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He Had Amazing Grace
In a stirring eulogy delivered at the Church of St. Thomas
More, Senator Edward M. Kennedy celebrated the life of his nephew, John Jr.
Once, when they asked John what he would do if he went
into politics and was elected president, he said: "I guess the first thing is call up Uncle Teddy and gloat." I loved that.
It was so like his father. From the first day of his life, John seemed to belong not only to our family, but to the American
family. The whole world knew his name before he did.
A famous photograph showed John racing across the lawn
as his father landed in the White House helicopter and swept up John in his arms. When my brother saw that photo, he exclaimed,
"Every mother in the United States is saying, 'Isn't it wonderful to see that love between a son and his father, the way that
John races to be with his father.' Little do they know that son would have raced right by his father to get to that helicopter."
But John was so much more than those long-ago images emblazoned
in our minds. He was a boy who grew into a man with a zest for life and a love of adventure. He was a pied piper who brought
us all along. He was blessed with a father and mother who never thought anything mattered more than their children.
When they left the White House, Jackie's soft and gentle
voice and unbreakable strength of spirit guided him surely and securely to the future. He had a legacy, and he learned to
treasure it. He was part of a legend, and he learned to live with it. Above all, Jackie gave him a place to be himself, to
grow up, to laugh and cry, to dream and strive on his own.
John learned that lesson well. He had amazing grace. He
accepted who he was, but he cared more about what he could and should become. He saw things that could be lost in the glare
of the spotlight. And he could laugh at the absurdity of too much pomp and circumstance.
He loved to travel across this city by subway, bicycle
and Rollerblade. He lived as if he were unrecognizable although he was known by everyone he encountered. He always introduced
himself, rather than take anything for granted. He drove his own car and flew his own plane, which is how he wanted it. He
was the king of his domain.
He thought politics should be an integral part of our popular
culture, and that popular culture should be an integral part of politics. He transformed that belief into the creation of
George. John shaped and honed a fresh, often irreverent journal. His new political magazine attracted a new generation, many
of whom had never read about politics before.
John also brought to George a wit that was quick
and sure. The première issue of George caused a stir with a cover photograph of Cindy Crawford dressed as George Washington
with a bare bellybutton. "The Reliable Source" in the Washington Post printed a mock cover of George showing not Cindy Crawford,
but me dressed as George Washington, with my bellybutton exposed. I suggested to John that perhaps I should have been the
model for the first cover of his magazine. Without missing a beat, John told me that he stood by his original editorial decision.
Did You Know?
John was the first child ever born to a President-elect.
John was delivered by cesarean section 17 days before his due date.
After John was born, thousands of Americans named their newborn children John, Caroline, and Jacqueline.
When John was at Brown University, he pledged the Phi Psi fraternity and had to endure Hell Night,
which involved swallowing goldfish; crawling around on the floor covered with animal entrails; grabbing a banana in a toilet
bowl while blindfolded; and getting paddled.
In 1987 John couldn't get a first class plane ticket on a flight to West Palm Beach, so he bought two
coach seats: one for himself, and one for his guitar.
John's favorite vegetable is spinach.
John always wanted to be an actor but his mother disapproved. But John was in many productions such
as Oliver, Comings and Goings, A comedy of errors, Once Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Valpone, The Tempest, In the Boom Boom
Room, The Playboy of the Western World, Short Eyes, winners, A Matter of Degrees and more.
When John was thirteen he was mugged in Central Park . A mugger jumped out of the bushes and shouted,
"Get the hell off that bike" and rode away with John's bike. The mugger was caught later.
Two of John's favorite alcoholic beverages are tequila and beer.
John learned to speak Greek in the years following his mother's marriage to Aristotle Onassis.
John broke his leg in 1991 playing football.
John was once arrested in Connecticut for driving 81 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone.
John wrote left-handed and was a terrible speller.
John once hung upside down and kissed the Blarney Stone during a visit to Ireland.
John's first paying job was at the New York City office of Economic Development in 1986.
People magazine called John "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1988.
According to an old girlfriend, John smoked exactly one cigarette a day, and he never craved another
till the next day.
John has a shamrock tattoo on his forearm. He had it put on in the summer of 1991.
Some of John's favorite sports were Bicycling, Camping, Fishing, Kayaking and Frisbee. He also loved
touch football and Weight-lifting.
John spent a summer in South Africa working for a mining company that was owned by Maurice Tempelsman
a one time companion of his mother.
John dated many women before he got married. Here are just a few: Apollonia best known as the one time
girlfriend of Prince. Audra Avizienis a model. Julie Baker a Wilhemina model. Paula Barbieri the ex-girlfriend of O.J. Simpson.
Naomi Campbell was interested in dating John but he turned her down. It is said that John dated Cindy
Cawford for a summer. Even Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York was interested in dating John but the reports are it never happened.
Daryl Hannah the actress was John's main squeeze for several years. A rather rocky relationship say the tabloids.
Supermodel Ashley Richardson also dated John. John also dated actress Molly Ringwald. John has also
been linked to Princess Stephanie of Monaco. Also the actress Sharon Stone had a brief fling with John.
There are more! We will be adding to this as the months go on.
http://www.jfkjr.com/didyouknow.htm
KENNEDY ARCHIVES
ASSASSINATION FILMS
Videos of films of the Assassination of President
Kennedy.
The Nix Film: The Nix Film was shot across the street from the Grassy Knoll,
showing an angle of the assassination that is the reverse of the Zapruder Film. The Hughes Film: Shot at the southwest corner
of Houston and Elm streets. The film shows the front of the Texas School Book Depository Building moments before the assassination.
The film shows the crowd reaction after the assassination. The Muchmore Film: At the time of the assassination this film was
being shot from grassy area to the left of the presidential limousine.
Nix Film CLICK HERE 4.25 MB Muchmore Film CLICK HERE 5,56 MB
John Kennedy Jr. FBI Files CLICK HERE 4.46 MB PDF
180 pages of FBI Files including plot to kidnap him.
Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis Secret Service Files
CLICK HERE 2.62MB PDF
254 pages of Secret Service files covering Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis. Files provide an overview of the protection
provide to
Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her children, John Kennedy Jr. and
Caroline Kennedy from 1961 to 1974. Files chronicle
Mrs. Kennedy Onassis struggle to provide as normal a life as possible for her children.
MISCELLANEOUS FBI AND ASSASSINATION RECORDS REVIEW BOARD FILES CLICK HERE 3.31 MB PDF
150 pages of documents including: FBI wire tap transcript of a
phone conversation
by New Orleans crime boss Carlos Marcello, in which Kennedy is mentioned. FBI interview with the Secret Service agent driving
Kennedy. Dallas Police Department notes on the interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald. Autopsy information. A FBI report on the
autopsy. An assortment of FBI memos documenting accusations of an annulled first marriage and extramarital affairs. A letter
written by Warren Commission general counsel J. Lee Rankin critical of the single bullet theory. An exhausted account of the
disposition of JFK's display coffin. Documents indicating Nixon administration disapproval of using the Apollo space program
to commemorate Kennedy.
NARA Forensic Evidence Report CLICK HERE 448kb PDF
25 pages of files from the National Archives and
Records
Administration covering the 1998 re-examination of some of the
assassination forensic evidence held by the agency.
Assassination Records Review Board Final Report CLICK HERE 1.88MB
KENNEDY/KHRUSHCHEV CORRESPONDENCES
CLICK HERE 680kb PDF
220 pages of text from the Department of States' "Foreign
Relations of the
United States", Volume VI. Volume VI presents
the complete correspondence between President Kennedy and Soviet
Chairman
Khrushchev. The efforts at arms control, the basic
elements of national security policy, the October 1962 Cuban
missile
crisis, negotiations and plans arising from the threat of
war over Berlin, and the threat of hostilities by
Soviet-supported
forces in Laos.
Text of the House Select Committee on Assassinations report.
CLICK HERE 683kb PDF
Genealogy Material CLICK HERE 1.68 MB.PDF
11 pages of genealogy material. The files contain records of the
Fitzgerald
family, including a genealogy chart, marriage records,
and other material. Also included are copies of the birth and
death
certificates for the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families.
White
House Central Files CLICK HERE 5.90MB PDF
44 pages from the White House Central Files
for the
administration of President John F. Kennedy. Files include
correspondence between Kennedy and the family of
an American
solider killed in Vietnam in 1963. Documents cover mundane
inquiries from the public, on issues such as
the presidents
attire and the recipe for his favorite dish, New England clam
chowder
Contact:
aitv@mindspring.com
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