The Kennedys have long fascinated the American public.
An Irish American family whose political dynasty can be traced back to 1884, when Patrick Joseph “P.J.” Kennedy took office in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the Kennedys continue to grow and impact the fabric of this nation.
In the ’60s, the Kennedy name reached the highest office in the land, with John Fitzgerald Kennedy, commonly referred to as “JFK,” winning the 1960 presidential election. But for all the family’s highs, they’ve also suffered tremendous lows.
Get to know the famous family better as we take a deeper look at JFK and those closest to him.
John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy photographed in the Daily News Color Studio.
JFK, the son of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. He was the second of nine children the couple shared.
After graduating cum laude from Harvard University and following his turn as a Navy patrol boat commander in World War II — service that earned him a Navy and Marine Corps Medal and a Purple Heart — JFK pursued a line of work his grandfathers and father were passionate about: politics.
In his role as a public servant, JFK rose higher than the generations of Kennedys and Fitzgeralds before him: In 1961, he was sworn in as the 35th president of the United States.
Tragically, his term was cut short. On Nov. 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated as his presidential motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. He was 46 years old.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, JFK’s wife
Jacqueline Kennedy at her Georgetown home in August 1960.
Jacqueline ″Jackie” Kennedy Onassis (née Bouvier) was born July 28, 1929, in Southampton, New York, to Wall Street stockbroker John Vernou “Black Jack” Bouvier III and socialite Janet Norton Lee.
A student of history, art and French literature, Jackie became a photojournalist for the Washington Times Herald shortly after graduating from George Washington University in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts in French literature. She met JFK, then a congressman and soon-to-be senator, the following year.
The two married in 1953, launching a partnership that would see them through to the White House and a period that later became known as the Camelot Era.
In 1968, nearly five years after the death of her first husband and just months after the assassination of her brother-in-law Sen. Robert Francis Kennedy, she married again, this time to Greek shipping mogul Aristotle Onassis.
Jackie O, as the stylish former first lady came to be known, died on May 19, 1994, at the age of 64.
Caroline Kennedy, JFK’s daughter
Caroline Kennedy, born Nov. 27, 1957, is the eldest child of JFK and Jackie. She was just 3 years old when her family moved to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
A graduate of both Harvard University’s Radcliffe College and Columbia University School of Law, Caroline found success in a number of professions — she became an attorney, author, ambassador and was even the inspiration behind Neil Diamond’s hit song “Sweet Caroline.”
Caroline is the only surviving child of the former first family.
Edwin Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy’s husband
Edwin Schlossberg attends the House & Garden Design Happening Leadership Breakfast at The Four Seasons Restaurant on Oct. 16, 2007, in New York City.
Artist, author and designer Edwin Schlossberg, who was born July 19, 1945, in New York City, met his future wife at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they both worked at the time.
Wed in 1986, the two share three children are still together today.
John F. Kennedy Jr., JFK’s son
Studio portrait of American lawyer and magazine publisher John F. Kennedy Jr. (1960-1999), New York, New York, 1988.
John F. Kennedy Jr., often referred to as JFK Jr., was the first son born to JFK and Jackie. His birth on Nov. 25, 1960, came just two weeks after his father was elected president.
Like his older sister, JFK Jr. crafted a varied resume over the years. After graduating from Brown University and the New York University School of Law, he worked as an attorney and journalist. In the ’90s, he co-founded George, a politics-as-lifestyle magazine.
A popular socialite, JFK Jr. was regarded as one of America’s most eligible bachelors until he wed Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in 1996.
Many considered JFK Jr. the heir apparent to his father’s political legacy, but if he had any ambitions for public office, they were never realized. He died in 1999, at the age of 38, when a plane he piloted went down over the Atlantic Ocean.
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, JFK Jr’s wife
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy poses for a picture at the annual fundraising gala on March 9, 1999, at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, born Jan. 7, 1966, in White Plains, New York, was a publicist for Calvin Klein when she met JFK Jr. in 1992.
The couple wed four years later, and the fashionable bride soon became a favorite subject of the paparazzi, putting her in a spotlight she found difficult.
Carolyn died alongside her husband and sister Lauren Bessette on July 16, 1999, when the flight intended to drop off Lauren on Martha’s Vineyard then take Carolyn and JFK Jr. to a wedding in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, went down. Carolyn was 33.
Arabella and Patrick Kennedy, JFK’s daughter and son
JFK and Jackie had two other children during their marriage. Sadly, their first and last children did not survive infancy.
On Aug. 23, 1956, Jackie gave birth to a stillborn daughter, later named Arabella. And on Aug. 7, 1963, the couple had a son, Patrick, who died from a respiratory disease two days later — just three months before his father’s assassination.
Rose Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy’s daughter
Rose Schlossberg attends the “Incitement” screening at the Museum of Modern Art on Dec. 8, 2019, in New York City.
Rose Schlossberg, the first child of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, was born on June 25, 1988, in New York City.
She studied English literature and documentary filmmaking at Harvard University before securing her master’s from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Today, she works as an artist, documentary filmmaker and video shorts creator.
In 2022, Rose married her wife, restaurateur Rory McAuliffe.
Tatiana Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy’s daughter
Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of former President John F. Kennedy, speaks during a memorial service in Runnymede, Surrey, on Nov. 22, 2013, to mark the 50th anniversary of his assassination.
On May 5, 1990, Caroline and Edwin, welcomed their second daughter, Tatiana Schlossberg.
The journalist and author of “Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have” is a graduate of Yale and the University of Oxford.
She married George Moran, who is now a physician, on her family’s Martha’s Vineyard estate in 2017.
Jack Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy’s son
Jack Schlossberg appears on TODAY Thursday April 21, 2022.
Jack Schlossberg, Caroline and Edwin’s only son and JFK’s only grandson, was born Jan. 19, 1993.
The graduate of Yale, Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School works as a journalist and political correspondent.
In 2024, he became more involved in politics, speaking at the Democratic National Convention and endorsing then-Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
Edwin Moran, Tatiana Schlossberg’s son
In 2022, Caroline became a first-time grandmother when Tatiana and her husband welcomed son Edwin Garrett Moran to the family.
The baby, who is also JFK’s first great-grandchild, was named after both of his grandfathers: Edwin Schlossberg and Garrett Moran.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
