08.07.2019 
The Kennedy family is one of the most authoritative political families in the United States, having produced a president, three senators, three ambassadors, and multiple politicians and human rights activists. In our previous article, we’ve covered the older generation in the Kennedy dynasty and now let’s move on to the younger one.
John and Jacqueline Kennedy Children
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is an author, attorney, and diplomat, and the only surviving of the former President and First Lady. After Radcliffe College, she worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There she met Edwin Schlossberg with whom she got married in 1986. She earned the Juris Doctor degree at Columbia Law School. She is the co-author of two books on civil liberties.
Caroline took part in the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Besides that, she was a member of Obama’s Vice Presidential Search Committee. After Hillary Clinton was appointed Secretary of State, Caroline expressed interest in the Senator seat however she later withdrew her candidacy because of personal reasons. From 2013 to 2017, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
John F. Kennedy Jr. was a lawyer, magazine publisher, and journalist. After completing Phillips Academy Andover, he went to study at Brown University where got a major in American studies. He also worked as a NYC state prosecutor.
From 1984 to 1986, Kennedy worked for the NYC Office of Business Development and served as deputy director of the 42nd Street Development Corporation in 1986. In 1988, he became a summer associate at a law firm that had connections with the Democratic Party.
From 1989, Kennedy founded Reaching Up, a not-for-profit organization that assists workers who helped the mentally challenged. The same year Kennedy received a Juris Doctor degree from the NYU School of Law. He managed to pass the bar exam twice only on the third try. In 1995, Kennedy and Michael Berman established the “George” magazine which covered politics as a lifestyle. In 1996, he married Carolyn Bessette however in 1999 the couple died in a plane crash.
Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver Children
Robert Sargent Shriver III is a lawyer and a journalist. He earned the Juris Doctor degree at Yale Law School in 1981.
He worked in a venture capital business as well as produced several films about Special Olympics which was established by his mother.
In 2002, he and Paul David Hewson (better known as Bono) founded DATA, a non-governmental organization that struggles to end extreme poverty and diseases in Africa. They also established a licensed brand that strives to involve private companies in fundraising to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in Africa.
In 2004, after Schwarzenegger was appointed the Governor of California, Shriver was reappointed the chairperson of the California State Park and Recreation Commission however in 2008, after his term expired, he wasn’t reappointed. The reason could be Shriver’s opposition to the toll-road extension.
In 2005, he married Malissa Feruzzi. The couple has two daughters.
Maria Shriver is a journalist, author, and former First Lady of California. She was married to an actor and former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, however, in 2011 the couple legally separated. They have four children.
She has received a Peabody Award and was co-anchor for NBC’s Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics.
She is currently a special anchor and correspondent for NBC News. She was an executive producer ” The Alzheimer’s Project: Caregivers”, an HBO documentary, and won two Emmy Awards for the film.
Maria Shriver is a member of the Board of Directors at Special Olympics and several programs helping people with intellectual disabilities, like Best Buddies.
Timothy Shriver received a bachelor’s degree at Yale University in 1981, a master’s degree in religion and religious education at The Catholic University of America in 1988, and the doctoral degree in education at the University of Connecticut in 1996.
He has served as a producer and co-producer on various shows. He spent 15 years as a teacher and took part in the creation of the Social Development Project at public schools in Connecticut. Also, he founded CASEL, an organization aimed at the advancement and implementation of social and emotional learning practices and policies.
Timothy Shriver is currently a member of the board of directors at Malaria No More, a not-for-profit organization that strives to end all deaths caused by malaria. Besides that, he chairs Special Olympics.
Mark Kennedy Shriver was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates and the president of Save the Children Action Network that struggles for protecting children across the world and providing them with education opportunities. Besides that, he is a senior vice president of U.S. Programs & Advocacy.
Shriver was a member of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Council in Maryland, the Board of Directors of the Public Justice Center, and the Governor’s Task Force on Alternative Sanctions to Incarceration in Maryland.
In 1992 he married Jeanne Eileen Ripp. The couple has three children.
Anthony Paul Kennedy founded Best Buddies International, an organization providing intellectually disabled people with social inclusion and job opportunities. Nowadays Best Buddies is a leading international not-for-profit organization establishing a volunteer movement helping people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Anthony graduated from Brown University and then went to Georgetown University from which he graduated with a double major in history and theology.
In 1993 he married Alina Mojica. The couple has five children.
Robert Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Children
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend graduated from the University of New Mexico. For a couple of years, she worked as an attorney in Connecticut while her husband studied at Yale Law School. Besides, she took part in her uncle Ted Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1980 and served as a policy analyst for the governor’s office in Massachusetts.
Kathleen served as a chairperson of the Governor’s Retirement Security Task Force for the State of Maryland, and an assistant attorney general. She currently serves as the Director of Retirement Security at the Economic Policy Institute. At the same time, she is a research professor at Georgetown University, where she founded the Center for Retirement Initiatives.
In 1973, she married David Lee Townsend and has four daughters.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy II is a businessman and politician. He sat at the House of Representatives, founded and led Citizens Energy Corporation, a not-for-profit energy company.
Kennedy studied at the University of California, Berkeley but dropped out. For some time he worked at a federally funded program aimed at fighting tuberculosis in the African-American community of San Francisco.
He expressed an interest in the seat in the 8th Congressional district of Massachusetts. Though his candidacy was contested by some well-known Democrats, he managed to win the primary and general elections and held the position until 1996. Also, he sat at the House Banking and House Veterans’ Affairs committees.
In 1979, Kennedy married Sheila Brewster Rauch. They have twin sons.
Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. is an activist, environmental lawyer, and author. He helped to establish Waterkeeper Alliance, a not-for-profit environmental organization, and now he is the president of the board there.
From 1986 to 2017, he was a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Besides, he was a member and chief prosecuting attorney at Hudson Riverkeeper until 2017. For over thirty years Kennedy taught environmental law at Pace Law School and is currently professor emeritus there.
Also, Kennedy wrote and edited many books, two of them even became New York Times bestsellers.
In 1982 Kennedy married Emily Ruth Black. They had two children but in 1994 the couple legally separated. The same year he married Mary Kathleen Richardson. They had four children. In 2010, Kennedy filed for divorce from Mary, and in 2012, Mary was found dead in her house. According to medical examination, death was the result of a suicide.
In 2014, Kennedy married Cheryl Hines.
David Anthony Kennedy and his father were very close and his assassination left an emotional scar on the boy. In 1973, he got a fractured vertebra in a car accident and became addicted to painkillers.
David studied American history at Middlesex School in Concord but dropped out on his second year. He wanted to become a journalist and worked as an intern at a Tennessee newspaper. In 1974 he and his siblings were the target of kidnap threats, and got under Secret Service protection.
Kennedy was diagnosed with infective endocarditis, an inflammation of the heart often associated with injection drug use. He overdosed on drugs in 1976 and 1978 and also was in trouble with the law. In 1984 he was found dead from a drug overdose at a hotel room.
Mary Courtney Kennedy Hill (known as Courtney) is a former representative for the UN AIDS foundation. While she was working at the Children’s Television Workshop she met Jeffrey Robert Ruhe, an ABC sports producer. The couple got married in 1980 however in 1990 they divorced.
In 1993, Courtney married Paul Michael Hill who was unjustly accused of several bombings executed by the IRA. The couple has a daughter. In 2016 the couple divorced.
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy graduated from Harvard College. After earning the Juris Doctor degree at the University of Virginia School of Law, he worked at a private law firm.
Michael headed his brother Joe’s organization, Citizens Energy Corporation. Besides that, he co-chaired the Walden Woods Project, co-founded Stop Handgun Violence, and helped to launch his uncle Ted’s re-election campaign for the Senate.
Kennedy married Victoria Denise Gifford in 1981. They had a son and two daughters. In 1997 Michael died in a skiing accident in Aspen Mountain.
Mary Kerry Kennedy is a human rights activist, author, and president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. She is the Honorary President of the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation of Europe.
Mary graduated from Brown University and received her Juris Doctor degree at Boston College Law School. She worked as a human rights activist and has been published in The New York Times, The Chicago Sun-Times, and The Boston Globe. She chairs the Amnesty International Leadership Council and works at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment. In 2017, she was awarded the Medal for Social Activism from the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.
In 1990, she married Andrew Cuomo. They have three daughters. In 2005, the couple divorced.
Christopher George Kennedy is a businessman, politician, and Chair of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc.
From 1997 to 1999, Christopher chaired the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau. During 2009-2015, he chaired the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois. Until 2012, he headed Merchandise Mart Properties. He was a candidate for a seat in the Democratic Party in 2018 election.
Kennedy got married to Sheila Sinclair-Berner in 1987. They have four children.
Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law. He wrote several books and his articles appeared in famous magazines like Escape Magazine and DoubleTake Magazine.
As a Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, he led human rights missions to Africa. Besides that, he co-founded the Urban Ecology Institute and collaborates with the Pearl Coalition to create a museum of the African American Slave escape recognition.
Though Matthew has never run for a public post, he was involved in many campaigns. He works as a counsel at the Strange and Butler law firm.
In 1991, he married Victoria Anne Strauss. They have a son and two daughters.
Douglas Harriman Kennedy graduated from Brown University and started his career at The Nantucket Beacon as a journalist. Later he worked at The New York Post. In 1996 he started working at Fox News.
In 2006, while working for the show The Big Story, he disapproved the idea to broadcast the film “Crocodile Hunter” that showed Steve Irwin’s, saying that he and his siblings “had to grow up with” repeatedly seeing broadcasts of his own father’s death.
He married Molly Elizabeth Stark in 1998. They have five children.
Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy is a documentary filmmaker. She graduated from Brown University in Providence and produces films addressing social issues such as nuclear radiation, the treatment of prisoners of war, addictions, and the U.S.-Mexico border.
She co-founded such projects as May Day Media and Moxie Firecracker Films. She co-produced such films as American Hollow, the Emmy Award-nominated series Pandemic: Facing AIDS, A Boy’s Life, Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable, Homestead Strike, 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America and many other films. Besides, she was a co-executive producer for Street Fight.
In 2001, Kennedy went to Cleveland to give a speech at the National Council of Jewish Women meeting. In 2009, she joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Rory Kennedy advocates for several social justice organizations.
In 1999, she married Mark Bailey. They have two daughters and one son.
Jean Kennedy Smith & Stephen Edward Smith Children
Stephen Edward Smith Jr. graduated from Harvard University and Columbia University. After law school, he served as an assistant district attorney in New York and later at the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees. After he left the Senate, Smith taught at Harvard University Law School. He is on the board of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises and delivered keynote presentations at annual conferences of the major family business organizations and continues to be active in Democratic politics.
Smith served on the board of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, the John F. Kennedy Library, Northeastern University, Citizens Energy, and INCAE. He serves at the International Economic Alliance that aims to promote innovative international trade.
Smith is actively involved in a number of medical and green technology businesses. He is a three-time winner of the Harvard-Danforth Award for excellence in teaching and is also the recipient of the prize by Lyndhurst Foundation for artistic and social achievements.
William Kennedy Smith is a physician. He focuses on landmines and the rehabilitation of landmine victims. He graduated from Salisbury School in Salisbury and received his undergraduate degree from Duke University; took up premedical postbaccalaureate studies at Bryn Mawr College; and received a medical degree at Georgetown University.
He founded Physicians Against Land Mines that is opposed to land mines usage and assists people injured in land mines. He is also the founder of the Center for International Rehabilitation. In 2014, Smith was elected to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in Washington D.C
In 1991 he was tried and acquitted on sexual assault. In 2004 he was accused of sexual assault by a former employee of the Center for International Rehabilitation but the lawsuit was later dismissed.
In 2011 he married Anne Henry. They have two children.
Ted Kennedy & Joan Bennett Children
Kara Kennedy Allen graduated from Tufts University. Before matriculating to the university, she worked on her father’s 1980 Presidential campaign. She worked at Fox News and was a producer for the television program Evening Magazine at WBZ-TV. She and her brother Ted co-managed their father’s 1988 re-election campaign.
Kennedy produced films for Very Special Arts to involve persons with disabilities in the arts. Besides that, she served as a director and a national trustee of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
She was a member of the National Advisory Board of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. In 2009, Kennedy received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
In 1990, Kennedy married Michael Allen but got divorced in 2001. The couple had two children
In 2002 Kennedy was diagnosed with lung cancer and had part of her lung removed. In 2011, she suffered a fatal heart attack after her daily workout.
Edward Moore Kennedy Jr. is a lawyer and politician. When he was twelve, he has diagnosed osteosarcoma in his right leg, and the leg was amputated.
Kennedy graduated from the St. Albans School and got a bachelor degree at Wesleyan University. After that, he earned a master’s degree at Yale University and a Juris Doctor degree at the University of Connecticut School of Law. In 2013, he received the Doctor of Laws degree at the University of New Haven.
Kennedy worked at the Wiggin & Dana law firm specializing in disability issues. He co-founded the Marwood Group that advises companies about healthcare and financial services. In 2014, he left the Marwood Group and joined Epstein Becker & Green where he advises healthcare, commercial and life science companies on issues related to healthcare reform policies. He is a member of the American Association of People with Disabilities board of directors.
In 2014, Kennedy was elected for a seat in the Connecticut State Senate and re-elected in 2016.
In 1993, he married Katherine Anne “Kiki” Gershman. The couple has two children
Patrick Joseph Kennedy II is a politician and mental health advocate. He graduated from Phillips Academy and received a bachelor degree at Providence College.
Kennedy won election to the Rhode Island House of Representatives when he was 21, becoming the youngest member of the Kennedy family to hold elected office.
From 1995 to 2011, Kennedy represented the 1st Congressional District of Rhode Island. Before being appointed to the Appropriations Committee, he served on the Natural Resources and Armed Services committees.
He authored and co-sponsored the Positive Aging Act, Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act the National Neurotechnology Initiative Act, the COMBAT PTSD Act, the Alzheimer’s Treatment and Caregiver Support Act, the Nurse-Family Partnership Act.
He founded the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse and chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and many other institutions.
Kennedy won the seat in the 1994 Rhode Island 1st congressional district and was re-elected every two years from 2008.
Since leaving Congress, Kennedy has spoken and written publicly about his struggle with bipolar disorder and drug addiction and has become an advocate for a stronger mental health care system in the USA.
In 2011 he co-launched One Mind, an organization dedicated to promoting the study of brain diseases.
In 2013, he founded The Kennedy Forum, a not-for-profit organization that aspires to transform mental health and addiction care delivery by uniting mental health advocates, government agencies, and businesses. Kennedy is a member of the board of directors of eight corporations involved in drug crisis issues.
In 2015, he co-authored a book detailing his journey through mental illness, addiction, and his advocacy for federal legislation in support of addiction and mental health healthcare. In 2016, Kennedy co-founded Advocates for Opioid Recovery.
Kennedy has acknowledged being treated for cocaine, alcohol and other drugs use. Due to his experience with addiction, Kennedy advocates against the legalization of recreational marijuana but supports its medical usage.
In 2011 Kennedy married Amy Savell. The couple has four children.
These are just basic facts about the members of the Kennedy family and their achievements – actually, they have done much more for the society and the country.
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