"If the United States has an American equivalent of the British royal family, it has to be the Kennedys. This country has been acquainted with the Kennedy family for the past century and a half, and has been obsessed with them since around the midcentury, when John F. Kennedy's so-called Camelot presidency and its tragic ending captured the public imagination."
"Today the Kennedys are once again across our politics, if they ever truly left. There's our dairy-obsessed health secretary, of course, whose anti-science views prompted five of his own siblings to speak out against him during the 2024 election. Then there's Jack Schlossberg, the 33-year-old son of Caroline Kennedy and near-clone of his late uncle, who has entered the race for a vacant congressional seat in Manhattan."
The Kennedy family has functioned as an American political dynasty and cultural obsession for the past 150 years, peaking during John F. Kennedy's Camelot presidency and assassination. Multiple Kennedys—Robert, Ted, Joseph P. II, Joe P. III, Patrick, Caroline, and Robert Jr.—have held federal office. Contemporary relatives remain prominent in politics and public life, including a dairy-obsessed health secretary criticized by siblings during the 2024 election and Jack Schlossberg running for a Manhattan congressional seat. New media portrayals include FX's Love Story about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and Netflix's Kennedy about Joe Kennedy Sr.
Read at Slate Magazine
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