Jean Kennedy Smith

Infobox Ambassador


name=Jean Kennedy Smith
image_size=
order= 25^th
ambassador_from=United States
country=Ireland
term_start=June 17, 1993
term_end=September 17, 1998
predecessor=William Henry Gerald FitzGerald
successor=Michael J. Sullivan
birth_date=birth date and age|mf=yes|1928|2|20
birth_place= Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
birth_name= Jean Ann Kennedy
death_date=
death_place=
spouse=Stephen Edward Smith (1956 - 1990; his death)
children=Stephen Smith, Jr. and William Kennedy Smith and Amanda Mary Smith and Kym Maria
relations= Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald
party=Democratic
profession=Politician
religion= Roman Catholic
alma_mater= Manhattanville College

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 Kennedy née Fitzgerald.

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 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 1965) 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. As a demonstration of her ecumenical views she received communion in a Church of Ireland Cathedral on at least one occasion. 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. [Engleberg, Stephen, "U.S. Says Envoy to Ireland Wrongly Punished 2 Colleagues", "The New York Times", March 8, 1996.] The "Foreign Service Journal" called the Department of State's report on the matter "scathingly critical." [Gilbert, Richard, [http://www.afsa.org/fsj/July/julfocus.cfm "Dissent in Dublin - For 2 FSOs, Cable Drew Retribution And Frustration"] , "Foreign Service Journal", July 1996.]

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. [ [http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/10.14/heffernan.html "Ambassador J. Kennedy Smith Is Fellow at Institute of Politics"] , "The Harvard University Gazette", October 14, 1999. Retrieved January 31, 2007]

In 2007 Jean Kennedy Smith received the Gold Medal Award from the Éire Society of Boston [http://www.eiresociety.org/goldmedal/2007/] 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.

Smith commutes between New York City and Washington, D.C.. She is the second eldest surviving child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy.

References

External links

*imdb name|0808651