Caroline Kennedy

A Childhood Defined by History

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy was born on November 27, 1957, in New York City, the first surviving child of John and Jacqueline Kennedy. She became one of the most photographed children in American history during her father's presidency, when the White House press corps captured images of her playing in the Oval Office, riding her pony Macaroni on the lawn, and navigating a childhood lived entirely in public.

She was five years old when her father was assassinated. The image of her and her brother John saluting the president's coffin has been seen by billions of people worldwide. Her mother's principal concern in the years after Dallas was protecting Caroline and John from the relentless public interest in them, a task Jackie pursued with determined seriousness.

Education and Private Life

Kennedy attended the Concord Academy in Massachusetts before enrolling at Radcliffe College, the women's coordinate college at Harvard, where she graduated in 1979. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's film and television department after graduation, a relatively low-profile position that reflected her preference for life outside the spotlight. She earned her law degree from Columbia Law School in 1988 but worked primarily as an author and public advocate rather than as a practicing attorney.

Author and Advocate

Kennedy married Edwin Schlossberg, an artist and designer, in 1986, and the couple had three children: Rose, Tatiana, and Jack. She pursued a career as an author and public intellectual, co-writing several books including The Right to Privacy (1995), The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (edited), and A Patriot's Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories, and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love. Her most substantive publication was In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action (1990), co-written with Ellen Alderman, which used real cases to explain constitutional rights to general readers.

She was a prominent fundraiser for Democratic candidates and causes, and in December 2008 she publicly expressed interest in being appointed to fill the New York Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton, who had been nominated as Secretary of State. After weeks of speculation she withdrew her name from consideration, citing family reasons.

Ambassador to Japan and Australia

President Obama appointed Caroline Kennedy as U.S. Ambassador to Japan in 2013, making her the first woman to hold that post. Her tenure from 2013 to 2017 coincided with some of the most sensitive moments in the U.S.-Japan relationship, including the visit of President Obama to Hiroshima in 2016 — the first by a sitting U.S. president — which Kennedy helped facilitate and which she described as one of the most moving experiences of her diplomatic career.

President Biden appointed her U.S. Ambassador to Australia in 2022, another posting of considerable strategic importance as U.S. attention in the Pacific has sharpened amid concerns about China. She presented her credentials in Canberra in July 2023.

What is Caroline Kennedy doing now?

Caroline Kennedy is currently serving as U.S. Ambassador to Australia, a position to which she was appointed by President Biden in 2022. She presented her credentials in Canberra in 2023. She previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017 under President Obama.

Did Caroline Kennedy run for Senate?

Caroline Kennedy did not run for Senate, but in December 2008 she expressed interest in being appointed to fill Hillary Clinton's New York Senate seat. After weeks of public speculation and lobbying, she withdrew her name from consideration in January 2009, citing unspecified personal reasons. Governor David Paterson ultimately appointed Kirsten Gillibrand to the seat.

How is Caroline Kennedy related to JFK?

Caroline Kennedy is the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. She is JFK's only surviving child — her brother John F. Kennedy Jr. died in a 1999 plane crash, and two siblings died in infancy (Arabella Kennedy, stillborn in 1956, and Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, who died two days after birth in 1963).