June 23, 2024

Christopher Andersen on the Tragic Loss of John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and Lauren Bessette in a Plane Crash 25 Years Ago This Summer

42 minutes

I still remember exactly where I was on Saturday, July 17, 1999, when the news bulletin flashed across the screen that the small plane carrying John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren was missing. The three had flown out of New Jersey’s Essex County Airport the night before, Friday, July 16, in John’s Piper Saratoga plane, headed for Martha’s Vineyard, where they were to drop off Lauren and then go on to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where John and Carolyn were due to attend the wedding of cousin Rory Kennedy the next day. But they never made it there, and their plane crashed into the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean, killing all three passengers instantly. John was 38 years old, Lauren was 35, and Carolyn, just 33 years old.

For our third series on I’d Rather Be Reading, we are focusing on John, Carolyn, and Lauren ahead of the 25-year anniversary of their tragic deaths on July 16. To kickstart our series we have the brilliant biographer Christopher Andersen, who has written 35 books, many of them bestsellers, and two of them about JFK Jr. specifically. Christopher is our guest today to provide context to the landscape of John’s life in 1999; we will later talk to many people who knew John and Carolyn, but to lay the groundwork for those conversations, I thought Christopher would be the perfect person. He has worked at Time and later as a senior editor at People; he has also written for The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Life, and The New York Daily News. He has appeared on nearly every media outlet you can think of discussing culture, and has written many, many books on the Kennedys, the royal family, Katharine Hepburn, Madonna, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, the Clintons, the Bushes, the Obamas, Barbra Streisand, and so many more. Today, we’re focusing on two of his books: The Day John Died, released in 2000, and The Good Son: JFK. Jr. and the Mother He Loved, which came out in 2014. Both are fantastic, and I’m excited to kick our series off today and for you to hear from Christopher.

All by Christopher Andersen:

The Day John Died

The Day John Died 25th Anniversary E-Book

The Good Son: JFK Jr. and the Mother He Loved

...more