Martin Luther King, Jr., a Civil Rights activist, and John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, through different ways, both left lasting impressions on the U.S. and with their deaths, they bestowed a great mystery upon the U.S.

Kennedy’s life began on May 29, 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts, were he grew up in a wealthy family. His father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, built a large fortune through various ventures such as films, shipbuilding, and stock-market speculation (Encarta). Upon his graduation from Choate Preparatory School in Wallingford, Connecticut, Kennedy began his college career. After a brief time a Princeton University, Kennedy enrolled at Harvard University were he majored in government and international relations.

Kennedy’s family had always had strong roots in politics. Both of his parents came from political backgrounds. Kennedy’s mother’s father was once the mayor of Boston and Kennedy’s father’s father was a state senator (World Book). Kennedy too followed in the footsteps of his family and entered into the political arena. After receiving the democratic nomination for president and defeating at that time Vice President Richard M. N

While both men were and still are praised for their actions in the Civil Rights movement, Kennedy is also praised for his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. After the U.S. became aware that the Soviet Union had installed missiles in Cuba that were within striking distance of the U.S. mainland, Kennedy ordered the Navy to set up a blockade around Cuba. After nearly a week at high tension with war seeming almost immanent, Nikita S. Khrushchev ordered all Soviet missiles to be removed from Cuba. The blockade was lifted and peace was restored thanks to Kennedy’s actions.

Both men were loved and adored by a majority of the American public. However with all of their popularity and accomplishments came those few that despised the men for one reason or another. On November 22, 1963 Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas, Texas (World Book). Tragedy and devastation occurred a second time on April 4, 1968 when King was assassinated by a sniper in a motel in Memphis, Tennessee (Encarta). The U.S. and many other nations mourned the deaths of both men.

The several weeks after the assassination of Kennedy, President Johnson formed the Warren Commission, making them responsible for the investigation. They concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole killer, there was no conspiracy to kill Kennedy, and only three shots were fired from the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository, a building along the route of the motorcade (A Basic Introduction).

Just as with Kennedy’s assassination, the initial reports of King’s assassination differed greatly from later investigation and reexamination of the evidence. Kings killer was believed to be James Earl Ray. Although there was never a second committee to reexamine the evidence, the King family has been doing everything they possibly can to answer the question who killed Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some topics in this essay:
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