john f kennedy jr more than any other
presidential child
was america's son i think any time you
go into politics you have to make sure
that the rest of your life
will accommodate that decision i have a
few years to make that decision now
in 1960 his parents john and jacqueline
were the torchbearers of a new
generation of americans
so now my wife and i prepare for a new
administration
and for a new baby the baby was john
who along with his sister caroline would
captivate the country
on his third birthday he would salute
his slain father
and like his father john would die too
soon
it has now been confirmed that all three
bodies john f kennedy jr his wife
carolyn and her sister lauren have been
found on the ocean floor off martha's
vineyard
if john knew he would be gone at 38
years old
i don't think john would have wanted to
be forgotten rosemarie tarenzio was
kennedy's executive assistant at george
the magazine he founded brian steele was
an assistant district attorney with
kennedy in manhattan
and a friend if everyone forgot him on
his 60th
i think that would disappoint him for
sure their friend
perpetually young would now be 60.
senator kennedy said during his eulogy
for john
that he did not live to comb gray hair
i think that's probably the line that
took us all
out yeah that was the crushing sort of
gut punch line and now you look back and
you think of
what might have been what were the
opportunities that were lost there's
no doubt he was thinking about running
for governor
we had that discussion a couple times in
the months before he passed away
he had given sort of fleeting thought
for running for that senate seat in 2000
and he said he wasn't interested and
when i asked him why
he said no one in my family has been
governor and i sort of like being a
chief executive
he was being asked also to run for mayor
at one point and i remember saying to
him
why wouldn't you run for mayor i mean
you would certainly
win it hands down and he said how many
mayors do you know that become
president a paparazzi favorite the
tabloids chronicled his love life and
marriage
to carolyn bessette like his magazine
kennedy was at the intersection of
politics and popular culture
bringing to george a certain new york
real estate developer
to speak did john ever share with you
what he
thought about donald trump i think john
was amused by him
and just sort of thought he's this like
flamboyant new york
attention seeking ego maniac kind of guy
i would say they were friends or
friendly but i don't think he would have
predicted he'd be president
uh today to someone who's 20 or 30 years
old who
didn't know of john f kennedy jr
how would you explain to them why the
country is still
fascinated with this man i mean there
was no one that compared in the world
to john everything that he did with his
power
his fame it was all about some greater
good
a good they want to keep alive his
legacy
was really about who he would have
become but i just think
america and maybe the world would have
been a better place
the way that he gracefully took that
mantle
and lived an honorable life full of
integrity
and because of what we all want
which is somebody or something to look
up to
and to be proud of a man with every gift
but years
[Music]
john f kennedy jr's friends say that he
would not want to be memorialized in
sadness he would want people to smile
when they think of him
and hope that they think he used his
short life well
hoda wow just so interesting and
especially about that
that potential run for president he was
thinking about did he really was that
something concrete did he have a plan
for
that so brian says
that what they were looking at is he
would have run for governor of new york
in 2002
and then you assume he would have won
reelection in 2006
perhaps he would have run for president
in 2008.
think of what that field could have been
hillary clinton barack obama
and john f kennedy jr that would have
been a primary
sure would have all right well i mean
it's just it's
astonishing to think that he would have
been 60 years old yeah
you know isn't that incredible yes
yeah just the passage of time but yeah
what might have been you know and he was
such a part of new york city i still
remember one day walking through central
park and i saw him
playing frisbee and it just struck me
like he said he was such a part of the
city
he went about his daily life here just
like every other person part of a plot
of seinfeld without ever being seen
yes all right well he managed his fame i
mean since he was a little boy you know
just born into this in such
such fame and then such tragedy but
managed it all so well
um and thank you
you