Jean Kennedy Smith facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jean Kennedy Smith
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Kennedy c. 1953
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| United States Ambassador to Ireland | |
| In office June 24, 1993 – September 17, 1998 |
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| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | William H. G. FitzGerald |
| Succeeded by | Mike Sullivan |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jean Ann Kennedy
February 20, 1928 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | June 17, 2020 (aged 92) New York City, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
Stephen Edward Smith
(m. 1956; died 1990) |
| Children | 4, including William |
| Parents | Joseph P. Kennedy Rose Fitzgerald |
| Relatives | Kennedy family |
| Education | Manhattanville College (BA) |
Jean Ann Kennedy Smith (February 20, 1928 – June 17, 2020) was an Irish-American diplomat, activist, humanitarian, and author who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998. She was a member of the Kennedy family, the eighth of nine children, and youngest daughter, born to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald. Her siblings included President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy, and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver. She was also a sister-in-law of Jacqueline Kennedy.
As Ambassador to Ireland, Smith was instrumental in the Northern Ireland peace process as President Bill Clinton's representative in Dublin. She was heavily criticized after urging the U.S. State Department to grant a visa to Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, although her family said this step influenced the Provisional IRA in its declaration of a ceasefire in 1994. However, Adams has said it was President Clinton who led the Northern Ireland peace process, and that during the process, Smith relied on advice from an influential Belfast priest. President of Ireland Mary McAleese conferred honorary Irish citizenship on Smith in 1998, in recognition of her service to the country.
Smith was the founder of Very Special Arts (VSA), an internationally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to creating a society where people with disabilities can engage with the arts. In 2011, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, by President Barack Obama for her work with VSA and with people with disabilities.
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Early years
Jean Ann Kennedy was born on February 20, 1928, at St. Margaret's Center for Women and Children in the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts, on her elder sister Kathleen's eighth birthday. Kennedy was the eighth of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Kennedy. Her other siblings were Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., U.S. President and Senator John F. Kennedy, Rose Marie Kennedy, Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Patricia Kennedy Lawford, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy. She has been described as having been the shyest and most guarded of the Kennedy children. She attended Manhattanville College (at the time a Society of the Sacred Heart school, and still located in Purchase, New York), where she befriended future sisters-in-law Ethel Skakel (who married Jean's older brother Robert in 1950) and Joan Bennett (who married Jean's younger brother Ted in 1958). Kennedy graduated from Manhattanville in 1949.
Career
Political involvement
Kennedy (known as Jean Kennedy Smith following her 1956 marriage to Stephen Edward Smith) was intricately involved with the political career of her older brother John. She worked on his 1946 congressional campaign, his 1952 Senate campaign, and, ultimately, his presidential campaign in 1960. She and her siblings helped John knock on doors in primary states such as Texas and Wisconsin, and on the campaign trail played the role of sister more than volunteer, citing her parents' family lesson of "working together for something".
Smith and her husband were present at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, during the assassination of her older brother Robert F. Kennedy, after he had won the 1968 California Democratic primary.
Very Special Arts
In 1974, Smith founded Very Special Arts, now known as the Department of VSA and Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. VSA provides arts and education programming for youth and adults with disabilities. As of 2011, VSA's programs reportedly served "some 276,000 students in 43 states and 52 countries". Smith traveled extensively throughout the world on behalf of VSA to advocate for greater inclusion in the arts for people with disabilities. Her book, Chronicles of Courage: Very Special Artists, co-written with George Plimpton, was published by Random House in April 1993.
U.S. Ambassador to Ireland
In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Smith the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, continuing a legacy of diplomacy begun by her father, who was the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom during the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As ambassador, Smith played a pivotal role in the Northern Ireland peace process. As a demonstration of her ecumenical views, on at least one occasion, she received communion in a cathedral of the Church of Ireland, an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion.
President of Ireland Mary McAleese conferred honorary Irish citizenship on Smith in 1998, in recognition of her service to the country. During a ceremony, McAleese praised Smith's "fixedness of purpose". Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern told Smith, "You have helped bring about a better life for everyone throughout Ireland."
On July 4, 1998, about three months after the historic Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998, Smith retired as ambassador to Ireland.
Awards, and later work
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Smith won several awards for her work in Ireland and in the disability community. She was awarded honorary citizenship by the Government of Ireland in 1998. In 2007, Smith received the Gold Medal Award from the Éire Society of Boston for her peace efforts in Northern Ireland and for her humanitarian work with disabled children. In 2009, Smith and Ted Kennedy were honored with the Tipperary Peace Prize for their support of the peace process in Northern Ireland.
In February 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Smith the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, for her work with people with disabilities.
On March 15, 2011, Smith was inducted into Irish America magazine's Irish America Hall of Fame.
Smith was listed as Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith in the credits of the 2012 movie Lincoln for portraying a "woman shouter".
In October 2016, Smith published The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy, a memoir of the Kennedy clan.
Personal life
On May 19, 1956, Jean Kennedy married businessman Stephen Edward Smith in the Lady Chapel of St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. The Smiths maintained a lower profile than some other members of the extended Kennedy family. Stephen and Jean had two biological sons, Stephen, Jr., and William, and later adopted two daughters, Amanda and Kym.
Stephen Edward Smith died of cancer on August 19, 1990.
Smith died at her home in Manhattan on June 17, 2020, at the age of 92; she was the last surviving, and the longest-lived, of the nine Kennedy children.
See also
In Spanish: Jean Kennedy Smith para niños
