British singer and songwriter
- February 1 - Volker Fried, German field hockey player
- February 9 - John Kruk, baseball player and commentator
- February 10 - George Stephanopoulos, American political consultant and commentator
- February 11 - Mary Docter, American speed skater
- February 11- Carey Lowell, American actress
- February 13 - Henry Rollins, American musician
- February 16 - Andy Taylor, British musician (Duran Duran)
- February 25 - Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)
- March 4 - Ray Mancini, American boxer
- March 8 - Camryn Manheim, American actress
- March 10 - Laurel Clark, NASA astronaut (d.2003)
- March 14 - Kirby Puckett, baseball player
- March 15 - Fabio, Italian model
- March 21 - Lothar Matthäus, German footballer
- March 23 - Helmi Johannes, Indonesian television newscaster
- March 27 - Tak Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist (B'z)
- March 29 - Gerardo Teissonniere, Puerto Rican pianist

April-August


- April 2 - Christopher Meloni, American actor
- April 3 - Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian
- April 5 - Lisa Zane, American actress
- April 6 - Gene Eugene, Canadian actor and singer (Adam Again)
- April 18 - Jane Leeves, English actress
- April 20 - Don Mattingly, baseball player
- April 23 - George Lopez, American actor and comedian
- April 26 - Joan Chen, Chinese actress
- April 30 - Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and team owner
- May 6 - George Clooney, American actor
- May 12 - Billy (William H) Duffy, English guitarist (The Cult)
- May 13 - Dennis Rodman, American basketball player and actor
- May 14 - Tim Roth, English actor
- May 17 - Enya, Irish singer and songwriter
- May 27 - Peri Gilpin, American actress
- May 29 - Melissa Etheridge, American musician
- May 31 - Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician
- June 1 - Paul Coffey, Canadian hockey player
- June 6 - Tom Araya, rock musician (Slayer)
- June 7 - Peter Sterling, Australian rugby league player
- June 14 - Boy George, British musician and producer
- June 18 - Andrés Galarraga, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- June 22 - Stephen Batchelor, British field hockey player
- June 251 - Don Grindle Jr., Runner, Raquetball player, father, husband
- June 26 - Greg LeMond, American cyclist
- July 1 - Kalpana Chawla, NASA astronaut (d. 2003)
- July 1 - Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)
- July 1 - Carl Lewis, American athlete
- July 12 - Ray Gillen, American singer (d. 1993)
- July 14 - Jackie Earle Haley, American actor
- July 30 - Laurence Fishburne, American actor
- August 1 - Steven F. Zambo, film producer, director, and screenwriter
- August 3 - Nicholas Harvey, English politician
- August 5 - Clayton Rohner, American actor
- August 8 - The Edge, Irish guitarist (U2)
- August 14 - Susan Olsen, American actress
- August 29 - Carsten Fischer, German field hockey player

September-November


- September 2 - Eric Dickerson, American football player
- September 2 - Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer
- September 6 - Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Norwegian guitarist (a-ha)
- September 12 - Mylene Farmer, Canadian singer and songwriter
- September 13 - Dave Mustaine, American musician (Metallica and Megadeth)
- September 15 - Dan Marino, American football player
- September 22 - Scott Baio, American actor
- September 23 - William C. McCool, United States Army Commander, NASA, astronaut, (d. 2003)
- September 25 - Heather Locklear, American actress
- September 26 - Edward Kennedy Jr, son of Ted Kennedy and Virginia Joan Bennett.
- October 2 - Edmond Yu, Chinese student (d. 1997)
- October 11 - Steve Young, American football player
- October 18 - Wynton Marsalis, American trumpeter and composer
- October 25 - Grover Waldrop, American biochemist
- October 26 - Dylan McDermott, American actor
- October 29 - Randy Jackson, American musician
- October 31 - Alonzo Babers, American runner
- October 31 - Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director
- October 31 - Larry Mullen, Jr., Irish drummer (U2)
- November 2 - k.d. lang, Canadian singer and songwriter
- November 4 - Daron Hagen, American composer
- November 19 - Meg Ryan, American actress
- November 20 - Anthony Warlow, Australian stage performer
- November 22 - Mariel Hemingway, American actress
- November 22 - Randal L. Schwartz, American computer programmer

December


- December 4 - Frank Reich, American football player
- December 8 - Ann Coulter, author, political commentator and attorney
- December 12 - Sarah Sutton, British actress
- December 15 - Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist and politician
- December 19 - Matthew Waterhouse, British actor
- December 19 - Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- December 19 - Reggie White, American football player (d. 2004)
- December 25 - Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
- December 30 - Douglas Coupland, Canadian author
- December 30 - Sean Hannity, American talk radio host and political commentator
- December 30 - Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete

Deaths

January-June


- January 4 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- January 9 - Emily Greene Balch, American writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1867)
- January 10 - Dashiell Hammett, American writer (b. 1894)
- January 21 - Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1887)
- January 24 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American swimmer and inventor (b. 1884)
- January 26 - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (b. 1900)
- February 17 - Nita Naldi, American actress (b. 1897)
- February 20 - Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)
- February 22 - Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)
- February 26 - King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
- March 3 - Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)
- March 8 - Thomas Beecham, English conductor (b. 1879)
- April 6 - Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1870)
- April 9 - Ahmet Zog, King of Albania (b. 1895)
- May 13 - Gary Cooper, American actor (b. 1901)
- May 30 - Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
- June 1 - Melvin Jones, American founder of Lions Clubs International (b. 1879)
- June 6 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875)
- June 17 - Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918)
- June 30 - Lee DeForest, American inventor (b. 1873)

July-December


- July 1 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (b. 1894)
- July 2 - Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- July 6 - Woodall Rodgers, Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1890)
- July 17 - Ty Cobb, baseball player (b. 1886)
- August 20 - Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
- September 18 - Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish Secretary General of the United Nations, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1905)
- October 11 - Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)
- October 13 - Maya Deren, Russian-born filmmaker (b. 1917)
- November 1 - Mordecai Ham, American evangelist (b. 1877)
- November 2 - James Thurber, American humorist (b. 1894)
- November 16 - Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1882)
- December 20 - Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
- December 25 - Otto Loewi, German-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1873)

Unknown date


- Empress Menen of Ethiopia, wife of Haile Selassie

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Robert Hofstadter, Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer
- Chemistry - Melvin Calvin
- Physiology or Medicine - Georg von Békésy
- Literature - Ivo Andric
- Peace - Dag Hammarskjöld - awarded posthumously Category:1961 ko:1961년 ja:1961年 simple:1961 th:พ.ศ. 2504

Doctor

Doctor means teacher in Latin. It has been used continuously as an honored academic title for over a millennium in Europe, where it dates back to the rise of the university. This use spread to the Americas, former European colonies, and is now prevalent in most of the world. As a prefix – “Dr” – its primary designation is a person who has obtained a doctorate — that is, the highest rank of the academic degrees whose completion, in most fields, involves extensive research. However, in the last two centuries of popular use in English-speaking and many other countries, the noun doctor has come to be used widely to refer to physicians (medical doctors), who are also granted use of the prefix as a courtesy title, whether or not they hold doctorates. The primary medical qualification in the UK and in many Commonwealth Countries is the degree of 'Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery' (MB BS, MB ChB, BM BCh or MB BChir, depending on the University granting the award). After qualification, medical practitioners may then read for the postgraduate research degree of 'Doctor of Medicine'.

Medical usage of the noun "doctor"

In United States, Indian, and Canadian parlance, the noun "doctor" is most often used for all forms of physicians and surgeons, including internists, pediatricians, gynecologists, and all other surgical and nonsurgical specialists who hold M.D. degrees and practice medicine of any form. It is also used in this sense for osteopathic physicians (whose medical degree is D.O.). In a specific context or setting that does not include physicians, doctor is sometimes used as a noun to refer to a chiropractor, veterinarian, dentist, optometrist, podiatrist, pharmacist, or clinical psychologist (whose degrees are usually D.C., D.V.M., D.D.S., O.D., D.P.M., Pharm.D., Ph.D., and Psy.D., respectively), though less often in a context which includes physicians. In the United Kingdom, Australia, India and other areas whose culture was more recently linked to the United Kingdom, within medical circles the title Doctor generally applies to medically qualified individuals ("registered medical practitioners"). However, those who are Members or Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons for historic reasons prefer to be addressed as Mr, Mrs, Ms or Miss. There are many other countries, such as France, where doctor nearly always is synonymous with medical doctor.

Academic doctorates and usage of "Doctor" as a title of address

Although medical doctors and some other health professionals with the above medical degrees are addressed as Doctor (e.g., "Doctor Smith" or "Dr Smith"), medical degrees are not usually doctorates, except in the USA and Canada, where they are considered first-professional (as opposed to research-oriented) doctorates. The most advanced acad