President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while still in office at the age of 46. His wife, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, died three decades later after a private battle with illness. Today, their family line continues through their only daughter and her children.

Born into one of America’s most closely watched families, President John F. Kennedy’s granddaughters have embraced their roles in the public eye. One has stepped into motherhood, while the other has gained attention for her unconventional career and strikingly familiar appearance.

Their mother, Caroline Kennedy, is at the heart of their journey, and has dedicated herself to preserving the values passed down through generations. She has reflected on how her upbringing shaped her approach to motherhood, influenced by her mother’s private strength and public role.

Caroline Kennedy on Motherhood and Her Mother’s Legacy

In 2014, Caroline released a public message reflecting on her late mother, Jacqueline “Jackie” Kennedy Onassis. In the video, shared ahead of Mother’s Day, she described Jackie as “a woman of tremendous courage and commitment.”

She noted how Jackie worked hard daily — whether raising her children, serving as First Lady, or working as a book editor. Caroline, sporting her mother’s signature look, said, “I feel so fortunate to have had such [a] great role model as a mother and a woman.”

Caroline also spoke about her role as a parent, calling motherhood “the most important job in the world.”

She added that her three children had taught her “so much about life and what’s really important.” In the same message, she expressed hope that she had passed on some of the lessons learned from her mother to her own children, Rose, Tatiana, and Jack Schlossberg.

Years earlier, during Jackie’s final months, Caroline witnessed her mother’s efforts to preserve family privacy — a moment that highlighted the bond between them and the values Caroline would later carry forward.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s Final Months – A Private Ritual

In the months leading up to her death in May 1994, Jackie invited close friends and family to her home to take part in a private ritual. Each evening, she selected a small group of trusted individuals to assist her in burning personal letters and photographs in her fireplace.

Among the correspondence were letters from her children, Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr., as well as from her late husband, President Kennedy, her father Jack Bouvier, and others.

Jack Warnecke, the architect who had designed President Kennedy’s grave site and once shared a personal relationship with Jackie, recalled attending one of these gatherings. He described how she carefully untied a bundle of letters, read each one silently, and then placed them in the fire.

At one point, Jackie handed him a photograph taken on JFK’s inauguration day and said, “Keep this for me, will you?” This deliberate act underscored Jackie’s desire to control how personal aspects of her life — and that of her family — would be remembered.

It also marked a final moment of reflection and closure, witnessed by Caroline, who would later strive to uphold the same privacy and values in raising her own family. Years later, Caroline’s daughter Rose would gain public attention not for politics, but for launching a creative project that stood apart from the family’s traditional image.

Rose Kennedy Schlossberg – Creativity and Public Attention

Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, born June 25, 1988, is the eldest child of Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg. A Harvard graduate, Rose pursued a career in media and comedy, co-creating a satirical web series titled “End Times Girls Club.”

The series, produced with her friend Mara Nelson-Greenberg, was released through Above Average Productions, a division of Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video. Rose later explained that the idea for the series was inspired by the response to Hurricane Sandy and how unprepared some people, especially young women, seemed to be in emergencies.

“It came up as a response to seeing the way that New York responded to Hurricane Sandy, and how people were grossly underprepared — specifically, girls in damsel in distress mode,” she said. The show humorously presents survival tactics in a post-disaster world while maintaining a light, satirical tone.

In one episode, Rose’s character demonstrates how to create makeshift lipstick from melted candy and oil, explaining, “There are real benefits to looking good post-doomsday.” In addition to her work in comedy, Rose has drawn public attention for her resemblance to her grandmother, Jackie.

One netizen noted, “Rose Kennedy Schlossberg does look like her grandmother Jackie Kennedy.” Other viewers shared similar sentiments, posting, “As beautiful and talented as her gorgeous grandmother…,” “She has more Kennedy genes, that hair is definitely Kennedy,” “Pretty lady. I see the resemblance,” and “She is prettier than Jackie.”

On May 14, 2022, Rose married Rory McAuliffe. While Rose followed a path in creative arts, her younger sister Tatiana pursued a different route.

Tatiana Schlossberg – Journalism, Authorship, and Motherhood

The second of Caroline’s three children, Tatiana Schlossberg, has built a career focused on environmental issues through journalism and authorship. She graduated from Yale University and later earned a master’s degree in United States history from the University of Oxford.

Tatiana worked as a reporter for The New York Times, covering climate change and environmental issues for the paper’s Science section. On September 9, 2017, 64 years after her grandparents had their lavish wedding ceremony, Tatiana married George Moran at the Kennedy family’s estate on Martha’s Vineyard.

She was the first of President Kennedy’s grandchildren to tie the know. The ceremony was officiated by Deval Patrick, former governor of Massachusetts. Her husband, George, is a Yale graduate and a medical student at Columbia.

His mother, Mary J. Penniman, serves as treasurer of the board of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and his father, Garrett Moran, is president of the nonprofit Year Up and a former executive at Blackstone.

In 2019, Tatiana released a book titled “Inconspicuous Consumption,” which examines how everyday habits involving technology, fashion, food, and fuel contribute to environmental damage. Speaking about the book, she said, “Climate change is not a distant problem. It’s involved in all of our lives through the stuff that we use, buy, and eat.”

She also stated, “We can’t just leave it up to our leaders anymore… they haven’t done enough so if people really care about this issue then they need to make their voices heard.” In a separate interview, Tatiana explained how she connects with her grandparents through the study of history.

She said, “My grandparents, both of them, from what I understand, because I didn’t really know them, loved history and reading about history. And that’s kind of how I’ve connected with them, by studying them and their time.” In April 2022, Tatiana gave birth to her first child, a son named after her father.

Her brother, Jack, confirmed the birth on the “Today” show, saying, “I have a new nephew.” He added, “His name is Edwin, but I like to call him Jack,” and shared that Caroline is “so into” being a grandmother. Alongside their brother and mother, Rose and Tatiana have publicly reflected on the legacy of their grandfather, President Kennedy.

Honoring a Legacy – Public Reflections on President Kennedy

In 2017, to commemorate what would have been President Kennedy’s 100th birthday, his daughter and grandchildren participated in a video tribute produced in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Library.

Caroline shared personal memories from her early childhood. “I remember hiding underneath my father’s Oval Office desk when I was little, and sitting on his lap on the Honey Fitz,” she recalled. She also described how her father would play with her.

“He would point out the white shark and the purple shark who always followed the boat, although I could never quite see them,” Caroline reminisced. “It’s up to us to continue to pass these values on to our children and grandchildren.”

Tatiana, who never met her grandfather, reflected on their connection through history. “One of the defining relationships in my life is with someone I have never met — my grandfather, President John F. Kennedy,” she said.

She explained how studying JFK’s life and the historical patterns that interested him helped her connect with him both personally and intellectually. Her younger sister, Rose, emphasized her grandfather’s stance on equality and his call to action.

“I’m inspired by my grandfather’s sense of equality, his courage in naming the injustices in American society, and his call for action,” she said. Acknowledging ongoing challenges, she added, “My grandfather would be proud of how far we’ve come as a nation since 1963, but he’d have been the first to tell us that we have a long way to go.”

Jack spoke about President Kennedy’s focus on challenges and civic responsibility. He highlighted JFK’s 1962 speech at Rice University, where the president promoted the space program by saying the moon mission was worthwhile “not because it would be easy but because it would be so hard.”

Jack said, “My generation will inherit a complicated world, with countless unsolved problems. Climate change is just one of them, but it’s the type of change I think my grandfather would have been energized about and eager to solve.”

He added, “Great challenges are opportunities, and it is each generation’s responsibility to meet those challenges with the same combination of energy, faith, and devotion that President Kennedy and his contemporaries displayed decades ago.”

Through these public reflections, the Kennedy grandchildren continue to engage with their grandfather’s ideals while shaping a modern legacy grounded in action and continuity.