Just two months before he died, President John F Kennedy said, “Things do not just happen. They are made to happen.” At the time the president hoped that he would be the one to shape the future of the nation. But an assassin’s bullet in Dallas changed all of that. So when and how do we assess the short life of President Kennedy? The one hundredth anniversary of JFK’s birth provides a good opportunity to try.

Time cannot fully erase the inspiration created by his public words and deeds. They altered history and continue to be a source of fascination for new generations who didn’t live during Kennedy’s presidency.