There was a hint of playfulness in his voice, but he wasn’t joking.
As former US ambassador Joe Hockey said when his appointment was announced in December: “President Biden is sending someone from the royalty of the Democratic Party to represent him in Australia.”
The 64-year-old is the only remaining son of John F Kennedy, who was assassinated by a gunman in 1963 just three years into his presidency. His uncle Bobby was shot and killed five years later while campaigning for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
The new ambassador’s father, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963. Credit: AP
His brother John junior died in a plane crash at the age of 38; sister Arabella was stillborn and brother Patrick died at just two days old.
When asked about being a member of a historic political dynasty, Kennedy joked, “You mean you didn’t come out here for the last person?”
But he knows he comes to Australia with star power few diplomats can match. “My family legacy is something I’m very proud of and try to live up to,” she said. “The fact that it means something to people around the world makes me very proud and I want to be worthy of that and carry on the values my father lived by.”
Ambassador Caroline Kennedy said she had a special affinity for Australia. Credit: Brook Mitchell
Kennedy served as US ambassador to Japan during the Obama administration, an appointment that initially drew criticism for his lack of foreign policy experience.
However, his tenure was later hailed as a success; last year he received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, the highest Japanese honor available to foreigners.
Kennedy noted that she has a long-standing affinity for Australia: she and her husband Edwin came to Australia on their honeymoon 36 years ago. And his father was rescued by an Australian coast guard and two Solomon Islanders while serving in the Pacific during World War II.
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“It means a lot to me personally,” he said of his appointment. The United States and Australia, he added, have a “big agenda” to pursue together, pointing to cooperation in the Pacific and the Quad strategic grouping that also includes Japan and India.
As ambassador in Canberra, Kennedy is expected to work largely behind the scenes to advance the bilateral relationship and push back an increasingly aggressive China.
She has already made it clear, however, that she can be assertive and dignified. It’s a lesson for Australian politicians, as well as impatient male journalists, to heed at future press conferences.