John F. Kennedy Jr.

• 1. Introduction

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  John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. spent his life answering to a name his own family never used. The nickname John-John began when a reporter misheard the president calling out "John" twice in quick succession. The mistake stuck. From then on, the public treated the boy as something close to shared property. His father was the 35th president of the United States, and his mother was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. This documentary asks what it costs to grow up as a national symbol. It asks what a man does when he tries to build something that belongs only to him, and why so many people kept watching. It also follows one night in July 1999, when the watching ended over dark water.

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• 2. The Salute

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  Born on the 25th of November 1960 in Washington, D.C., John Jr. arrived less than three weeks after his father won the presidency. President Kennedy was inaugurated two months later. His sister Caroline, born in 1957, was already waiting at home. Grief had visited the family before him. A stillborn daughter, Arabella, was born in 1956. A son, Patrick, died two days after a premature birth in 1963.

  For the first three years of his life, the White House was his home, and the public never looked away. On the 22nd of November 1963, his father was assassinated. The state funeral took place three days later, on the boy's third birthday. As the flag-draped casket was carried out of St. Matthew's Cathedral, he stepped forward and saluted it. Television carried the moment to a huge audience.

  NBC News vice president Julian Goodman called the image "the most impressive... shot in the history of television." Several photographers captured it, including Stan Stearns of United Press International and Dan Farrell of the New York Daily News. Stearns later became chief White House photographer under Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson's first letter in office went to the boy himself, telling him that he "can always be proud" of his father.

  The birthday celebration planned for the 25th of November 1963 went ahead anyway. The family wanted to show that they would carry on despite the president's death. Soon after, they lived briefly in Georgetown, then moved to an upscale apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where he grew up.

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• 3. Away From America

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  In 1967, Jacqueline Kennedy took her two children on a six-week "sentimental journey" to Ireland. They met President Éamon de Valera and visited the Kennedy ancestral home in Dunganstown.

  The assassination of the boy's uncle Robert in 1968 changed her thinking. "If they're killing Kennedys, then my children are targets... I want to get out of this country," she said. She took Caroline and John out of the United States. Later that year she married the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, and the family moved to his private island of Skorpios. The boy reportedly considered his stepfather "a joke."

  Aristotle Onassis died in 1975 and left his widow an annual income of $250,000. She later settled with Christina Onassis for $25 million in exchange for not contesting the will.

  A visit in 1971 had already brought the boy back to the White House, his first return since the assassination. President Richard Nixon's daughters gave him a tour that included his former bedroom. Nixon then showed him the Resolute desk, the one his father had allowed him to play beneath.

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• 4. Schools and Summers

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  His Manhattan schooling began at Saint David's School. He then moved to Collegiate School, where he stayed from third to 10th grade, and finished at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. After graduating, he joined his mother on a trip to Africa. During a pioneering course, his group became lost for two days without food or water. He led them to safety and earned credit for leadership.

  In 1976, he and a cousin travelled to Rabinal, a part of Guatemala struck by an earthquake. They helped with heavy construction work and handed out food. A local priest said they "ate what the people of Rabinal ate and dressed in Guatemalan clothes and slept in tents like most of the earthquake victims." The priest added that the two "did more for their country's image" in Guatemala "than a roomful of ambassadors."

  On his 16th birthday, his Secret Service protection ended. The summer of 1978 found him working as a wrangler in Wyoming. In 1979, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated in Boston. There he gave his first major speech, reciting Stephen Spender's poem "The Truly Great."

  At Brown University, he majored in American studies. He co-founded a student discussion group on issues such as apartheid in South Africa, gun control, and civil rights. A summer visit to South Africa left him appalled by apartheid, so he arranged for U.N. ambassador Andrew Young to speak about it at Brown. By his junior year he lived off campus in a shared house, and he spent time at Xenon, a club owned by Howard Stein.

  In January 1983, his Massachusetts driver's license was suspended. He had collected more than three speeding summonses in 12 months and missed a hearing. The family's lawyer said he most likely "became immersed in exams and just forgot the date of the hearing." He graduated that same year, then travelled to India. There he did post-graduate work at the University of Delhi and met Mother Teresa.

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• 5. Law and Stage

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  After the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, Kennedy returned to New York and took a job at the Office of Business Development for $20,000 a year. His boss recalled that he worked "in the same crummy cubbyhole as everybody else. I heaped on the work and was always pleased." In 1986 he became deputy director of the 42nd Street Development Corporation, negotiating with developers and city agencies.

  The summer of 1988 took him to Los Angeles, as a summer associate at the law firm Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Phillips. The firm had strong ties to the Democratic Party. He worked for Charles Manatt, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and the law school roommate of his uncle Ted Kennedy. That same year, People magazine named him its "Sexiest Man Alive."

  From 1989, he headed Reaching Up, a nonprofit group offering educational and professional opportunities to workers who assisted people with disabilities. Its executive director, William Ebenstein, said, "He was always concerned with the working poor, and his family always had an interest in helping them."

  His law degree from New York University School of Law arrived in 1989, but the bar exam proved harder. He failed it twice. After the second failure, he said he would keep taking it until he passed. In July 1990, on his third attempt, he did. A third failure would have made him ineligible for the Manhattan district attorney's office. He worked there for the next four years as an assistant district attorney, handling consumer fraud and landlord-tenant disputes. On the 29th of August 1991, he won his first case as a prosecutor.

  On the 4th of August 1985, he made his New York acting debut in an invitation-only performance at the Irish Theater on Manhattan's West Side. He had appeared in numerous plays at Brown. Nye Heron, executive director of the Irish Arts Center, called him "one of the best young actors I've seen in years." His director, Robin Saex, remarked, "He has an earnestness that just shines through." His mother strongly disapproved of acting as a career, so it never became his profession. His largest role was a cameo as a fictionalized version of himself in the eighth-season Murphy Brown episode "Altered States." In it, he visits the title character's office to promote a magazine he is publishing.

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• 6. George

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  In the summer of 1992, The New York Times commissioned Kennedy to write about his kayaking expedition to the Åland Archipelago. During the trip, he rescued a friend after a capsizing. Back home, he and public-relations executive Michael J. Berman began to consider launching a magazine. His mother thought the plan too risky.

  In 1995, the two founded George, a glossy monthly that blended politics, lifestyle, and fashion. Kennedy held a 50 percent stake. He launched it at a Manhattan news conference on the 8th of September 1995. He joked that he had not seen so many reporters gathered since he failed his first bar exam.

  Each issue carried an editor's column and interviews written by Kennedy. His subjects included Louis Farrakhan, Billy Graham, and Garth Brooks. He believed the magazine could make politics "accessible by covering it in an entertaining and compelling way" and so encourage broader public engagement.

  The debut cover showed Cindy Crawford dressed as George Washington in a powdered wig and ruffled shirt. It drew criticism. Kennedy defended the choice, saying that "political magazines should look like Mirabella."

  In July 1997, Vanity Fair published a profile of New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. It alleged an affair with his press secretary, and both denied it. Kennedy considered pursuing the story but ultimately declined. That same month, he wrote about meeting Mother Teresa. The "three days I spent in her presence was the strongest evidence this struggling Catholic has ever had that God exists," he wrote.

  The September 1997 issue took temptation as its theme. It featured two of his cousins. Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, a Boston attorney, had been accused of an affair with his children's underage babysitter. Joseph P. Kennedy II, a Massachusetts congressman, had been accused by his ex-wife of bullying her. John wrote that both had become "poster boys for bad behavior." He argued that media coverage of them was unfair because of their surname. Joseph quipped, paraphrasing John's father, "Ask not what you can do for your cousin, but what you can do for his magazine."

  By early 1997, Kennedy and Berman were locked in a power struggle. It included shouting matches, slammed doors, and even a physical confrontation. Berman sold his share of the company, and Kennedy took over his responsibilities. Sales, already declining, fell sharply after Berman's departure.

  Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, a partner in George, blamed the decline partly on Kennedy's editorial conservatism. CEO David Pecker said Kennedy refused to "take risks as an editor, despite the fact that he was an extraordinary risk taker in other areas of his life." Pecker added that Kennedy knew the audience was readers aged 18 to 34. Yet he often declined interviews that would appeal to them, such as Princess Diana or John Gotti Jr. He chose figures like Dan Rostenkowski or Võ Nguyên Giáp instead.

  Shortly before his death, Kennedy had been planning a series of online chats with the 2000 presidential candidates. Microsoft would provide the technology and funding in exchange for advertising in George. After his death, Hachette bought out the magazine. It ceased publication in early 2001.

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• 7. Public Property

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  At the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, Kennedy introduced his uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. He invoked his father's inaugural address, calling "a generation to public service," and received a two-minute standing ovation. Republican consultant Richard Viguerie said he did not remember a word of the speech. He did remember "a good delivery." He added, "I think it was a plus for the Democrats and the boy. He is strikingly handsome."

  His cousin Patrick J. Kennedy ran for a seat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and John visited the district to help. He sat outside the polling booth and had his picture taken with "would-be" voters. The tactic worked so well that Patrick used it again in 1994. That year, John also campaigned in Boston for his uncle's re-election to the Senate against challenger Mitt Romney. "He always created a stir when he arrived in Massachusetts," said Senator Kennedy. In 1994 he also bought a loft in Tribeca, at 20 North Moore Street.

  At Brown, he met Sally Munro, and the two dated for six years. They visited India together in 1983. He also met model and actress Brooke Shields at Brown, and was later linked with her.

  From 1985 to 1990, he dated Christina Haag, whom he had known as a child and who also attended Brown. He dated the models Cindy Crawford and Julie Baker, and the actress Sarah Jessica Parker. Parker said she enjoyed it but realized he "was a public domain kind of a guy." She had no idea what "real fame" was until dating him. She felt she should "apologize for dating him," since it became the "defining factor" of who she was.

  Actress Daryl Hannah had known him since their families vacationed together in Saint Martin in the early 1980s. They met again at the 1988 wedding of his aunt Lee Radziwill and dated for five and a half years. Her feelings for singer Jackson Browne, with whom she had lived for a time, complicated the relationship.

  After it ended, Kennedy lived with Carolyn Bessette, who worked in the fashion industry. They were engaged for a year, though he consistently denied the reports. On the 21st of September 1996, they married in a private ceremony on Cumberland Island, Georgia. His sister Caroline was matron of honor, and his cousin Anthony Radziwill was best man. His nieces Rose Kennedy Schlossberg and Tatiana Kennedy Schlossberg were flower girls. His nephew Jack Kennedy Schlossberg was ring bearer.

  The next day, his cousin Patrick revealed that the pair had married. When the couple returned to their Manhattan home, a mass of reporters was waiting. One asked whether he had enjoyed his honeymoon. "Very much," he replied. He added, "Getting married is a big adjustment for us, and for a private citizen like Carolyn even more so." Then he asked the press to give her all the privacy and room they could.

  Bessette-Kennedy was disoriented by the constant attention of the paparazzi. The couple was permanently on display, both at Manhattan events and on trips to visit celebrities such as Mariuccia Mandelli and Gianni Versace. She complained about being unable to get a job without being accused of exploiting her fame. They began seeing a marriage counselor in March 1999. In the summer of 1999, they sought guidance from Cardinal John O'Connor.

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• 8. The Final Flight

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  Christopher Andersen's 2000 book The Day John Died reports that Jacqueline Kennedy feared her son would die in a plane crash. According to the book, she asked her longtime companion, Maurice Tempelsman, "to do whatever it took to keep John from becoming a pilot." Kennedy had wanted to fly since childhood.

  He took lessons at the Flight Safety Academy in Vero Beach, Florida, and received his pilot's license in April 1998. The death of his cousin Michael L. Kennedy in a skiing accident led him to pause his lessons for three months. His sister Caroline hoped the break would be permanent. When he resumed, she did little to stop him.

  On the 16th of July 1999, Kennedy took off from Fairfield, New Jersey, at the controls of his Piper Saratoga. He had bought the aircraft from Air Bound Aviation on the 28th of April. With him were his wife, Carolyn, and her sister Lauren Bessette, both seated in the second row. Lauren was to be dropped off at Martha's Vineyard. The couple would then continue to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, for the wedding of his cousin Rory Kennedy. Kennedy checked in with the control tower at Martha's Vineyard Airport. The plane failed to arrive on schedule and was reported missing.

  Aircraft debris and a black suitcase belonging to Lauren were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, and officials were not optimistic about finding survivors. President Bill Clinton offered support to the Kennedy family during the search. On the 18th of July, a United States Coast Guard admiral declared an end to rescue efforts.

  Over the next two days, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel NOAAS Rude located fragments of the aircraft using side-scan sonar. United States Navy divers descended into 62 F water. They found parts of the shattered plane scattered across the seabed 120 ft below the surface. The search ended in the late afternoon of the 21st of July. High-resolution images of the ocean floor enabled the divers to recover three bodies. Carolyn's and Lauren's were found near the twisted fuselage, while Kennedy's remained strapped into the pilot's seat. Coast Guard Admiral Richard M. Larrabee said all three were "near and under" the fuselage, still strapped in.

  The National Transportation Safety Board determined that pilot error was the probable cause. It cited "Kennedy's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation." The autopsy determined that all three had died upon impact.

  The bodies were taken from Hyannis to Duxbury, Massachusetts, and cremated at the Mayflower Cemetery crematorium. Ted Kennedy favored a public service for John, while Caroline insisted on family privacy. On the morning of the 22nd of July, the ashes were scattered at sea from the Navy destroyer USS Briscoe (DD-977), off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. A memorial service followed on the 23rd of July at the Church of St. Thomas More in New York City, a parish he had often attended with his mother and sister. Hundreds of mourners came by invitation. President Clinton presented the family with photo albums of John and Carolyn from their White House visit the previous year.

  His will divided his belongings, property, and holdings among 14 beneficiaries. Caroline's three children, Rose, Tatiana, and Jack, were to receive them "evenly distributed." A scrimshaw set that had belonged to his father was left to Jack.

  In 2000, Reaching Up, the organization he founded in 1989, joined with the City University of New York to establish the John F. Kennedy Jr. Institute. In 2003, the ARCO Forum at Harvard Kennedy School was renamed the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum of Public Affairs. He had served 15 years on the Senior Advisory Committee of Harvard's Institute of Politics. Ted Kennedy said the renaming symbolically linked him with his late father. Caroline said it reflected her brother's love of discussing politics.

  In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the assassination, the New York Daily News re-ran the famous photograph of the three-year-old boy at the funeral. Photographer Dan Farrell, who took the image, called it "the saddest thing I've ever seen in my whole life." In 2025, CNN aired American Prince: JFK Jr., a three-part documentary about his life. In 2026, Paul Anthony Kelly portrayed Kennedy in Love Story, a nine-episode series about his whirlwind courtship and marriage to Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.

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