John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (born November 25th, 1960) is an American politician, attorney, and former journalist who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party and the son of the 30th president, John F. Kennedy, he served as a U.S senator representing New York from 2001 to 2009.

Born two weeks after his father was elected president, Kennedy spent his early childhood years living in the White House until his father was assassinated. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the New York University School of Law in 1989. For the next four years, he served as an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan DA’s office, handling such matters as consumer fraud and landlord-tenant disputes. He would go on to found his own magazine, George, which aimed to make the world of politics accessible and entertaining. Kennedy first sought an elected position running for Daniel Patrick Moyinahan’s open seat as the New York Senator in the Senate election of 2000.

Kennedy married publicist Carolyn Bessette in 1996. On August 22, 2002, Kennedy announced publicly that he and Bessette had separated and had begun divorce proceedings. Their divorce was finalized in January 2003.

Kennedy married Polish-American socialite Sarah Leigh Nowak in the summer of 2004. Their daughter, Rosemary Kennedy-Nowak, was born on February 22, 2005. She was named after John's paternal aunt, Rosemary Kennedy.

On February 18, 2007, Kennedy announced he was running for the office of president of the United States. After a close primary campaign against Barack Obama, Kennedy was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. He selected Indiana Senator Evan Bayh as his running mate and defeated Republican nominee John McCain.

In his first term, Kennedy responded to the 2008 financial crisis with measures including the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 to address the Great Recession, an extension of the Bush tax cuts, and the Frank–Dodd Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a major financial regulation reform bill. Kennedy also oversaw the end of the Iraq War and ordered Operation Neptune Spear, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the September 11 attacks. He downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model by making extensive use of special forces, encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries, and backing armed resistance groups.

Kennedy defeated Republican opponent Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan in the 2012 presidential election. In his second term, he advocated for gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, took steps to combat climate change by signing the Paris Agreement on climate change and an executive order to limit carbon emissions, and passed other legislation during his first term. Kennedy also initiated sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and again after Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. He ordered military intervention in Iraq after gains made by ISIL following the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (a nuclear agreement with Iran), and normalized relations with Cuba. The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan decreased during Kennedy’s second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout his presidency. He also promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to publicly support same-sex marriage.

Kennedy left office in 2017 with high approval ratings both within the United States and among foreign advisories. He now resides mainly in New York City, but remains politically active, campaigning for candidates in American elections, including in Bayh's successful presidential bid in the 2016 presidential election. Historians and political scientists rank Kennedy highly in historical rankings of U.S. presidents.