Eye Candy Wednesday

John F. Kennedy Jr

November 25, 1960-July 16, 1999

{Caroline kissing her little brother John John 1961 Palm Beach, FL}

Handsome and dapper John F. Kennedy Jr, nicknamed  "John John" was born on November 25, 1960.  He was the the only son of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and was born just 2 1/2 weeks after his father was elected President. He was an adventurous child, with a keen imagination, born into the most political family of the 20th century.  He and his sister Caroline spent 1000 days in the White House during the time that has become known as "Camelot". Tragically, Camelot ended with his father's death in 1963, which was just three days before his 3rd birthday.  His father's funeral fell on John's third birthday, November 25, 1963 where the historical photograph of John saluting his father's casket was taken that day.

 {November 25, 1963, John John at his father's funeral saluting his casket}

Shortly afterwards, his mother decided to move the family an apartment overlooking Central Park in New York, in order to pursue a more conventional life away from the limelight of the media. It is said that both children were  raised without the limos and hotel rooms that many pictured him living in, and rather John John is quoted saying 'I always took the bus, I always took the subways' 'I thank my mother for that'. Kennedy 

Sadly tragedy struck the family again...when John John was six, his uncle Robert Kennedy who had served as a father figure to him and sister Caroline, was assassinated at the once famous Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles while running for President.

John attended New York City's Collegiate School for Boys and graduated from the elite Phillips Academy in Andover, and unlike many of the Kennedy men who attended Harvard, John broke the tradition and went to Brown University, graduating in 1983.  Thereafter, John appeared to be floundering a bit, having no particular direction in life. He tried acting in the theater, traveled a lot, and helped his mother with her urban improvement charity. He drifted, studying at the University of Delhi, working for the New York City business development office.

Kennedy then enrolled in New York University's Law School( a move many now say was motivated by Jackie's wishes but his heart was never in it) and as an adult Kennedy studied law though he failed the bar exam twice, prompting the tabloids to name him "The hunk who flunked".  In the meanwhile, he worked as a prosecutor for a few years in the Manhattan District Attorney's office. Kennedy passed the bar exam on the third try. However, he resigned from the Manhattan DA's office in the mid 1990s, having won all six cases he prosecuted.

After his mother's death on May 19, 1994, John and sister Caroline spent several months after her death settling her estate, estimated at $200 million. It was a very hard time for both siblings. Also, during that time, however John decided to avoid politics and followed his own path venturing out as a magazine publisher launching George magazine in 1995, a personality themed political journal named after George Washington, the nation's first president. "Instead of writing about the highest - grossing film, we'll write about the best campaign ad," Kennedy was quoted as having said by the Boston Globe. For Kennedy, it meant political involvement without the downside of running for office.

On September 21, 1996, he married Carolyn Bessette (1966–1999) whom the media called her "Camelot's new Queen" photographers and writers chased, comparing her to her late mother in law Jackie.  They wed in a private ceremony on Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia. It was one of the few major events in his life during which he managed to avoid publicity. He and his wife appeared to be a happy couple as they made their home in New York. The little boy America had come to love, the son of a slain president, had achieved the American Dream.

On Friday, July 16, 1999, Kennedy flew Carolyn, and her sister Lauren Bessette, from Essex County airport in Fairfield, New Jersey, to Cape Cod for a family wedding at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport. They never made it. Kennedy's plane, a single engine, six seat Piper Saratoga II HP, got lost off the coast off Martha's Vineyard.  What the young Kennedy could have done with his life will never be known, but it is certain that he lived a full life until his untimely death.