Kennedy family

Kennedy
Ó Cinnéide
Kennedy; Ó Cinnéide
Political family
	Coat of arms granted to President John F. Kennedy in 1961 by the Chief Herald of Ireland Gerard Slevin
Parent family	O'Kennedy
Place of origin	Dunganstown, New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland
Founded	Arrival in the United States; 1849, Boston; 175 years ago;
Founder	Patrick Kennedy (1823–1858)
Titles	President of the United States; First Lady of the United States; United States Ambassador (to Australia, Austria, France, Ireland, Japan, and the United Kingdom); United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland; United States Senator; United States Congressman; United States Attorney General; Lieutenant Governor of Maryland; State senator (Connecticut); State representative (Maryland); Mayor (Santa Monica, California); Papal Countess of the Holy Roman Church; Marchioness of Hartington;
Estate(s)	83 Beals Street (Brookline, Massachusetts); Kennedy Compound (Hyannis Port, Massachusetts); Hickory Hill (McLean, Virginia); La Querida (Palm Beach, Florida); Wexford (Marshall, Virginia);

The Kennedy family (Irish: Ó Cinnéide) is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy became the first Kennedy elected to public office, serving in the Massachusetts state legislature until 1895. At least one Kennedy family member served in federal elective office from 1947, when P. J. Kennedy's grandson John F. Kennedy became a member of Congress from Massachusetts, until 2011, when Patrick J. Kennedy II (John's nephew) retired as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island.^[2]

P. J.'s son Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and his wife, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, had nine children, including John F. Kennedy, who served in both houses of the United States Congress and as U.S. President; Robert F. Kennedy, who served as U.S. Attorney General and as a U.S. Senator; and Ted Kennedy, who served more than 46 years in the U.S. Senate. Other descendants include members of the U.S. House of Representatives, two U.S. ambassadors, one U.S. envoy, a lieutenant governor, three state legislators (one of whom also served in the U.S. House of Representatives), and one mayor.

Joseph and Rose's daughter Eunice played a vital role in establishing the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (part of the National Institutes of Health) and the Special Olympics. Other descendants of Joseph and Rose Kennedy have been lawyers, authors, and activists on behalf of those with physical and intellectual disabilities.

^ "1963: Warm welcome for JFK in Ireland". BBC. June 27, 1963. Archived from the original on August 3, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
^ Levenson, Michael (February 13, 2010). "Pondering a Congress without Kennedys". The Boston Globe.