Caroline Kennedy biography

She also began serving as president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing financial support, staffing and creative resources to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

On July 19, 1986, Caroline Kennedy married 41-year-old Schlossberg in an elaborate Cape Cod, Massachusetts wedding. Despite the family's efforts to avoid publicity,

the wedding became a topic of wide interest in the media. A crowd of more than 2,000 spectators surrounded the church and a nearby hillside. Many perched in trees in an attempt to view the nuptials. When they heard applause from inside the church, the crowd outside also applauded.

Education

Interested in politics, but not the limelight, Caroline quietly entered Columbia Law School. She graduated with little fanfare in 1988, during a private pre-commencement ceremony along with 380 other students. That same year, she gave birth to her first child, Rose. In 1989, the young lawyer stayed busy by establishing the Profile in Courage Awards, which honors elected officials who have shown political courage, and beginning research on her first book.

Fascinated with constitutional law, Caroline co-wrote In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action with fellow law graduate Ellen Alderman. She refused to use her mother's publishing industry contacts, instead publishing the book through William Morrow & Co. in February 1991. She also surprised Washington officials and stumped the media the next year, when she turned down an offer to be chairwoman of the 1992 Democratic National Convention. Instead, the private Kennedy invested time in her family and personal projects.

More Family Tragedy

In 1994, Caroline's mother passed away after a long battle with lymphatic cancer. As a tribute to her mother's work in the arts, Caroline took on Jacqueline's role as the honorary chairperson at the American Ballet Theatre. In addition to her charitable work, Caroline co-wrote another book entitled The Right to Privacy (1995). She also took up her role as the guardian of the Kennedy name, spending several difficult months trying to settle her mother's $200 million estate while under heavy public scrutiny.

In 1998, Caroline and her brother went public in an auction dispute against Evelyn Lincoln, President John F. Kennedy's former secretary, who attempted to sell "intensely personal" pieces of memorabilia that belonged to their father.

On July 16, 1999, Caroline endured more hardship when her only sibling, brother John F. Kennedy Jr., was killed along with his wife and sister-in-law, when the plane he was piloting crashed in the ocean near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. While the tragedy's effect on Caroline was kept very private, the only remaining heir to the Kennedy legacy quickly took up the family mantle. In 2000, she finally agreed to become a speaker at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

Work and Politics

She also kept writing. To honor her late mother, Caroline Kennedy helped create The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, published in 2001. She has also served as editor for two other anthologies: Profiles in Courage for Our Time (2002) and A Patriot's Handbook: Songs, Poems and Speeches Every American Should Know (2003). She published A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children in 2005, and her latest work, A Family Christmas, in 2007.