A biography for Jean Kennedy Smithhasn’t been written yet.
“We all grew up in Bronxville, I went to Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart - in the old location on Convent Avenue - and I've lived here since 1962. I couldn't feel more like a New Yorker.”
“The Irish people were willing to take me at face value, to give me the benefit of the doubt because I was a Kennedy. I think being a Kennedy was extremely helpful.”
“I think everyone acknowledges Teddy is the person in the Senate who speaks for Ireland.”
“I'm not in public life except by accident.”
“Mother and Dad were destined to have a gaggle of children. We would not have been complete if they had stopped at two or four or even six. Nine of us we had to be.”
“My father was a very powerful influence, well, always, through our life. He taught us very much that... we were very lucky and that we should make a contribution to country, that we were fortunate to live in America.”
“In Bronxville, New York, we went to public school there, before London. Mother had a great belief in public school. She said it was very good for us to meet all the neighborhood kids.”
“Next to President of the United States, Ambassador to Ireland is surely one of the best jobs an Irish American can hold.”
“As I've grown older, I have begun to marvel... at how much of my life I have spent among ghosts. These are no malevolent presences... Rather, they are such restless spirits as only the strange twentieth-century cocktail of celebrity, technology and collective memory could produce.”
“I have always encouraged open and frank discussion among embassy employees and the expression of dissenting views, because this is the best way to maintain morale among embassy personnel and to arrive at sensible decisions which are in the best interests of the United States.”
“Dad encouraged us to get jobs. He'd help us get a job if we knew what we wanted.”
“When I protested because they wouldn't buy me new skates or if someone complained a teacher gave too much homework, Dad would respond: There's no whining in this house. It was his way of saying: there is no place in this house for feeling sorry for yourself.”
“I think coming from a big family, it helps you to keep your sense of humor about certain things... even politics.”
“It has always been my understanding that all official expenses for the U.S. ambassador's residence in Dublin have been approved by the State Department.”
“I happen to like children and I happen to like the arts.”
“I can say without reservation that I do not remember a day in our childhood without laughter.”
“To tell the truth, I don't feel the pressure of fame. I don't have the problem of being a celebrity in terms of recognizability.”
“I always thought it is a bit of a balloon, how rich we are.”
“While I cannot comment in detail about the inter workings of the State Department, it is a matter of public record that I recommended a visa for Gerry Adams to visit the United States. I believe then, and I continue to believe now, that this step did help to advance the peace process in Northern Ireland.”
“After Joe passed away in the war, it seemed only natural that Jack and Bobby and then Teddy might pursue office as well. Public service was part of our DNA from our earliest years.”