U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith

VSA Founder

Seated portrait photograph of Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, founder of VSA arts

Jean Kennedy Smith was nominated by President Clinton to serve as Ambassador to Ireland on March 17, 1993 and was confirmed by the Senate on June 16, 1993. Since 1964, she has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, which provides grants to promote awareness and advocacy in the field of mental retardation. Since 1964, Ambassador Smith has also been a member of the Board of Trustees of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Ambassador Smith also served on the Board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In 1974, Ambassador Smith founded VSA, an international nonprofit that provides opportunities in the creative arts for people with disabilities. Mrs. Smith's book, "Chronicles of Courage: Very Special Artists," written in collaboration with George Plimpton, was published by Random House in April 1993.

Ambassador Smith has received a number of honorary degrees, including ones from New York University, Fordham University, The National University of Ireland, and Dublin City University. She has also received various awards, including the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service from the American Institutes for Public Service; the Margaret Mead Humanitarian Award from the Council of Cerebral Palsy Auxiliaries; the 1995 Irish American of the Year Award from Irish American Magazine; the 1997 Rotary One International Award from the Rotary Club of Chicago; and the 1997 Terence Cardinal Cooke Humanitarian Award.

Ambassador Smith is a resident of New York State. Her husband, Stephen E. Smith, died in 1990. She has four children.