--- title: JFK Jr Home Movies: See Exclusive Clip From New Documentary description: This clip from the new film 'I Am JFK Jr.' explores the life of a young boy in the White House canonical: https://time.com/4431624/exclusive-clip-jfk-jr/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-01T17:15:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:40:15.129Z article:section: History og:title: JFK Jr Home Movies: See Exclusive Clip From New Documentary og:description: This clip from the new film 'I Am JFK Jr.' explores the life of a young boy in the White House og:url: https://time.com/4431624/exclusive-clip-jfk-jr/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt617b4f879b5f73cb/6988a075196cf4c1a403caa8/jfk-jr.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: JFK Jr. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: JFK Jr Home Movies: See Exclusive Clip From New Documentary twitter:description: This clip from the new film 'I Am JFK Jr.' explores the life of a young boy in the White House twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt617b4f879b5f73cb/6988a075196cf4c1a403caa8/jfk-jr.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Exclusive Clip: Inside JFK Jr.'s White House World  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 1, 2016 5:15 PM UTC  John Kennedy Jr. playing in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington, D.C., Oct. 15, 1963 John Kennedy Jr. playing in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington, D.C., Oct. 15, 1963  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 1, 2016 5:15 PM UTC John F. Kennedy Jr. was [born](http://time.com/vault/issue/1960-12-05/page/13/) before after his father’s election as president but before the inauguration, which meant he was in the spotlight from day one—and only had to wait a few weeks to move into the White House. By age 2, TIME was [noting](http://time.com/vault/issue/1963-04-26/page/37/) that “he has met more heads of state than most people can name.” When he got a [haircut](http://time.com/vault/issue/1963-08-09/page/37/), it was national news. And, in 1963, tragedy ensured that JFK Jr. would forever be a subject of fascination for the American public: One TIME reader [suggested](http://time.com/vault/issue/1963-12-13/page/21/) that December, in the wake of the assassination of the elder Kennedy, that “three-year-old John–John saluting the coffin bearing his father’s body” should be featured on that year’s Man of the Year cover. The new documentary [_I Am JFK Jr._ ](http://www.spike.com/shows/i-am)uses interviews with Kennedy’s close friends and vintage film footage to tell a new version of the story of Kennedy’s life, work and fame. And, as posited by the experts in this exclusive clip from the film, that fame was not perceived in the same way by two of the people who were most responsible for it: his parents. To his mother, Jackie Kennedy, the little boy and his sister were to be protected from the spotlight, which she knew could warp a child’s life. To his father, however, that spotlight was to be enjoyed. The children were one more facet of the life of a president whose youth had captured the nation’s hearts, and they were much beloved by the media and the public. Their [antics](http://time.com/vault/issue/1963-11-22/page/45/) were, as TIME phrased it in 1963, “hilarious” to their father. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) But, suggests _All the Presidents’ Children_ author Doug Wead, the famous photographs of JFK Jr. playing in the Oval Office could only have been possible if Mrs. Kennedy didn’t know what was going on at that moment.[ _I Am JFK Jr._](https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/i-am-jfk-jr./id1130762662) premieres on Spike TV on Monday night. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4431624/exclusive-clip-jfk-jr/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4431624/exclusive-clip-jfk-jr/"},"headline":"Exclusive Clip: Inside JFK Jr.'s White House World","datePublished":"2016-08-01T17:15:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:40:15.129Z","description":"This clip from the new film 'I Am JFK Jr.' explores the life of a young boy in the White House","url":"https://time.com/4431624/exclusive-clip-jfk-jr/","keywords":["movies","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt617b4f879b5f73cb/6988a075196cf4c1a403caa8/jfk-jr.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt617b4f879b5f73cb/6988a075196cf4c1a403caa8/jfk-jr.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"JFK Jr.","caption":"John Kennedy Jr. playing in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington, D.C., Oct. 15, 1963","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4431624/exclusive-clip-jfk-jr/","name":"Exclusive Clip: Inside JFK Jr.'s White House World"}}]}] ```