As the eldest son and namesake of one of America’s best-loved presidents, John F. Kennedy, Jr. spent his entire life in the public eye. He was just three years old when his father was assassinated, and became a living symbol of the hope, optimism, and vitality of the Kennedy administration.
Jacqueline Kennedy would later regret naming her son “John F. Kennedy, Jr.,” feeling it unfairly placed a burden of expectations upon him. His famous name put JFK Jr. even more in the public eye, and Jacqueline claimed that the stress and trauma drove her son to therapy for most of his life, as he struggled to cope with his father's legacy.
The pressure was immense—and many might have crumbled beneath it. But Kennedy did his best to claw his way out of the gilded cage he’d been raised in. All he had ever known was the public eye, and as he grew older, he started to try to give back to the community.
While studying law, Kennedy did charity work—but it wasn’t always a smooth ride. He contemplated a career in showbiz, something his mother disapproved of, before finally committing to law and taking the bar exam…which he failed. Twice.
In 1995, John F. Kennedy, Jr. turned over a new leaf and started a politics magazine he named George. He also gave up his bachelor lifestyle for the elegant Carolyn Bessette. He also pursued another passion, and learned to fly. Sadly, this was the beginning of the end.
On July 16, 1999, at approximately 9:40 pm Eastern time, John F. Kennedy, Jr.’s plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean nose first. In the first few desperate hours before officials found the airplane debris and black box, there were wild hopes that somehow John, Carolyn, or her sister Lauren had survived. Sadly, the Kennedy curse had struck again.
