Often described as a light of America’s Camelot, Caroline Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg (1957– ) was born on this day in New York City, the daughter of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. At three, she moved with her family into the White House, growing up amid ceremony and the quiet rhythm of public service.

A writer and lawyer, she has spent her life lifting up literacy and civic engagement. “As much as we need a prosperous economy, we also need a prosperity of kindness and decency,” she once said — a reminder that public life begins with private character.

With a deep commitment to carrying on her father’s legacy, Caroline helped establish the Profile in Courage Awards in 1989 to honor political courage and inspire leaders to follow their conscience. Each year, the award reminds us that moral bravery is often the steady decision to do what is right.

“My father believed in the power of words to inspire and to bring about change in the world,” she said. Her own love of books and stories echoes that conviction: language can open hearts, open doors, and keep memory alive.

With her mother’s passion for reading as a guide, Caroline has written and edited several best-selling collections that lift up poetry and the rituals of holidays and home. She continues to advocate for literacy, knowing that every reader who steps into a library carries a new light into the world.

This mother of three has been married to artist Edwin Schlossberg since 1983. In 2007, singer Neil Diamond revealed that his hit Sweet Caroline (1969) was inspired by a childhood photograph of Caroline — proof that even a single image can carry a lifetime of story.

“Now more than ever, I have learned that, when people die, they truly do live throughout those who love them,” she reflected. Through libraries, language, and the stories we keep, their lives continue — turned gently into living memory.