Jean Kennedy Smith: Former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland and Last Surviving

Jean Kennedy Smith was an American diplomat and philanthropist, the eighth of nine children of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, and the last survivor of her generation of the Kennedy family. Born Jean Ann Kennedy on February 20, 1928, in Dorchester, Boston, she graduated from Manhattanville College in 1949.

Smith worked on her brother John's campaigns in 1946, 1952 and 1960. In 1974 she founded Very Special Arts, an organization that promotes arts programs for people with disabilities, now part of the Kennedy Center. President Bill Clinton appointed her U.S. Ambassador to Ireland in 1993, and she urged him to grant a visa to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in 1994, a step seen as helping the IRA cease-fire and the peace process.

Smith was granted honorary Irish citizenship in 1998 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2011. She published the memoir The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy in 2016. She married Stephen Smith in 1956, and they had four children; he died in 1990. She died at her home in Manhattan on June 17, 2020, at age 92.

Achievements: Founded Very Special Arts (1974), U.S. Ambassador to Ireland (1993-1998), Presidential Medal of Freedom (2011), honorary Irish citizenship (1998).

Birth: February 20, 1928 - Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts.

Profession: Diplomat and philanthropist.

Interesting Facts: She was the last surviving child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. Her decision to support the Adams visa was controversial at the time.