Caroline Kennedy Bio
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (born November 27, 1957) is an American author, attorney, and diplomat whose career has spanned literature, law, education, and public service. The only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, she has carried forward one of the most recognizable names in United States political history while building a professional record of her own. Kennedy is a member of the Democratic Party.
She served as United States Ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017, becoming the first woman to hold that post, and later as United States Ambassador to Australia from 2022 to 2024. Beyond diplomacy, Kennedy has co-authored books on civil liberties, edited poetry collections, chaired nonprofit boards, and helped raise more than $65 million in private funds for the New York City public schools. She remains a prominent figure in American cultural and educational life.
Early Life and Background
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy was born on November 27, 1957, at New York Hospital to U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. She was named after her maternal aunt, Lee Radziwill, and her maternal great-great-grandmother, Caroline Ewing Bouvier. Kennedy had a younger brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., born in 1960, and a brother, Patrick, who died two days after his premature birth in 1963. The family lived in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., during her first three years.
When Kennedy was three, the family moved into the White House after her father was sworn in as President of the United States. She was often photographed riding her pony Macaroni on the White House grounds, a sight that later inspired Neil Diamond to write “Sweet Caroline.” On November 22, 1963, when she was five years old, her father was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Two weeks later, Jacqueline, Caroline, and John Jr. moved out of the White House and eventually settled in a penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Kennedy attended the Brearley School and the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan before graduating in 1975 from Concord Academy in Massachusetts. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in fine arts from Radcliffe College in 1980. During college she considered becoming a photojournalist but concluded that the public attention on her own life made the work impractical. In 1988 she received a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, graduating in the top 10 percent of her class, and passed the New York State bar exam the following year.
Path to Politics
Although trained as a lawyer, Kennedy first built her public profile in philanthropy, publishing, and education. With Ellen Alderman, she co-wrote “In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights In Action,” published in 1991. She and other family members created the Profile in Courage Award in 1989, honoring public officials who show political courage in the spirit of her father’s book.
From 2002 through 2004, Kennedy served as director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships for the New York City Department of Education under Chancellor Joel Klein, a three-day-a-week role in which she helped raise more than $65 million in private funds for New York City public schools. She also supported Al Gore’s 2000 presidential bid and spoke at the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, the first Kennedy to address a Democratic convention since her father’s nomination in 1960.
Her formal entry into campaign politics came in January 2008, when she endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination in a widely read New York Times op-ed titled “A President Like My Father.” With her uncle Senator Ted Kennedy, she stumped for Obama in Florida, Indiana, and Ohio, co-chaired his Vice Presidential Search Committee, and addressed the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. She later served as one of 35 national co-chairs of Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.
Caroline Kennedy Career
Senate Pursuit and Ambassador to Japan (2008–2017)
After Hillary Clinton was chosen as Secretary of State in late 2008, Kennedy expressed interest in being appointed to Clinton’s vacant U.S. Senate seat from New York. Her bid drew both support from figures such as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Mayor Ed Koch and criticism for limited public statements on policy and a sparse voting record. On January 22, 2009, she withdrew from consideration for personal reasons, and Governor David Paterson named Representative Kirsten Gillibrand to the seat.
Kennedy returned to public service on July 24, 2013, when President Obama nominated her to be United States Ambassador to Japan. Confirmed by the Senate on October 16, 2013, by voice vote, she was sworn in by Secretary of State John Kerry on November 12 and presented her credentials to Emperor Akihito on November 19, becoming the first woman to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Japan. During her tenure she visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, joined the 70th-anniversary commemoration of the Hiroshima bombing, and pledged to reduce the burden of the U.S. military presence on Okinawa.
On August 15, 2015, Kennedy was named sponsor of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), which she later christened on December 7, 2019. She resigned as ambassador shortly before Donald Trump’s inauguration and formally left Japan on January 18, 2017. In 2021, the Government of Japan awarded her the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in recognition of her service.
Ambassador to Australia (2022–2024)
On December 15, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Kennedy to be United States Ambassador to Australia. After hearings in April 2022, the Senate confirmed her on May 5, 2022, by voice vote, and she was sworn in on June 10, 2022. She presented her credentials to Governor-General David Hurley on July 25, 2022, and used her platform to advocate for the AUKUS submarine agreement before Congress.
In 2023, Kennedy traveled to Solomon Islands with her son Jack to commemorate a wartime swim her father had made in 1943 after his patrol torpedo boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. She also publicly suggested that a plea deal could help resolve the extradition case of Australian journalist Julian Assange. In September 2024, Kennedy announced she would leave the ambassadorial post after the presidential election regardless of the outcome.
Notable Events and Milestones
Kennedy’s career is marked by several signature moments: the 2008 endorsement of Barack Obama, the 2013 confirmation that made her the first female U.S. Ambassador to Japan, her participation in the 70th-anniversary ceremony in Hiroshima, and her role in advocating for the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal. In January 2025, she publicly opposed her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services, calling his views on vaccines “predatory” and “hypocritical” in a letter and video to U.S. senators.
Caroline Kennedy Family
Family Background and Political Lineage
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is the daughter of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and a member of the broader Kennedy family that has shaped American political life for generations. She is a niece of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy, both of whom remained influential in her life. Her brother, John F. Kennedy Jr., died in a plane crash in 1999, after which she became the only surviving member of President Kennedy’s immediate family.
Personal Life
While working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kennedy met exhibit designer Edwin Schlossberg. The couple married in 1986 at Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville, Massachusetts, with her cousin Maria Shriver as matron of honor and Senator Ted Kennedy walking her down the aisle. She did not change her surname after marrying. Together they have three children: Rose Kennedy Schlossberg (born 1988), Tatiana Celia Kennedy Schlossberg (1990–2025), and John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg, known as Jack (born 1993). Kennedy owns Red Gate Farm, the 375-acre family estate in Aquinnah, Massachusetts, on Martha’s Vineyard, and resides in New York City.