John was born on November 25, 1960, only weeks after his father was elected president. He was the first child born to a president-elect and the first infant to live in the White House since the Cleveland administration. Three years later, the world watched as the three year old, on his birthday saluted his father's casket as it passed by. Two weeks after the funeral, his mother, Jacqueline Kennedy, moved John Jr. and his sister, Caroline, out of the White House to Manhattan, where she made every attempt to raise her children as normal as possible, out of the public eye.

With all her influence and grace, Jacqueline could not tame the media. Nevertheless, she did succeed in raising two children that matured into responsible independent adults. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has maintained a much more private life. Handsome, rich, polite and charismatic, John Jr. was too much for the media to stay away from.

John attended New York City's Collegiate School for Boys and graduated from the elite Phillips Academy in Andover. Unlike many of the Kennedy men who attended Harvard, John went to Brown University, graduating in 1983. After thinking seriously about an acting career, John enrolled in New York University's Law School, a move many now say was motivated by Jackie's wishes. He failed the bar exam twice, prompting the tabloids to name him "The hunk who flunked."

In late 1988, People magazine dubbed him the "Sexiest Man Alive." When he introduced his uncle Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, at the 1988 Democratic Convention, people speculated that John Jr. was getting ready to run for office himself. Instead he went to work as a prosecutor for the Manhattan District Attorney. After amassing a very impressive record of 6-0 from 1989-1993, he resigned.

The avenue Kennedy chose was later was publishing. In 1995 he launched "George" magazine, as a glossy, nonpartisan political journal subtitled "not just politics as usual." In addition to his duties as editor, he wrote essays and conducted interviews, which included discussions with Fidel Castro and Mike Tyson. In 1997 the essay, Kennedy called his cousins Michael and Joseph, who suffered personal embarrassments in the public eye, "poster boys to very bad behavior".

While he led a life under intense media scrutiny, John did not give the press much fodder. Aside from a few public spats with his wife, Carolyn, a former Calvin Klein executive, John kept a low profile. A passionate philanthropist, John volunteered with several nonprofit's and sat on the board of several family foundations. He was often seen skating around his TriBeCa neighborhood. He also was in Central Park jogging on a regular basis. He was as special as it gets.