Caroline Kennedy
Caroline Kennedy
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is an American author, attorney, and diplomat who is currently the United States Ambassador to Japan. She is a prominent member of the Kennedy family and the only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. She is a niece of Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy and older sister to the late John F. Kennedy Jr...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth27 November 1957
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
My mother ... had a very deep inner spirituality that allowed her to rebuild her life. It's extraordinary that she had such a strong sense of self and such a commitment to the future and such a strong creative sense that she could build new worlds for herself and for us out of the total devastation in her life.
Well, I think, you know, the arts are really what - one of the things that make this country strong. We always think it's our economy or our military power, but in fact, I think it's our culture, our civilization, our ideas, our creativity.
John and I were lucky because our mother was a strong woman with high expectations and a strong sense of values. She encouraged us to pursue things we were interested in and not think about what other people wanted us to do.
There's so much to think about when you're becoming an adult, and there's so many great poems about that apprehension and excitement.
Well, the role of money in politics is pretty corrupting right now.
I'm not as shy as everybody makes me out to be.
Well there's nobody who has a more supportive husband than I do, and he has a business that he runs, and it's his own business, so he has work to do, my kids have school to do, I mean, people have - there are other things in life besides politics.
The happiest years of my mother's life were spent in Washington, D.C. It was where she met my father, where John was born and where I spent my earliest years.
I never thought I'd be doing poetry books. I never really studied poetry. But the first one I did was after my mother died, and I realized that people sort of think and talk about her style and fashion, but in fact, what made her the person she was was really her love of reading and ideas.
In a funny way, poems are suited to modern life. They're short, they're intense. Nobody has time to read a 700-page book. People read magazines, and a poem takes less time than an article.
I have come to believe, more strongly than ever, that after people die they really do live on through those who love them.
Well I've been writing books. So that, by its nature, is kind of a solitary occupation. And from time to time I have research help, but mostly I've done those completely on my own.
We need a President who is not afraid of complexity, who believes in an open and tolerant society, and who knows that the world can be made new again - and that President is Al Gore.
I know my mother so well, so it's hard for me to remember that people have a certain image of her, but they don't really know her personality.