Kid by the Side of the Road

Kid by the Side of the Road is a 68 page booklet by Juan O’Sovin can be purchased for download from Gum Road – Kid by the Side of the Road

George magazine

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. is the Kid, often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., is an American lawyer, journalist, and magazine publisher. He was a son of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and still is the younger brother of Caroline Kennedy.

In 1995, Kennedy and Michael Berman founded George, a glossy, politics-as-lifestyle and fashion monthly, with Kennedy controlling 50 percent of the shares. 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.

Each issue of the magazine contained an editor’s column and interviews written by Kennedy, who believed they could make politics “accessible by covering it in an entertaining and compelling way” which would allow “popular interest and involvement” to follow. Kennedy did interviews with Louis Farrakhan, Billy Graham, Garth Brooks, and others.

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.”

In July 1997, Vanity Fair had published a profile of New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, claiming that the mayor was sleeping with his press secretary (which both parties denied). Although tempted to follow up on this story, Kennedy decided against it. The same month, Kennedy 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.”

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 had been accused of having an affair with his children’s underaged babysitter, while Joe had been accused by his ex-wife of having bullied her. John declared that both his cousins had become “poster boys for bad behavior” – believed to be the first time a member of the Kennedy family had publicly attacked another Kennedy. He said he was trying to show that press coverage of the pair was unfair, due to them being Kennedys. But Joe paraphrased John’s father by stating, “Ask not what you can do for your cousin, but what you can do for his magazine.”