(Credit: Gage Skidmore, 2018)

Born:

  • 27 November 1957
  • New York Hospital, NYC

Parents:

  • John F. Kennedy
  • Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy

Education:

  • Attended Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London 1975-6
  • Received her BA in Fine Arts from Radcliffe College at Harvard University in 1980
  • Received her JD from Colombia Law School in 1988 (She passed her bar exam on the first try, though she never practiced)

Life, work, and accomplishments:

  • Current US ambassador to Australia; involved in the June 26, 2024 end of the longstanding case of Julian Assange
  • Former US ambassador to Japan 2013-2017; worked to strengthen the US-Japan alliance and was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, the highest foreign honor, for her service
  • Authored or edited 13 books on topics ranging from poetry to American history, politics, and law, as well as articles in famous newspapers such as Time Magazine and The New York Times
  • Prolific work in public service, including humanitarian work and aid, patronage of the arts and especially poetry, interest in international politics, cultivation of cultural exchange and learning, involvement for advocacy in racial justice, and reform efforts for New York City public schools, among other works.

“Growing older has taught me that the most important work is done not by those who seem the most important, but by those who care the most.” — Caroline Kennedy, April 2023, at the Connect+ Speaker Series in Australia