John F. Kennedy Jr.

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

 Biography 

 Early life and education 
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, and had two other siblings, but both died of premature birth.

In January 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 presidential 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 on his third birthday, during his father's state funeral, he rendered a salute to his father's casket, which later became a national symbol of his father's funeral. In December 1963, the Kennedys officially moved out of the White House, moved back to Georgetown, and later eschewed public life.

Kennedy and his family later moved to Manhattan in New York, where he 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 and Marriage 
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. Kennedy married Calvin Klein publicist Carolyn Bessette on September 21, 1996, in Cumberland Island, Georgia, who was his then girlfriend in 1995.

 Death and Legacy 
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.

A year after his death in 2000, Reaching Up and The City University of New York established the John F. Kennedy Jr. Institute. Kennedy participated in humanitarian activities with his work included building houses and distributing food in earthquakes and disaster zones in Guatemala, and co-founding a student discussion group focused on issues like 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 a casual normal life and working in active public causes. While volunteering abroad he would live like the locals and during college, he lived off-campus in a shared house.

 References 

Category:American aviators
Category:Lawyers from Washington, D.C.
Category:Aviation deaths in the United States
Category:Children of Presidents of the United States
Category:Kennedy family
Category:John F. Kennedy
Category:Businesspeople from Washington, D.C.
Category:American publishers
Category:1960 births
Category:1999 deaths
Category:Activists
Category:American Roman Catholics
Category:Journalists from Washington, D.C.
Category:American socialites
Category:Democratic Party (United States) politicians
Category:Lawyers from New York (state)
Category:New York University alumni
Category:Journalists from New York (state)