Jean Kennedy Smith
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Jean Kennedy Smith was born Jean Ann Kennedy on February 20, 1928 in Brookline, Massachusetts, the eighth of the nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.
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[edit] Early life and family life
Smith was the shyest and most guarded of the Kennedy children. Her mother said, of her youngest daughter, "She was born so late, that she only was able to enjoy the tragedies, and not the triumphs." She attended Manhattanville College (which at that time was a Sacred Heart school), where she met and befriend two future sisters-in-law: Ethel Skakel, who married Robert in 1950, and Virginia Joan Bennett, who married Edward in 1958.
On May 19, 1956 in the small chapel of St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, she married Stephen Edward Smith, a businessman who helped run the Cleary Brothers Company, the family boat and shipping business. He later took over the Kennedy families' finances and became a political advisor and campaign manager for the Kennedy brothers. Both Stephen and Jean Smith were present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when Jean's brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y., was shot and fatally wounded by Sirhan Sirhan the night RFK won the 1968 California Democratic presidential primary.
The Smiths maintained a lower profile than some other members of the extended Kennedy family. During the early 1960s, they settled in New York City. Smith had two sons, Stephen Smith, Jr. (born 1957) and William Kennedy Smith (born 1960), and adopted two daughters, Amanda Mary Smith (born 1967) and Kym Maria (born 1972 in Vietnam).
Stephen Smith died of cancer on August 19, 1990. In 1991, Smith's son William, then a medical student at Georgetown University Medical School, was accused of rape in Florida (he was acquitted).
[edit] Ambassador to Ireland
In 1993, Smith was appointed by President Bill Clinton as the American Ambassador to Ireland, continuing a legacy of diplomacy begun by her father, who was the Ambassador to the Court of St. James's during the Roosevelt administration. As ambassador, Smith played a pivotal role in the peace process in that region for almost five years before resigning the post.
Smith's time as ambassador was marked by controversy. She was reprimanded by Secretary of State Warren Christopher for retaliating against two foreign service officers at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin who refused to grant a visa to Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams.[1] The Foreign Service Journal called the Department of State's report on the matter "scathingly critical."[2]
Smith had an uncredited role in the 1996 movie Michael Collins.
In 1998 she was awarded honorary Irish citizenship by the Irish Government.[3]
[edit] Philanthropy and later life
In 1974 Smith founded the Very Special Arts, a nonprofit organization which promotes the artistic talents of mentally and physically challenged children. She also sits on the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
As of 2007, she commutes between New York City and Washington D.C.. She is the second oldest surviving child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy.
[edit] References
- ^ Engleberg, Stephen, "U.S. Says Envoy to Ireland Wrongly Punished 2 Colleagues", The New York Times, March 8, 1996.
- ^ Gilbert, Richard, "Dissent in Dublin - For 2 FSOs, Cable Drew Retribution And Frustration", Foreign Service Journal, July 1996.
- ^ "Ambassador J. Kennedy Smith Is Fellow at Institute of Politics", The Harvard University Gazette, October 14, 1999. Retrieved January 31, 2007
