John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. was born on November 25, 1960, in Washington, D.C., to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the President-to-be, and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy, later known as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Just three weeks prior to his birth, his father was elected President of the United States, and the nation fell in love with the young John. The press affectionately dubbed him "John-John," while his family referred to him simply as John.
As a toddler, John developed a fascination with flying. On his third birthday, his father's funeral procession took place, and John was photographed saluting his father's casket, a moment captured on film and witnessed by the world. The family soon relocated from the White House to a 15-room apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City. John attended private schools, and by the age of six, his uncle Robert F. Kennedy, a significant figure in his life, was assassinated while running for president.
Later that year, John's mother married Aristotle Socrates Onassis, a Greek shipping magnate, but the relationship was strained, as John barely saw his stepfather. Onassis passed away in 1975. John went on to attend high school and later Brown University in Rhode Island, where he graduated. Following his mother's disapproval of his aspirations to become an actor, John pursued a career in law, becoming an assistant district attorney.
Tragedy struck when John's mother passed away from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1994. Two years later, John married Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, a shy and reserved individual, on an island off the coast of Georgia. The couple's constant exposure to the public eye due to their celebrity status posed challenges for Carolyn. On July 16, 1999, John, Carolyn, and her sister Lauren set off in John's plane from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, to drop Lauren off, with plans to continue on to the Kennedy Compound for the wedding of John's cousin, Rory Kennedy.
However, the flight was doomed by foggy conditions, and the plane crashed several miles off Martha's Vineyard, claiming the lives of all three passengers. The bodies of the women were found near the wreckage, while John's body was discovered in the pilot's seat.
