John F. Kennedy
Anne Collins
Oxford Bookworms LibraryLevel 2
A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Anne Collins.
Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.' More than fifty years ago, the new US President, John F. Kennedy, spoke these words. Millions of Americans listened, and they were filled with hope. With Kennedy as president, surely there was a great future ahead for their country. But Kennedy would not finish his four years as president. In November 1963, the world stopped as terrible news came from Dallas, Texas…
Anne Collins
John F. Kennedy
JOHN F. KENNEDY
The new president had everything. He came from a rich family, with a strong father who wanted his children to do well. He was charming and intelligent, with a beautiful young wife and two lovely children. He was a war hero, with an award for courage. And when he gave speeches, people listened and believed in what he said. Surely, Americans thought, John F. Kennedy was a great leader for a great country.
But not everything was so easy. JFK wanted world peace, but there was trouble in Germany, Cuba, and Vietnam. Many Americans fought against the idea of equal rights for black Americans. And a president must be president, even when his back hurts and he is secretly ill.
And all the time, the sudden end of Kennedy’s extraordinary time as president was coming closer and closer …
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
В© Oxford University Press 2014
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First published 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No unauthorized photocopying
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work
ISBN: 978 0 19 423672 0
A complete recording of John F. Kennedy is available on CD. Pack ISBN: 978 0 19 423664 5
Printed in China
Word count (main text): 6,857
For more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library,
visit www.oup.com/elt/gradedreaderswww.oup.com/elt/gradedreaders (http://www.oup.com/elt/gradedreaders)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Cover image courtesy of: Corbis (John F. Kennedy/John Bryson/Sygma)
Maps by: Peter Bull pp.2, 18, 23
The publishers would like to thank the following for their permission to reproduce photographs:
Alamy pp.6 (Keystone Pictures USA), 7 (Stocktrek Images, Inc), 12 (Keystone Pictures USA), 16 (Everett Collection Historical), 17 (Keystone Pictures USA), 20 (Interfoto), 28 (Charles O Cecil), 29 (Everett Collection Historical), 31 (Everett Collection Historical), 32 (Stocktrek Images, Inc), 36 (RGB Ventures LLC dba Superstock), 37 (Universal Images Group Limited); Corbis UK Ltd pp.1, 5 (Bettmann), 8, 13, 14 (Bettmann), 21, 26, 34, 38 (Bettmann), 41 (Bettmann); Mary Evans Picture Library pp.4 (Friedrich/Interfoto), 19 (Everett Collection); Getty Images pp.10 (National Archive/Newsmakers), 24 (Keystone), 25 (Central Press), 33 (Three Lions), 35