Celebrating the Life of JFK Jr.

You can’t talk about the Kennedy family without discussing John F. Kennedy, Jr. Known informally as “JFK Jr.,” he captivated the world from a young age. He was born two months before his namesake father was sworn in as president, and he lived in the White House during the first three years of his life up until the assassination. 

John enchanted Cape Cod locals and visitors alike as a little boy summering at the Kennedy Compound, and later whenever he visited as an adult. He felt comfortable walking down Main Street, Hyannis, and sometimes even visited the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum personally. 

When John, his wife, Carolyn, and her sister all died in a plane crash off Cape Cod on July 16, 1999, the entire country mourned the tragic event. 

One of the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum’s special exhibits this season offers an in-depth look inside the life of JFK Jr. Organized into thematic arrangements, it features extraordinary images (some rarely seen) of him alone or with his father, mother, sister, and wife. 

Through video, photographs, quotes, text, and artifacts, this commemorative exhibit in the Penn-Colombo Gallery invites us all to remember JFK Jr., who, like his father, had every gift except length of years.