Culture

Remembering JFK Jr.

Ten years after the prince of Camelot died in a tragic plane crash with his beautiful wife and sister-in-law, The Daily Beast looks back at his life in photographs.

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A baby John F. Kennedy Jr. is held by his parents, Jacqueline Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy at his Baptism. He was just just shy of his third birthday when his father was assassinated.

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One of the few memories JFK Jr. did have of his father went back to the romance of the age of Camelot: the view of JFK from under the desk in the Oval Office.

Liaison / Getty Images
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President Kennedy holds the hand of his son, circa 1963. The young, attractive Kennedy family in the White House quickly captured the imagination of the country.

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Jackie Kennedy holds JFK Jr. at a formal greeting to Algerian Premier Ahmed Ben Bella in 1962. Later in his life, JFK Jr.'s grace in the spotlight was said to be a direct result of his mother's guidance.

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JFK Jr. cries as his dad boards a jet bound for Arkansas. JFK Jr. was born 16 days after his father won the presidency, and essentially lived his entire life in the public eye.

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One of the most iconic images of John F. Kennedy Jr. is of him saluting his father's coffin as a traumatized country watched. Later in life, he admitted he did not remember the moment etched in the world’s memory.

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A young Caroline and John Kennedy applaud at the Robert F. Kennedy Pro-Celebrity Tennis Tournament in 1977. JFK Jr. was said to be much more comfortable in the spotlight than his sister.

AP Photo
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JFK Jr. was named People magazine's "sexiest man alive" in 1988, when he was 27 years old. His status as a sex symbol became so pervasive that it even became a plot point in a famous episode of Seinfeld.

Ron Galella, WireImage / Getty Images
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JFK Jr. with his mother, Jackie O, sister, Caroline Kennedy, and uncle, Ted Kennedy, on graduation day in 1983. JFK Jr. graduated with a degree in history from Brown University, though he also developed an interest in theater as an undergrad. A fellow Brown alumni wrote in The New Yorker that no one was surprised at his knack for the stage. "He'd been acting his entire life."

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JFK Jr. stands with his mother and sister on the day he graduated from NYU School of Law in 1989. JFK Jr. was encouraged to pursue a law degree by his mother, who thought acting was beneath him. He famously failed the bar exam twice before passing. He then dabbled in law, but found the job "too sedentary," according to friends.

Gerald Herbert / AP Photo
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JFK Jr.'s relationships were always fodder for the tabloids. Here he is seen walking in Palau, Micronesia, with the actress Daryl Hannah in 1993. His relationship with the paparazzi rarely became testy; he typically handled them with a sense of humor.

OnlineUSA / Getty Images
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JFK Jr. out on the town with actress Christina Haag. Haag received an advance over $1 million for a tell-all memoir that would presumably address her relationship with the Kennedy heartthrob.

Russell Turiak / Getty Images
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JFK Jr. and Daryl Hannah rush to Ted Kennedy Jr.'s wedding in 1993. He would later blame his bar-exam failures on his relationship with Hannah.

Susan Walsh / AP Photo
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JFK Jr. and his sister, Caroline Kennedy mourn the loss of their mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in New York City in 1994. A book, The Kennedy Curse, reported that Jackie O had premonitions that her son would die in a plane crash, and urged him not to fly.

Elise Amendola / AP Photo
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JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette get cozy at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Tyler Mallory, Newsmakers, Liaison / Getty Images
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JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette stroll through the streets of New York.

Corey Sipkin / Getty Images
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JFK. Jr. promoting his magazine, George, in 1995. John Updike wrote in The New Yorker that George's view on "politics as celebrity" was perfect. "Who knew more about it than he?" Updike asked. JFK Jr. occasionally conducted interviews, including one with Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein (the political arm of the Irish Republican Army).

Marty Lederhandler / AP Photo
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JFK Jr. and Gerald Ford sit down for an interview in 1996 during the Republican National Convention.

David Hume Kennerly / Getty Images
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JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette at GEORGE magazine's 2nd anniversary party.

Dave Allocca, DMI, Time Life Pictures / Getty Images
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JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette attempt to steal a private moment in a cab in New York.

Arnaldo Magnani, Liaison Agency / Getty Images
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JFK Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy arrive at the annual John F. Kennedy Library Foundation dinner and Profiles in Courage awards, just two months before the fatal plane crash that claimed both their lives.

Newscom
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Kennedy and Bessette family members return to a Coast Guard station after committing the ashes of JFK Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and Lauren Gail Bessette to sea. The three died after JFK Jr. lost control of a small plane he was piloting near Martha's Vineyard.

Jim Cole / AP Photo
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An impromptu memorial in front of his apartment in New York City. JFK Jr. was a common sight in his neighborhood, often riding his bike to work or walking his dog.

AFP / Newscom