Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, was sworn in as the new ambassador to Japan on Tuesday at the State Department.
Kennedy was accompanied by her son John, husband Ed Schlossberg, and cousin Maria Shriver.
During her confirmation hearing in September, Kennedy said she was “humbled to be following in the footsteps of some strong people,” adding that she would “try to live up to the standard they set.”
As Kennedy gets ready to depart for Tokyo, the nation is set to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her father’s assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
Save for a few years working for the New York City school system, this will be the first entrée into public life for the famously private Kennedy, who contemplated, but later abandoned, a run for the New York Senate seat vacated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2008.
As a fervent campaigner for Barack Obama in 2008, Kennedy—along with her late uncle, the longtime Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy—threw crucial support behind the Illinois junior senator in his drawn-out primary battle with Clinton. Kennedy resumed her role in the 2012 election, delivering a speech in support of Obama at the Democratic National Convention.
Kennedy’s efforts were rewarded with a nomination to serve as ambassador to Japan earlier this year. The post has historically been held by high-profile political players, including former Senate Majority Leaders Mike Mansfield and Howard Baker, former House Speaker Thomas Foley, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, among others.
NBC’s Catherine Chomiak contributed to this report.
Erin Delmore