TIME: 15 years after JFK Jr.'s death, remembering what could have been

[MinM]

The son of the 35th president was 38-years-old when his plane was lost at sea

Fifteen years ago Wednesday, a shocked nation grieved as the Kennedy family lost another one of their own. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., 38, died in a plane crash with his wife and sister-in-law on July 16, 1999.

“He was lost on that troubled night, but we will always wake for him, so that his time, which was not doubled but cut in half, will live forever in our memory and in our beguiled and broken hearts,” then-Sen. Ted Kennedy said in a eulogy for his nephew, an American icon turned magazine editor. Kennedy outlived his nephew by 10 years, passing away in 2009 after nearly a half-century in the U.S. Senate.

In that same eulogy, Kennedy praised the “lifelong mutual admiration society” shared between JFK Jr. and his sister Caroline, who now serves as the United State ambassador to Japan.

Kennedy was often asked whether he would further the political legacy of his father, who died when his son was only two years old. JFK Jr. once said of his father, “He inspired a lot of hope and created a sense of possibility, and then the possibility was cut short and never realized.”

Read TIME’s special 1999 cover story marking JFK Jr.’s death here.

http://time.com/2988210/jfk-jr-death-plane-crash-anniversary/

[billhicks76]

1. Murdered?

I will always believe he was killed by military contractors and the Bush family. He made it clear he was running for president against GW shortly before this crash. Trillions of dollars were at stake for a pre planned war.

[MADem]

2. That's just not accurate. He was killed because he took off too late to land using visual flight

rules. He was not instrument certified.

He got lost, confused, and ended up in the drink and took his spouse and sister in law with him.

It was a terrible and sad accident, and he, unfortunately, played a role in his own demise.

He was not running for president, he wanted to be an ACTOR. His mother didn't like the idea. Had she not interfered, he probably would have married Darryl Hannah (mom didn't care for her, she was an actress with a congenital defect--a missing finger--that mother found concerning) , and he'd be alive and producing films in Hollywood today. He should have followed HIS dream.

[billhicks76]

5. Wrong

He indicated that he had changed his mind and wanted to run for president.

[MADem]

7. Sure, whatever you say....

[billhicks76]

9. That's What I Recall In The News

He projected forever that he would never run. His family also didn't want him to for obvious reasons. But I recall he changed his mind and was exploring it...my guess is because he cares about this country and knew what Bush Sr and his cabal were planning. He definitely would've won with the woman vote alone it had been postulated. I can't remember the link sorry.

[MinM]

3. Jackie raised Caroline and Jr the right way ..

There was a video put out a few years back that raised some interesting questions about the crash ..

Ultimately though there's no hard evidence to support sabotage.

There is however a piece in that video that recalls how Jacqueline kept both Caroline and John Jr grounded. She balked at sending them to soul-sucking private schools that are designed to drive the humanity right out of their students. Which actually was an extension of something JFK espoused by avoiding membership in organizations like skull & bones.

So in some ways it makes the crash all the more tragic. Given the thought and care that went into how John Jr was raised.

[CTyankee]

4. I remember that weekend...I was visiting my dtr and family on the Vineyard...

That fateful morning I woke up and took my little grandbaby outside to feed her and let her parents sleep but I saw a pretty (but a little strange) plane flying over (it was the early Coast Guard search plane) and took her out to see it. I had no idea until my son in law came down and reported that JFK, jr.'s plane had been lost over the Vineyard...it was a horrible weekend on the Vineyard, that's for sure...

[billhicks76]

6. Bush

And because of it we got Bush Jr, 911 and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Bush Sr is the only person on earth that when asked claimed he didn't know where he was when JFK was killed although there are photographs that put him in Dallas that very day. He is also quoted as saying," You think the Kennedy brothers were big then wait till you see my boys." Do people know that Teddy Kennedys plane went down in 1964...10 years before his brakes went out and his car went into Chappaquidick? Everyone on board died but he miraculously survived with broken back and appendages. This family has been targeted. It's not some BS fairy tale curse.

[quadrature]

8. somebody with that much $$, could afford to hire ...

a professional pilot to fly right-seat