#kennedy family
We’re just learning now that President Kennedy’s last surviving sibling, Jean Kennedy Smith, has passed away at the age of 92. Born February 20, 1928 in Boston, she was the second to last child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. She married Stephen Smith on May 19, 1956. Together they had two sons, Stephen Smith Jr. and William Kennedy Smith, and two adopted daughters, Amanda and Kim. After Stephen died in 1990, Jean was appointed the ambassador to Ireland by President Clinton in 1993, until her retirement in 1998. Like her sister Eunice, Jean was known for her work with disabled children and other people with disabilities. In 2011 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. In 2016, she wrote her memoir, “The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy.” Jean became the sole surviving Kennedy child after her youngest brother Teddy died in 2009, a few months after their older sister Eunice. She passed away at her home in Manhattan on June 17, 2020.
Happy birthday to this lovely lady
May God comfort Ethel and her family during this time ♀️
On many summer weekends, the Presidential helicopter would bring JFK to the Kennedy home in Hyannis Port. Edward M. Kennedy, JFK’s youngest brother, later recalled that the home on Cape Cod was “alive with children and good times.”
This clip is from a silent motion picture containing candid footage of JFK’s family weekend from the JFK Library: Hyannis Port, SquawIsland, Massachusetts, August 2-5, 1963.
This month’s #JFK100 theme is “candid photos,” join us for more informal videos and photos of JFK and family!
Jacqueline Kennedy started her first job in 1951 as the “Inquiring Camera Girl” for the Washington Times-Herald newspaper. As she roved around the city, she took pictures of people she encountered, asked them questions on the issues of the day, and wove their answers into her newspaper column. Among those she interviewed for her column was Richard Nixon. She also covered the first inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
During this time, Jacqueline met John F. Kennedy, who was a congressman and soon-to-be-elected senator from Massachusetts. They married in September, 1953. This clip of the couple with Ethel Kennedy is from a home movie taken by JFK’s close friend from WWII, Paul Fay.
-from the JFK Library. Our #JFK100 theme this month is Arts, Culture, and Jacqueline Kennedy. Join us for more about Jackie all month!
“I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself… I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.”
In May of 1961, President and Jacqueline Kennedy traveled to France for a state visit. Jacqueline had previously lived in France for a year and studied at the Sorbonne when she was 20 years old. Her return to France as First Lady drew adoring crowds who were won over by her appreciation of French culture and fluency in the language.
This video from the @JFKLibrary is from the United States Information Service film, “The Task Begun: President Kennedy in Europe, 1961.” Our #JFK100 theme this month is Arts, Culture, and Jacqueline Kennedy. Join us for more about Jackie all month!
1968, Joan at RFK’s funeral. “Joan found the mere contemplation of violence crippling. She was barely able to be present at the funeral. It had all been too overwhelming” (Lester David, 1974)
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On June 5, 1968, New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president. His death, which occurred only two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., came as a terrible shock to the already grieving nation.
Three days later, a funeral train carried his coffin from New York to its final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery. Hundreds of thousands of people stood patiently in the searing heat as the train traveled slowly en route to Washington, DC. Paul Fusco, then a staff photographer for LOOK magazine, accompanied the train on its journey. The images he made reveal the respect that the American people—both rich and poor, Black and white—held for RFK, a man who had come to symbolize social justice and hope for a better tomorrow.
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