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John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and Carolyn's sister, Lauren,
perished on their way to Martha's Vineyard on the evening of Friday, July 16, 1999, when
their plane, piloted by Kennedy, crashed. While no definitive cause has been determined,
it is widely believed that hazy conditions, which limited visibility and made it difficult
to distinguish water from land, contributed to the crash.
In death, Kennedy was the subject of the same media frenzy that chronicled his every
public move and speculated on his private affairs as well. Television networks preempted
regularly scheduled programs to cover the search for remains and the wreckage of Kennedy's
Piper Saratoga, which Kennedy purchased in April.
Kennedy was born on November 25, 1960, only weeks after his father was elected president.
He was the first child born to a president-elect and the first infant to live in the White
House since the Cleveland administration. Three years later, the world watched as the
three year old, on his birthday, saluted his father's casket as it passed by. Two weeks
after the funeral, his mother, Jacqueline Kennedy, moved John Jr. and his sister,
Caroline, out of the White House to Manhattan, where she made every attempt to raise her
children as normally as possible, out of the public eye. "Unless he's allowed
freedom," his mother said, "he'll be a vegetable."
With all her influence and grace, Jacqueline Kennedy could not tame the media.
Nevertheless, she did succeed in raising two children that matured into compassionate,
responsible, independent adults. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has maintained a much more
private life. Rich, handsome, polite, and charismatic, John Jr. was too much for the media
to resist.
Kennedy attended Manhattan's Collegiate School for Boys and graduated from the elite
Phillips Academy in Andover. Unlike many of the Kennedy men who attended Harvard, John
went to Brown University, graduating in 1993. After flirting with an acting career, John
enrolled in New York University's Law School, a move many now say was motivated by his
mother's wishes. He failed the bar twice, prompting tabloids to call him the "hunk
who flunked."
In 1988, People magazine dubbed him the "Sexiest Man Alive." When he introduced
his uncle, presidential hopeful Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, at the 1988 Democratic National
Convention, pundits speculated that John Jr. was readying himself for a run for office.
Instead, he went to work as a prosecutor for the Manhattan District Attorney. After
amassing an impressive 6-0 record from 1989 to 1993, he resigned.
While never outright ruling out a run for political office, Kennedy told Vogue magazine,
"I frankly feel there are many opportunities and avenues outside of elective office
to become involved in issues, issues that have the same broad scope that government or
elected office provides you."
The avenue Kennedy chose was publishing. In 1995 he launched George magazine, a glossy,
non-partisan political journal subtitled "not just politics as usual." In
addition to his duties as editor, he wrote essays and conducted interviews, which included
discussions with Mike Tyson and Fidel Castro. In a 1997 essay, Kennedy called his cousins
Michael and Joseph, who suffered personal embarrassments in the public eye, "poster
boys for bad behavior."
While he led a life under intense media scrutiny, Kennedy did not give the press much
fodder. Aside from a few public spats with his wife, Carolyn, a former Calvin Klein
executive, Kennedy kept an essentially low profile. A passionate philanthropist, Kennedy
volunteered with several nonprofits and sat on the boards of several family foundations.
He was often seen inline skating around his TriBeCa neighborhood, jogging in Central Park,
or out and about in Hyannis Port, where the Kennedy family gathers in the summer.
The Kennedy family is gathering once again in Hyannis Port, this time to mourn the loss of
John Kennedy, his wife, and his sister-in-law.
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