20 July 1999

The Very Public Life and Death of John F. Kennedy Jr. - THE COMMENTARY

By Joseph Planta

You all know the story by now, John F. Kennedy went flying Friday night and disappeared. Like asking someone what they think of the weather or the Mets or where they were when President Kennedy died, “Where were you when you found out about J.F.K. Jr.’s disappearance/death?,” will be added to the lexicon of “How to Liven Up Dinner Party Conversation.” It’s big news in America and around the world for that matter. The Kennedy’s were neither royalty or movie stars, except Arnie of course but he married into that family, but they are the closest thing Americans have got to Royalty. And as such the death of ‘The Crown Prince’, has set off the world into a state of shock and sadness. I, like millions of others never met him, but I like millions of others felt close to him. How else can one feel when you’ve grown up watching him grow up in newspapers or magazines? John F. Kennedy Jr. was neither rock star nor soap star, but we treated him like one. When he saluted his slain father we felt touched, when he failed the Bar exam, we felt disappointed, when his mother died, we felt sad, when he launched George, we felt hopeful, when he married Carolyn Bessette, we felt overjoyed and when we learned of his disappearance, we felt loss and disappointment.

Good looking, sure, nice, probably, innovative, yes, a Kennedy, forever. He was the personification of the standard we judged the Kennedy’s and as one born into the White House, his life would forever be imprinted into camera lenses and video cameras throughout his life-span. Being the world’s most eligible bachelor, didn’t make growing up easy either. Somehow since ‘Camelot’, Americans invested their hope into this young man. He didn’t save the world from destruction, nor did he serve his country in the battlefields of war, but he did capture our attention that November morning in 1963, when he saluted his slain father. That’s why we all care so much. We care, because he comes from a political and very-public dynasty that has left a massive imprint upon American history, pop culture and, this century. A president, 3 Senators, ambassadors, Congressmen and women, war heroes, all come from this legacy and so they too become our uncles and aunts, our cousins and our siblings. As the century comes to a close, how ill-fitting it is to look back at The Kennedy’s at a time when another tragedy has struck.

Their family’s very public tragedies have been compared to Greek tragedy or a Biblical blight. Somehow we all seem to feel for the Kennedy’s, because we see what they’ve had to endure, and we know if they can make, we’ll make it too. Their struggles become our struggles, not through from being with them, but by reading and watching about them. Like his father’s passing, right in the prime of their lives, a nation and world that invested so much hope and promise, grieve. And throughout all the newsprint and magazines of obituaries and tributes and flashing ‘Breaking News’ bulletins, we’ve felt a sense of loss. I know where I was when I learned of J.F.K Jr.’s disappearance, and I’ve got the feeling, like so many others, I’ll probably remember that moment forever.

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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .