Editing John F. Kennedy Jr. (section)

==Career==
After the [[1984 Democratic National Convention]] in San Francisco, Kennedy returned to New York to earn $20,000 a year at the Office of Business Development, where his boss said that he worked "in the same crummy cubbyhole as everybody else. I heaped on the work and was always pleased."<ref name="mgross.com">{{cite magazine |last=Gross |first=Michael |date=March 20, 1989 |title=Favorite Son |url=http://mgross.com/writing/profiles/jfk1/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117142248/http://mgross.com/writing/profiles/jfk1/ |archive-date=January 17, 2011 |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]}}</ref> Kennedy continued there as deputy director of the 42nd Street Development Corporation in 1986,<ref name=Bly279/> conducting negotiations with developers and city agencies. 

In 1988, Kennedy became a summer associate at [[Manatt, Phelps & Phillips|Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Phillips]], a Los Angeles law firm with strong connections to the Democratic Party, working for his uncle [[Ted Kennedy]]'s law school roommate and former [[Democratic National Committee]] chairman [[Charles Manatt]].<ref name="mgross.com" /> Later that year, Kennedy was named by [[People (magazine)|''People'']] Magazine as 1988's “[[Sexiest Man Alive]]”.

From 1989, Kennedy headed Reaching Up, a [[nonprofit group]] which provided educational and other opportunities for workers who helped people with disabilities. William Ebenstein, executive director of Reaching Up, said, "He was always concerned with the working poor, and his family always had an interest in helping them."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Seelye |first1=Katharine |title=John F. Kennedy Jr., Heir To a Formidable Dynasty |work=The New York Times |date=July 19, 1999 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/19/us/john-f-kennedy-jr-heir-to-a-formidable-dynasty.html#:~:text=Schlossberg%20of%20Manhattan.-,Mr.,a%20number%20of%20nonprofit%20organizations.&text=Since%201989%20he%20had%20headed,who%20help%20people%20with%20disabilities. }}</ref>

Kennedy earned a [[Juris Doctor]] degree from the [[New York University School of Law]] in 1989.<ref>{{cite book|last=Heymann|first=Clemens David|title=American Legacy: The Story of John & Caroline Kennedy|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2007a|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americanlegacyst00heym/page/323 323]|isbn=978-0-7434-9738-1|url=https://archive.org/details/americanlegacyst00heym/page/323}}</ref> He then failed the New York [[bar exam]] twice before passing on his third try in July 1990.<ref>{{cite book|last=Blow|first=Richard|author2=Bradley, Richard|title=American Son: A Portrait of John F. Kennedy, Jr.|publisher=Macmillan|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americansonportr00blow/page/17 17]|isbn=0-312-98899-0|url=https://archive.org/details/americansonportr00blow/page/17}}</ref> After failing the exam for a second time, Kennedy vowed that he would continue to take it until he was 95 years old or passed.<ref name="desertnews">{{cite news |date=May 1, 1990 |title=JOHN KENNEDY JR. FAILS BAR EXAM 2ND TIME; SAYS HE'LL TAKE IT AGAIN |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/99874/JOHN-KENNEDY-JR-FAILS-BAR-EXAM-2ND-TIME-SAYS-HELL-TAKE-IT-AGAIN.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626123059/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/99874/JOHN-KENNEDY-JR-FAILS-BAR-EXAM-2ND-TIME-SAYS-HELL-TAKE-IT-AGAIN.html |archive-date=June 26, 2016 |publisher=Desert News}}</ref> If Kennedy had failed a third time, he would have been ineligible to serve as an [[assistant district attorney]] in the [[New York County District Attorney|Manhattan DA's Office]], where Kennedy worked for the next four years;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-04-mn-5683-story.html|date=November 4, 1990|title=John F. Kennedy Jr. Passes Bar Exam|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Spoto |first=Donald |title=Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: A Life|publisher=Macmillan|year=2000 |pages=330 |isbn=0-312-97707-7}}</ref> handling such matters as consumer fraud and landlord-tenant disputes.<ref>{{cite web |title=A life lived in celebrity; Fame: John F. Kennedy Jr. endured the spotlight with rare grace and humor. |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1999/07/18/a-life-lived-in-celebrity-fame-john-f-kennedy-jr-endured-the-spotlight-with-rare-grace-and-humor/ |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|date=July 18, 1999 }}</ref> On August 29, 1991, Kennedy won his first case as a prosecutor.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/30/nyregion/prosecutor-kennedy-wins-first-trial-easily.html|title=Prosecutor Kennedy Wins First Trial, Easily|first=Ronald|last=Sullivan|date=August 30, 1991|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

In the summer of 1992, Kennedy worked as a journalist and was commissioned by ''[[The New York Times]]'' to write an article about his kayaking expedition to the [[Åland Archipelago]], where he saved one of his friends when a kayak capsized.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Good Son: JFK Jr. and the Mother He Loved|first=Christopher|last=Andersen|year=2014|pages=266–267|publisher=Gallery Books|isbn=978-1476775562}}</ref> Kennedy then considered creating a magazine with his friend, public-relations magnate [[Michael J. Berman]], a plan which his mother thought too risky. In his 2000 book ''The Day John Died'', Christopher Andersen wrote that Jacqueline had worried that her son would die in a plane crash and asked her longtime companion [[Maurice Tempelsman]] "to do whatever it took to keep John from becoming a pilot".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91891&page=1|title=Book: JFK. Jr's Death Foretold|date=July 11, 2000 <!-- year per pub date of "new" book mentioned in source -->|publisher=ABC News}}</ref>

===Acting===
Kennedy had appeared in many plays while at Brown and had done a bit of acting afterwards. He expressed interest in acting as a career but his mother strongly disapproved, considering it an unsuitable profession.<ref name="A&E Biography">A&E Biography</ref> Kennedy made his New York acting debut on August 4, 1985 in front of an invitation-only audience at the Irish Theater on Manhattan's West Side. The executive director of the Irish Arts Center, Nye Heron, said that Kennedy was "one of the best young actors I've seen in years".<ref name=Bly279>Bly, p. 279.</ref> Kennedy's director, Robin Saex, stated, "He has an earnestness that just shines through." Kennedy's largest acting role was playing a fictionalized version of himself in the eighth-season episode of the sitcom ''[[Murphy Brown]]'' called "Altered States", in which he visits Brown's office to promote a magazine he is publishing.

===''George'' magazine===
In 1995, Kennedy and Michael Berman founded ''[[George (magazine)|George]]'', a glossy, politics-as-lifestyle and fashion monthly, with Kennedy controlling 50 percent of the shares.<ref name="A&E Biography"/> Kennedy officially launched the magazine at a news conference in Manhattan on September 8 and joked that he had not seen so many reporters in one place since he failed his first bar exam.<ref name=Landau117/>

Each issue of the magazine contained an editor's column and interviews written by Kennedy,<ref name=Sumner>{{cite book|last=Sumner|first=David E.|title=The Magazine Century: American Magazines Since 1900|url=https://archive.org/details/magazinecenturya0000sumn|url-access=registration|publisher=Peter Lang International Academic Publishers|year=2010|pages=[https://archive.org/details/magazinecenturya0000sumn/page/201 201]|isbn=978-1433104930}}</ref> who believed they could make politics "accessible by covering it in an entertaining and compelling way", allowing "popular interest and involvement" to follow.<ref name=Landau100-102/> Kennedy did interviews with [[Louis Farrakhan]], [[Billy Graham]], [[Garth Brooks]], and others.<ref name=Landau100-102>Landau, pp. 100-102.</ref>

The first issue was criticized for its image of [[Cindy Crawford]] posing as [[George Washington]] in a powdered wig and ruffled shirt. In defense of the cover Kennedy stated that "political magazines should look like ''[[Mirabella]]''."<ref name=Landau99>Landau, p. 99.</ref>

In July 1997, ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' published a profile of New York City mayor [[Rudy Giuliani]], claiming that he was sleeping with his press secretary (which both parties denied). Kennedy was tempted to follow up on this story but decided against it.<ref>Blow, pp. 174-175.</ref> That same month, he wrote about meeting [[Mother Teresa]], declaring that the "three days I spent in her presence was the strongest evidence this struggling Catholic has ever had that God exists."<ref name=Sumner/>

[[File:JFKJr2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Kennedy in 1998]]
The September 1997 issue of ''George'' centered on temptation and featured two of Kennedy's cousins, [[Michael LeMoyne Kennedy]] and [[Joseph P. Kennedy II]]. Michael, a Boston attorney,<ref name="Accident Kills A Kennedy">{{Cite web | title =An Accident Kills A Kennedy Promise Waned With Sex Scandal | website = [[New York Daily News]] | date = January 1998 | access-date = 2017-11-22 | url = https://www.nydailynews.com/1998/01/01/an-accident-kills-a-kennedy-promise-waned-with-sex-scandal/}}</ref> had been accused of having an affair with his children's underage babysitter,<ref name="nancygibbs3">{{cite magazine |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987634,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |title=The Kennedy Family: Tragedy Strikes Again |first1=Nancy |last1=Gibbs |first2=Terry |last2=McCarthy |first3=Charlotte |last3= Faltermayer |first4=Tom |last4=Witkowski |date=January 12, 1998 |access-date=August 30, 2009 |page=3 |archive-date=April 23, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080423234104/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C987634-3%2C00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> while Joseph, a Massachusetts congressman,<ref>{{cite web |title=Kennedy, Joseph Patrick, II |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/K000110 |website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref> had been accused by his ex-wife of having bullied her. John said that both his cousins had become "poster boys for bad behavior", and that he was trying to show that press coverage of the pair was unfair because they were Kennedys.<ref name="Andersen, p. 316">Andersen, p. 316.</ref> Joseph paraphrased John's father by stating, "Ask not what you can do for your cousin, but what you can do for his magazine."<ref>Leigh, pp. 322-323.</ref>

====Decline====
By early 1997, Kennedy and Berman were locked in a power struggle, which led to screaming matches, slammed doors, and even a physical altercation. Berman sold his share of the company and Kennedy took on Berman's responsibilities. Berman's departure was followed by a rapid drop in sales for the already declining magazine.<ref name=Heymann438/>

Hachette Filipacchi Magazines were partners in ''George''. CEO [[David Pecker]] said the decline was due to Kennedy's refusal to "take risks as an editor, despite the fact that he was an extraordinary risk taker in other areas of his life." Pecker also said, "He understood that the target audience for ''George'' was the eighteen-to-thirty-four-year-old demographic, yet he would routinely turn down interviews that would appeal to this age group, like [[Princess Diana]] or [[John Gotti Jr.]], to interview subjects like [[Dan Rostenkowski]] or [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]]."<ref name=Heymann438>Heymann, p. 438.</ref>
Shortly before his death, Kennedy had been planning a series of online chats with the 2000 presidential candidates. [[Microsoft]] was to provide the technology and pay for it while receiving advertising in ''George''.<ref name=Blow274>Blow, p. 274.</ref> After his death, the magazine was bought out by Hachette,<ref name="media">Bercovici, Jeff (2001). [http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2001/jan01/jan02/5_fri/news1friday.html "Hachette delivers death ax to George"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930180348/http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2001/jan01/jan02/5_fri/news1friday.html |date=September 30, 2007 }}. ''[[Media Life Magazine]]''.</ref> but it folded in early 2001.<ref name="cnn">[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0101/06/rs.00.html "Reliable Sources: 'George' Folds"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418152349/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0101/06/rs.00.html |date=April 18, 2016 }}. CNN. January 6, 2001.</ref>