He finally found two natives on Naru Island and he scrawled a message on a coconut shell to indicate that there were 11 survivors awaiting rescue.Kennedy arrived back in the US safely but with a lot of damage done to an already problematic back. His father, a shrewd and opportunistic man had already decided that this story needed to be told and so with the help of some of his publishing friends it was embellished and a book on the escapades immediately published. With articles published in the major newspapers of the time Jack Kennedy's name began to be recognisable outside of his own state, the perfect launch pad from where to make his bid for the Congress as a representative of Massachusetts.

Jack Kennedy's campaign for Congress was like no other that had gone before. This was a family intent on winning and with the resources and finances behind them to ensure that they would win. They began their campaign by involving all the members of the family, brothers, sisters, in-laws, even Jack's grandfather the infamous Honey Fitz, once the Mayor of Boston, descended on the people of Massachusetts handing out buttons and banners. Joe Kennedy spent staggering amounts of money in a bid to ensure that his eldest surviving son was elected. He conferred with Richard Cardinal Cushing to ensure Jack was allowed to address meetings across the parochial schools in Boston thus giving him unlimited access to voters. Joe also worked with Joe Timilty, the former commissioner of police. Timilty was a valuable asset to the campaign, as he knew the important people of Boston once again gaining Jack access he may otherwise have been denied.

The campaign centred on Jack travelling the four corners of Massachusetts ensuring that he met the many groups of people that resided in the state. One thing that helped the campaign significantly apart from the huge amounts of money being spent was that Jack Kennedy was one of the earliest politicians to appreciate the value of the Women's vote. He realised that this was a group whose vote had never been actively sought before and he went after it single-mindedly. A large tea party was organised for June 15 and over two thousand invitations were sent to registered female democratic voters. The tea party was to be held in the Sheraton Hotel in Boston in a room that could hold at most four hundred people. On that day over fifteen hundred people came to meet the candidate. This aspect of the campaign was later used very successfully in Jack's bid for both the Senate and the Presidency. Jack was elected to Congress in January 1947.

From the very beginning it became evident to everyone including the new Congressman that this was not the platform for Kennedy. He was too restless, filled with an energy that was not at home in the slow moving day to day business of the House. He was much younger than most of the other Congressmen and as such remained detached for the most part from many of his colleagues. He had an appalling dress sense and for the most part wore his only suit much the worse for the wear with an old pair of trainers. He became close friends with another young Congressman from Florida, George Smathers, a friendship he would maintain until the end of his life.
For the most part of his Congressional career he concentrated on issues that had a personal interest for him such as Moderate priced housing for Veterans and fighting for money to subsidise a federal program he was committed to for Slum Clearance with Boston one of the first cities to benefit from this program.

But he was restless and always looking ahead. The next obvious step to take was an ascension to the Senate from where he would have more exposure and be in a position to prime himself for his destiny, that of the Presidency. He had used his free time while Congress was out of session to do as much travelling as he could visiting with London, Paris, Germany, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Italy, Spain meeting with people like Tito, the French Ambassador David Bruce, and Pope Pius XII. From these men he asked many questions, demanded answers and generally spent the time reading and learning about the ways of each country he visited both domestically and politically. It was from this background that he would be able to distinguish himself in international affairs later in his career. He had an enormous potential for learning and a voracious appetite for knowledge that would continue throughout his career and his attention to the smallest detail was to stand to him for the remainder of his life as it helped him build and maintain relationships with many people across the globe.

Jack Kennedy began his campaign for the Senate without any fanfare at least a year and a half prior to the elections. He travelled the entire State meeting with workers in their own plants, organized labour, the fishing industry, minority and ethnic groups and of course going after the women's vote. He was also being to realise the potential that television had in everyday life and the impact that it would have in his race for the Senate. He debated Henry Cabot Lodge twice during the campaign, once in Waltham before a live audience and secondly in front of a television camera later in the race. On neither occasion was he a clear-cut winner, but television had brought Jack to national prominence and his charisma was clear to be seen.

Once again as in their campaign for Congress Jack decided that he would hold Tea Parties again with a view to collecting as much of the women's vote as possible. His mother and several of his sisters officiated at these very popular gatherings answering questions about the candidate as a child and young adult. Jack himself would appear towards the end of these parties to address a few well-chosen words to the swooning women. Not content with this they approached a television channel to air two morning television programmes called Coffee with the Kennedy's. Again Rose Kennedy would tell an amusing story or anecdote about her son and his life growing up. A seasoned campaigner Rose knew exactly what made good copy for a follow up story in the newspapers.

Bobby Kennedy became his brothers campaign manager and he was unrelenting in his energy and drive. Fiercely committed to his family and particularly his brother Bobby worked twenty hours a day pushing the volunteers to do even better, work ever harder. Joe Kennedy in turn opened the coffers and spent enormous amounts of money in a bid to ensure that nothing was left to chance even going so far as to help finance Governor Paul Devers re-election bid. Jack Kennedy was to win this election with a margin of seventy thousand votes, a close election but one that he never felt wasn't his. He was on his way.

Although he had a promising Senate career Jack knew he stood no chance of reaching the Presidency without a wife and so after a lot of soul searching he announced his engagement to Jacqueline Bouvier on the 25th of June 1953. Jack had met Jackie briefly in 1951 but the meeting had come to nothing and so in May 1952 mutual friends the Charles Bartlett's had invited the couple to dinner and on this occasion Jack Kennedy asked her for a date. Jacqueline Bouvier was a beautiful, intelligent woman. She had been educated at Vassar and had also spent a year at the Sorbonne. She had a job at the Washington Times Herald as an inquiring photographer working for another friend of the Kennedy's Arthur Krock. She had a love of literature and painting but did not have a plan for her life other than to find a rich man to marry in keeping with many of the young women of her class and generation.

She was very different to the Kennedy women who were a boisterous, exuberant lot constantly running about playing highly competitive games with each other. Jackie was much more genteel and rather than join in one of the legendary touch football games she would rather study historical books, read poetry or paint. While she was unable to form strong relationships with Jacks sisters or his mother, his father and both his brothers grew to love her deeply and appreciate in her the finer qualities that their own sisters lacked.

Jack and Jackie married on September 12 1953 in a wedding that could have been held for a royal princess. Joe Kennedy once again had spent lavishly inviting over five hundred people to the ceremony and over twelve hundred to the reception. The wedding received nationwide coverage and was front-page news in The New York Times and The Washington Post. It was a perfect piece of publicity in the growing prominence Jack was achieving throughout the country.

Throughout the year of 1954 Jack had been living with horrific pain in his back necessitating the use of crutches the majority of the time for him. He was aware that he needed a spinal fusion operation but had the additional complication of his Addisons disease, an adrenal deficiency that thinned his blood leaving him with a very weakened immune system. The chances for success for an operation of this kind were very slim and the prognosis was not good. The best hope was the Jack would be on crutches or in a wheelchair for the remainder of his life and the worst was that death was a very real possibility. Following the operation infection set in and Jack received the last rites where for two days he hovered between life and death. Jacks recovery though slow and painful was something of a miracle. It was during this time of his convalescence that he decided to write his book Profiles in Courage based on biographies Jackie read to him of Massachusetts's senators who had put the careers on the line for their principles. Jack and his aide Ted Sorensen worked on the book throughout his convalescence with Sorensen doing much of the writing and editing while Jack dictated from his sick bed.

The book became a best seller thanks in large part to the fact that Joe Kennedy ensure enough copies were bought to keep it at the top of the Best Seller list for several months. He also successfully campaigned his old friend Arthur Krock to have the book nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, which Jack won in 1957. Joe's influence extended far and wide.

Jack made his return to the Senate in 1955 still on his crutches but more determined than ever to make his way to the White House. He looked at the possibility of becoming Adlai Stevenson's running mate for the 1956 election feeling that he had a better chance of making the Vice Presidency first. Joe Kennedy was not at all happy with this. He wanted the ultimate prize - the Presidency. An ambitious man he had first wanted it for himself, then his eldest son Joe, however as that was not to be he was going to use every means possible to ensure that it would be Jacks. Because of this he urged his son not to waste his time going after the Vice Presidency fearing that if Stevenson lost, as he was sure he would do Jacks religion would be blamed. This would kill his chance of going forward for the Presidency in his own right. Still Jack went against his father and with Bobby and Ted in tow went to the Democratic Convention in Chicago with the intention of canvassing enough votes to get himself on the ballot.

Jack was there to introduce a film called 'The Pursuit of Happiness', which he had narrated and the reaction of the delegates and the viewing television audience made it clear his star was on the ascendancy. Stevenson requested that Jack nominate him for the Presidency after seeing the impact Jack had made with the delegates.
Stevenson however remained unable to choose a running mate and so through open the vote to the floor. What followed was a frenetic campaign to get the required votes from the delegates. However, it was to end in disappointment as Jack failed to win the nomination. He made a graceful concession speech that only served to increase his stature with the democrats that were to come and vote for him in greater numbers in 1960.

Jack set to work at the Senate becoming a member of a new body, The Senate Rackets Committee as it became known set about it's goal which was primarily to remove Dave Beck, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Dave Beck epitomised the corruption that was on going in the unions. These hearings set about investigating the corruption and alleged ties to the Mafia that had become synonymous with Union officials at that time. Bobby Kennedy was serving as chief counsel of these investigations and the presence of the television cameras helped boost the image of both Kennedy brothers enormously throughout the country. The most widely watched debates that involved Bobby Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa's now infamous dialogues sparking a feud that would continue over the next six or seven years.

Jack was re-elected to the Senate in 1958 with a margin of 874,608 votes but his campaign had changed in that year and he no longer focussed on just domestic politics, he now spoke more about domestic and international politics. In the previous year he had been granted a place on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from where he believed he would educate himself through his travels and his meetings with the many foreign dignitaries sufficiently to be able to garner a reputation for himself as an expert in foreign affairs. He rightly knew that in the changing world he needed to be more than a politician, he needed to be a well-educated diplomat.

During the years of 1958 and 1959 Jack took speaking engagements throughout the country all the while priming himself and his staff for the inevitable. He was aware that it was time for a change and that the sixties were a going to be a turbulent time bringing with them challenges so far unseen by his predecessors. He made his announcement for his candidacy in the Senate Caucus Room on January 2 1960 from where he would begin a frenetic campaign for the Presidency.

Once again the entire family was mobilised with Bobby as campaign manager and an enormous amounts of friends and relatives travelling the country in an effort to promote his image nationwide. Joe Kennedy bought a private airplane, which was named the' Caroline' to ensure that Jack was able to traverse the country with minimum hassle or delays. This gained the candidate a large advantage, as he was able to make his way through crucial states early in the campaign to see first hand the problems each one faced.

Jack was aware that he faced stiff competition for the Democratic nomination from Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Baines Johnson and Adlai Stevenson. He had been very successful in the primaries following his win in West Virginia and he knew going to the convention in Los Angeles on Monday 11 July 1960 that he needed only 100 or so more votes to secure the nomination.
Jack and his aides circulated through the convention hall amongst the delegates canvassing where necessary to ensure that nothing was left to chance. Nothing was, Jack Kennedy accepted the nomination before an excited crowd and millions of television viewers who felt that they were at the start a new and exciting era, a New Frontier.

Jack Kennedy's opponent for the Presidency in 1960 was Richard Milhous Nixon the incumbent Vice President. Jack had known Nixon since their days as freshman congressmen and had admired his swift rise through the ranks.
The differences in the two candidates came down to personality, Nixon was a deep man who often seemed depressed, he found relationships with people difficult and he had a dark personality whereas Jack Kennedy epitomised youth and vitally, he had charisma and a sharp wit and carried with him an ability to make and keep friends wherever he went.

The race was tight all throughout the campaign but what clinched it for Jack was a series of debates with Richard Nixon that were televised to millions across America. The confidence and youthfulness of Jack Kennedy stood out against the pale agitated pallor of Nixon whose campaign had become inept and fraught with tensions.
Jack Kennedy took the election with the narrowest of margins but nevertheless he had won. He made his acceptance speech at the Hyannis Port Amory where though exhausted he appeared jubilant and graceful.
For Jack Kennedy his entire life had been spent working towards this goal and he was aware that for him this was only the beginning. As it goes with the story of Jacks life he knew that he would have to be the best President and he carried with him heroic visions of the great work his administration was about to carry out in his first thousand days.