--- description: In honor of the 100th anniversary of President Kennedy's birth, this video takes a quick — very quick — look back at his life and legacy. title: What to Know About John F. Kennedy's Life, in 90 Seconds image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte98508fae2b47b06/6988cf17cf40a86bf2c47df2/jfk-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What to Know About John F. Kennedy's Life, in 90 Seconds by [Kenneth Bachor](/author/kenneth-bachor/), [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) and [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) May 26, 2017 7:15 PM CUT  Getty Images by [Kenneth Bachor](/author/kenneth-bachor/), [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) and [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) May 26, 2017 7:15 PM CUT About a week after President [John F. Kennedy](http://time.com/4792716/jfk-meaning/ "undefined")‘s sudden and shocking death in November of 1963, by the bullet of assassin [Lee Harvey Oswald](http://time.com/4753349/oswald-kennedy-declassified-documentary/ "undefined"), TIME chose [this letter](http://time.com/vault/issue/1963-12-06/page/35/ "undefined") from a reader as the first to print in response to the news: --- > “” --- Kennedy was only 46 when he was killed, but he fit a lot of life into those few decades: scholar, writer, war hero, family man, celebrity and — of course — politician. And, though a greater number of years have now passed since his death than passed during his life, his legacy continues to be a major touchstone for American culture. For the 100th anniversary of his May 29, 1917, birth, here’s a very, very brief look back at his life and the complicated century that he helped shape. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4795115/john-f-kennedy-biography-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4795115/john-f-kennedy-biography-video/"},"headline":"What to Know About John F. Kennedy's Life, in 90 Seconds","datePublished":"2017-05-26T19:15:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T12:24:39.018Z","description":"In honor of the 100th anniversary of President Kennedy's birth, this video takes a quick — very quick — look back at his life and legacy","url":"https://time.com/4795115/john-f-kennedy-biography-video/","keywords":["JFK","White House","photography","People","kennedy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte98508fae2b47b06/6988cf17cf40a86bf2c47df2/jfk-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kenneth Bachor","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte98508fae2b47b06/6988cf17cf40a86bf2c47df2/jfk-fb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"jfk-fb","caption":"jfk-fb","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4795115/john-f-kennedy-biography-video/","name":"What to Know About John F. Kennedy's Life, in 90 Seconds"}}]}] ```