Kennedy’s Childhood
By: Joey Sumpter
Have you ever heard of John F. Kennedy? In the case you haven’t, I’ll tell you some about his childhood. John F. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, into a large wealthy family, having 8 siblings all together. Jack, (his nickname), was named after his father. When Jack was young he was not very healthy. He wasn’t three years old when he was diagnosed with Scarlet Fever, which could have possibly ended his life.
Jack’s father ran a very tight ship when it came to his sons. Jack and his older brother Joe, were always encouraged by their father, to be as competitive as they possibly could with each other. Jack always wanted to beat the super- cool, awesome, good looking, very responsible older brother. Yes, that’s exactly how he saw him.
One sunny day, they came up with the idea to have a crazy sort of bike race. The rules were that they would both ride around two mirroring paths, at the same time, then they would come around to have a sort of joust, by rolling toward each other, and the first one to swerve out of the way would be declared the loser. They did exactly what they said they would do, except it didn’t turn out well. While Jack was determined to beat his brother and all his greatness. So they raced, but when they came to face each other, neither one of them moved. They both were frozen as they ramed! Into each other. Jack was sent to the hospital, and given 28 stitches.
At Choate (Jack’s school), he was very popular, with many friends. He was very good at sports, plus he was also very smart in school too. Jack graduated and went on to harvard in 1936. One day he was playing football, when something happened that would affect him for the rest of his life. He ended up rupturing a disk in his spine. After this Jack suffered from back pain for the rest of his life.
John F. Kennedy had a mostly great life as a child, but little did he know that this would lead him to becoming the 35th president of the United States.
(“Life of John F. Kennedy.” JFK Library, www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy.)