In the United States, the phrase Kennedy family commonly refers to the family descending from the marriage of the Irish-Americans Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald that was prominent in American politics and government. Their political involvement has revolved around the Democratic Party. Harvard University educations have been common among them, and they have contributed heavily to that university's John F. Kennedy School of Government. The wealth, glamour and photogenic quality of the family members, as well as their extensive and continuing commitment to public service, has elevated them to iconic status over the past half-century and has led to their reputation as "America's Royal Family".

Following the 1960 election of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, he and his two younger brothers, Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, soon all held prominent positions in the federal government, and received intensive publicity, often emphasizing their youth (relative to comparably influential politicians), allure, education and collective future in politics. From 1947, when John F. Kennedy was first elected to Congress, to 2011, when Patrick J. Kennedy departed Congress, there was a 64-year run of a Kennedy family member holding an elective office in Washington. This spans more than a quarter of the nation's existence.

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (born November 27, 1957) is an American author and attorney. She is a member of the influential Kennedy family and the only surviving child of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

At the time of her father's presidency she was a young child; after his assassination in 1963 her family settled in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she attended school. Kennedy graduated from Radcliffe College and worked at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she met her future husband, exhibit designer Edwin Schlossberg. She went on to receive a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School. Kennedy's professional life has spanned law and politics as well as education and charitable work. She has also acted as a spokesperson for her family's legacy and co-authored two books on civil liberties with Ellen Alderman.

In the 2008 presidential election, Kennedy endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama for President early in the primary race; she later stumped for him in Orlando, Indiana, and Ohio, served as co-chair of his Vice Presidential Search Committee, and addressed the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. After Obama's selection of then-Senator Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Kennedy expressed interest in being appointed to Clinton's vacant Senate seat from New York, but she later withdrew from consideration, citing "personal reasons."

Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy, Countess Kennedy (July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995) was an American philanthropist, the wife of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and the mother of nine children, among them United States President John F. Kennedy, United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and United States Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy.

Born in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Rose Fitzgerald was the eldest child of John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald and his wife, who was also his second cousin,Mary Josephine Hannon. "Honey Fitz" was a prominent figure in Boston politics and served one full term and almost eight months of another in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as two terms as the Mayor of Boston.

As a young child, Fitzgerald lived in an Italianate/Mansard-style home in the Ashmont Hill section of Dorchester, Massachusetts and attended the local Girl's Latin School. The home later burned down, but a plaque at Welles Avenue and Harley Street proclaims "Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Square". The plaque was dedicated by her son, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, on Rose's 102nd birthday in 1992.

Grace Kennedy (1782–February 28, 1825) was a Scottish writer. She was born at Pinmore in Ayrshire, but at an early age moved to Edinburgh. She wrote novels of a religious tendency which were very popular in their day. By 1920, they were very little read. She is best known as the author of Father Clement (1823), an anti-Roman Catholic novel, which ran through some dozen editions and was translated into most of the languages of Europe. Other books of hers are:

A collection of her works in six volumes appeared at Edinburgh in 1827, and a German translation of them, Sämmtliche Werke, in Bielefeld in 1838 and another one in 1842.