John F. Kennedy Jr.

Born two weeks after his father won the presidency, John F. Kennedy Jr. lived his first thousand days in the White House before the assassination made him the child in the funeral procession, frozen in collective memory with his hand raised. He grew up under relentless scrutiny, studied law, and worked as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan - a rare stretch out of the spotlight. In 1995 he launched George, a glossy attempt to marry politics and celebrity culture that never quite found its footing. He married Carolyn Bessette in a secret ceremony, their union becoming tabloid currency, and stayed active in nonprofit work and his family's campaigns. On July 16, 1999, piloting a small plane to Martha's Vineyard, he crashed into the Atlantic with his wife and her sister aboard.