Bayan yakin, Kennedy ya wakilci gundumar majalisa ta 11 na Massachusetts a majalisar wakilai ta Amurka daga 1947 zuwa 1953. Daga bisani an zabe shi a majalisar dattijai ta Amurka kuma ya zama dan majalisar dattijai daga Massachusetts daga 1953 zuwa 1960. Yayin da yake a majalisar dattijai, ya wallafa littafinsa Profiles in Courage, wanda ya lashe kyautar Pulitzer Prize for Biography. A zaben shugaban kasa na 1960, Kennedy ya ci nasara da dan takarar Republican Richard Nixon, wanda shi ne shugaban kasa na gaba.
Richard Nixon