Sterling Biographies: JFK Discussion Questions
1.When John F. Kennedy was a student, he was not considered a model of neatness, good behavior or academic achievement—yet he grew up to be president. Do you think people who meet with repeated failures in childhood can grow up to be extremely successful adults—even without the help of a wealthy and supportive family?
2.John F. Kennedy never considered a political career for himself until his older brother Joe died in World War II. What do you suppose Jack would have become if his brother had not died?
3.Even today, those who lived during the early 1960s remember it as a time of great hope and inspiration. What part do you think John F. Kennedy’s presidency played in creating that atmosphere across the nation? What other factors contributed to this climate?
4.The Vietnam War brought great controversy and division to our nation in the last half of the 1960s and the early 1970s. If President Kennedy had lived to finish his first term (1960-1964) and serve a second term (from 1964 to 1968), do you think our country would have played such an active role in Vietnam?
5.During John F. Kennedy’s presidency, many felt that his family—particularly his father Joe on the sidelines and his brother Bobby as attorney general—had too much influence on his history-making decisions about Cuba and other national matters. Do you think any president’s family members should act as advisors in matters of state? If so, under what conditions?
6.Many criticized President Kennedy for what they saw as lukewarm support of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Others said that he would have become more vocal once he no longer needed Southern votes to win a second term as president. Do you feel politicians should ever downplay their beliefs in order to win votes? If voicing his beliefs strongly had cost Kennedy the presidency, how might that have affected the progress of the civil rights movement?