Diplomat & Author
Caroline Kennedy: Biography at a Glance
- Bestselling Author, Attorney, and Diplomat Caroline Kennedy was the 29th United States Ambassador to Japan.
- Nominated by President Barack Obama, she was the first female Ambassador to Japan.
- During her tenure she helped realize the United States military's return of land on Okinawa to the Japanese government, the largest land transfer since 1972, became an advocate for Japanese women in business and politics, and played a pivotal role in President Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima.
Media
Biography
Bestselling Author, Attorney, and Diplomat Caroline Kennedy was the 29th United States Ambassador to Japan. Nominated by President Barack Obama, she was the first female Ambassador to Japan. During her tenure, she helped realize the United States military's return of land on Okinawa to the Japanese government, the largest land transfer since 1972, became an advocate for Japanese women in business and politics, and played a pivotal role in President Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima.
In her speaking events, Kennedy weaves together lessons from history, her family legacy, and her work in public service to illustrate how to uphold our ideals and values as Americans. An advocate for education, she also speaks to its importance for our communities, and how raising engaged, informed citizens will preserve our democracy.
The eldest child of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Caroline is the Honorary President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and a member of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 1989, she established the Profile in Courage Award which honors elected officials who have shown political courage.
From law and politics to education reform and charitable work, Ambassador Kennedy has committed her life to public service, working as a member and founder of numerous non-profits, boards, and foundations. She publicly endorsed Barack Obama for president by penning the essay “A President Like My Father” for The New York Times and later became the co-chair of his vice-presidential search committee.
From 2002-2011, Kennedy was Vice Chair of the Fund for Public Schools, helping to raise over $285 million for education in New York City. She was also the director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships for the New York City Department of Education from 2002 to 2004.
Kennedy has authored, co-authored, or edited more than a dozen books on American history, politics, constitutional law, and poetry, with 10 New York Times bestsellers, including She Walks in Beauty: A Woman’s Journey Through Poems and A Family of Poems. In 2011, she released Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, an audio collection of several interviews with Jacqueline Kennedy and her insights on the many significant people and events that shaped JFK’s most momentous decisions.
Fascinated with constitutional law, Caroline co-wrote In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action with fellow law graduate Ellen Alderman in honor of the two-hundredth anniversary of the Bill of Rights.
Caroline Kennedy is a member of the national board of directors for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Kennedy holds a B.A. in Fine Arts from Harvard University and a J.D. from Columbia University.
Topics
Engaged Citizenship: From Leadership to Public Service
Attorney and author of In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action, Caroline Kennedy has been a lifelong proponent of public service who heeds her own call, having served as the first female U.S. ambassador to Japan, the Vice Chair of the Fund for Public Schools, and the director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships for the NYC Department of Education.
In this discussion, Kennedy emphasizes our responsibility to participate in our democracy and the potential for change within each of us. With a family legacy steeped in politics and public service, Kennedy is an exemplary voice for the participation of every American citizen in our democracy. Weaving familial anecdotes throughout this conversation, Kennedy discusses her own upbringing and influences, and emphasizes her family’s belief that service can begin at any age and never really ends, proven by her own campaigning grandmother.
Growing up Kennedy: Preserving the Family Legacy
For more than half a century, Americans have been captivated by the Kennedy family. The joys and heartbreaks, tragedies and triumphs have cast a lasting impact in the political and public imagination. The Kennedy legacy is woven through American life in ways that will never disappear.
In this deeply poignant speech, Caroline revisits her early years in the White House, the difficult years after “Camelot,” and the lasting legacy of leadership and call to service inspired by her father. She also shares her family’s remarkable philanthropic work, their ongoing influence in politics, and the ways in which the next generation will uphold the Kennedy name.
The Value of Education
Drawing from nearly a decades’ worth of experience in funding schools and supporting education reform, Caroline Kennedy knows not only the cost — but the true value of an education.
Citing her parents as the inspiration for her commitment to education, Caroline reflects on the Kennedy’s shared intellectual curiosity and love of reading and history and speaks of her deeply instilled passion for learning while inspiring this passion in others.
For eight years Kennedy was the Vice Chair of the Fund for Public Schools where she led philanthropic efforts to raise more than $285 million for education in NYC, and two years as the director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships for the New York City Department of Education.
Celebrating America: Our Ideals and Freedoms
Over the past few years, we have all thought about what it means to be an American, from the ideals upon which this country was founded to the sacrifices that have been made to ensure them.
The daughter of one of our country’s most beloved and celebrated Presidents, Caroline Kennedy is a firm believer in the ideals we hold as Americans and is a champion of preserving our rights. Drawing from her book, A Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories, and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love, Kennedy explores the foundations of our American democracy and celebrates the free world with patriotism and pride.
