As the years roll on, America’s love affair with the Kennedys continues. Never mind JFK’s philandering ways: we loved Jackie’s poise and wardrobe, and recent comparisons to Michelle Obama mean that the myth of American Camelot—with a White House full of the young, the brave, and the articulate—is still alive.
“The Kennedys are overrated” has become a mantra for those who see the Kennedys as a clan of folks who made their money off bootlegging and never stopped drinking or womanizing. But what about the women of Camelot? Were they overrated? Let’s take a look.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
JFK’s sister, who recently passed, dedicated her life to persons with disabilities. Her career began as a social worker for a woman’s prison in West Virginia. She became a founding member of Special Olympics International and was a driving force behind the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development. In 1984, President Reagan bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the nation’s highest civilian award) upon her for her efforts in working with the mentally disabled.
Maria Shriver
Eunice’s daughter, Maria, has become most recognizable as the Governator’s wife. Before her latest incarnation as First Lady of California, Shriver won a Peabody for her piece on welfare reform and an Emmyfor her coverage of the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. She’s also a bestselling author of children’s books. As First Lady, Shriver has championed causes for women, the working poor, and families struggling with Alzheimer’s. Most recently she was the Executive Producer of The Alzheimer’s Project, a four-part HBO documentary that looks at the people affected by and working toward a cure for Alzheimer’s. And lo and behold! She’s up for another Emmy.
Jackie O
When the most stylish of American women wasn’t busy protecting her family’s privacy, she was busy meeting with the French Minister of Culture Andre Malraux on how to create a department of arts and humanities. The establishments of the National Endowment for the Humanities and of the National Endowment for the Arts were the realization of her goals. Politically, she involved herself by making a speech in Spanish to the Cuban fighters who were part of the Bay of Pigs Invasion and wrote a letter to Khrushchev after her husband’s assassination, urging his fidelity to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.
Apparently she contributed to more than just fashion.
Caroline Kennedy
JFK’s daughter, the remaining member of Camelot, became national media fodder when she was being considered for Clinton’s vacant Senate seat earlier this year. Like her cousin (a few times removed) Maria Shriver, she is also a bestselling author. Rather than writing to children, she took on heady topics like the Bill of Rights and the right to privacy. More recently, she was the New York City’s public school system chief fundraiser.
Some would argue that because these women were well-connected and wealthy, making a difference was easy. Easy? Founding the Special Olympics, writing to Khrushchev, and becoming bestselling authors? If that’s easy, what’s hard?
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[...] you’re sick of the Kennedys. If so, maybe a look at the Kennedy women is in order. [...]
August 17th, 2009 at 10:05 pm