When John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette, and her sister Lauren took off from New Jersey on July 16, 1999, it should have been a quick and easy flight to Martha's Vineyard, but instead it ended in tragedy.
As America mourned the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, many were struck by an especially poignant moment during the president’s funeral. As Kennedy’s coffin was carried past his family, his three-year-old son, John F. Kennedy Jr., gave a solemn salute.
In that moment, Kennedy’s funeral became about more than just a nation mourning its leader; it became about a son grieving for his father. But sadly, JFK Jr. would meet a tragic and untimely end of his own 36 years later.
In the wake of his father’s death, JFK Jr. grew up in the public eye and, from the outside at least, his life seemed to have the same golden touch that had made the White House into “Camelot” during his father’s presidency. He ran a glossy political magazine called George and was considered one of America’s most eligible bachelors until he married Carolyn Bessette in 1996.
Tyler Mallory/LiaisonJohn F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Carolyn, pictured a couple of months before they both perished in a plane crash.
But by 1999, JFK Jr. was privately struggling on several fronts. For one thing, George was floundering and was expected to lose $10 million that year. For another, JFK Jr. and Carolyn were facing a challenging time in their marriage as she struggled to adjust to life in the spotlight — and they fought over whether or not to have a child together.
Amid the professional and personal difficulties that JFK Jr. faced, he was set to attend the wedding of his cousin Rory, the daughter of Robert Kennedy Jr., in July. And Carolyn, despite the tension between her and her husband, agreed to join him. What’s more, Carolyn also agreed to fly up in her husband’s plane, despite the fact that she’d told several people that she didn’t “trust” JFK Jr.’s flying abilities.
They took off from Essex County Airport in northern New Jersey on the evening of July 16, 1999, accompanied by Carolyn’s sister, Lauren. Though a haze had moved in, it should have been an easy, 200-mile journey. They planned to fly first to Martha’s Vineyard, to drop Lauren off, and then continue on to the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
But the plane never made it to Martha’s Vineyard. During their short journey, something went terribly wrong and the plane crashed into the Atlantic — killing JFK Jr. as well as Carolyn and Lauren Bessette. But what exactly happened up there?
This is the story of JFK Jr.’s tragic plane crash — and why some think that there’s more to the story than most people realize.
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