John F. Kennedy Jr.

This article is about the son of President John F. Kennedy. For other people named John Kennedy Jr., see John Kennedy (disambiguation).

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999) or simply known as JFK Jr., was an American attorney, businessman, journalist, and magazine publisher. He was the son of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

John F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy in April 1997
Born	John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (1960-11-25)November 25, 1960 Georgetown, Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died	July 16, 1999(1999-07-16) (aged 38) Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, U.S.
Other names	John-John JFK Jr.
Education	New York University Brown University
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy ​ ​ (m. 1996; died 1999)​
Parents	John F. Kennedy Jacqueline Kennedy
Relatives	Arabella Caroline Patrick

Kennedy was also the younger brother of U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy.

Biography

Early life

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. was born on November 25, 1960, at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Georgetown, Washington D.C., to then president-elect John F. Kennedy and socialite Jacqueline Kennedy. He had an older sister named Caroline Kennedy, who was born in 1957. Kennedy also had two other siblings named Arabella Kennedy and Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, but both died of premature birth.

On January 20, 1961, Kennedy's father inaugurated and became the 35th president of the United States when he was one month old. His family became the immediate new first family and moved into the White House.

During his childhood in the White House, he was often seen playing with his father in the Oval Office with his sister underneath the presidential desk. As a child, Kennedy was fascinated about helicopters and airplanes.

When Kennedy was two years old, his father was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. On November 25, his father's state funeral was held in Washington, D.C., on his third birthday, where he was accompanied by his family. During his father's state funeral, Kennedy rendered a salute to his father's casket, which later became a national symbol of his father's funeral.

On December 6, 1963, the Kennedy's officially moved out of the White House, moved back to Georgetown and later left from public life.

Education

Kennedy and his family later moved to Manhattan in New York. Kennedy attended Saint David’s School, Collegiate School, and Phillips Academy. He graduated from Brown University in 1983 with a degree in American Studies. In 1989, Kennedy received a J.D. degree from the New York University School of Law.

Career

From 1984 to 1988, Kennedy worked a regular job at the Office of Business Development after which he became a summer associate at a Los Angeles law firm with connections to the Democratic Party. He also pursued his passion in acting. In 1989, Kennedy headed the nonprofit group, Reaching Up, a nonprofit group providing opportunities to workers who help people with disabilities.

He passed the bar exam on the third attempt in July 1990, having failed twice before. For the next four years, Kennedy worked in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. In 1991, he won his first case as a prosecutor at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. During the summer of 1992, he also worked as a journalist.

In 1995, along with Michael Berman, Kennedy officially launched a politics, lifestyle, and fashion magazine called George. By 1997, the magazine suffered a rapid drop in sales and was eventually bought out by a french publisher.

Kennedy was also passionate about piloting and had been taking regular flying lessons. He received his pilot’s license in April 1998.

Marriage

Kennedy married Calvin Klein publicist Carolyn Bessette on September 21, 1996, in Cumberland Island, Georgia, who was his then girlfriend in 1995.

Death

On July 16, 1999, He was attempting to fly his plane from Fairfield, New Jersey to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, to attend his cousin’s wedding. Kennedy, his wife, and his sister in law, died in a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Their bodies were found by the U.S. Coast Guard, five days after the crash on July 21. On July 23, Kennedy's body was cremated and his ashes were later scattered across the sea.

Legacy

A year after his death in 2000, Reaching Up and The City University of New York established the John F. Kennedy Jr. Institute. Kennedy had actively participated in humanitarian activities. Some of his efforts included building houses and distributing food in earthquakes and disaster zones in Guatemala, and co-founding a student discussion group focused on present-day issues such as apartheid, civil rights, and gun control.

Despite being born into a famous political family and in the media spotlight since birth, Kennedy preferred to live humbly and spend his life serving noble causes. While volunteering abroad he would live like the locals and during college, he lived off-campus in a shared house.