biography of the kennedy family

A Guide to the Kennedy Family Tree

When JFK was assassinated 60 years ago, he was survived by his wife and children—along with his parents, maternal grandparents, six siblings, and many other relatives.

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Today marks 60 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.

On that fateful day in Dallas, Texas, President Kennedy was shot as he rode in a motorcade alongside Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie Connally. He was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, but there was nothing to be done; he pronounced dead just 30 minutes later. Governor Connally was shot in the back, but recovered from his injuries.

Here, Town & Country presents a guide to John F. Kennedy's family tree, descendants, and as many relatives as we could write about:

JFK's parents: Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

Both of JFK's parents, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888 - 1969) and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (1890 - 1995) outlived their son JFK. They married in October 1914, and had nine children: Joseph Jr., John, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia in 1924, Jean, and Edward. ( More details on all, except Joseph Jr., JFK, and Kathleen, below.)

Joseph was the son of Mary Hickey (1857 - 1923) and P. J. Kennedy (1858 - 1929), an influential figure in the Bostonian Irish community and a Massachusetts politician. He was an investor, involved in the nascent Hollywood industry, was the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and served as the US ambassador to the UK in the lead-up to World War II. He died in 1969 at age 81, outliving four of his eight children.

Rose was the daughter of Boston mayor John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (1863 - 1950) and Mary Josephine Hannon (1865 - 1964). (JFK's maternal grandparents also outlived their grandson.) She was involved in the political careers of her family members, and published an autobiography in 1974, Times to Remember . At her son JFK's funeral, she told Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie and said: "It's wrong for parents to bury their children. It should be the other way around." Rose died in 1995 at age 104.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

1929 - 1994.

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born on July 28, 1929 to John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier III (1891 - 1957) and Janet Norton Lee (1907 - 1989). She studied at Vassar College and George Washington University, and after graduation in 1951, stayed in D.C., where she worked as a photographer . In 1952, she met John Kennedy at a dinner party— they married in September 1 953 in Newport, Rhode Island. Jackie and JFK had four children, two of whom who died as infants: Arabella , born stillborn in 1956, Caroline , born 1957, John Jr. , born 1960, and Patrick , who died two days after his premature birth in 1963. (Read more on Caroline and John Jr. below . )

During her husband's tenure as president, she was an influential First Lady— she was a style icon , she renovated the White House , promoted the arts, and so much more. She was with her husband in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and he was killed as she rode next to him the motorcade, making her a widow at age 34. She soon planned his funeral, and as the Kennedy Library notes , "as it was broadcast around the world, millions of people shared her grief and admired her courage and dignity."

A week after his death, she was interviewed by Life magazine, comparing the Kennedy administration to the mythical Camelot. "At night, before we'd go to sleep, Jack liked to play some records; and the song he loved the most came at the very end of this record. The lines he loved to hear were: Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief, shining moment that was known as Camelot ," she said . "There'll be great presidents again ... but there will never be another Camelot again."

Jackie would go on to remarry, in 1968, to Aristotle Onassis . When he died in 1975, she became a widow again. As her children were older, Jackie went on to have a second career as a book editor, and she spent her final years with Maurice Tempelsman . She died in 1994 at age 64.

JFK's daughter: Caroline Kennedy

Caroline Kennedy , the only member of JFK's immediate family who is still alive today, was born on November 27, 1957. She was nearly six when her father was assassinated, and then her mother moved her and her brother to Manhattan for school. She attended Harvard University for undergrad, and earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School. In 1986, she married designer and artist Edwin Schlossberg (b. 1945); she did not change her name upon their marriage.

Caroline currently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Australia . "My family legacy is something I’m really proud of, and I try to live up to and and I think the fact that it means something to people around the world makes me really proud and want to be worthy of it and do what I can to continue the values that my father would like," she said. She previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan under President Obama.

Caroline and Edwin have three children: Rose Schlossberg (b. 1988), Taitana Schlossberg (b. 1990), and Jack Schlossberg (b. 1993). Last year, Rose married restaurateur Rory McAuliffe , and in 2017, Tatiana married George Moran , who is now a doctor. Tatiana and George have one child, Edwin Garrett Moran (b. 2022) making Caroline a grandmother .

JFK's son: John Kennedy Jr.

1960 - 1999.

John Kennedy Jr. was born on November 25, 1960, two weeks after his dad was elected president. He spent the first three years of his life in the White House; his third birthday coincided with his father's funeral, where John Jr. famously saluted his father's casket. He largely grew up in Manhattan, then attended Brown University and law school at NYU. He worked in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, and co-founded George magazine. He married Carolyn Bessette (1966 - 1999) in September 1996. In 1998, he received his pilot's license.

John Jr. tragically died in 1999 in a plane crash with his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy , and her sister, Lauren Bessette.

Rosemary Kennedy

1918 - 2005.

Rosemary Kennedy, born Rose Marie Kennedy , was Joseph and Rose's oldest daughter. She had learning disabilities, and at age 22, her father decided she should have a lobotomy. The horrific procedure left her permanently disabled, unable to walk or talk. As Lyz Lenz wrote , " Rosemary Kennedy's legacy is not a story of tragedy—it's a story of quiet power that would eventually change the quality of life for disabled and mentally ill people across the country." She died in 2005 at age 86.

Read more here:

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

1921 - 2009.

Eunice has one of the more interesting branches of the Kennedy family tree, as it's how Arnold Schwarzenegger is related to JFK. Here is part of it:

Eunice, born Eunice Mary Kennedy on July 10, 1921, was Joseph and Rose's fifth child. She's best known for her philanthropic work, specifically founding the Special Olympics. In 1953, she married Robert Sargent Shriver (1915 - 2011), an American diplomat and politician. Shriver helped create the Peace Crops, and was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in 1972.

Eunice and Sargent had five children: Robert Sargent Shriver III (b. 1954), Maria Owings Shriver (b. 1955), Timothy Perry Shriver (b. 1959), Mark Kennedy Shriver (b. 1964), and Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver (b. 1965). They have 19 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.

The big Hollywood connection between the Kennedy family is here, in Eunice's branch of family tree: Maria married Arnold Schwarzenegger (b. 1947) in 1986 (they divorced in 2021) and they have four children: Katherine Schwarzenegger (b. 1989), Christina Schwarzenegger (b. 1991), Patrick Schwarzenegger (b. 1993) and Christopher Schwarzenegger ( b. 1997). In 2019, Katherine married actor Chris Pratt (b. 1979), and they have two daughters, Lyla Pratt (b. 2020) and Eloise Pratt (b. 2022).

Eunice died in 2009 at age 88.

Patricia Kennedy

1924 - 2006.

Patricia , the sixth of Rose and Joseph's children, was born on May 6, 1924. She married British actor Peter Lawford (1923 - 1984), who became a member of the "Rat Pack," and they had four children: Christopher Lawford (1955 - 2018), Sydney Lawford (b. 1956), Victoria Lawford (b. 1958) and Robin Lawford (b. 1961), and numerous grandchildren. Patricia and Peter separated in 1963, shortly after JFK's death, and officially divorced in 1966. Patricia died in 2006 of pneumonia.

Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy

1925 - 1968.

Robert Kennedy , also known as RFK, born November 20, 1925, had a similarly tragic end to his brother. He served in the Navy, and then graduated from Harvard University.

In 1950, he married Ethel Skakel (b. 1928), and they had 11 children: Kathleen Kennedy (b. 1951), Joseph P. Kennedy II (b. 1952), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (b. 1954), David Kennedy (1955 - 1984), Mary Kennedy (b. 1956), Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (1958 - 1997), Mary Kerry Kennedy (b. 1959), Christopher Kennedy (b. 1963), Matthew "Max" Kennedy (b. 1965), Douglas Kennedy (b. 1967), and Rory Kennedy (b. 1968). Rory was born six months after her father's assassination.

Bobby managed his older brother John's campaign for the Senate, then his campaign for president. After JFK was elected, he was appointed Attorney General. After his brother was killed, he resigned, and in 1964, was elected Senator from New York. In 1968, he decided to run for president, and after winning the Democratic primary in California on June 5, 1968, he was shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He was just 42 years old.

Bobby and Ethel have 33 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. (This is perhaps the most complicated family tree of all of JFK's siblings, because of all the children.) Ethel Kennedy is still alive; she turned 95 earlier this year.

Jean Kennedy Smith

1928 - 2020.

The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy

The eighth of the nine children of Joseph and Rose, Jean Ann Kennedy was born on February 20, 1928, the 8th birthday of her older sister, Kathleen. In 1956, she married Stephen Edward Smith (1927 - 1990), they had four children—two biological sons and two adopted daughters: Stephen Edward Smith, Jr. (b. 1957), William Kennedy Smith (b. 1960), Amanda Mary Smith (b. 1967), and Kym Maria Smith (b. 1972).

Jean was involved in her older brother JFK's political campaigns, and founded Very Special Arts in 1974, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting those with disabilities. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Jean the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, where she worked on the peace process and the historic Good Friday Agreement.

She was JFK's last surviving sibling, and wrote a memoir, The Nine of Us . "I hope that people who read this book better understand who my parents, brothers and sisters truly were," she told T&C in 2016 . "They were real people who loved each other and loved this country. They kidded each other, played together, learned hard lessons, and tried to make the most out of every day." Jean died in 2020 at the age of 92 .

Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy

1923 - 2009.

True Compass: A Memoir

The youngest Kennedy sibling, Edward "Ted" Kennedy was born on February 22, 1932. A lawyer and politician, he was elected to the Senate in 1962 when he was just 30 years old, and continued serving until his death in 2009. (He is the fifth longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate in American history.)

In 1958, he married Joan Bennett (b. 1936), and they had three children: Kara Kennedy (1960 - 2011), Ted Kennedy Jr. (b. 1961) and Patrick J. Kennedy II (b. 1967). They divorced in 1982. In 1992, he married divorcee Victoria Anne Reggie (b. 1954), who had two children from a previous marriage, Curran Raclin (b. 1982) and Caroline Raclin (b. 1985).

He died in 2009 of a brain tumor; Ted was 77 years old.

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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Life of john f. kennedy, growing up in the kennedy family.

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was a very disciplined and organized woman, made the following entry on a notecard, when her second child was born:

John Fitzgerald Kennedy  Born Brookline, Mass. (83 Beals Street) May 29, 1917 

In all, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy would have nine children, four boys and five girls. She kept notecards for each of them in a small wooden file box and made a point of writing down everything from a doctor’s visit to the shoe size they had at a particular age. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was named in honor of Rose’s father, John Francis Fitzgerald, the Boston Mayor popularly known as Honey Fitz. Before long, family and friends called this small blue-eyed baby, Jack. Jack was not a very healthy baby, and Rose recorded on his notecard the childhood diseases from which he suffered, such as: "whooping cough, measles, chicken pox."

On February 20, 1920 when Jack was not yet three years old, he became sick with scarlet fever, a highly contagious and then potentially life-threatening disease. His father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, was terrified that little Jack would die. Mr. Kennedy went to the hospital every day to be by his son’s side, and about a month later Jack took a turn for the better and recovered. But Jack was never very healthy, and because he was always suffering from one ailment or another his family used to joke about the great risk a mosquito took in biting him – with some of his blood the mosquito was almost sure to die! 

When Jack was three, the Kennedys moved to a new home a few blocks away from their old house in Brookline, a neighborhood just outside of Boston. It was a lovely house with twelve rooms, turreted windows, and a big porch. Full of energy and ambition, Jack’s father worked very hard at becoming a successful businessman. When he was a student at Harvard College and having a difficult time fitting in as an Irish Catholic, he swore to himself he would make a million dollars by the age of 35. There was a lot of prejudice against Irish Catholics in Boston at that time, but Joseph Kennedy was determined to succeed. Jack’s great-grandparents had come from Ireland and managed to provide for their families, despite many hardships. Jack’s grandfathers did even better for themselves, both becoming prominent Boston politicians. Jack, because of all his family had done, could enjoy a very comfortable life. The Kennedys had everything they needed and more.  By the time Jack was eight there were seven children altogether. Jack had an older brother, Joe; four sisters, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, and Patricia; and a younger brother, Robert. Jean and Teddy hadn’t been born yet. Nannies and housekeepers helped Rose run the household. 

At the end of the school year, the Kennedy children would go to their summer home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod where they enjoyed swimming, sailing, and playing touch football. The Kennedy children played hard, and they enjoyed competing with one another. Joseph Sr. encouraged this competition, especially among the boys.

He was a father with very high expectations and wanted the boys to win at sports and everything they tried. As he often said, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." But sometimes these competitions went too far. One time when Joe suggested that he and Jack race on their bicycles, they collided head-on. Joe emerged unscathed while Jack had to have twenty-eight stitches. Because Joe was two years older and stronger than Jack, whenever they fought, Jack would usually get the worst of it. Jack was the only sibling who posed any real threat to Joe’s dominant position as the oldest child.

Jack was very popular and had many friends at Choate, a boarding school for adolescent boys in Connecticut. He played tennis, basketball, football, and golf and also enjoyed reading. His friend Lem Billings remembers how unusual it was that Jack had a daily subscription to the  New York Times . Jack had a "clever, individualist mind," his Head Master once noted, though he was not the best student. He did not always work as hard as he could, except in history and English, which were his favorite subjects.

"Now Jack," his father wrote in a letter one day, "I don’t want to give the impression that I am a nagger, for goodness knows I think that is the worse thing any parent can be, and I also feel that you know if I didn’t really feel you had the goods I would be most charitable in my attitude toward your failings. After long experience in sizing up people I definitely know you have the goods and you can go a long way…It is very difficult to make up fundamentals that you have neglected when you were very young, and that is why I am urging you to do the best you can. I am not expecting too much, and I will not be disappointed if you don’t turn out to be a real genius, but I think you can be a really worthwhile citizen with good judgment and understanding." 

Jack graduated from Choate and entered Harvard in 1936, where Joe was already a student. Like his brother Joe, Jack played football. He was not as good an athlete as Joe but he had a lot of determination and perseverance. Unfortunately, one day while playing he ruptured a disk in his spine. Jack never really recovered from this accident and his back continued to bother him for the rest of his life.  The two eldest boys were attractive, agreeable, and intelligent young men and Mr. Kennedy had high hopes for them both. However, it was Joe who had announced to everyone when he was a young boy that he would be the first Catholic to become President. No one doubted him for a moment. Jack, on the other hand, seemed somewhat less ambitious. He was active in student groups and sports and he worked hard in his history and government classes, though his grades remained only average.

Late in 1937, Mr. Kennedy was appointed United States Ambassador to England and moved there with his whole family, with the exception of Joe and Jack who were at Harvard. Because of his father’s job, Jack became very interested in European politics and world affairs. After a summer visit to England and other countries in Europe, Jack returned to Harvard more eager to learn about history and government and to keep up with current events.  Joe and Jack frequently received letters from their father in England, who informed them of the latest news regarding the conflicts and tensions that everyone feared would soon blow up into a full-scale war. Adolph Hitler ruled Germany and Benito Mussolini ruled Italy. They both had strong armies and wanted to take land from other countries. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. 

By this time, Jack was a senior at Harvard and decided to write his thesis on why Great Britain was unprepared for war with Germany. It was later published as a book called Why England Slept. In June 1940, Jack graduated from Harvard. His father sent him a cablegram from London: "TWO THINGS I ALWAYS KNEW ABOUT YOU ONE THAT YOU ARE SMART TWO THAT YOU ARE A SWELL GUY LOVE DAD."

World War II and a Future in Politics

Soon after graduating, both Joe and Jack joined the Navy. Joe was a flyer and sent to Europe, while Jack was made Lieutenant (Lt.) and assigned to the South Pacific as commander of a patrol torpedo boat, the PT-109. 

Lt. Kennedy had a crew of twelve men whose mission was to stop Japanese ships from delivering supplies to their soldiers. On the night of August 2, 1943, Lt. Kennedy’s crew patrolled the waters looking for enemy ships to sink. A Japanese destroyer suddenly became visible. But it was traveling at full speed and headed straight at them. Holding the wheel, Lt. Kennedy tried to swerve out of the way, but to no avail. The much larger Japanese warship rammed the PT-109, splitting it in half and killing two of Lt. Kennedy’s men. The others managed to jump off as their boat went up in flames. Lt. Kennedy was slammed hard against the cockpit, once again injuring his weak back. Patrick McMahon, one of his crew members, had horrible burns on his face and hands and was ready to give up. In the darkness, Lt. Kennedy managed to find McMahon and haul him back to where the other survivors were clinging to a piece of the boat that was still afloat. At sunrise, Lt. Kennedy led his men toward a small island several miles away. Despite his own injuries, Lt. Kennedy was able to tow Patrick McMahon ashore, a strap from McMahon’s life jacket clenched between his teeth. Six days later two native islanders found them and went for help, delivering a message Jack had carved into a piece of coconut shell. The next day, the PT-109 crew was rescued. Jack’s brother Joe was not so lucky. He died a year later when his plane blew up during a dangerous mission in Europe. 

When he returned home, Jack was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his leadership and courage. With the war finally coming to an end, it was time to choose the kind of work he wanted to do. Jack had considered becoming a teacher or a writer, but with Joe’s tragic death suddenly everything changed. After serious discussions with Jack about his future, Joseph Kennedy convinced him that he should run for Congress in Massachusetts' eleventh congressional district, where he won in 1946. This was the beginning of Jack’s political career. As the years went on, John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, served three terms (six years) in the House of Representatives, and in 1952 he was elected to the US Senate. 

Soon after being elected senator, John F. Kennedy, at 36 years of age, married 24 year-old Jacqueline Bouvier, a writer with the  Washington Times-Herald . Unfortunately, early on in their marriage, Senator Kennedy’s back started to hurt again and he had two serious operations. While recovering from surgery, he wrote a book about several US Senators who had risked their careers to fight for the things in which they believed. The book, called  Profiles in Courage , was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957. That same year, the Kennedys’ first child, Caroline, was born. 

John F. Kennedy was becoming a popular politician. In 1956 he was almost picked to run for vice president. Kennedy nonetheless decided that he would run for president in the next election.

He began working very long hours and traveling all around the United States on weekends. On July 13, 1960 the Democratic party nominated him as its candidate for president. Kennedy asked Lyndon B. Johnson, a senator from Texas, to run with him as vice president. In the general election on November 8, 1960, Kennedy defeated the Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon in a very close race. At the age of 43, Kennedy was the youngest man elected president and the first Catholic. Before his inauguration, his second child, John Jr., was born. His father liked to call him John-John.

John F. Kennedy Becomes The 35th President of the United States

John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural speech he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," he said. He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." President Kennedy, together with his wife and two children, brought a new, youthful spirit to the White House. The Kennedys believed that the White House should be a place to celebrate American history, culture, and achievement. They invited artists, writers, scientists, poets, musicians, actors, and athletes to visit them. Jacqueline Kennedy also shared her husband's interest in American history. Gathering some of the finest art and furniture the United States had produced, she restored all the rooms in the White House to make it a place that truly reflected America’s history and artistic creativity. Everyone was impressed and appreciated her hard work.  The White House also seemed like a fun place because of the Kennedys’ two young children, Caroline and John-John. There was a pre-school, a swimming pool, and a tree-house outside on the White House lawn. President Kennedy was probably the busiest man in the country, but he still found time to laugh and play with his children.  However, the president also had many worries. One of the things he worried about most was the possibility of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. He knew that if there was a war, millions of people would die. Since World War II, there had been a lot of anger and suspicion between the two countries but never any shooting between Soviet and American troops. This 'Cold War', which was unlike any other war the world had seen, was really a struggle between the Soviet Union's communist system of government and the United States' democratic system. Because they distrusted each other, both countries spent enormous amounts of money building nuclear weapons. There were many times when the struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States could have ended in nuclear war, such as in Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis or over the divided city of Berlin.  President Kennedy worked long hours, getting up at seven and not going to bed until eleven or twelve at night, or later. He read six newspapers while he ate breakfast, had meetings with important people throughout the day, and read reports from his advisers. He wanted to make sure that he made the best decisions for his country. "I am asking each of you to be new pioneers in that New Frontier," he said. The New Frontier was not a place but a way of thinking and acting. President Kennedy wanted the United States to move forward into the future with new discoveries in science and improvements in education, employment and other fields. He wanted democracy and freedom for the whole world.  One of the first things President Kennedy did was to create the Peace Corps. Through this program, which still exists today, Americans can volunteer to work anywhere in the world where assistance is needed. They can help in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction. Many young men and women have served as Peace Corps volunteers and have won the respect of people throughout the world. 

President Kennedy was also eager for the United States to lead the way in exploring space. The Soviet Union was ahead of the United States in its space program and President Kennedy was determined to catch up. He said, "No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space." Kennedy was the first president to ask Congress to approve more than 22 billion dollars for Project Apollo, which had the goal of landing an American man on the moon before the end of the decade.  President Kennedy had to deal with many serious problems here in the United States. The biggest problem of all was racial discrimination. The US Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that segregation in public schools would no longer be permitted. Black and white children, the decision mandated, should go to school together. This was now the law of the land. However, there were many schools, especially in southern states, that did not obey this law. There was also racial segregation on buses, in restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places.

Thousands of Americans joined together, people of all races and backgrounds, to protest peacefully this injustice.

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the famous leaders of the movement for civil rights. Many civil rights leaders didn’t think President Kennedy was supportive enough of their efforts. The President believed that holding public protests would only anger many white people and make it even more difficult to convince the members of Congress who didn't agree with him to pass civil rights laws. By June 11, 1963, however, President Kennedy decided that the time had come to take stronger action to help the civil rights struggle. He proposed a new Civil Rights bill to the Congress, and he went on television asking Americans to end racism. "One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free," he said. "This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds…[and] on the principle that all men are created equal." President Kennedy made it clear that all Americans, regardless of their skin color, should enjoy a good and happy life in the United States. 

The President is Shot

On November 21, 1963, President Kennedy flew to Texas to give several political speeches. The next day, on November 22, as his car drove slowly past cheering crowds in Dallas, shots rang out. Kennedy was seriously wounded and died a short time later. Within a few hours of the shooting, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald and charged him with the murder. On November 24, another man, Jack Ruby, shot and killed Oswald, thus silencing the only person who could have offered more information about this tragic event. The Warren Commission was organized to investigate the assassination and to clarify the many questions which remained. 

The Legacy of John F. Kennedy

President Kennedy's death caused enormous sadness and grief among all Americans. Most people still remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington for the President's funeral, and millions throughout the world watched it on television.  As the years have gone by and other presidents have written their chapters in history, John Kennedy's brief time in office stands out in people's memories for his leadership, personality, and accomplishments. Many respect his coolness when faced with difficult decisions--like what to do about Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962. Others admire his ability to inspire people with his eloquent speeches. Still others think his compassion and his willingness to fight for new government programs to help the poor, the elderly and the ill were most important. Like all leaders, John Kennedy made mistakes, but he was always optimistic about the future. He believed that people could solve their common problems if they put their country's interests first and worked together.

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John F. Kennedy: Family Life

John and Jacqueline Kennedy had their first child, Caroline, in 1957; John Jr. was born two weeks after his father won the presidency. A third child, Patrick, died two days after his birth in August 1963. After a long succession of elderly presidents, it was refreshing for many to see the Kennedy family's youth and vitality. One image in particular stood out: that of John Jr. playing under the president's desk in the Oval Office. When JFK died, it was another image that would prove indelible: Jacqueline Kennedy whispering to John Jr. to be sure to give a military salute as the casket carrying the president passed by.

The president's extended family was large, wealthy, and powerful. President Kennedy named his brother Robert attorney general so, as he put it, his brother could “get some legal experience" before getting a job.” Congress was not amused by the joke, and although Robert served ably, it later passed a law forbidding the president to make appointments of close relatives to federal office. President Lyndon Johnson, seeing Robert as a rival, maneuvered to keep him off the Democratic ticket in 1964 by stating that no cabinet secretary would be considered. Robert responded wryly that he was sorry to take so many capable officeholders down with him.

In the November 1962 mid-term elections, John Kennedy's younger brother Edward (Teddy) successfully ran for the Senate seat JFK had vacated in Massachusetts. After the president's death, Robert Kennedy was elected as a senator from New York state and became a frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. This second Kennedy run for the White House was cut short by another assassin's bullet. After winning the California Democratic primary that June, Robert Kennedy was gunned down by Sirhan Sirhan. Edward Kennedy would also make a run for the Oval Office in 1980 when he unsuccessfully challenged President Jimmy Carter's renomination. Despite his defeat, Edward Kennedy remained an active and senior member of the US Senate until his death in 2009.

Marc J. Selverstone

Associate Professor of History Miller Center, University of Virginia

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Kennedy family tree

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Arguably the most famous political family in modern American history, the Kennedys have repeatedly experienced triumph and tragedy on an unimaginable scale. Sprouting from Irish immigrant roots that flourished in Boston and benefiting from a fortune amassed in moviemaking, selling liquor (allegedly including bootlegging ), and stock trading , the large Kennedy family became not only a political dynasty but also a kind of glamorous American royalty that embraced a noblesse oblige of public service. The dynasty’s apex came with the idealistic Camelot administration of the country’s first Roman Catholic president, John F. Kennedy , whose charming, photogenic young family became a symbol of national optimism. Its nadir came with his assassination in November 1963, which plunged much of the country into a despair it would reexperience in 1968 when JFK’s younger brother Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning for the presidency. The images of that generation of Kennedys playing touch American football at the family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts , have faded, but new generations of the family have risen to take their place in Washington, D.C. , U.S. embassies abroad, state legislatures, and elsewhere on the national stage. Learn more about this remarkable clan through our Kennedy family tree.

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John F. Kennedy

By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 16, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

Elected in 1960 as the 35th president of the United States, 43-year-old John F. Kennedy became one of the youngest U.S. presidents, as well as the first Roman Catholic to hold the office. Born into one of America’s wealthiest families, he parlayed an elite education and a reputation as a military hero into a successful run for Congress in 1946 and for the Senate in 1952. 

As president, Kennedy confronted mounting Cold War tensions in Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere. He also led a renewed drive for public service and eventually provided federal support for the growing civil rights movement. His assassination on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, sent shockwaves around the world and turned the all-too-human Kennedy into a larger-than-life heroic figure. To this day, historians continue to rank him among the best-loved presidents in American history.

John F. Kennedy’s Early Life

Born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy (known as Jack) was the second of nine children. His parents, Joseph and Rose Kennedy, hailed from two of Boston’s most prominent Irish Catholic political families. Despite persistent health problems throughout his childhood and teenage years (he would later be diagnosed with a rare endocrine disorder called Addison’s disease), Jack led a privileged youth. He attended private schools such as Canterbury and Choate and spent summers in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod.

Joe Kennedy, a hugely successful businessman and an early supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt , was appointed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1934 and named U.S. ambassador to Great Britain in 1937. As a student at Harvard University, Jack traveled in Europe as his father’s secretary. His senior thesis about Britain’s unpreparedness for war was later published as an acclaimed book, Why England Slept (1940).

Watch the three-episode documentary event, Kennedy . Available to stream now.

Did you know? John F. Kennedy's Senate career got off to a rocky start when he refused to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy, a personal friend of the Kennedy family whom the Senate voted to censure in 1954 for his relentless pursuit of suspected communists. In the end, though he planned to vote against McCarthy, Kennedy missed the vote when he was hospitalized after back surgery.

Jack joined the U.S. Navy in 1941 and two years later was sent to the South Pacific, where he was given command of a Patrol-Torpedo (PT) boat. In August 1943, a Japanese destroyer struck the craft, PT-109, in the Solomon Islands. Kennedy helped some of his marooned crew back to safety and was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism. His older brother, Joe Jr., was not so fortunate: He was killed in August 1944 when his Navy airplane exploded on a secret mission against a German rocket-launching site. A grieving Joe Sr. told Jack it was his duty to fulfill the destiny once intended for Joe Jr.—to become the first Catholic president of the United States.

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JFK’s Beginnings in Politics

Abandoning plans to be a journalist, Jack left the Navy by the end of 1944. Less than a year later, he returned to Boston, preparing a run for Congress in 1946. As a moderately conservative Democrat, and backed by his father’s fortune, Jack won his party’s nomination handily and carried the mostly working-class Eleventh District by nearly three to one over his Republican opponent in the general election. He entered the 80th Congress in January 1947, at the age of 29, and immediately attracted attention (as well as some criticism from older members of the Washington establishment) for his youthful appearance and relaxed, informal style.

Kennedy won reelection to the House of Representatives in 1948 and 1950, and in 1952 ran successfully for the Senate, defeating the popular Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. On September 12, 1953, Kennedy married the beautiful socialite and journalist Jacqueline (Jackie) Lee Bouvier. Two years later, he was forced to undergo a painful operation on his back. While recovering from the surgery, Jack wrote another best-selling book, Profiles in Courage , which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957. (The book was later revealed to be mostly the work of Kennedy’s longtime aide, Theodore Sorenson.)

Kennedy’s Road to Presidency

After nearly earning his party’s nomination for vice president (under Adlai Stevenson) in 1956, Kennedy announced his candidacy for president on January 2, 1960. He defeated a primary challenge from the more liberal Hubert Humphrey and chose the Senate majority leader, Lyndon Johnson of Texas, as his running mate. In the general election, Kennedy faced a difficult battle against his Republican opponent, Richard Nixon, a two-term vice president under the popular Dwight D. Eisenhower . 

Offering a young, energetic alternative to Nixon and the status quo, Kennedy benefited from his performance (and telegenic appearance) in the first-ever televised presidential debates, watched by millions of viewers. In November’s election, Kennedy won by a narrow margin—fewer than 120,000 out of some 70 million votes cast—becoming the youngest man and the first Roman Catholic to be elected president of the United States.

With his beautiful young wife and their two small children (Caroline, born in 1957, and John Jr., born just weeks after the election), Kennedy lent an unmistakable aura of youth and glamour to the White House . In his inaugural address, given on January 20, 1961, the new president called on his fellow Americans to work together in the pursuit of progress and the elimination of poverty, but also in the battle to win the ongoing Cold War against communism around the world. Kennedy’s famous closing words expressed the need for cooperation and sacrifice on the part of the American people: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

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After serving in the military, the future 35th president worked as a foreign correspondent.

Kennedy’s Foreign Policy Challenges

An early crisis in the foreign affairs arena occurred in April 1961, when Kennedy approved the plan to send 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles in an amphibious landing at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. Intended to spur a rebellion that would overthrow the communist leader Fidel Castro , the mission ended in failure, with nearly all of the exiles captured or killed. 

That June, Kennedy met with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna to discuss the city of Berlin, which had been divided after World War II between Allied and Soviet control. Two months later, East German troops began erecting a wall to divide the city. Kennedy sent an army convoy to reassure West Berliners of U.S. support, and would deliver one of his most famous speeches in West Berlin in June 1963.

Kennedy clashed again with Khrushchev in October 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis . After learning that the Soviet Union was constructing a number of nuclear and long-range missile sites in Cuba that could pose a threat to the continental United States, Kennedy announced a naval blockade of Cuba. 

The tense standoff lasted nearly two weeks before Khrushchev agreed to dismantle Soviet missile sites in Cuba in return for America’s promise not to invade the island and the removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey and other sites close to Soviet borders. In July 1963, Kennedy won his greatest foreign affairs victory when Khrushchev agreed to join him and Britain’s Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in signing a nuclear test ban treaty. In Southeast Asia, however, Kennedy’s desire to curb the spread of communism led him to escalate U.S. involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, even as privately he expressed his dismay over the situation.

Kennedy’s Leadership at Home

During his first year in office, Kennedy oversaw the launch of the Peace Corps, which would send young volunteers to underdeveloped countries all over the world. Otherwise, he was unable to achieve much of his proposed legislation during his lifetime, including two of his biggest priorities: income tax cuts and a civil rights bill. Slow to commit himself to the civil rights cause, events forced Kennedy into action, spurring him to send federal troops to support the desegregation of the University of Mississippi after riots there left two dead and many others injured. The following summer, Kennedy announced his intention to propose a comprehensive civil rights bill and endorsed the massive March on Washington that took place that August.

Kennedy held enormous popularity, both at home and abroad, and his family drew famous comparisons to King Arthur’s court at Camelot. His brother Bobby served as his attorney general, while the youngest Kennedy son, Edward (Ted), was elected to Jack’s former Senate seat in 1962. Jackie Kennedy became an international icon of style, beauty and sophistication, though stories of her husband’s numerous marital infidelities (and his personal association with members of organized crime) would later emerge to complicate the Kennedys’ idyllic image.

JFK’s Assassination

On November 22, 1963, the president and his wife landed in Dallas; he had spoken in San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth the day before. From the airfield, the party then traveled in a motorcade to the Dallas Trade Mart, the site of Jack’s next speaking engagement. Shortly after 12:30 p.m., as the motorcade passed through downtown Dallas, shots rang out . Bullets struck Kennedy twice, in the neck and head; he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a nearby hospital.

Authorities arrested 24-old Lee Harvey Oswald, known to have Communist sympathies, for the killing. But he was shot and fatally wounded two days later by local nightclub owner Jack Ruby while being led to jail. Almost immediately, alternative theories of Kennedy’s assassination emerged—including conspiracies allegedly run by the KGB , the Mafia and the U.S. military-industrial complex, among others. A presidential commission led by Chief Justice Earl Warren concluded that Oswald had acted alone, but speculation and debate over the assassination have persisted.

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Presidential Libraries

JFK Biography

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, a few miles outside of Boston. His parents were Joseph Kennedy, a successful businessman, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. He was the second of nine children. While Jack grew up with every material advantage, he suffered from a series of medical ailments but learned to underplay the effects of his illnesses.

President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy pose for a portrait with their children, Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, Jr., on a porch in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. August 4, 1962. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum Local Identifier: ST-C22-1-62

World War II changed Kennedy in many ways. He joined the Navy and served in the Pacific, where his PT boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer. He never forgot his own war experience and the bravery of his Navy crew.

After the war, JFK decided to run for office. In 1946 he won election as congressman for Massachusetts and served for six years. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1952. In 1953 he married Jacqueline Bouvier, and their daughter, Caroline, was born in 1957, and their son, John Jr., was born in 1960.

At 43 years old, he became the youngest man elected President of the United States, defeating Richard Nixon in 1960.

One of his first actions after taking office was creating the Peace Corps, which today still sends volunteers on two-year missions to live and work with people around the globe.

The Cuban Missile Crisis in late 1962 threatened the world with possible nuclear war. The United States confronted the Soviet Union over the placement of nuclear weapons on Cuba, and in secret negotiations, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles.

Kennedy challenged the U.S. to be the first country to send a man to the moon by the end of the 1960s. The United States reached President Kennedy’s goal on July 20, 1969, when the crew of Apollo 11 landed on the lunar surface.

At home, Kennedy urged an end to racial segregation and asked Congress for a civil rights bill. Before the bill could get through Congress, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

People remember John F. Kennedy as a President who was young and energetic. But he is also remembered as a leader who made a difference. His words and actions made people want to help others and serve their country.

The Kennedy Legacy

The Kennedy family is an American family prominent in politics, public service and business, particularly during the 20th Century. Joseph P. Kennedy, industrialist and politician, and his wife Rose, daughter of former Boston Mayor John F. “Honeyfitz” Fitzgerald, purchased a large home on the water in Hyannis Port in the 1920’s. That home was the base for their nine children, Joseph Jr. John F. “Jack,” Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Robert F. “Bobby,” Jean and Edward M. “Ted“” during their lives in the U.S. Embassy in London, World War II, the U.S. Senate, presidential campaigns and the White House.

That home, with two nearby homes purchased by Jack and Bobby, became the Kennedy Compound and the center of the political universe in the early 1960’s. On the evening TV news, the nation watched the family at vigorous play through triumph and tragedy.

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The Kennedy family tree includes more than 100 names, with branches that stretch as high as they do wide. At the base are Rose and Joseph Kennedy, who bore nine children, including, of course, a son who ascended to the presidency of the United States – John F. Kennedy.

• World Biography

John F. Kennedy Biography

Born: May 29, 1917 Brookline, Massachusetts Died: November 22, 1963 Dallas, Texas American president

John F. Kennedy was the thirty-fifth president of the United States. He was the first president to reach for the moon, through the nation's space programs. He also was the first president since Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) with whom youth could identify. He made the nation see itself with new eyes. His assassination shocked the world.

Early life and family

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. He was the second son of nine children born to the multimillionaire business executive and financier Joseph P. Kennedy (1888–1969) and his wife, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (1890–1995). Joseph's father had served in the Massachusetts Legislature and in elective offices in Boston, Massachusetts. Rose's father, John Francis Fitzgerald (1863–1950), had been a state legislator, the mayor of Boston, and a U.S. congressman. Joseph himself had served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, chairman of the U.S. Maritime Commission, and ambassador to Great Britain (1937–40). Thus, the Kennedys were a wealthy family with a history of political and public service.

Education and the military

Kennedy attended the Canterbury parochial school (1930–31) and the Choate School (1931–35). One of his teachers later said that people in school liked him more for his personality than for his accomplishments. He was often ill during his childhood and spent much of this time reading. Kennedy enrolled at Princeton University in 1935 but illness soon forced him to withdraw. Upon recovery he went to Harvard University, where he majored in government and international relations. During his junior year at Harvard, he traveled in Europe and observed the events that were leading to World War II (1939–45; a war in which the Allies—France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and from 1941 the United States—fought against the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan). He used his observations for his senior paper, which later became the bestselling book Why England Slept (1940).

After graduating from Harvard with honors in 1940, Kennedy went to Stanford University for graduate studies. In April 1941 he tried to enlist in the U.S. Army but was rejected for physical reasons (a back injury received while playing football). Months later, after his back strengthened through a regimen of exercises, the U.S. Navy accepted him. He then became an intelligence officer in Washington, D.C. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a U.S. Navy base in Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, the United States entered World War II. Kennedy requested active duty at sea and was given this assignment in late 1942.

Following Kennedy's training with the Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron, he was shipped to the South Pacific to fight in the war against Japan. In March 1943 he was given command of a patrol torpedo (PT) boat, a small, fast boat armed with weapons, including torpedoes. In August his boat was sliced in two by a Japanese destroyer and two of his crew were killed. Kennedy and four others clung to the half of the PT boat that remained afloat. Six other men survived in the nearby water, two wounded. In a three-hour struggle Kennedy got the wounded crewmen to the floating wreck. When it capsized, he ordered his men to swim to a small island about three miles away. He towed one man to shore in a heroic five-hour struggle. Several days later, having displayed great courage, leadership, and endurance, Kennedy succeeded in having his men rescued.

House of Representatives

Kennedy won the primary, the fall election, and reelection to the House in 1948 and again in 1950. He worked for better social welfare programs, particularly in the area of low-cost public housing (or affordable places for people to live). In 1949 he became a member of the Joint Committee on Labor-Management Relations. In this capacity, Kennedy was a strong supporter of labor, working for higher wages and better working conditions.

Kennedy supported the domestic programs of President Harry Truman (1884–1972), including social welfare programs, progressive taxation, and regulation of business. However, he did not follow Truman's policies in foreign relations. For example, he was against the fighting in Korea "or any other place in Asia where [the United States] cannot hold our defenses."

In April 1952 Kennedy ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate against Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (1902–1985), a Republican liberal. Kennedy won by over seventy thousand votes. Lodge reeled under the impact. He had not run against a man, but a whole family. The Kennedy women alone had acted as hostesses to at least seventy thousand Massachusetts housewives. In 1958 Kennedy was reelected to the Senate.

Kennedy's political success was soon followed by high points in his personal life. On September 12, 1953, Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (1929–1994), daughter of a New York City financier, at Newport, Rhode Island. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1917–) noted that "under a veil of lovely inconsequence" Mrs. Kennedy possessed "an all-seeing eye and ruthless judgement." John and Jacqueline Kennedy had three children: Caroline Bouvier (1957–), John Fitzgerald (1960–1999), Patrick Bouvier (who lived only a few days after his birth in 1963); another child was stillborn in 1956.

Taking his Senate seat in January 1953, Kennedy continued to support key labor, economic, and foreign relations issues. He served on the Labor and Public Welfare Committee, the Government Operations Committee, the Select Committee on Labor-Management Relations, the Foreign Relations Committee, and the Joint Economic Committee. He also worked to pass several bills to aid the Massachusetts fishing and textile industries and to improve New England's economy.

A recurrence of his old back injuries forced Kennedy to use crutches during 1954. An operation in October 1954 was followed by another in February 1955. He spent his months of illness and recovery writing biographies of Americans who had shown moral courage at difficult points in their lives. These biographies became the best-selling book Profiles in Courage (1956), which won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957.

Kennedy's back operations were not completely successful, and he was never again entirely free from pain. After recovering from his operations, he returned to his Senate seat in May 1955. He became a strong supporter of civil rights and social welfare legislation. The Kennedy-Douglas-Ives Bill (1957) required an accounting of all employee pension and welfare funds. Kennedy also sponsored bills for providing federal financial aid to education and for relaxing U.S. immigration laws.

Kennedy becomes president

Kennedy's record in elected office and the books and articles that he had written attracted national attention. After he lost the vice presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1956, he decided to run for president. Formally announcing his candidacy in January 1960, Kennedy made whirlwind tours and won the Democratic primaries in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Oregon, Maryland, Nebraska, and West Virginia. On July 13, 1960, Kennedy was nominated for president, with Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) as his running mate.

"Jack in Walk" shouted the Boston Globe after Kennedy's nomination. But it would be no easy walk to win the White House against the Republican candidate, Vice President Richard Nixon (1913–1994). At that time, Kennedy was a controversial candidate because he was a Roman Catholic. Religious prejudice, or dislike of a person based solely upon his or her religion, probably cost him over a million votes in Illinois alone. Kennedy responded to the issue of religion in his "Houston speech" on September 11, 1960. He believed in the absolute separation of church and state (the belief that one body—church or government—would have no influence over the other). To him, this meant that no priest could tell a president what to do and no Protestant clergyman could tell his parishioners how to vote. In other words, Kennedy's religion would not affect the decisions he made as president.

A series of televised debates with Nixon was crucial to Kennedy's campaign. Many viewers believed Kennedy defeated Nixon with his style. Kennedy showed the American people that he had a sense of humor, a love of language, and a sense of the past. On November 9, 1960, John F. Kennedy became the youngest man and the first Roman Catholic in American history to win the presidency. The 1960 presidential election was one of the closest in the nation's history. Kennedy won the popular vote by only 119,450 votes. On December 19, 1960, the electoral college cast 303 votes for Kennedy and 219 for Nixon.

At the inauguration on January 20, 1960, the first U.S. president born in the twentieth century was sworn into office. Kennedy's inaugural address included the challenge: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

Bay of Pigs

In his short time in office, Kennedy faced many crises. The first of which involved Cuba, a country about ninety miles south of Florida. On April 17, 1961, fourteen hundred Cuban exiles, supported by the United States, invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. On April 18 the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) sent a note to Kennedy stating that his government would help the Cuban government resist an attack. By April 20 the invasion had failed. Although the plan for training Cuban exiles had actually begun during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Kennedy took responsibility for it. He had first supported the plan but later refused to commit the necessary American troops. He was aware that if the Cuban people did not rise up and back the invaders, the United States could not force them to accept a new system of government. Although the Bay of Pigs invasion was a failure, it did prove Kennedy's ability to face a disaster.

Protecting civil rights

Kennedy continued to show skill and passion for issues at home, particularly civil rights. In 1961 the Congress of Racial Equality, a civil rights group, organized people to protest segregation, or the practice of separating people based solely on their race, on buses and trains. When the showdown came, "the Kennedys," as the president and his brother Robert, the attorney general, were known, sent six hundred Federal marshals to Alabama to protect these "Freedom Riders." In 1962 they sent hundreds of Federal marshals to protect the rights of the first African American student to attend the University of Mississippi.

Cuban missile crisis

On October 22, 1962, Kennedy announced to the nation that the Soviet Union had sent nuclear missiles to Cuba. In response the United States had blocked all shipments of military equipment into Cuba. The United States would not allow Cuba to become a Soviet missile base, and it would regard any missile launched from Cuba "as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full [military] response."

For a week the details of the situation had been "the best kept secret in government history." Throughout the seven days, the Kennedy administration had maintained an outward appearance of normal social and political activity. Meanwhile, American military units throughout the world were alerted.

Messages were sent back and forth between Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Pope John XXIII (1881–1963), who was volunteering as a peacemaker. During this time Soviet ships were moving toward the area of the blockade in the Atlantic Ocean. They slowed, then stopped. On October 28, 1962, the Soviet Union said it would remove its missiles from Cuba.

One result of the crisis was the nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviet Union, which Kennedy called "the first step down the path of peace." The treaty was signed on July 25, 1963. A "hot line" for emergency messages was also set up between Washington, D.C., and Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union.

Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia, took up more of Kennedy's time than any other problem. The Vietnam War (1955–1975) was a civil war in which anti-Communist forces in South Vietnam, supported by the United States, were fighting against a takeover by Communist forces in North Vietnam. In 1954 President Eisenhower had offered military aid to South Vietnam and funding, and advisors were sent to the country throughout the 1950s. Although Kennedy believed that a "full-scale war in Vietnam … was unthinkable," he tripled American forces in the country. Senator William Fulbright (1905–1995) suggested that Kennedy put troops in Vietnam to prove to Khrushchev that "he couldn't be intimidated."

The President's last day

Kennedy was well aware of the dangers of the presidency. "Who can tell who will be president a year from now?" he would ask. On the day of his arrival in Dallas, Texas, he said that if anyone wanted to kill a president he needed only a high building and a rifle with a telescopic lens.

That day—November 22, 1963—the president was assassinated. It is generally believed that Lee Harvey Oswald (1939–1963), using a rifle equipped with a telescopic lens, was the person who fired on the president's car. Others, however, believe more than one person was responsible. All of the United States—indeed, the world—was in mourning. In Indonesia, flags were lowered to half-mast. In New Delhi, India, crowds wept in the streets.

Kennedy's legacy

Kennedy once summed up his time as "very dangerous, untidy." He lived through two world wars, the Great Depression (a period from 1929 to 1939 during which nearly half the industrial workers in the country lost their jobs), and the nuclear age. "Life is unfair," he remarked. And so it was to Kennedy, heaping him with both glory and tragedy. Yet, he never lost his grace, his sense of balance, or his optimism.

What Kennedy accomplished was not as important as what he stood for. As the African magazine Transition expressed it, "murdered with Kennedy was the first real chance for an intelligent and new leadership in the world. His death [left] us unprepared and in darkness."

For More Information

Burner, David. John F. Kennedy and a New Generation. Boston: Little Brown, 1988.

Cole, Michael D. John F. Kennedy: President of the New Frontier. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1996.

Frisbee, Lucy Post. John F. Kennedy: America's Youngest President. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1984.

Manchester, William. Death of a President: November 20–November 25, 1963. New York: Harper & Row, 1967. Reprint, New York: Arbor House, 1985.

O'Donnell, Kenneth P., David F. Powers, and Joe McCarthy. "Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye": Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Boston: Little, Brown, 1972.

Randall, Marta. John F. Kennedy. New York: Chelsea House, 1988.

Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965. Reprint, New York: Greenwich House, 1983.

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U.S. Presidents

John f. kennedy.

35th president of the United States

John F. Kennedy, the second oldest of nine children, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts , on May 29, 1917. His father hoped that one of his children would one day become president. As a child, Kennedy had many childhood illnesses and once almost died from scarlet fever. But he grew up to be athletic and competitive, playing football for Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He injured his spine in college and never fully recovered from the injury.

In 1943, a Japanese warship destroyed a boat Kennedy commanded while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Kennedy swam with the surviving crew members to safety several miles away, carrying one injured sailor by pulling the man’s life jacket strap by his teeth. When asked later how he became a hero, Kennedy replied: "It was easy—they sank my boat." Now a decorated World War II officer, Kennedy took up his father’s presidential hopes after his older brother, Joseph, died in combat.

Before being elected president, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in the House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate. He married Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953, soon after he became a senator. In 1960, he was elected president of the United States by the narrowest popular voting margin in history, becoming the youngest person and the only Catholic to ever be elected president.

COLD WAR CONFLICTS

The Cold War—a period of tensions mostly between the United States and the former Soviet Union, now called Russia —dominated much of Kennedy’s presidency. First, the U.S. government secretly tried to overthrow the island of Cuba’s new leader and Soviet Union ally, Fidel Castro, in a failed mission known as the Bay of Pigs. Then the Soviet Union built a wall in Germany , dividing East Berlin, which was under control of communist Soviet Union, and West Berlin, which was supported by the democratic West. This angered Germans on both sides of the wall and citizens of nearby countries. Kennedy visited West Berlin and vowed U.S. support to the people there, stating: " Ich bin ein Berliner, " or "I am a Berliner" in German.

Cold War tensions cooled off in 1963 after the two nations signed a treaty, but the conflict would last until around 1990.

FIGHTING FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

Another issue Kennedy dealt with during his presidency was civil rights, or the idea that all U.S. citizens should have the same basic rights regardless of the color of their skin, and their religion. Kennedy wanted to pass more laws that would guarantee equal rights for all citizens.

Before Kennedy became president, the Supreme Court passed a ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education that schools had to desegregate, or allow white and black children to attend the same school. Kennedy publicly supported the ruling and even sent military troops to the southern states to make sure African-American kids were getting safely to school.

Near the end of Kennedy’s time in office in 1963, more than 200,000 people took part in a March on Washington during the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln ’s Emancipation Proclamation speech. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. , delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the gathering.

DEATH IN DALLAS

Kennedy had only been president for a little less than three years when he was assassinated on November 22, 1963, while touring Dallas, Texas , in a presidential motorcade. Gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the death but was killed himself before he could be put on trial.

More than a hundred nations sent representatives to Kennedy’s funeral in Washington, D.C. Although he was only president for a short time, his calls for peace, justice, and national service—JFK famously said "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" when he first became president in 1961—inspired action among countless citizens during his lifetime and continue to influence others today.

• Kennedy supposedly wrote his own spy book, but he never released it.

• During stressful meetings, Kennedy liked to doodle sailboats.

• JFK donated his entire presidential salary to charity.

From the Nat Geo Kids books Our Country's Presidents by Ann Bausum and Weird But True Know-It-All: U.S. Presidents by Brianna Dumont, revised for digital by Avery Hurt

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Kennedy Weddings: Looking Back at the Iconic Family’s Marriage Celebrations From 1914 to Now

If the United States had a royal family, it would be the Kennedys. And though the Kennedy weddings over the years have not quite reached the level of pomp and circumstance that accompanies the nuptials of a prince or princess, these occasions are historically still quite stylish and culturally significant affairs.

For over a century, various members of the prominent family have dominated headlines—sometimes capturing the hearts of the nation, other times embroiled in scandal and tragedy. And throughout the decades since the first noteworthy Kennedys tied the knot in 1914, the family legacy has continued to grow through prominent weddings—the most recent being just last month. On July 20, Mariah Kennedy-Cuomo, the granddaughter of Ethel Kennedy and the great niece of JFK, got married at the family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts . The nuptials were a quintessential Kennedy affair, with family traditions dating back to 1953. Read on as we share an inside look at some of the most iconic Kennedy weddings in the political dynasty’s history.

Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald, 1914

Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy on their wedding day

It was when Rose Fitzgerald, the daughter of a congressman turned mayor of Boston, married Joseph P. Kennedy, an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and politician, that the Kennedy legacy really began. The future couple first met at Old Orchard Beach in Maine , where they vacationed as children. Joseph and Rose wed in a chapel in Boston on October 7, 1914 , and later had nine children : Joseph Patrick Jr, John “Jack” Fitzgerald, Rosemary, Kathleen or “Kick,” Eunice, Patricia, Robert or “Bobby,” Jean Ann, and Edward Moore.

Kathleen Agnes Kennedy and William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, 1944

Kathleen Kennedy and William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, on their wedding day in London

Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy met William Cavendish on her first trip to England in 1938. The two wed in a modest, civil ceremony on May 6, 1944, at the Kensington and Chelsea Register Office in London. Due to the ongoing war and the disapproval of the Kennedy family, the only loved ones to witness the nuptials were William’s parents, Kick’s brother Joseph, and the best man, the Duke of Rutland . Just four months after their marriage, William was killed in the war. The couple never had any children.

Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel, 1950

Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel on their wedding day

Robert “Bobby” Kennedy first met Ethel Skakel in 1945 on a ski trip to Mount Tremblant Resort in Quebec, Canada. At the time, Bobby was dating Ethel’s sister, Patricia . When their relationship fizzled, Bobby and Ethel started seeing each other and were engaged five years later. The couple married on June 17, 1950, in a colorful ceremony at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Greenwich, Connecticut, where Ethel grew up. There were said to be many prominent socialites at the ceremony , as well as the sumptuous wedding reception at the Skakel estate. Digitized archives of the wedding show friends and family dressed to the nines whilst dancing and dining beneath a tent in the backyard. The two went on to have 11 children: Kathleen, Joseph, Robert Jr., David, Mary Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher, Max, Douglas, and Rory.

Eunice Mary Kennedy and Robert Sargent Shriver, 1953

Eunice Mary Kennedy cuts her enormous wedding cake. To her left is her husband Robert Sargent Shriver and her sister.

Eunice followed in her family’s footsteps by marrying politician and diplomat Robert Sargent Shriver. The two tied the knot on May 23, 1953, in New York City . The grand ceremony was at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, with a reception following at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel . Black-and-white photos of the wedding show the bride standing on a ladder cutting a seven-tier wedding cake. The couple went on to have five children: Robert, Maria, Timothy, Mark, and Anthony.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier, 1953

John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier at their wedding reception

America’s future It couple were first introduced in 1951 at a dinner party in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. JFK and Jackie’s meet-cute made the gossip columns, where it was predicted a wedding would happen within the year . The picture-perfect couple wed just two years later on September 12, 1953, in Newport, Rhode Island. The 1,200-person wedding reception was held at Hammersmith Farm, a 300-acre estate overlooking Narragansett Bay. It was known to be one of the most high-profile American weddings of the 20th century, according to Life Magazine. In photos taken by Lisa Larsen , a Life Magazine photographer, one can see the couple enjoying their first dinner as husband and wife and dancing before their guests under a festive striped tent. The couple went on to have four children: Arabella (who died at birth), Caroline, John Jr., and Patrick.

Caroline Kennedy and Ed Schlossberg, 1986

Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg on their wedding day in 1986.

Caroline, the only daughter of JFK and Jackie, married Ed Schlossberg, an American exhibit designer and author, on July 19, 1986. The couple met at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Caroline was working after graduating from Harvard. Their Catholic wedding took place in Hyannis Port , Massachusetts—a community in Cape Cod where the Kennedys own a multihome compound . The reception took place at the oceanfront house of the bride’s grandmother Rose, where 400 guests enjoyed dinner, dancing, and a fireworks display designed by George Plimpton . Despite being considered America’s version of a royal couple, the newlyweds managed to keep their wedding pretty under wraps with very few paparazzi. Not many details are known about the marriage ceremony, as the press was kept out of the church. According to The New York Times wedding announcement, guests were sworn to secrecy. Caroline walked down the aisle with her uncle, Ted Kennedy, in the absence of her late father.

Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1986

Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger on their wedding day

Maria, the daughter of Eunice and Robert, followed in the family legacy by getting married in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts . Maria met Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian actor, businessman, and bodybuilder in 1977 at a tennis tournament . They tied the knot on April 26, 1986, in a Catholic ceremony. Caroline Kennedy, Maria’s cousin and the daughter of JFK, was maid of honor. The two went on to have four children: Katherine , Christina, Patrick, and Christopher.

Kerry Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo, 1990

Kerry Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo on their wedding day

Kerry, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel, followed many of her relatives before her by marrying into politics. On June 9, 1990, she married Andrew Cuomo , the son of New York Governor Mario Cuomo and a future governor himself. They tied the knot at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, DC, and went on to have three daughters: Cara, Mariah, and Michaela.

John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, 1996

John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette tied the knot at the First African Baptist Church in Cumberland Island, Georgia.

John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy at a gala together in 1998

JFK Jr., the son of the late president, met Carolyn Bessette in 1992 while she was working for Calvin Klein. The couple started dating two years later and quickly became one of the most talked about couples of the century. They were engaged in 1995, and in 1996 the pair tied the knot. Being in the public eye, with paparazzi following them everywhere they went, the It couple planned an intimate, secret wedding on Cumberland Island in Georgia. The couple and their 40 guests held a ceremony at a charming little church and a reception at the historic Greyfield Inn. In 2023, nearly two decades after the wedding and tragic death of the couple, JFK Jr.’s best friend, Billy Noonan, released never-before-seen tapes from the hush-hush nuptials.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Michael Serafin Garcia, 2020

The Four Seasons Surf Club in Miami, where Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Michael Serafin Garcia held their wedding reception

Eunice Kennedy Shriver is the granddaughter of Eunice Mary Kennedy and Robert Sargent Shriver (her father is Anthony). She not only inherited her beloved grandma’s name, but her wedding dress too. On October 17, 2020, Eunice married Michael Serafin Garcia at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Miami, Florida, with a reception following at Four Seasons Surf Club. The bride paid tribute to her late grandmother by wearing the same Dior wedding dress she wore in 1953. “The dress was as delicate as tissue paper,” Shriver told Vogue . Eunice had the vintage dress restored and reimagined, but luckily, the bride and her grandmother happened to be the same height and have the same waist size on their wedding day. It was the perfect fit. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the couple had an intimate wedding with just 32 guests .

Mariah Kennedy-Cuomo and Tellef Lundevall, 2024

An aerial view of the Kennedy Compound, where Mariah Kennedy-Cuomo and Tellef Lundevall were married recently

Last month, the world was blessed with another Kennedy wedding worthy of a storybook. Mariah, the daughter of Kerry Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo, said “I do” on July 20 to Tellef Lundevall. The couple first met in 2012 when they were attending Brown University, but didn’t begin dating until 2018. Tellef proposed on Thanksgiving in 2023 with a ring designed after her grandmother Ethel’s. Their summer wedding was held in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in true Kennedy fashion. The guest list included 400 friends and family members, with the reception being held at the former JFK House. Photos taken by Anne Rhett for Vogue show Grandma Ethel admiring the festivities, endless arrangements of classic white flowers, and Mariah standing on a ladder curing her eight-tiered cake, just like her great-aunt Eunice.

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• Entertainment

There’s One Very Good Reason Why Kamala Harris Should Agree to Fox News Debate With Trump

Update: bloomberg news reportedly fires staffer who broke embargo on russian prisoner swap, cnn’s david axelrod pumps the brakes on dems’ ‘irrational’ excitement for kamala harris: it’s still ‘trump’s race to lose’, new cbs poll: harris takes lead over trump in massive change from same poll 2 weeks ago — which showed biden down 5, elon musk says he and trump have discussed creating ‘efficiency commission’ to deregulate but warns: ‘the matrix will fight back’, new yorker posts a photo of rfk jr. with the dead bear cub before he ditched it in central park.

The new profile in The New Yorker of independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was filled with wild stories about his past drug abuse and personal life, but one story stood out: the revelation that Kennedy ditched a dead bear cub in Central Park in 2014.

In case it was too weird to believe, Clare Malone’s lengthy piece included a photo of Kennedy posing with the dead bear, which does not do anything to dispel any of the weirdness. The New Yorker editor Michael Luo also posted it on Twitter/X , where it made the social media rounds on Monday:

. @ClareMalone tells the story of the bear. (And a lot more.) Her profile of RFK Jr. https://t.co/iYZkGVRt0Q pic.twitter.com/ZH9Mmp80xv — Michael Luo (@michaelluo) August 5, 2024

The story got local news coverage when it happened, but that was when no one knew who would leave a dead black bear cub in such a high-traffic area:

How NYC local news covered the dead bear RFK Jr put into Central Park ten years ago 😬👀 https://t.co/J25gDeLQ1Q pic.twitter.com/nJio51Li3R — Luther Lowe (@lutherlowe) August 4, 2024

To add another exquisite layer to the story, the reporter who covered the abandoned bear for The New York Times was Tatiana Schlossberg — Kennedy’s own cousin and the daughter of Caroline Kennedy Scholssberg. She told her former employer that she “had no idea” her own family was involved in the story.

Kennedy posted a video from his own social media account to provide his account of the story (and with Roseanne Barr looking on), seemingly mocking The New Yorker with the caption: “Looking forward to seeing how you spin this one”:

Looking forward to seeing how you spin this one, @NewYorker … pic.twitter.com/G13taEGzba — Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 4, 2024

The New Yorker stayed pretty true to Kennedy’s version:

One day, in the fall of 2014, Kennedy was driving to a falconry outing in upstate New York when he passed a furry brown mound on the side of the road. He pulled over and discovered that it was the carcass of a black-bear cub. Kennedy was tickled by the find. He loaded the dead bear into the rear hatch of his car and later showed it off to his friends. In a picture from that day, Kennedy is putting his fingers inside the bear’s bloody mouth, a comical grimace across his face. (When I asked Kennedy about the incident, he said, “Maybe that’s where I got my brain worm.”) After the outing, Kennedy, who was then sixty and recently married to [ Cheryl Hines ], got an idea. He drove to Manhattan and, as darkness fell, entered Central Park with the bear and a bicycle. A person with knowledge of the event said that Kennedy thought it would be funny to make it look as if the animal had been killed by an errant cyclist. The next day, the bear was discovered by two women walking their dogs, setting off an investigation by the N.Y.P.D. “This is a highly unusual situation,” a spokeswoman for the Central Park Conservancy told the Times . “It’s awful.” In a follow-up piece for the Times , which was coincidentally written by Tatiana Schlossberg, one of J.F.K.’s granddaughters, a retired Bronx homicide commander commented, “People are crazy.”

Drugs, falconry, Kennedys, dead baby bears, imaginary “errant cyclists,” Roseanne Barr … this story has everything ,

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Lapd apologizes to kennedy family for items in museum exhibit.

Robert F. Kennedy and removed items from a homicide exhibit in Las Vegas that included the dress shirt worn by the senator when he was assassinated in 1968, officials said Tuesday night.

The shirt was among a number of items included in the highly publicized display at the 2010 California Homicide Investigators Association Conference, which is being hosted by the LAPD. The crime-scene evidence can be seen by the general public for the next two days.

The multimedia exhibit at the Palms Casino Resort features photographs, videos and evidence from the vaults of the LAPD and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The department bills the 8,000-square-foot display as a first-ever look at homicide evidence from some of the city’s most notorious cases. “”Behind the-Scenes: The LAPD Homicide Experience”” was publicized by the department as including materials that have never been seen in or outside a courtroom.

O.J. Simpson case, the SLA shootout, the “”Onion Field”” killing and the bloody Manson family murders.

Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968 . Kennedy was mortally wounded in a kitchen pantry moments after declaring victory in the California Democratic presidential primary.

Members of the Kennedy family and others were offended that items — including a shirt, tie and jacket — worn by the late senator would be displayed, LAPD officials said.

Charlie Beck apologized to the family.

Reached by phone Tuesday night, Beck said the Kennedy items were removed immediately after he was contacted by a family member.

“”The last thing we want to do is traumatize a victim’s family and I am very sensitive to that,”” Beck said. “”But at the same time, we want to preserve the history of the city of Los Angeles and improve the quality and understanding about our homicide investigations.””

He said there were “”significant lessons”” that law enforcement experts around the world could learn from examining not only the high-profile crimes themselves but the resulting media attention and notoriety connected to them.

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Caroline Kennedy

Who Is Caroline Kennedy?

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy was born on November 27, 1957, in New York City, to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and John F. Kennedy. Caroline spent her early years living in the White House during her father's term as president. His time in office is often referred to as the "Camelot Presidency" for the hope and optimism the young politician brought to America. As a result, the Kennedys were thrust into the spotlight as the ideal American family. Caroline was a frequent media darling; people couldn't get enough of the little girl who walked her father to the Oval Office each morning, and rode her pony on the White House lawn.

Not everything in the Kennedy household was idyllic, however, and the family suffered numerous tragedies. Among them were Jackie's miscarriages, one occurring 15 months before Caroline was born and another three years later on August 7, 1963; a premature baby boy, whom the Kennedys named Patrick. But chief among the losses that affected Caroline directly came on November 22, 1963, when her father was assassinated by sniper fire. Caroline was not yet six years old at the time. The iconic image of her holding her mother's hand and her brother John Jr. saluting John F. Kennedy's flag-draped coffin during the nationally televised funeral procession remains one of the most tragic moments in American presidential history.

Two weeks after the assassination, Jackie and the children moved out of the White House and into a home in Georgetown. However, life grew difficult for the Kennedy clan with an ongoing circus-like atmosphere of media and curious onlookers descending on their home. By the summer of 1964, the family moved to New York City. There, the family enjoyed some degree of anonymity and less aggressive paparazzi. That September, like generations of Kennedy women before her, Caroline was enrolled in the Sacred Heart School.

By the late 1960s, the family had established a quiet New York City life. But in 1968, Caroline and John Jr.'s lives were shattered again with the assassination of their beloved uncle and U.S. Senator, Robert F. Kennedy. Jackie became frightened for the safety of her children. Four months after Bobby’s death, Jackie married Greek Shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis. Onassis would shower Caroline and her brother with gifts, but Caroline couldn’t quite accept him and there were also tensions between his children and Jackie. Caroline often turned to her uncle, U.S. Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, for comfort and the two became very close.

Onassis provided security for the family when they were in New York. During vacations and breaks, the family would spend time in Greece, or sailing their yacht around the Caribbean. In 1969, Caroline enrolled at The Brearley School, an exclusive all-girls school on the tony Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she excelled as a student and as a budding photographer. She next attended Concord Academy in Massachusetts; it was the first time she lived away from her mother. During this time, Jackie’s marriage to Onassis began to unravel. Her stepfather was devastated by the loss of his 24-year old son Alexander, who had died after a plane crash in 1973. Aristotle Onassis died in March 1975. After his death, Jackie moved back to New York City permanently and went to work as an editor at Viking Press. She continued to try and shield her children from the public eye, often keeping them away from their rebellious, scandal-making cousins.

Growing Up in the Spotlight

As a result of their mother's guidance, Caroline and her brother stayed away from drugs and alcohol, instead becoming conscientious students. Caroline performed well in New York private school, and went on to attend Radcliffe College (now part of Harvard) for her undergraduate studies. In addition to her courseload, the young Kennedy interned for the New York Daily News and worked in the summers as a political intern for her uncle, Ted Kennedy.

After earning her bachelor's degree in 1980, Caroline worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she met her future husband, an interactive-media designer named Edwin Schlossberg. She also began serving as president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing financial support, staffing and creative resources to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

On July 19, 1986, Caroline Kennedy married 41-year-old Schlossberg in an elaborate Cape Cod, Massachusetts wedding. Despite the family's efforts to avoid publicity, the wedding became a topic of wide interest in the media. A crowd of more than 2,000 spectators surrounded the church and a nearby hillside.

Advanced Education

Interested in politics, but not the limelight, Caroline quietly entered Columbia Law School. She graduated with little fanfare in 1988, during a private pre-commencement ceremony along with 380 other students. That same year, she gave birth to her first child, Rose. In 1989, the young lawyer stayed busy by establishing the Profile in Courage Awards, which honors elected officials who have shown political courage. She also began research on her first book.

Fascinated with constitutional law, Caroline co-wrote In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action with fellow law graduate Ellen Alderman. She refused to use her mother's publishing industry contacts, instead publishing the book through William Morrow & Co. in February 1991. She also surprised Washington officials and stumped the media the next year, when she turned down an offer to be chairwoman of the 1992 Democratic National Convention. Instead, the private Kennedy invested time in her family and personal projects.

More Family Tragedy

In 1994, Jackie Kennedy passed away after a long battle with lymphatic cancer. As a tribute to her mother's work in the arts, Caroline took on Jackie's role as the honorary chairperson at the American Ballet Theatre. In addition to her charitable work, Caroline co-wrote another book entitled The Right to Privacy (1995). She also took up her role as the guardian of the Kennedy name, spending several difficult months trying to settle her mother's $200 million estate while under heavy public scrutiny.

In 1998, Caroline and her brother went public in an auction dispute against Evelyn Lincoln, President John F. Kennedy's former secretary, who attempted to sell "intensely personal" pieces of memorabilia that belonged to their father.

On July 16, 1999, Caroline endured more hardship when her only sibling, brother John F. Kennedy Jr., was killed along with his wife and sister-in-law, in a plane crash near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. While the tragedy's effect on Caroline was kept private, the only remaining heir to the Kennedy legacy quickly took up the family mantle. In 2000, she finally agreed to become a speaker at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

Work and Politics

She also kept writing. To honor her late mother, Caroline Kennedy helped create The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis , published in 2001. She has also served as editor for two other anthologies: Profiles in Courage for Our Time (2002) and A Patriot's Handbook: Songs, Poems and Speeches Every American Should Know (2003). She published A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children in 2005, and her latest work, A Family Christmas, in 2007.

Caroline Kennedy serves as a member of the national board of directors for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, vice chair for the Fund for Public Schools in New York City, and chief executive for the New York City Department of Education Office of Strategic Partnerships.

In 2008, the famously private Caroline Kennedy made headlines when she was rumored as a possible candidate for Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat. Caroline later withdrew her bid for the post, citing personal reasons.

Japan's U.S. Ambassador

On July 24, 2013, Caroline was nominated U.S. ambassador to Japan by President Barack Obama, putting to rest much speculation in the media regarding her likelihood to win the title. She was officially approved by the U.S. Senate in October. Caroline succeeded John Roos, who had served as Japan's U.S. ambassador since August 2009. Among those to formerly hold the role are Walter Mondale, Howard Baker and Tom Foley.

Personal Life

Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg have three children: Rose, Tatiana and Jack.

Watch the full biography of Caroline Kennedy on HISTORY Vault

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Caroline Kennedy
• Birth Year: 1957
• Birth date: November 27, 1957
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: New York
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Writer, lawyer and diplomat, Caroline Kennedy is the only surviving child of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
• Journalism and Nonfiction
• Astrological Sign: Sagittarius
• Radcliffe College
• Columbia Law School

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Caroline Kennedy Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/history-culture/caroline-kennedy
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: September 15, 2022
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he left a dead bear in Central Park as a prank

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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. once retrieved a bear that was killed by a motorist and left it in New York's Central Park with a bicycle on top, sparking a mystery that consumed the city a decade ago.

Kennedy describes the incident in a video that was posted to social media Sunday, adding it will be included in a forthcoming New Yorker article that he expects to be damaging.

It's the latest bizarre incident in Kennedy's quixotic campaign that has divided his famous family and left Republicans and Democrats alike concerned about his potential impact on the presidential contest. Kennedy has acknowledged a parasite that lodged in his brain and died. He denied eating a dog after a friend shared a photo with Vanity Fair magazine showing Kennedy dramatically preparing to take a bite of a charred animal; Kennedy said it was a goat.

In the video, Kennedy recounts the story to actress Roseanne Barr. He says he was heading to a falconry excursion with friends when a woman driving ahead of him hit and killed the young bear with her vehicle. He says he put it in his own vehicle, intending to skin it and eat the meat, but the day got away from him.

Eventually, he says, he was in Manhattan and needed to get the bear carcass out of his vehicle. His friends, fueled by alcohol, concocted the Central Park plan as a prank, he said, adding he was not drunk himself. At the time, bicycle accidents were getting significant media attention, so Kennedy and his friends thought it would be funny to make it look like the bear was hit by a bicycle.

Two women walking their dogs found the dead bear and alerted authorities, touching off a mystery that captivated the city for a few days. Bears are not among the park's known wildlife population.

The bike was dusted for prints and the animal sent to Albany for a necropsy, which determined the bear was likely hit by a vehicle and was not a victim of animal cruelty. But how the bear ended up in Central Park remained a mystery.

“I was worried because my prints were all over that bike,” Kennedy tells Barr in the video.

Missing 80-year-old saved by devoted Lab who waited with her for days until rescuers came

This is the story of elsie, a very devoted lab, who was with her 80-year-old owner when they got lost, and stayed by her side for 3 days and 2 nights until elsie could alert nearby rescue crews..

They say a dog is a man's (or woman's) best friend and this 5-year-old chocolate Labrador proves it, staying by his owner's side for three days and two nights as crews searched for the missing woman.

An 80-year-old woman from Colorado who has dementia was visiting her family's summer home in a remote area of central Utah when she wandered out of their cabin last month. Elsie, a 5-year-old chocolate Labrador, was by her side. When the woman's family, who were busy making dinner, realized she had gone missing, they went looking for her. When they were unable to find her, they alerted authorities and contacted the Emery County Sheriff’s Office for help. Multiple rescue crews with various agencies sprang into action to locate the missing lady and dog but were unsuccessful in their efforts.

Ralph Mitchell, a resident of the Joes Valley located in the remote mountains of central Utah, who has known the missing woman's family for over 50 years told USA TODAY an extensive search involving the sheriff's office, local authorities and members of the community was conducted to locate the woman. Helicopters and drones were deployed, personnel were dispatched on motorcycles and trail bikes, and members of the community went door to door looking for the woman, Mitchell said. No expense was spared, and all surrounding areas were checked continuously for two days and two nights.

James Thomas, a K9 officer with the Utah Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division, told USA TODAY that he and his K9 Kip joined search efforts on the second day the woman was missing. Kip is trained to pick up human tracks and odors, Thomas said.

Thomas explained that high temperatures in the mornings and afternoons hindered their search and "working at night," when the temperatures were cooler was the "best option" for them. Thomas said during their search they heard faint dog barks multiple times alerting them and giving them an idea "where to start looking a little bit more in depth."

"When I was out checking the outbuildings, I heard a dog bark and it was brief," Mitchell said. "I was in a very good position to get a direction on where this dog bark was coming from."

When he heard the bark, he reached out to the missing woman's husband telling her what he heard, and the husband told him that their pet of five years had also been missing with the woman.

Security footage gives investigators direction

On the morning of the third day, Thomas said authorities were able to get hold of security footage from one of the neighbor's cameras, that showed the woman walking past that cabin with her dog.

"It was the first evidence that we had of her presence, and it gave us a timeline of when she was out in walking and how long she'd been missing," Mitchell said.

Thomas said the footage gave them an idea of which direction the woman may have headed in, and he and Mitchell split ways and "hit the hillsides" to continue their search.

Rugged terrain and steep climb

Mitchell said he followed his instincts, having years of training as a first responder under his belt, and went in the direction where heard the barking, even though the terrain was getting extremely rugged, steep and brushy.

"I can see why the K-9 unit had discontinued their search in that area," Mitchell said. "It was very unlikely that this 80-year-old woman would have gone up into such a rough country, but I kept going."

Mitchell said he saw a couple of very slight tracks showing someone had passed that way, despite the ground being very dry and hot. Mitchell continued to follow the tracks, passing through thick brush laced with cactus and rocks, and calling out the dog, until he came about 15 feet of the woman.

That's when the dog barked again, Mitchell said, leading them to the woman.

Woman found with dog by her side

When she was finally found after an extensive search of three days and two nights, Thomas said the woman was asleep with her face down and her dog right by her side. Mitchell said she had sticks in her hair and had lost her shoes.

"She was all scratched up and had bruises on her arms," Thomas said, adding she was also "super dehydrated."

However, she was alert and was happy to see all those who came to rescue her, said Thomas. He shared that the woman did not have any recollection of her ordeal and trauma.

Because there was no cell phone coverage in the area, Mitchell said he started yelling and whistling to alert the family and neighbors, before going down the hill to get them along with water and other provisions for first aid.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, in a post on Facebook , said the woman was transported to a local hospital for medical evaluation and Mitchell told USA TODAY Wednesday that the woman is back home and doing well.

Mitchell said the family is incredibly grateful towards everyone involved in rescuing the missing woman and especially thanked him for not only saving the matriarch of their family, but also saved a lifetime of memories for them in a place that they love to be in.

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As for Elsie, Mitchell said she was taken to a vet for a checkup and was dehydrated but is doing well.

"In my story, the outcome is that the dog ultimately is responsible for me being able to find her," Mitchell said. "The dog is ultimately the hero in all this for her loyalty to her owner. That dog's determination to stay with her owner and her devotion and dedication is really commendable."

"Most likely the brief barking that I heard and led me to find her was probably the dog defending the owner from a coyote or another wild animal," he added.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources also credited the woman's rescue to her dog, saying that its barking alerted those searching in the area.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.