Politically involved Iowa State students speculated Monday the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. would be remembered as just another sad tale in the long line of tragedies in the Kennedy family.

Matt Craft, Government of the Student Body president and senior in political science, said the crash of Kennedy’s plane off the coast of Massachusetts came as a surprise but was not necessarily a shock.

“It came as a surprise to me at least,” he said. “So many bad things happening to the same family seems really tragic. But thinking back to the other family members who’ve died early deaths, I guess it isn’t that shocking.”

Stacy Walshire, senior in political science and president of the ISU Democrats, agreed that the Kennedy family can’t seem to shake tragedy from following them.

“Everything that surrounds the Kennedy family seems to be tragic, which is sad because of their involvement in our nation’s politics,” she said. “And it was especially shocking because he was at the height of his career.”

Walshire said she thinks part of the mystique surrounding the Kennedys and John F. Kennedy Jr. in particular had to do with the public’s perception of the American dream.

“It’s just part of the Camelot myth,” she said. “He was the little boy saluting his father. He was the ideal that people looked up to.

“Every man wanted to be John John and every girl wanted to marry him. He was the ultimate all-American. It was really sad that they never had a chance to have a family,” Walshire said.

Craft agreed, comparing the Kennedy legacy to a current political family, the Bush lineage.

“I think we follow the Kennedy family for the same reason we follow the Bush family,” he said.

“It just seems like everything’s going for them. We all want to be them,” Craft said.

Craft said despite JFK Jr.’s early demise, he felt the Kennedy legacy would increase.

“It will probably help it out and make them even more famous,” he said.

“It will make people think, ‘What could have he done?’ Unfulfilled potential seems to be part of the Kennedy legacy.”

Walshire agreed with the notion that the family’s legacy would only rise in stature.

“Maybe someday he would have entered politics too, and who knows what he could have done,” she said. “That will always be on people’s minds.”

Walshire went so far as to even conjecture what caused the excessive personal losses suffered by the Kennedys.

“Some would say it’s a curse against their family,” she said. “I don’t believe in witchcraft or anything, but you have to link this to something, and that something is out of this world. It amazes me.

“I guess you’re just more apt to die when you’re a Kennedy,” Walshire said.