Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (born November 27, 1957) is an American author and attorney. She is a member of the influential American Kennedy family and the only surviving child of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. At the time of her father's presidency she was a young child; after his assassination in 1963, her family settled in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she attended school. Kennedy graduated from Radcliffe College and worked at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she met her future husband, exhibit designer Edwin Schlossberg. She went on to receive a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School. Kennedy's professional life has spanned law and politics as well as education and charitable work. She has also acted as a spokesperson for her family's legacy and co-authored two books on civil liberties with Ellen Alderman. In the 2008 presidential election, Kennedy endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama for President early in the primary race; she later stumped for him in Orlando, Indiana, and Ohio, served as co-chair of his Vice Presidential Search Committee, and addressed the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. After Obama's selection of then-Senator Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Kennedy expressed interest in being appointed to Clinton's vacant Senate seat from New York, but she later withdrew from consideration, citing "personal reasons."
Through a spokeswoman, Kennedy said that she supports legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, is pro-choice, is a strong supporter of gun control, opposes the death penalty, and favors restoring the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which expired in 2004. She believes the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) should be looked at again, supports the federal bailout of American automakers, and says she "opposed the Iraq War from the beginning." Kennedy has stated that she believes that Jerusalem should be the undivided capital city of Israel. She has also stated that "Israel's security decisions should be left to Israel." With regard to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Kennedy has stated that she "supports a two-state peace solution for Israel, so long as there is a true partner for peace in the Palestinians, and so long as Israel's security is assured."
