John F.
Kennedy, JR
BackGround
John F. Kennedy, Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), commonly referred to as JFK Jr., was the son of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. He was the first child born to a President-elect of the United States, and spent the first few years of his life in the White House. This came to a tragic end, however, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. JFK Jr. is the subject of one of the most famous images of the twentieth century, a photograph of the child saluting his father’s coffin. JFK’s funeral was held on his son’s third birthday. Kennedy then moved with his mother Jacqueline to an upscale apartment in Manhattan, where they lived until his uncle Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1968, which prompted the family to move to Greece. In Greece, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, moving her family to Onassis’ private island. JFK Jr. was known to think of his stepfather as a joke. JFK Jr. went to Brown University, where he lead student movements against Apartheid in South Africa,
amongst other social causes. He was more of a celebrity than a political figure; having spent his entire life under media scrutiny, he struggled to marry, as no partner could handle the global celebrity that comes with JFK Jr. Eventually, he married Carolyn Bessette, a fashion designer. JFK Jr. was an entrepreneur, starting a magazine called George. JFK Jr., as well as his wife and sister-in-law, died in a plane crash in 1999.