Early life and education

Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald; Rose, in turn, was the eldest child of John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, a prominent figure in Boston politics who was the city's mayor and a three-term member of Congress.

Kennedy attended Edward Devotion School for four years (kindergarten in 1922 to third grade), followed by a stint at the Dexter School in Boston, a year at Canterbury School, and then Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, one of the country's most elite private boarding schools for boys, from which he graduated in 1935. On September 25, 1935, he sailed to London with his parents and his sister Kathleen. There he enrolled at the London School of Economics with the intention of studying political economy for a year under the tutelage of Professor Harold Laski, but an illness hospitalized him shortly after his enrollment. His father insisted he return to the US. Later that fall of 1935, he enrolled in Princeton University, but was forced to leave after contracting jaundice. The next fall, he began attending Harvard College. Kennedy traveled to Europe twice during his years at Harvard, visiting Britain, while his father was serving as ambassador to the Court of St. James's. In 1937, Kennedy was prescribed steroids to control his colitis, which only increased his medical problems causing him to develop osteoporosis of the lower lumbar spine. After graduating Harvard, he attended Stanford University’s business school for a few months and then traveled to South America.

In 1940, Kennedy wrote his honors thesis, entitled "Why England Slept," about the British dealings concerning the Munich Agreement. He initially intended for his thesis to be for college use only, but his father encouraged him to publish it in a book. He graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in international affairs in June 1940. His thesis was published in 1940 and became a bestseller.

Years later, it was revealed that Kennedy had been diagnosed as a young man with Addison's Disease, a rare endocrine disorder. This and other medical disorders were kept from the press and public throughout Kennedy's lifetime.