July 23, 1999
Web posted at: 12:44 p.m. EDT (1644 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 23) -- President Bill Clinton, his wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea attended Friday the memorial Mass in New York City for John F. Kennedy Jr., and his wife Carolyn.

The invitation-only service for Kennedy, killed with his wife and her sister Lauren Bessette in a plane crash a week ago, started close to 11 a.m. and concluded around 12:30 ET.

Also boarding Air Force One with the first family -- bound to New York's John F. Kennedy airport -- were Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo and his wife, Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, and Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Kennedy Cuomo and Kennedy Townsend are both daughters of the late Robert F. Kennedy.

Also accompanying the president were Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota), Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut), White House Chief of Staff John Podesta and Clinton lawyer Nicole Seligman.

As a gift to the families, Clinton brought with him three copies of an album of photographs from a White House tour the Kennedy couple took in March 1998. Clinton also ordered flags over the White House residence flown at half-staff Friday.

Aides said the album was a collection of official White House photographs. Clinton gave the couple a White House tour when they were there for an event marking the release of an HBO program about the space program.

A senior official said that the albums will be given to JFK Jr.'s uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy, and sister, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, and to the family of the Bessette sisters.

Several of the photographs have been released to the public: these include a snapshot of Kennedy gazing up at a portrait of his late father; a similar picture of Kennedy, his wife and the president looking at the photo; a shot of the three in the White House Blue Room, and a photo of the three engaged in conversation in the president's private study in the residence wing of the White House compound.

At a press conference Wednesday the president wistfully remembered the visit, describing how Kennedy toured the residence of the White House for the first time since he lived there as a toddler before his father's assassination in 1963.

CNN's John King contributed to this report.

Friday, July 23, 1999

• Clintons, Kennedy family fly to New York for JFK Jr. Mass
• Senate to tackle tax cut debate
• House committee approves emergency status for census spending
• Senate passes hate crime measure; Clinton urges House to do the same
• GOP tax-cut proposal has an air of political theater
• Conviction of Tyson executive reinstated
• Quayle says he's top candidate on Leno joke list
• With Ventura as their star, Reform Party gathers to chart its future
• Judge criticizes grand jury for accusation against San Diego mayor

• New Hampshire state GOP cancels straw poll
• Gore points to rivers as environment-economic link

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