The Kennedy Heirs: John, Caroline, and the New Generation
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The President and First Lady spent Christmas 1962 with Gustavo Paredes (left), who would go on to become a lifelong friend of John Jr.’s (here in his mother’s lap). In front of John is his cousin and best friend, Anthony Radziwill. (Cecil W. Stoughton/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
John Kennedy Jr. at about the age of three. Was there ever a cuter kid in the White House? (Cecil W. Stoughton/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
The Shriver family, in 1968, never thought of themselves as Kennedys; they were always proud of their own family identity forged by Eunice Kennedy Shriver (far left) and Sargent Shriver (far right). In the middle are Anthony, Maria, Bobby, Tim, and Mark. (Paul Slade/Globe Photos)
Of all the Kennedys of his generation, it was thought that Joseph Patrick Kennedy II (Joe) had the greatest chance of one day becoming President. Here he is at twenty-six, in 1978. (Frank Teti Collection/John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library and Museum)
Live-in housekeeper Ena Bernard loved the eleven children of Ethel and Robert Kennedy as if they were her own. Here she is with the two youngest, Rory, ten, and Douglas, eleven, in 1978. (Frank Teti Collection/John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library and Museum)
There seemed nothing his mother, Ethel, or his ten siblings could do to help David Kennedy battle his drug addiction. Here he is at a Kennedy family wedding in 1983. (Russell Turiak/Getty Images)
“I haven’t seen anything like that come down the pike since Jackie Bouvier,” exclaimed one Kennedy family lawyer about Victoria Reggie, who would become Ted’s second wife. Vicki eventually ushered in a new era of respect for feminism among the next generation of Kennedy men. Here she is with Ted in May of 1992, shortly after they became engaged. (Lisa Bul/AP/Rex/Shutterstock)
Kara Kennedy (right) faithfully protected her mom from a relative she believed was robbing her of her fortune. “I advocate for Joan Kennedy,” she told him. “Not you. And not anyone else!” Here are mother and daughter with Kara’s child Grace on Labor Day 1996. (Laura Cavanaugh/Globe Photos)
It was John Kennedy Jr. who counseled his cousin Michael during a sex scandal in 1997 that would jeopardize Joe’s chances of becoming Governor of Massachusetts. Left to right: Michael, John, and Joe. (Rex Features)
“So, this is the girl you’re going to hell for?” John asked Michael when shown a photograph of the teenager at the center of the controversy—the young and pretty Marisa Verrochi. (Kevin Wisnewski/Rex/Shutterstock)
Though Victoria Gifford Kennedy tried to understand her husband, Michael, she had to make some very tough decisions about her marriage. Here she is supported by her mother-in-law, Ethel, on one of the worst days of her life, outside Our Lady of Victory church in Centerville, Massachusetts. Behind her is Michael’s brother-in-law Andrew Cuomo and Victoria’s father, Frank Gifford. (Mark Lennihan/AP/Rex/Shutterstock)
The burgeoning political career of Congressman Joseph Patrick Kennedy II was cut short after Sheila Rauch (left) wrote a controversial book about their marriage. Here are the two with twin sons Joseph III and Matthew. Joseph would grow up to become a successful congressman in his own right. (Ira Wyman/Sygma via Getty Images)
Though John Kennedy and his sister, Caroline, had to agree to disagree about his wife, Carolyn Bessette, they remained true to the family ideals passed on to them by their mother, Jackie. Here they are in Boston at the annual Profile in Courage Awards on May 29, 1998. (Elise Amendola/AP/Rex/Shutterstock)
“Do not let Kennedy men influence you into bad behavior. You can’t take the bait!” Those were Ethel Kennedy’s words to Carolyn Bessette after her very public spat with John Kennedy in Central Park. Here a glowing Carolyn poses at the gala event of the Municipal Art Society of New York in September of 1998. (Sonia Moskowitz/Globe Photos)
Kerry Kennedy Cuomo and her husband, Andrew Cuomo, arrive at the Spotlight Awards Benefit in New York on November 12, 2001. As often happens to political powerhouse couples, a total focus on public service eventually undermined their marriage. (Kelly Jordan/Globe Photos)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Mary Richardson Kennedy at a gala celebrating the Sundance Institute’s twentieth anniversary in New York on April 23, 2002. Soon Mary would fall victim to the serious mental disorders that had plagued her for most of her life. (Acepixs/Image Collect)
In June of 2008, Ena Bernard, who worked for Ethel Kennedy for forty-four years, celebrated her one hundredth birthday. Here she is at the celebration with her daughter, Josefina, seventy-three, who grew up as part of the Kennedy family, having moved in with them when she was seventeen. (Willie L. Hill Jr.)
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was just three months old when Ena went to work for the Kennedys in October of 1951. Here Kathleen, almost sixty, poses with Ena at her birthday party. (Willie L. Hill Jr.)
Ethel, just twenty-three when she hired Ena, had her share of big battles with her. Here she is at eighty talking over old times with her trusted friend. (Willie L. Hill Jr.)
Ena was present for the birth of each of these Kennedy siblings. Top row, left to right: Bobby Jr., fifty-four; Max, forty-three; Fina, seventy-three; Kerry, forty-eight; Joe, fifty-eight, with his wife Beth, and sister Courtney, fifty-one. Bottom row: Kathleen, fifty-nine; Ena; Ethel, eighty; and Chris, forty-five. (Willie L. Hill Jr.)
Ted’s two wives, Joan Kennedy and Victoria Reggie Kennedy, at Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s funeral on August 14, 2009. Before Vicki married into the Kennedy family, Joan gave her fair warning: “Those men do not respect women. Period!” (Darren McCollester/Getty Images)
Noelle Bombardier worked at Hickory Hill for many years as its estate manager. She quit after a botched kidnapping attempt of her daughter, Danielle. Here she’s reunited with Courtney Kennedy Hill at a concert in Washington in 2006. (Noelle Bombardier)
Arnold Schwarzenegger deeply regretted ruining his marriage to Maria Shriver. “A lot of people, no matter how successful or unsuccessful, make stupid choices involving sex,” he would observe. Maria filed for divorce in June of 2011. (Reed Saxon/AP/REX/Shutterstock)
On June 22, 2013, Tatiana, Jack, Rose, and their parents, Ed Schlossberg and Caroline Kennedy, attended a ceremony to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the 1963 visit by President John F. Kennedy to New Ross, Ireland (where his great-grandfather had lived before he immigrated to Boston in 1847). (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Getty Images)
After Rose Kennedy died, it fell upon Ethel Kennedy to take over as matriarch of a new generation of Kennedys. To this day, she continues to rule not only with love but an iron fist. Here she is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama on November 24, 2014. (Michael Reynolds/Epa/Rex/Shutterstock)
Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III delivered the Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on January 30, 2018. After hearing his eloquent speech, many political pundits began to view him as the next great political hope for the Kennedys. (Aflo/Rex/Shutterstock)
Ed Schlossberg and Caroline Kennedy, together for thirty-eight years, have a bond that has never been broken. “Marriage is about forgiveness,” she once mysteriously observed. Here they are arriving at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston for 2018’s Profile in Courage Awards on May 20, 2018. (Steven Senne/AP/Rex/Shutterstock)
Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. inspired all of the next generation of Kennedys. Here he celebrates his seventy-fifth birthday, on September 7, 1963, with his grandchildren in Hyannis Port. Left to right, as identified by the JFK Library: Kerry Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy (behind), Courtney Kennedy, Timothy Shriver (in front), Victoria Lawford (behind), Maria Shriver, Sydney Lawford, Christopher Lawford, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (seated), Kathleen Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr. (sits in front), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (holding John Jr.), Michael Kennedy (right of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.), David Kennedy (behind), Rose F. Kennedy, Robin Lawford, Robert Shriver III (behind Robin), Joseph P. Kennedy II (in back), Stephen Smith Jr., and William Smith (in front). (Cecil W. Stoughton/John F. Kennedy Presidential Libr
ary and Museum)
President Kennedy with his children, Caroline and John, in the Colonnade of the West Wing of the White House on March 28, 1963. (Cecil W. Stoughton/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Father-son time: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his namesake, John Jr. John’s memory of his dad would always be a little foggy; he was about two and a half when this picture was taken on March 28, 1963. (Cecil W. Stoughton/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Kirk LeMoyne (Lem) Billings would go on to mentor many of the next generation of Kennedys. Here he is (sitting in the back of the golf cart) in Atoka, Virginia, with his close friend the President, the First Lady, and John Jr., on October 27, 1963. (Cecil W. Stoughton/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Good-looking Kennedy cousins: John Kennedy Jr., sixteen, with Maria Shriver, twenty-one, in 1976. (Globe Photos)
Robert Kennedy Jr. and his first wife, Emily, in Virginia, 1981. Emily stuck by Bobby’s side during the terrible, early days of his drug addiction. (Frank Teti Collection/John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library and Museum)
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver were married on April 26, 1986. Maria recalled wanting a husband outside of her family’s expectations. “They wanted Washington, politician, Democrat,” she explained, “so I picked Austrian, bodybuilder … Republican.” Of course, the laugh was on her: Arnold would one day become Governor of California! (John Barrett/Globe Photos/Image Collect)
Recalling the rift she had with her own mother over Aristotle Onassis, Jackie decided not to oppose her daughter, Caroline’s, marriage to Edwin Schlossberg. Here are Caroline, Jackie, and Ed in June of 1986. (Courtesy of Jamie Auchincloss)
Caroline and Ed were married in Centerville, Massachusetts, on July 19, 1986. (AP/Rex/Shutterstock)
When Kerry Kennedy married Andrew Cuomo on June 9, 1990, the merger of the two powerful political families, the Kennedys and the Cuomos, was dubbed “Cuomo-lat.” Left to right: Ethel Kennedy, Andrew, Kerry, Matilda Cuomo and her husband, Mario Cuomo, Governor of New York. (John Barrett/Globe Photos/Image Collect)
Ted Kennedy Jr. and his new bride, Katherine (Kiki) Gershman, wave to well-wishers after their wedding at St. Andrew’s Church in New Shoreham, Rhode Island, on October 10, 1993. Left to right: Ted’s sister, Kara; brother, Patrick; mother, Joan; and father, Ted. (Susan Walsh/AP/Rex/Shutterstock)
Patrick Kennedy celebrates at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence on November 5, 1996, after winning his second term in Congress. He’s joined by his brother, Ted; sister-in-law, Kiki; and their two-year-old daughter, Kiley. (Matt York/AP/Rex/Shutterstock)
Patrick Kennedy, who always had a complex relationship with his father, Ted Kennedy, became a politician in part to gain his approval. Not only did it work, but Patrick served in Congress longer than any other politician in the family’s storied history. Here they enjoy Thanksgiving at the Kennedy compound in 1998. (Kevin Wisniewski/Rex/Shutterstock)
“I’m not that pathetic Kennedy girl who’ll stay home with the kids while her husband is out screwing around,” said Carolyn Bessette. “No. I’m that pissed-off Kennedy girl in prison for taking matters into her own hands.” Here she is with John and their dog, Friday, in January 1997. (William Regan/Globe Photos)
No matter the obstacles, John’s love for Carolyn never wavered. “I never want to be that creepy Kennedy guy who doesn’t care what his girl thinks,” he said. “I hate those guys.” Here is the couple at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington on May 1, 1999. (Tyler Mallory/Liaison)
Prince Anthony Stanislaw Albert Radziwill (Anthony) was not only John’s cousin, he was his best friend for life. Anthony courageously fought cancer for years with John at his side. Here he is in a happy fishing moment on the Cape. (Courtesy of Jamie Auchincloss)
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the oldest of the Kennedy’s third generation, became the first female political powerhouse in the family as Lieutenant Governor of Maryland under Governor Parris N. Glendening. Here she is, age forty-nine, in August 2000. (Gail Burton/AP/REX/Shutterstock)
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart,” Eunice Kennedy Shriver told her daughter, Maria, when she had to abandon her own career for her husband’s, “but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Here are the spouses after Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as the thirty-eighth Governor of California in Sacramento on November 17, 2003. (Rick Bowmer/AP/REX/Shutterstock)
The Kennedys pray at the gravesite of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Arlington National Cemetery to honor the fallen President on the fortieth anniversary of his death, November 22, 2003. Caroline (kneeling) places flowers. Behind her, left to right: her daughters, Tatiana and Rose; her husband, Ed; her son, Jack; Ethel; Ted; and Ted’s wife, Vicki. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP/Rex/Shutterstock)
Senator Ted Kennedy and his wife Vicki at the Democratic National Convention on August 25, 2008. “You may want to take the high road,” Ted’s daughter, Kara, had advised her stepmom during a quarrel. However, where the Kennedys were concerned, Vicki said, “the high road doesn’t always take you where you want to go!” (Photolink/Globe Photos/Image Collect)
After Ted passed away, his daughter, Kara, accepted his Medal of Freedom award given by President Barack Obama on August 12, 2009. (Rex/Shutterstock)
Joseph P. Kennedy II couldn’t be more proud of his son Joseph III, who remains one of the most influential congressmen in the family’s storied history. Here they are at a campaign event in 2010. (Elise Amendola/AP/REX/Shutterstock)
In the summer of 2012, pop star Taylor Swift, twenty-one, helped Conor Kennedy, seventeen, cope with the tragic death of his mother. Here the couple shares a romantic moment at the fabled Kennedy Compound on August 17, 2012. (WENN)
Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack, attend the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala on May 1, 2017. Caroline’s colorful ensemble was a surprising choice for a woman not known to be particularly provocative when it comes to fashion. (Carl Timpone/BFA/REX/Shutterstock)
Notes
1 Sister Pauline Joseph is a pseudonym for this Catholic nun, who has asked not to be identified in this text.
2 Ethel’s relationship to Jackie has often been misunderstood. They’re usually portrayed as rivals in accounts of their lives. Though they certainly had their contentious moments, it wasn’t so black-and-white between them. Perhaps some proof of their rapport can be found in a letter Jackie wrote to Ethel on June 6, 1968, after Bobby’s murder, which she addressed to “My Ethel.” She wrote: “No one in the world could have ever been like you were yesterday—except maybe Bobby. I stayed up till 6:30 last night just thinking—and praying for you. I love you so much. You know that … Stas [her brother-in-law] will take little Bobby to Africa. I’ll take them around the world + to the moon + back—anything to help you + them now and always.” She signed it, “With my deepest love, Jackie.”
3 In 2018, Kerry Kennedy would write a book about her father called Robert F. Kennedy: Ripples of Hope, which was composed of essays about influential men and women whose lives had in some way been impacted by Bobby.
Author’s Note
It has been my great honor to write about the Kennedys for the last twenty years. I completed the manuscript for my first book about them, Jackie, Ethel, Joan, in 1999. It was published a year later. I immediately began working on the next one, The Kennedys: After Camelot. Though I became sidetracked by a number of other biographies, The Kennedys: After Camelot was always a chief concern of mine; the research for it continued for ten years. It was finally published in 2012. Six years later, in 2018, I wrote Jackie, Janet & Lee, a history of the other side Jackie’s family, the Bouviers and the Auchinclosses, and, of course, their relationships to the Kennedys.
Jackie, Ethel, Joan and After Camelot were both produced as successful television miniseries, and Jackie, Janet & Lee is in production as I write this note.
You now hold in your hands my fourth Kennedy book, The
Kennedy Heirs.
I’ve always been fascinated by the third generation of Kennedys, who are the primary subjects of this book, having met and interviewed many of them over the years. For instance, I have a memory of Michael Kennedy that stands out for me. In the spring of 1997, when I was researching Jackie, Ethel, Joan, I sought access to certain oral histories in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library and Museum. (Today most of them are online, but back then one actually had to go to the library and get permission to view the transcripts or hear the tapes.) I had met Michael at a fund-raiser for his brother Joe in Boston and asked if he could help me access what I needed. He was hesitant. Still, we exchanged numbers. A week later, he called me at my home in Los Angeles and said he would accompany me to the library and help me pull the material I needed for my book.