Today marks 60 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
On that fateful day in Dallas, Texas, President Kennedy was shot as he rode in a motorcade alongside Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie Connally. He was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, but there was nothing to be done; he pronounced dead just 30 minutes later. Governor Connally was shot in the back, but recovered from his injuries.
JFK was survived by his wife, First Lady Jackie Kennedy, their two small children, Caroline and John Jr., his parents, and his maternal grandparents. JFK had a large extended family, though—he grew up in a large Irish Catholic household with eight siblings, and was survived by six of them: Rosemary, Eunice, Patricia, Robert ("Bobby"), Jean, and Edward ("Ted"). (His older brother, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., was killed in action during World War II, and one of his sisters, Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, died in a plane crash in 1948.) Five of those siblings married, and had children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of their own, making the Kennedy family tree one with many, many branches.
Here, Town & Country presents a guide to John F. Kennedy's family tree, descendants, and as many relatives as we could write about:
JFK's parents: Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
Both of JFK's parents, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888 - 1969) and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (1890 - 1995) outlived their son JFK. They married in October 1914, and had nine children: Joseph Jr., John, Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia in 1924, Jean, and Edward. (More details on all, except Joseph Jr., JFK, and Kathleen, below.)
Joseph was the son of Mary Hickey (1857 - 1923) and P. J. Kennedy (1858 - 1929), an influential figure in the Bostonian Irish community and a Massachusetts politician. He was an investor, involved in the nascent Hollywood industry, was the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and served as the US ambassador to the UK in the lead-up to World War II. He died in 1969 at age 81, outliving four of his eight children.
Rose was the daughter of Boston mayor John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (1863 - 1950) and Mary Josephine Hannon (1865 - 1964). (JFK's maternal grandparents also outlived their grandson.) She was involved in the political careers of her family members, and published an autobiography in 1974, Times to Remember. At her son JFK's funeral, she told Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie and said: "It's wrong for parents to bury their children. It should be the other way around." Rose died in 1995 at age 104.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
1929 - 1994
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born on July 28, 1929 to John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier III (1891 - 1957) and Janet Norton Lee (1907 - 1989). She studied at Vassar College and George Washington University, and after graduation in 1951, stayed in D.C., where she worked as a photographer. In 1952, she met John Kennedy at a dinner party—they married in September 1953 in Newport, Rhode Island. Jackie and JFK had four children, two of whom who died as infants: Arabella, born stillborn in 1956, Caroline, born 1957, John Jr., born 1960, and Patrick, who died two days after his premature birth in 1963. (Read more on Caroline and John Jr. below.)
During her husband's tenure as president, she was an influential First Lady—she was a style icon, she renovated the White House, promoted the arts, and so much more. She was with her husband in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and he was killed as she rode next to him the motorcade, making her a widow at age 34. She soon planned his funeral, and as the Kennedy Library notes, "as it was broadcast around the world, millions of people shared her grief and admired her courage and dignity."
A week after his death, she was interviewed by Life magazine, comparing the Kennedy administration to the mythical Camelot. "At night, before we'd go to sleep, Jack liked to play some records; and the song he loved the most came at the very end of this record. The lines he loved to hear were: Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief, shining moment that was known as Camelot," she said. "There'll be great presidents again ... but there will never be another Camelot again."
Jackie would go on to remarry, in 1968, to Aristotle Onassis. When he died in 1975, she became a widow again. As her children were older, Jackie went on to have a second career as a book editor, and she spent her final years with Maurice Tempelsman. She died in 1994 at age 64.
JFK's daughter: Caroline Kennedy
b. 1957
Caroline Kennedy, the only member of JFK's immediate family who is still alive today, was born on November 27, 1957. She was nearly six when her father was assassinated, and then her mother moved her and her brother to Manhattan for school. She attended Harvard University for undergrad, and earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School. In 1986, she married designer and artist Edwin Schlossberg (b. 1945); she did not change her name upon their marriage.
Caroline currently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Australia. "My family legacy is something I’m really proud of, and I try to live up to and and I think the fact that it means something to people around the world makes me really proud and want to be worthy of it and do what I can to continue the values that my father would like," she said. She previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan under President Obama.
Caroline and Edwin have three children: Rose Schlossberg (b. 1988), Taitana Schlossberg (b. 1990), and Jack Schlossberg (b. 1993). Last year, Rose married restaurateur Rory McAuliffe, and in 2017, Tatiana married George Moran, who is now a doctor. Tatiana and George have one child, Edwin Garrett Moran (b. 2022) making Caroline a grandmother.
JFK's son: John Kennedy Jr.
1960 - 1999
John Kennedy Jr. was born on November 25, 1960, two weeks after his dad was elected president. He spent the first three years of his life in the White House; his third birthday coincided with his father's funeral, where John Jr. famously saluted his father's casket. He largely grew up in Manhattan, then attended Brown University and law school at NYU. He worked in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, and co-founded George magazine. He married Carolyn Bessette (1966 - 1999) in September 1996. In 1998, he received his pilot's license.
John Jr. tragically died in 1999 in a plane crash with his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette.
Rosemary Kennedy
1918 - 2005
Rosemary Kennedy, born Rose Marie Kennedy, was Joseph and Rose's oldest daughter. She had learning disabilities, and at age 22, her father decided she should have a lobotomy. The horrific procedure left her permanently disabled, unable to walk or talk. As Lyz Lenz wrote, "Rosemary Kennedy's legacy is not a story of tragedy—it's a story of quiet power that would eventually change the quality of life for disabled and mentally ill people across the country." She died in 2005 at age 86.
Read more here:
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
1921 - 2009
Eunice has one of the more interesting branches of the Kennedy family tree, as it's how Arnold Schwarzenegger is related to JFK. Here is part of it:
Eunice, born Eunice Mary Kennedy on July 10, 1921, was Joseph and Rose's fifth child. She's best known for her philanthropic work, specifically founding the Special Olympics. In 1953, she married Robert Sargent Shriver (1915 - 2011), an American diplomat and politician. Shriver helped create the Peace Crops, and was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in 1972.
Eunice and Sargent had five children: Robert Sargent Shriver III (b. 1954), Maria Owings Shriver (b. 1955), Timothy Perry Shriver (b. 1959), Mark Kennedy Shriver (b. 1964), and Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver (b. 1965). They have 19 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.
The big Hollywood connection between the Kennedy family is here, in Eunice's branch of family tree: Maria married Arnold Schwarzenegger (b. 1947) in 1986 (they divorced in 2021) and they have four children: Katherine Schwarzenegger (b. 1989), Christina Schwarzenegger (b. 1991), Patrick Schwarzenegger (b. 1993) and Christopher Schwarzenegger (b. 1997). In 2019, Katherine married actor Chris Pratt (b. 1979), and they have two daughters, Lyla Pratt (b. 2020) and Eloise Pratt (b. 2022).
Eunice died in 2009 at age 88.
Patricia Kennedy
1924 - 2006
Patricia, the sixth of Rose and Joseph's children, was born on May 6, 1924. She married British actor Peter Lawford (1923 - 1984), who became a member of the "Rat Pack," and they had four children: Christopher Lawford (1955 - 2018), Sydney Lawford (b. 1956), Victoria Lawford (b. 1958) and Robin Lawford (b. 1961), and numerous grandchildren. Patricia and Peter separated in 1963, shortly after JFK's death, and officially divorced in 1966. Patricia died in 2006 of pneumonia.
Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy
1925 - 1968
Robert Kennedy, also known as RFK, born November 20, 1925, had a similarly tragic end to his brother. He served in the Navy, and then graduated from Harvard University.
In 1950, he married Ethel Skakel (b. 1928), and they had 11 children: Kathleen Kennedy (b. 1951), Joseph P. Kennedy II (b. 1952), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (b. 1954), David Kennedy (1955 - 1984), Mary Kennedy (b. 1956), Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (1958 - 1997), Mary Kerry Kennedy (b. 1959), Christopher Kennedy (b. 1963), Matthew "Max" Kennedy (b. 1965), Douglas Kennedy (b. 1967), and Rory Kennedy (b. 1968). Rory was born six months after her father's assassination.
Bobby managed his older brother John's campaign for the Senate, then his campaign for president. After JFK was elected, he was appointed Attorney General. After his brother was killed, he resigned, and in 1964, was elected Senator from New York. In 1968, he decided to run for president, and after winning the Democratic primary in California on June 5, 1968, he was shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He was just 42 years old.
Bobby and Ethel have 33 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. (This is perhaps the most complicated family tree of all of JFK's siblings, because of all the children.) Ethel Kennedy is still alive; she turned 95 earlier this year.
Jean Kennedy Smith
1928 - 2020
The eighth of the nine children of Joseph and Rose, Jean Ann Kennedy was born on February 20, 1928, the 8th birthday of her older sister, Kathleen. In 1956, she married Stephen Edward Smith (1927 - 1990), they had four children—two biological sons and two adopted daughters: Stephen Edward Smith, Jr. (b. 1957), William Kennedy Smith (b. 1960), Amanda Mary Smith (b. 1967), and Kym Maria Smith (b. 1972).
Jean was involved in her older brother JFK's political campaigns, and founded Very Special Arts in 1974, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting those with disabilities. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Jean the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, where she worked on the peace process and the historic Good Friday Agreement.
She was JFK's last surviving sibling, and wrote a memoir, The Nine of Us. "I hope that people who read this book better understand who my parents, brothers and sisters truly were," she told T&C in 2016. "They were real people who loved each other and loved this country. They kidded each other, played together, learned hard lessons, and tried to make the most out of every day." Jean died in 2020 at the age of 92.
Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy
1923 - 2009
The youngest Kennedy sibling, Edward "Ted" Kennedy was born on February 22, 1932. A lawyer and politician, he was elected to the Senate in 1962 when he was just 30 years old, and continued serving until his death in 2009. (He is the fifth longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate in American history.)
In 1958, he married Joan Bennett (b. 1936), and they had three children: Kara Kennedy (1960 - 2011), Ted Kennedy Jr. (b. 1961) and Patrick J. Kennedy II (b. 1967). They divorced in 1982.In 1992, he married divorcee Victoria Anne Reggie (b. 1954), who had two children from a previous marriage, Curran Raclin (b. 1982) and Caroline Raclin (b. 1985).
He died in 2009 of a brain tumor; Ted was 77 years old.
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
