Jean Kennedy Smith
Headshot for Jean Kennedy Smith
Agent: Laurie Abkemeier

Jean Kennedy Smith was the eighth child and youngest daughter of Rose and Joseph Kennedy. She worked for her brother John F. Kennedy during his 1946 election to Congress, his Senate campaign in 1952, and his victorious run for the White House in 1960. She also worked for her other brothers, Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, in their bids for national office. Kennedy Smith became a political figure in her own right in 1993, when President Bill Clinton nominated her to be U.S. ambassador to Ireland, a post she held until 1998. In 2010, Kennedy Smith traveled to Ireland to accept a peace prize for her role in the 1998 Northern Ireland peace agreement. She was the founder of Very Special Arts (VSA), an international educational affiliate of the Kennedy Center that provides opportunities in the creative arts for 7 million people with disabilities every year. She was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served for multiple years as a member of the board of trustees of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

  • THE NINE OF US: Growing Up Kennedy
    Harper, 2016