John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States in 1960. After less than three years in office he was assassinated as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy wished to resume the mission of Woodrow Wilson to encourage a revolution in human rights, not just within the United States but for the entire planet. Further, growing up in the shadow of the 2nd World War and the Cold War, he intensely aspired to "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion."