Ambassador Caroline Kennedy

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy presented her credentials to the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia on July 25, 2022.  She previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2013 – 2017. She played a critical role in the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, culminating in the historic visits of President Obama to Hiroshima and Prime Minister Abe to Pearl Harbor. She advanced realignment of the U.S. forces in Okinawa, promoted women’s empowerment in Japan, and increased student exchange. In 2017, she founded the International Poetry Exchange Project to connect students virtually in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and the Bronx through the power of spoken word. In November 2021, she was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, the highest honor for which foreigners are eligible, for her efforts to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance.

Prior to her time in Japan, Kennedy was at the forefront of education reform efforts in NYC, creating public-private partnerships to promote arts education, school libraries, and performing arts spaces. She served as CEO of the Office of Strategic Partnerships at the NYC Department of Education (2002-2004), Vice Chair for the Fund for Public Schools (2002-2011), and on the Board of New Visions for Public Schools.

An attorney and author, Kennedy has published 11 New York Times best-selling books on law, civics and poetry. She is Honorary President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. She served as a Trustee of numerous non-profit organizations, including the Carnegie Corporation, International Rescue Committee and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, as Co-Chair of the Harvard Institute of Politics, and as a Director of the Boeing Company. She is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School.

Honorary President Caroline Kennedy
John F. Kennedy Library Foundation

Caroline Kennedy is currently the United States Ambassador to Australia. She previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2013 – 2017. In recognition of her efforts to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance, in November 2021 the Japanese government awarded her the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, the highest honor for which foreigners are eligible.

Ambassador Kennedy is the author or editor of eleven best-selling books on constitutional law, American history, politics and poetry. A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School, she is Honorary President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and a member of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award Committee.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is dedicated to the memory of our nation’s thirty-fifth president and to all those who through the art of politics seek a new and better world. Located on a ten-acre park, overlooking the sea that he loved and the city that launched him to greatness, the Library stands as a vibrant tribute to the life and times of John F. Kennedy.

Come tour our Museum which portrays the life, leadership, and legacy of President Kennedy, conveys his enthusiasm for politics and public service, and illustrates the nature of the office of the President.  Students and scholars can also arrange to conduct research using our collection of historical materials chronicling mid-20th century politics and the life and administration of John F. Kennedy.