Jean Kennedy Smith

Jean Ann Kennedy Smith (née Kennedy; February 20, 1928 – June 17, 2020) was an American diplomat, activist, humanitarian, and author who served as United States Ambassador to Ireland from 1993 to 1998. A member of the Kennedy family, Kennedy was the eighth of nine children (and youngest daughter) born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy. Her siblings included President of the United States John F. Kennedy, United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, United States Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Rosemary Kennedy, and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

As Ambassador to Ireland, Smith was instrumental in the Northern Ireland peace process as President Bill Clinton's representative in Dublin. She successfully urged President Clinton to grant a controversial visa to Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams; Adams's ensuing trip to the United States helped lead to an Irish Republican Army ceasefire. Smith was later reprimanded by Secretary of State Warren Christopher for retaliating against two employees who disagreed with her stance on the Adams visa. Smith stepped down from her ambassador position shortly after the signing of the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998. 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 VSA Kennedy Center (previously Very Special Arts), 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.

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 Kennedy Cavendish's eighth birthday. Kennedy was the eighth of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. 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.

Kennedy has been described as 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 Kennedy (who married Kennedy's older brother Robert in 1950) and Joan Bennett Kennedy (who married Kennedy's younger brother Ted in 1958). Kennedy graduated from Manhattanville in 1949.

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 in Boston, his 1952 U.S. Senate campaign in Massachusetts, and, ultimately, his presidential campaign in 1960. She and her siblings helped John knock on doors in primary states such as West Virginia 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".

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.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Smith the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. The appointment continued a legacy of diplomacy begun by Smith's father, Joseph Kennedy, 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 significant role in the Northern Ireland peace process.