A

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY JR.
196O-1999

LAWYER AND PUBLISHER

Another Kennedy Tragedy

John F. Kennedy jr. was only thirty-eight when he died Friday, 16 July 1999, when the small plane he was piloting crashed off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. Killed along with him were his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette. They were on their way to cousin Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy's wedding. When Kennedy did not arrive, a family member contacted the Coast Guard, which launched an intensive search Saturday morning. That afternoon debris from the plane began to wash up on shore. The nation waited in shock as television provided around-the-clock coverage of the search. By Sunday hope was all but gone, and finally the Coast Guard announced that it had changed its search-and-rescue mission to search-and-recover. The bodies, still in the fuselage, were recovered Wednesday; Kennedy was cremated and buried at sea within twenty-four hours.

America's Crown Prince

America's fascination with "John-John" Kennedy began when his father was elected president in 1960, seventeen days before John Jr.'s birth on 25 November. He is probably best remembered for the famous photograph of him, clad in coat and shorts, on his third birthday, standing and saluting the coffin bearing his father's body. Kennedy grew up in the media spotlight, and most people expected him to follow in his family's political footsteps. He graduated from Brown University and New York University Law School, and, though he initially failed the bar exam, he eventually became an assistant district attorney in Manhattan. In 1988 he gave the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he was the most eligible bachelor in the country and was named "The Sexiest Man Alive!" by People magazine. In 1996 he married former fashion publicist Carolyn Bessette in a secret ceremony on Cumberland Island just off the Georgia coast. Despite his good looks and celebrity status, Kennedy was a kind and compassionate man who maintained his family's sense of obligation to disadvantaged Americans, and his sense of humor about himself and "regular guy" demeanor endeared him to the public.

Not Politics as Usual

In 1995, Kennedy surprised most people when, instead of going into politics, he entered the world of publishing, founding George magazine, a blend of pop culture and politics. He got Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, publisher of such magazines as Car and Driver, Elle, Mirabella, Premiere, and Woman's Day, to invest $20 million in the new magazine, and it quickly became the most successful political magazine ever, with a circulation of 419,000, four times that of a serious political magazine such as New Republic. The magazine never turned a profit, however, and just before Kennedy's death, Hachette Filipacchi was considering whether or not it would continue its support and Kennedy was reportedly seeking other investors. Kennedy was also editor in chief of the magazine and played a hands-on role in its production. He regularly interviewed hard-to-get celebrities, such as George C. Wallace, Louis Farrakhan, Bill Gates, Colin L. Powell, and the Dalai Lama. Kennedy made George a nonpartisan publication, which resulted in its never quite being embraced in Washington. This did not seem to faze Kennedy, who aimed for a more populist approach. Kennedy on occasion exploited his own celebrity status, once posing nude, although strategically shadowed, and he criticized some of his own family members, describing them as "poster boys for bad behavior." Kennedy admitted, "I can't pretend that my last name didn't help sell this magazine or that it didn't help bring it to people's attention."

The Future of George.

Kennedy's last issue of George hit newsstands 31 August 1999 just as he left it. The issue included an interview with Attorney General Janet Reno, an article on Elizabeth Dole, and a listing of the "20 most fascinating women in politics." Much of the October issue was dedicated to commemorating Kennedy. At the end of 1999 the future of George was still in question despite a Hachette Filipacchi commitment to keep the publication alive, although with fewer issues, following Kennedy's death. The magazine had experienced a 20-percent drop in advertising in the first half of 1998, and newsstand sales were off by 28 percent. Nonetheless, advertisers were being promised that starting with the February 2000 issue, circulation would reach 450,000. In Kennedy's final issue the staff's letter, which was usually written by Kennedy, explained that the magazine was a reflection of his ideals about politics: "He edited George because the magazine manifested certain beliefs he wanted to promote.… That for all its imperfections, politics is a noble profession, and given his unique perspective on and place in the political world, he could make a difference by saying so,"