Sir Alex Ferguson says his fascination with former US President John F. Kennedy helped shape him into one of sport's great leaders

• Sir Alex Ferguson says his fascination with John F. Kennedy helped shape him as a leader.
• Kennedy served as US president at the height of the Cold War, just as Ferguson was entering his 20s.
• "It was an amazing challenge for a young president," soccer legend Ferguson told Insider.

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says his fascination with former United States President John F. Kennedy helped shape him as a leader.

"I was fascinated with JFK when he was president," Ferguson told Insider during a conversation about leadership with close friend and billionaire venture capitalist, Sir Michael Moritz.

Kennedy, a Democrat, spent two years as the president of the United States between January 1961 and when he was assassinated in November 1963.

Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, confronting tensions with the Soviet Union, Vietnam, and Cuba, most famously during the Cuban missile crisis, widely acknowledged as the point at which the US and USSR came closest to an actual nuclear war.

During his time in office, he also provided federal support for the growing civil rights movement, signed the first nuclear weapons treaty, and helped grow the Apollo space program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon.

"People don't maybe recognize the era he lived in, because he had to deal with the Cold War, Vietnam, racism, Medicare, the rail strikes, and Cuba" added Ferguson, who was in his early 20s when Kennedy was president.

"You know, it was an amazing challenge for a young president."

Ferguson, who guided Manchester United to 38 major honors, including 13 Premier League titles between 1986 and 2013, has previously opened up on his interest in Kennedy and the circumstances surrounding his death in his 2013 self-titled autobiography.

Kennedy was shot dead by former US marine Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and two others on November 22, 1963.

"The killing of John Kennedy in Dallas in 1963 left its mark on me from the day I heard the news," wrote Ferguson. "Over time I developed a forensic interest in how he was killed, by whom and why."

"For a young lad like me, Kennedy captured the imagination. He was a good looking boy and there was a certain spark about him."

Ferguson also once revealed that he had bonded with former United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown over a shared interest in JFK.

"Gordon sent me 35 CDs on it, which was brilliant of him," he told Manchester radio station Key 103 in 2007.

Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to Insider ahead of the release of his new movie, "Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In." The film is out in cinemas in the United Kingdom on May 27.