Everything about Jean Ann Kennedy totally explained
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.
Early life and family life
Jean 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 (at the time 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
Ted in 1958.
On
May 19,
1956 in the small chapel of
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, Jean Kennedy 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-NY) was shot and fatally wounded by
Sirhan Sirhan the night that Kennedy 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. Jean Kennedy Smith gave birth to 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 Smith (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.
Ambassador to Ireland
In
1993, Jean Kennedy Smith was appointed by President
Bill Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to
Ireland, continuing a legacy of diplomacy begun by her father, who was 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. The
Foreign Service Journal called the Department of State's report on the matter "scathingly critical."
Jean Kennedy Smith had an uncredited role in the
1996 movie
Michael Collins.
In 1998 she was awarded honorary
Irish citizenship by the
Irish Government.
In 2007 Jean Kennedy Smith received the Gold Medal Award from the Éire Society of Boston
(External Link
) for her peace efforts in Northern Ireland and for her humanitarian work with disabled children, and was mentioned in the August/September 2007 Issue of Irish American Magazine.
Philanthropy and later life
In
1974 Jean Kennedy 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, Smith commutes between
New York City and
Washington, D.C.. She is the second eldest surviving child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Jean Ann Kennedy'.
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