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After the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Congress quickly passed legislation to replace the Franklin Half Dollar with the Kennedy Half Dollar in 1964. The Kennedy Half Dollar with a bust of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy on the obverse and the “Seal of the President of the United States” on the reverse is a memorial to President John F. Kennedy. Except for the proof releases, this 1964 MS-66 first year of issue Kennedy Half Dollar is the only coin in the series with a 90% silver composition. A decorated World War II veteran, John F. Kennedy, popularly known as JFK served in the United States Navy on Patrol Torpedo Boat 109. After the war, JFK was elected to three terms in the US House of Representatives and one term in the US Senate. Then, in one of the closest presidential elections ever, John F. Kennedy was elected as president of the United States in November of 1960. As president, JFK established the Peace Corps, supported the civil rights movement, and set ambitious goals for space exploration. After a speech on civil rights, given on June 11, 1963, JFK introduced legislation to congress that eventually became the civil rights act of 1964. With what John F Kennedy accomplished domestically, it was foreign policy dominated by cold war politics that defined his presidency. Early in his presidency, JFK ordered the failed “Bay of Pigs” invasion in an attempt to topple the communist regime of Fidel Castro in Cuba. With Castro wary of a US invasion, the Soviet Union began shipping missiles to Cuba, provoking the “Cuban Missile Crisis”. In response, John F. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba and demanded that the Soviet Union remove the missiles. In a high stake show down with the Soviet Union, the United States and Soviet Union teetered on the precipice of a nuclear holocaust. After terse negotiations, the Soviet Union removed the missiles from Cuba and in exchange, JFK agreed to remove our missiles from Turkey and promised not to invade Cuba, thus averting a potential all out war. Over the tenure of his presidency, in an effort to stop the advance of communism around the world, JFK quietly escalated the war in Vietnam. Then on November 22, 1963, as a presidential motorcade carrying our 35th president, John F. Kennedy progressed down the streets of Dallas, Texas, the sound of gunshots unexpectedly pierced the air. Shortly thereafter, the president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was pronounced dead, the victim of an assassins’ bullet.