u/sirenpov

“It was usually a tough night for event photographers when John appeared on the call list of VIP's attending an event. Many more press photographers would show up, hoping to make sales.
Kennedy was always hot and editors needed fresh images of the young Assistant District Attorney. The reason I was able to get photos of John, along with a handful of others, like Patrick McMullan, Mary Hilliard or Bill Cunningham, was because he knew our photos would not end up in some trashy tabloid. We were trusted and there was mutual respect. He knew I was friendly with his Aunt Lee. So he "allowed" me access.
Most of the time his signature pose was to look straight at the ground when press interlopers would aim their cameras at him. I considered myself lucky.”

“Whenever John was inside a press event, I always noticed how he would unconsciously make adjustments to his waistline. Just a nervous tick from the stress of a lifetime in the limelight.”

Aside from that one clip of John on the Rosie show, I feel like his entire interview is probably lost media at this point. Does anyone have it though? Maybe someone who happened to record the episode back then? And even if you don’t have it, do you remember watching it back then? The episode aired on February 21, 1997 (season 2 of the show).

John at various Knicks games over the years, in honor of the Knicks beating San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4!
(pictures 1-2: 1994, pictures 3-4: 1996, pic 5: 1997, pic 6: 1998, pic 7: 1999)

“hobo-looking hunk” lol

In 1995, John sat with senior editor and legal advisor Gary Ginsberg to interview George Wallace, the former Alabama governor, once synonymous with segregation and nemesis of President Kennedy. The interview would appear in the inaugural issue of George magazine.

As Ginsberg remembers:

Sometimes a single moment in time captures the essence of an individual. That became clear to me in late June 1995. We were at the end of a grueling three days in Alabama interviewing George Wallace, the state’s former segregationist governor and nemesis of President Kennedy, for John’s maiden interview in his new magazine, George.
The enfeebled governor was barely coherent during the 10 hours we sat with him, and we were panicked there would be a gaping hole in our inaugural issue.
Worse, John himself was sick with a thyroid condition that left him lethargic, cranky and frighteningly thin. Adding to the anxiety of the moment, he was carrying around an engagement ring in the hope his girlfriend, Carolyn, would accept when he proposed to her that weekend.
Imagine our appreciation when two amiable Alabamans with close ties to the governor offered us a quiet dinner at a roadside restaurant. But as we approached the restaurant, I suddenly noticed there were perhaps a hundred cars parked alongside the road – the restaurant parking lot itself was overflowing.
I looked over at John, and he at me, and we both realized in that same instant: we’d been played. This would be no quiet dinner for four, but the show-and-tell of an American icon.
“I’m not doing it,” he said to me angrily as we sat in the back of the car, mulling our options. “I’m going back to the hotel.”
But one thing John had in more abundance than anyone I knew was grace. And he wouldn’t let down the 200 or so people who had gathered in the restaurant or embarrass our hosts, who had covertly planned this minirally.
So John put on his tie, set aside his fury and gamely walked across the dirt driveway and gave himself up to the adoring crowd. For the next two hours, as only John could, he charmed everyone, signing dozens of pictures of his father, standing for dozens more and patiently listening to the endless stories people related of their ties to his extended family.
What I realized that night, and what has stayed with me these past 15 years since his passing, is this: No one of my generation was born with more privilege or promise than John, yet no one wore it more comfortably. When we walked out of the restaurant, John smiled at me and without the slightest irony said, “That was really fun.” And he meant it.

I’ve always adored this picture! I remember reading somewhere that it was taken by Herb Ritts (looks like it tbh) but I’m not sure if that’s 100% accurate. I also remember Sasha Chermayeff mentioning that Herb Ritts took these very intimate and beautiful photographs of them in Hyannis but apparently they’ve never seen the light of day. I wonder if anyone has more info on this photo session!

John gave this interview a day after appearing at the Democratic Convention to introduce his uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy. Love how he reassures the reporter that everything went smoothly at the end!

In honour of Mother’s Day, some of my favourite Jackie + John pictures!

I recently read that in order to get John’s voice right, Paul Anthony Kelly listened to the audiobook of Profiles in Courage (written by JFK in 1956). Aside from John’s narration , the audiobook also includes an introduction written and read by Caroline Kennedy. Thought it might seem interesting to those who enjoy audiobooks!