Caroline Bouvier Kennedy[1][2] (born November 27, 1957[3]) is an American author, diplomat, and attorney who served as the United States ambassador to Australia from 2022 to 2024.

Kennedy graduated from Radcliffe College of Harvard University, and later attended Columbia Law School where she earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1988.

Kennedy worked at Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she met her future husband, designer Edwin Schlossberg.

She later stumped for him in Florida, Indiana, and Ohio, served as co-chair of his Vice Presidential Search Committee, and addressed the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

[7] Eight years later, Joe Biden appointed Kennedy as United States ambassador to Australia and she took office following her confirmation on June 10, 2022.

[10] As a small child, Kennedy received numerous gifts from dignitaries, including a puppy from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and a Yucatán pony from Vice President Lyndon B.

[18][19] Over that summer, Jacqueline took the children on a six-week "sentimental journey" to Ireland, where they met President Éamon de Valera and visited the Kennedy ancestral home at Dunganstown.

The incident caused their mother to telephone Ireland's Department of External Affairs and request the issuing of a statement that she and the children wanted to be left in peace.

A few days later she and her mother and brother attended the presentation by French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing of the Legion of Honor award to her aunt, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

[25] Later that year, Kennedy was visiting London to complete a year-long art course at the Sotheby's auction house, when an IRA car bomb placed under the car of her hosts, Conservative MP Sir Hugh Fraser and his wife, Antonia, exploded shortly before she and the Frasers were due to leave for their daily drive to Sotheby's.

Kennedy had not yet left the house, but a neighbor, oncologist Professor Gordon Hamilton Fairley, was passing by when he was walking his dog and was killed by the explosion.

[30] In 1977, she worked as a summer intern at the New York Daily News, earning $156 a week ($784 in 2023 dollars), "fetching coffee for harried editors and reporters, changing typewriter ribbons and delivering messages.

[34] On December 4, 1984, Kennedy was threatened when a man telephoned the museum and stated his name and address while reporting that a bomb had been planted there.

Raised in Manhattan and somewhat separated from their Hyannis Port, Massachusetts cousins,[40] Caroline and John Jr. were very close, especially following their mother's death in 1994.

[42] She decided that his remains would be cremated and his ashes scattered into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, where he met his fate.

[45] Kennedy owns Red Gate Farm, her mother's 375-acre (152 ha) estate in Aquinnah, Massachusetts (formerly Gay Head) on Martha's Vineyard.

Within this letter, Kennedy labelled her cousin a "predator" and stated his views and actions on vaccinations to be "hypocritical" and financially motivated.

During an interview regarding the volume, Kennedy explained that the two wanted to show why the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution was written.

[55]From 2002 through 2004, she worked as director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships for the New York City Department of Education, appointed by School Chancellor Joel Klein.

She is also a member of the boards of directors of the Commission on Presidential Debates and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and is an honorary chair of the American Ballet Theatre.

[64] On January 27, 2008, Kennedy announced in a New York Times op-ed piece entitled, "A President Like My Father," that she would endorse Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

"[66][67] Federal Election Commission records show that Kennedy contributed $2,300 to the Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign committee on June 29, 2007.

[68]On June 4, 2008, Obama named Kennedy, along with Jim Johnson (who withdrew one week later) and Eric Holder, to co-chair his Vice Presidential Search Committee.

[83] She was criticized for not voting in a number of Democratic primaries and general elections since registering in 1988 in New York City[81] and for not providing details about her political views.

[83] In response, Kennedy released a statement through a spokeswoman that outlined some of her political views including that she supported legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, was pro-choice, against the death penalty, for restoring the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and believed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) should be re-examined.

[84][85] On foreign policy, her spokeswoman reiterated that Kennedy opposed the Iraq War from the beginning as well as that she believed that Jerusalem should be the undivided capital city of Israel.

[86][87] Kennedy declined to make disclosures of her financial dealings or other personal matters to the press, stating that she would not release the information publicly unless she were selected by Governor Paterson.

[90] Shortly before midnight on January 22, 2009, Kennedy released a statement that she was withdrawing from consideration for the seat, citing "personal reasons".

[104] On November 19, NHK showed live coverage of Kennedy's arrival at the Imperial Palace to present her diplomatic credentials to Emperor Akihito.

With representatives of 100 countries in attendance, Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe reiterated Japan's official support for the abolition of nuclear weapons.