AR Half Dollar

Struck: 1964
Mint: Philadelphia
Size: 30.61mm
Weight: 12.5g
Die Axis: 180°
Grade: XF
Ref: KM# 202

Obv: Portrait of John F. Kennedy left, date below.
Rev: Modified presidential seal of the United States of America.
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29th, 1917 to a wealthy political family from Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University in 1940 and joined the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. Kennedy commanded PT boats during World War II and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. After a brief stint in journalism, he served in the House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 and the U.S. Senate from 1953 to 1960. While serving as a Senator he published the Pulitzer Prize winning "Profiles in Courage".

Kennedy won the 1960 Presidential election running against Richard Nixon. His accomplishments in office include the creation of the Peace Corps, the continuation and encouragement of the Apollo Space program, and a bill submitted to congress which eventually passed as the Civil Rights Act in 1964 after his death. The greatest test of his administration came with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Discovering that the Soviet Union had sent ballistic nuclear missiles to Cuba, Kennedy blockaded the island and vowed to defend the United States at any cost. After several of the tensest days in history, during which the world seemed on the brink of nuclear annihilation, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles in return for Kennedy's promise not to invade Cuba and to remove American missiles from Turkey. Eight months later he successfully negotiated the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty with Great Britain and the Soviet Union, helping to ease Cold War tensions.

John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald himself was murdered by Jack Ruby 2 days later on November 24th and Kennedy’s death has inspired numerous conspiracy theories.

Despite his short presidency, Kennedy ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. The Kennedy Half Dollar was issued in 1964 as a memorial to the President.