John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963), also referred to as John F. Kennedy or JFK, was the 35th President of the United States. He served from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. The son of a prominent Massachusetts family, Kennedy's presidency was marked by such events as the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, early events of the Vietnam War, and the American Civil Rights Movement.

He was the father of Caroline Kennedy, and Ethel Kennedy was married to his brother Robert.

References[]

• Kennedy's image appears in Jim Henson's short The Idea Man, which debuted on The Mike Douglas Show in 1966, three years after the assassination. Kennedy is one of several images seen during the montage, drifting through the mind of Limbo. Unlike the other objects, which move on, Kennedy dissolves, an apparent reference to the real Kennedy's fate.

• In volume 5 of Big Bird's Sesame Street Dictionary, a Kennedy half dollar appears in a two-page spread about money, illustrated by Joe Mathieu. This caricature of Kennedy is based on the Orange Gold Anything Muppet pattern.

• In Sesame Street Unpaved, it's pointed out that Oscar the Grouch shares his astrological sign, Gemini, with John F. Kennedy ("Ask not what Oscar can do for you, but what you can do for Oscar").

• Preston Rabbit poses the question in Sesame Street Episode 2801, "Ask not what you can do for Preston Rabbit, but what can Preston Rabbit do for you?"

• In a Word of the Day sketch explaining the word "vote," one of the edible candidates wishing to be chosen as the snack time meal is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich whose voice impersonates Kennedy's.

• Asked on Twitter whether he prefers Miss Piggy or Denise, Pepe replied that he and Rizzo refer to this topic as "Bay of Pigs".^[1]

• Doctor Doc paraphrases Kennedy's famous words from his inauguration when playing a pretend president in her and Sprocket's pillow fort in the Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock episode "The Great Radish Ball": "Ask not what your pillow fort can do for you, but what you can do for your pillow fort!"

See also[]

• John Kennedy, puppeteer

Sources[]