Remembering JFK, Jr. 10 Years After His Tragic Death
Airdate
:
7/15/2009
"There is no question in my mind he'd be President of the United States right now," says Kevin Hynes, talking about his dear friend John F. Kennedy, Jr., whose tragic death ten years ago this week shattered the dream of a second coming of Camelot.
Kennedy was killed, along with his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren, when the plane he was piloting crashed off Martha's Vineyard.
John, Jr. kept his plane in a small airport in New Jersey, and he took off from there on the night of his fateful flight. Much of what happened that night remains shrouded in mystery, but the world is learning more about that fateful day.
"Many people feel that John shouldn't have been flying that plane that evening. That he had just recovered from a broken leg, and he and his wife were fighting about various things," explains author Edward Klein, who wrote a biography of Ted Kennedy.
An inexperienced pilot, unused to flying at night, JFK, Jr. apparently became disoriented in bad weather and steered his plane straight into the ocean.
But what if Kennedy had lived?
Hynes, who became friends with Kennedy when they were both New York prosecutors, believes he was planning to divorce his wife over her alleged drug use.
"He told me he thought that he would have to divorce her," Hynes tells INSIDE EDITION.
Their relationship was always volatile. A bitter argument, which occurred before they were married, was caught on video when the couple was out for a stroll. They were screaming at each other, and even pushing and shoving one another. At one point John appeared to be in tears, but the screaming argument continued. It all ended in a tearful make-up session.
"They'd been to a marriage counselor. They had been to drug counselors. John had looked into all sorts of potential help for her," says Hynes.
Kennedy may have also had his eyes on the White House when he was killed.
"Ted Kennedy was counting on John running for the governorship of New York State and Ted felt that it would be a better launching pad for the presidency than the Senate," Klein says.
The whole nation was plunged into mourning at news of the tragedy. John, Jr. had worked his way into the heart of the country as he spent his childhood in the White House, photographed in his father's arms, playing under the Oval Office desk, and saluting at his father's funeral.
The Kennedys may never produce another figure as popular or charismatic as JFK, Jr.
Hynes tells INSIDE EDITION, "He was a people magnet, people were drawn to him. He would have been unstoppable."
