Following World War II, the United States established a standing armaments industry utilizing private corporations rather than relying solely on government-run arsenals

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Following the Cold War, the United States defense industrial base consolidated into five prime contractors: Lockheed Martin, RTX, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing

During the April 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, President John F. Kennedy refused to authorize the deployment of United States air power to support the exile force

In 1947, freshmen congressmen John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon traveled to Pennsylvania to conduct a joint public debate

In April 1961, approximately 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro's government

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy implemented a naval quarantine of Cuba rather than ordering an immediate military strike or invasion

On October 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a United States U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over Cuba, resulting in the death of pilot Major Rudolf Anderson

On October 27, 1962, United States Navy surface ships dropped depth charges near Soviet submarine B-59 in the Atlantic

President John F. Kennedy established the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) in October 1962 to manage the Cuban Missile Crisis

On the morning of October 27, 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev sent a second letter requiring the United States to withdraw American missiles from Turkey in exchange for removing Soviet missiles from Cuba

John F. Kennedy's 1961 presidential inaugural address consisted of approximately 1,360 words as delivered

Ted Sorensen served as John F. Kennedy's primary speechwriter for the 1961 presidential inaugural address

On October 16, 1962, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy presented President John F. Kennedy with U-2 aerial photographs showing Soviet nuclear missile construction in Cuba

Soviet submarine B-59 officer Vasily Arkhipov refused to authorize the launch of a 15-kiloton nuclear torpedo against United States forces on October 27, 1962

Following their 1947 debate in Pennsylvania, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon shared a train sleeper car on their trip back to Washington, D.C.

John F. Kennedy almost won the Democratic nomination for vice president at the 1956 Democratic National Convention

The operation to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs was originally developed under President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration

On October 26, 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev sent a letter to President John F. Kennedy proposing to withdraw Soviet missiles from Cuba if the United States pledged not to invade Cuba

The resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis included a secret agreement that the United States would withdraw its nuclear missiles stationed in Turkey

John F. Kennedy served in the military during World War II

John F. Kennedy delivered his presidential inaugural address in January 1961