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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to "Remember Them", Steve Adubato with our Executive Producer, co-anchor Jacqui Tricarico.

Jacqui, the book over my shoulder, the JFK book, "JFK: An Intimate Oral Biography", the co-author Rosemarie Terenzio joins us once again.

You saw that interview, it's the second time she joined us talk about JFK.

She was his chief of staff, close advisor, knew him better than most.

What'd you take away from that?

- John F. Kennedy Jr, known by so many as America's Prince.

We really wanted to honor him here on our series.

He did so much and really had such a trajectory in politics, really, so much that we talked about with Rosemarie about what he could have done if his life didn't end so tragically at such a young age.

He took off in his private airplane here in New Jersey with his wife and his sister-in-law, and not too long after takeoff, tragedy hit where the plane crashed into the waters off of Martha's Vineyard and all three of them passed away.

And Rosemarie talks about that time about John F. Kennedy Jr, how he was as not just a colleague and a boss, but as a friend to her, and she just gives us such a nice inside look and some really personal stories about the man that so many people didn't know that was behind all of that facade of what people thought they knew about him in the public.

- Yeah, it's unfortunate, it's sad that New Jersey does have that connection, the plane that JFK Jr flew with his wife and sister-in-law to Martha's Vineyard for a wedding up in Caldwell, New Jersey.

That's where it is, that's where his car was.

He left his car there, flew off in that small plane, and as we know, the rest is history, that was back in 1999.

We remember John F. Kennedy Jr, not a long life, but an impactful, significant, extraordinary life, and we talked to our friend Rosemarie Terenzio who knew him well, check it out.

(bright upbeat music) - We are honored to be joined by RoseMarie Terenzio, who is the New York Times bestselling author and co-author of "JFK Jr.

: An Intimate Oral Biography."

RoseMarie, thank you so much for joining us once again.

- Nice to be here.

Good to see you.

- So we had you a while back, and you wrote the first book about JFK Jr., "Fairy Tale Interrupted."

What is the most significant difference between that book and this book?

- Well, "Fairy Tale Interrupted" was my journey working for John, and how that came to be, and what it was like to be part of his life and be his chief of staff, and really give you an intimate look at my experience, from my view.

And the "Oral Biography" is a collection of over 200 interviews with people who knew him best.

It is friends, family, George magazine coworkers, it's cover subjects from George, and it really gives you all the way from the White House, really from birth, through the White House, through his grade school, high school, college, and we have people from the DA's office.

We have obviously people from George magazine, people from charities he worked with.

So it really gives you a full picture of who he was through the eyes of these people who knew him very well.

- Let's go all the way back.

There's so much been written, said, about JFK Jr.

What do you believe the most significant, from the interviews that you did, what do you believe the most significant misconception is about JFK Jr.?

- I think this most significant misconception is that he was this sort of dilettante, not that smart guy, who just kind of ran around, and was famous and good-looking.

And I think it was so much more than that.

He was so wise, he was such a good person, and he lived his life on his own terms.

He did not, I really think the most significant thing is that he didn't let his fame hinder his life.

And when he was asked about it, like, how does it feel to be famous?

To walk into a room and you don't know anyone, and everyone knows you?

And he said, "I don't know it any other way.

I've never experienced anything else."

Because he was famous from the time he was born.

And I think that's what makes him so unique.

- So we'll show the iconic picture, the incredibly sad picture, after the November 22, 1963 assassination of his father, John F. Kennedy, President Kennedy.

JFK Jr.

was three years old, I believe at the time.

That iconic picture.

- It was actually, the funeral was actually his third birthday.

- It was his third birthday?

- On the day of his father's funeral.

- So the salute, we'll show that picture of the salute.

And you talk about JFK Jr.

living his life on his own terms.

But was he also told to do that?

I mean, he's three years old, obviously.

What's free will at three years old?

Was he told that's what he needed to do at that time?

- Well, it's interesting 'cause there's a story in the book where they, I think it's one of the Secret Service guys.

He was fascinated and obsessed.

There's a great photo of him in the book that I had never seen before.

And it's the night of his birthday party at the White House, back at the White House.

And 'cause his mom insisted on having a celebration for his birthday, even though it was the worst day of her life.

- Wait, the day that, I'm sorry for interrupting, RoseMarie.

The day of the funeral for President Kennedy, JFK Jr., they had a birthday party for his third birthday?

- Yes.

- In the White House?

- Yes.

And we have amazing photos of the birthday party.

And he's dressed, his grandmother on his mom's side had given him like a, I think it was an Air Force costume for his birthday.

'Cause he was obsessed with planes, and he was obsessed with marching and military and he loved to practice the salute.

So he was getting kind of rambunctious as a three-year-old will in church, and they took him in the back, and they were practicing the salute.

And the story goes- - During the funeral.

During the funeral?

- During the mass, yeah, during the funeral mass.

And the story goes, if you, it's actually in the book, that Jackie tells him to salute when the casket goes by, and that moment is captured, obviously, that iconic moment is captured, and John becomes America's child in that moment, and belongs to a whole country.

- RoseMarie, one of the things that I'm fascinated by, and I know others will be as well.

Get the book, it is, RoseMarie is the co-author of "JFK Jr.

: An Intimate Oral Biography."

JFK Jr.

's relationship with his mother.

Complex.

- I'm sure like everyone's relationship with their mother, it was complex, but they were very close.

You know, if you think about it, John was raised by two women.

His mother, Jackie, and his sister, Caroline.

And I think that gave him a unique sensibility into the world.

I think it made him much more sensitive and sensible.

- His mom had a big influence on him.

In the book, you talk to people who talk about that relationship.

She influenced his decisions on a significant level, did she not?

- Yeah, I mean, I think what I got from the interviews that we did in the book was that there was sort of always this gentle guidance from her in the background.

I don't think she was the type of mother to tell her children what they should, and shouldn't do with their lives.

But she certainly influenced how they made decisions, not necessarily the decisions they made, but how they made decisions.

And I think in the background, especially when he was growing up, she was a significant presence in his life.

And she was a really hands-on mom with him.

And I think that gave him that kind of guidance that young men don't always get from their mothers.

- One of the things that fascinates me, and for those of us who, again, people around the world, they remember that date.

They remember that day in 1999.

And the irony is, those of us in New Jersey are very aware of the airport in Caldwell.

It was actually on July 16, 1999.

It was Essex County Airport, now Lincoln Park Airport, in Caldwell, New Jersey, where they took off from.

They were going to Martha's Vineyard for a wedding.

And you know the rest of that horrific accident where he passed, his wife, Carolyn, passed, and her sister.

What I'm fascinated by is, you talk about the choices he made.

He, it seems to me, I was thinking to myself, politics, or his dad being in politics took his father's life.

Five years later, it took the other closest man to him, his uncle, a second father to him, Robert F. Kennedy, in Los Angeles.

And I think it was June 5, 1968.

And the rest is, we know the tragedies of the Kennedy family.

JFK Jr.

was fascinated by politics, did not hate politics, and clearly had a lot to do with why he started the magazine, George.

Is that a fair assessment, RoseMarie?

- Yeah, I mean, as he would say, it's the family business.

But I think what fascinated John about politics was more about the country as it was, and really wanting to get younger people and people who were not interested in politics involved in the process.

And he thought that by doing that, it would get people to vote, it would make people have a voice, it would give them an opportunity to enact change.

And if you think about George, what it really was, was the, it was the embodiment of who John was.

It was this intersection of pop culture and politics coming together to make it interesting.

And as we all know, politicians are not always interesting people.

And politics can be a, could be, back then, a pretty dry, boring subject.

And I think - - Hold on one second.

Not if George kicked off on the cover of George, it was George Washington, but not as George Washington.

Remind everyone which actress/model wound up dressing up on the cover of George, as George Washington.

- Yeah, the first cover was Cindy Crawford.

And she's dressed as George Washington in the midriff, in a wig, full makeup, and shot by a fashion photographer, of all things, Herb Ritts.

So, and also an art photographer.

But I think that that to him was, look, this is gonna make people pick it up, and this is gonna make people want to read it.

And I think the anticipation of the covers every month kept people engaged enough to keep buying it and keep reading it.

- Yeah, and by the way, those magazine covers were iconic and interesting, and our mutual good friend, Nicky Marazzo who worked for years with Hachette, the publisher of George, and a whole range of other publications.

We would talk about this offline and he would tell me that, 'cause he knew, as you knew JFK so well, he would say that JFK Jr.

was incredibly, around the offices of Hachette, he was very approachable.

Was he approachable and friendly to other folks who were clearly not celebrities?

- Absolutely.

As a matter of fact, when Liz McNeil, who's an editor of People, when we went to our publisher, and with this idea for this book, they said, "Well, who are you going to interview?"

And the names of the people who were closest to him don't mean anything to anyone, because they're not famous.

His best friends were Sasha Chermayeff, and Rob Littell, and Brian Steel, and people you don't know.

But those were his really close friends.

And that to me was what was most interesting about him, was that he surrounded himself with people who were not famous, and people who are not politicians, and not children of politicians.

And these were his real group of friends.

- I wanna talk about politics, and whether you believe from the people he spoke to, he would've actually run for office, and which office, and why or why not.

But I do want to ask about his relationship with Carolyn.

Caroline first, his sister.

Were they estranged?

- No, I mean, I wouldn't say they were estranged.

There was a period of time before he passed that they were in a sibling tiff about something, and - - By the way, my sisters are watching right now, they would know exactly what you're talking about.

Go ahead.

Pick it up.

- Yeah, I have three older sisters, and when people say, "Which one are you closest to?"

I always say, "What week is it?"

- Well, what time?

Yeah, yeah, what time is it?

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

And you don't have to be an Italian family for that to be true.

Go ahead.

- Exactly.

I think it's universal.

So I think no, they were, but they had, they had spoken before he passed away, and they had mended fences, as siblings do.

And unfortunately for her, there's this sort of idea out there that they were estranged and they were not.

And she was probably the closest person to John throughout his entire life.

- Including his wife, Carolyn?

- Different relationship.

A different relationship.

I think as they got older, he and Caroline, Caroline got married, she had three children, and John was still single.

So his lifestyle was different.

But they saw each other pretty much every week.

They would have dinner together, or he would go over there and see the kids, and - - But let's talk about politics.

Did JFK Jr.

's wife, Carolyn, did she like, and was interested in politics, or not?

- Oh, absolutely.

I think she was fascinated by it.

And I also think that she knew that eventually, he would run for office, and she was very supportive.

She would've been a great campaigner.

- You believe that?

- Absolutely.

- So hold on, now you open, RoseMarie, you open up another door, interesting door.

So with, this is a tough one.

In part it's about JFK Jr., it's part about our country.

It's about our culture, about politics.

With our politics as polarizing as our politics happens to be, do you believe the environment we are in in 2026 is an environment that JFK Jr., who I believe would, if he would've run for president in 2028, would've been 66.

I think if my math is right.

There's no way of knowing this.

Could he have done well in an environment like this, RoseMarie?

- I think if John had lived, he would've run way before he was 66.

And I don't think we'd be in this environment.

- Make the case.

Why do you think that?

I mean, you knew him better than just about anyone else who was not family.

So go ahead.

- Because I think he was already thinking about, he wanted George to be a success first.

That he adamant about that.

- The magazine?

He wanted the magazine to succeed.

- He wanted the magazine to succeed on its own before he was going to move on.

And when he did move on, he talked about running for governor of New York.

Sorry, Steve, not New Jersey.

- No, no, I know, but he had a relationship with the Cuomos, obviously.

Because there's a family connection between the Cuomos and the Kennedys.

Did that complicate things, RoseMarie?

- Yeah, I don't get the sense that it did.

I think that John, as I said, John was his own person.

And regardless of who else was in the mix, he was gonna do what he wanted to do, and what he believed in.

I think that John would've run for governor, and then eventually president.

I remember we were in the George office, and Al D'Amato was coming on.

- Senator Al D'Amato, a Republican?

- Senator Al D'Amato, a Republican was coming on.

John brought him on to write a column for the magazine, 'cause he wanted both points of view because George was nonpartisan.

And Senator D'Amato came up to talk to the staff.

And we were all sitting around a conference table and he was giving us sort of this state of play in New York.

And we were asking questions, and there was a mayoral race coming.

And Senator D'Amato kept pointing his pen at John on who should run for mayor.

And John was just laughing and we were all laughing.

And when we got back into John's office, we came downstairs and I said, I remember Senator D'Amato said if he ran for mayor, it wouldn't be an election, it would be a coronation.

And John laughed and put his head down.

And then we went downstairs, and I said, "Why wouldn't you run for mayor?"

And he said, "Well Rosie, how many mayors do you know that have become president?"

And I just, I was stunned.

- So wait a minute.

You're saying, in the spirit of Franklin Roosevelt, Governor of New York, and then President of the United States, going to four terms before presidents were term-limited to two terms.

He believed that becoming president, which clearly was a political goal of his, could be accomplished, he would have a better shot at accomplishing that if he were governor of New York?

- Yes.

And I think he wasn't so interested in running for the Senate.

And he explained, because the Senate was a lot of, as he put it, talk, talk, talking, and not getting enough done.

- Did he wanna be an executive?

Did he wanna be a chief?

Sorry for interrupting.

Did he wanna be a chief executive, a governor of New York to show that he could be a chief executive of a government?

- I think it wasn't only to show that he could be, but to learn how to be.

- Huh, wow.

Okay, so did he have a relationship with Donald Trump?

- They, at that time, Donald Trump moved in circles of New York society, and they would run into each other.

I know Donald Trump came up to the office once and gave us a talk about New York real estate.

And I know he was at a George party once.

And I think like everyone else back then, John thought he was funny and he was a character.

- But they did not have a substantive relationship?

- They were, I wouldn't say they were friends.

They were acquaintances and they knew each other.

And there was certainly no, but it wasn't the type of relationship where they would go out to dinner once a month or anything like that.

They didn't spend time together other than in, at parties or events, or social things.

- In the book, you talk about Mike Tyson and JFK Jr.

Talk about that relationship and what Tyson told - - I love Mike.

He was so lovely to us.

And his interview was so heartfelt that we were all crying.

He was crying, we were crying.

It was, I was crying.

- Why?

Why, RoseMarie, why?

- Because he had such an emotional connection to John that, and I think John, he felt that John gave him a hand up when no one else would.

And that's exactly what John's purpose was, like.... When I said, "Why are you going to visit him in prison?"

And he said, "Because nobody else will.

And I think he's had a tough time, and I think he's a good guy, and I think he's just had a rough life."

And it was, initially it was, he started the relationship with Mike initially, 'cause he wanted to interview him for George.

And eventually they became friendly, and John went to see him in prison.

And it was, I think it was, it was a, on John's part, I thought it was a really generous and amazing gesture.

But on Mike's part, he just saw John for who he was.

And he just loved the guy.

He just, he was just like, he was such a good man.

He was so earnest.

And he really loved him.

- RoseMarie, before I let you go, in the book, you talk about, got about minute and a half left.

When John met your parents?

- Yes.

- Why does that make you laugh?

- Because my parents came up, came into the city, and they showed up at like an hour and a half early, and they sat in the diner across the street, and they were very excited to meet him.

My father was a Reagan Republican, and I think my father was skeptical of this Kennedy Democrat, but, and they came up to the office, and I was saying to him all week, "You better be nice to my parents.

You better be really nice to my parents."

And they came up to the office, and I brought them over to meet John, and he ushered them into his office, and they all sat down.

And then he closed the door and left me outside.

And they spent about 40 minutes in there, and I was freaking out.

Like, what are they saying?

What is he saying?

- What did your parents come out and say?

- My father said, "I don't think our politics are as different as I thought walking in."

- He was charming.

- He was charming- - Without trying to be charming?

Without trying to be charming?

- Yeah, he wasn't trying to be charming.

He was charming because he was authentic.

- Last question.

JFK Jr.

should be remembered.

This is a part of our series, "Remember Them."

And he needs to be, should be remembered mostly because?

Finish that sentence, RoseMarie.

- Because he was a good man.

- And he was so much more than that.

And this book is so much more than that.

JFK Jr.

And RoseMarie Terenzio is a New York Times bestselling author.

She's the co-author of this book, "JFK Jr.

: An Intimate Oral Biography."

RoseMarie, I cannot thank you enough.

We wish you all the best.

And you come back anytime.

Thanks, RoseMarie.

- Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

- Our pleasure.

On behalf of my colleague Jacqui Tricarico and our team, at "Remember Them," and One-on-One.

Thank you so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by PSEG Foundation.

NJM Insurance Group.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Learn More at RWJBH.org.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

United Airlines.

Kean University.

And by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- (Soft music) - (Softly)Is that?

- Wow.

(Children laughing) - (Softly) It’s gonna be okay.