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The First Jewish President?

Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, is ready for his time in the spotlight

by
Rachel Shukert
May 08, 2017
Ryan McBride/AFP/Getty Images
Jack Schlossberg, grandson of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, speaks to guests before former U.S. president Barack Obama received the 2017 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, Boston, Mass., May 7, 2017.Ryan McBride/AFP/Getty Images
Ryan McBride/AFP/Getty Images
Jack Schlossberg, grandson of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, speaks to guests before former U.S. president Barack Obama received the 2017 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, Boston, Mass., May 7, 2017.Ryan McBride/AFP/Getty Images

Are you the kind of person whose left-leaning grandmother would often sigh over how John F. Kennedy Jr. was the sexiest, smartest, most perfect man alive—when he was alive, that is, and, come to think of it, when she was too—and tell you that he would be “the perfect husband for you… if only he was Jewish”? Well, a new generation won’t have to suffer this lamentation anymore, because the 24-year-old Jack Schlossberg, son of Caroline Kennedy and Jewish designer Edwin Schlossberg—and only grandson of John F. Kennedy himself—has officially burst onto the scene.

Barack Obama shakes hands with Jack Schlossberg during a dinner in honor of the Medal of Freedom awardees at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., November 20, 2013. (Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images
Barack Obama shakes hands with Jack Schlossberg during a dinner in honor of the Medal of Freedom awardees at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., November 20, 2013. (Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images

In a joint television interview with his mother on The Today Show last week, Schlossberg, in his first live TV appearance, explained their decision to award this year’s John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award to former President Barack Obama. The ceremony took place at a gala over the weekend, and Schlossberg himself introduced Obama, whom he’s met numerous times, comparing him to his grandfather. “Throughout his presidency, my grandfather made it clear that he alone could fix nothing; that he alone had no answers. He had the courage to plainly admit America’s shortcomings, to then lay out bold plans to address those problems and to ask his fellow Americans for help in solving them… he inspired a generation to enter public service and to ask what they could do for their country. President Barack Obama inspired me in the same way. My life changed in 2008 because a young candidate was fired up and ready to go, and he told me, ‘Yes we can.’”

Schlossberg is a recent Yale graduate with a place waiting for him at Harvard Law School this fall, and typically Kennedy-esque with an incredible head of hair (I mean, just look at the two at the Met gala). Better still, when asked about his plans for the future on Today—particularly in regards to one day seeking public office—he was non-committal, which befits a young man not yet old enough to seek election to the House of Representatives (or, frankly, to rent a car). But he also left the door wide open and swinging on its hinges: “I’m inspired by my family’s legacy of public service. It’s something I’m very proud of. But I’m still trying to make my own way and figure things out. So stay tuned—I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

For anyone else from any other family, this is like politely telling one of your parents’ friends you really don’t know what you want to major in, and you’d like them to leave you alone now. But for a Kennedy—which, may I reiterate, comes with a kind of academic pedigree and coiffure—this declaration is pretty much the equivalent of a seasoned professional politician saying: “I have no plans to run…at this time.” (This time, of course, meaning the exact nanosecond in which the phrase is uttered, and no other.)

So I’m just going to go ahead and call it now, folks: Unless by some miracle the Red Sea parts and President Al Franken strides out of its primordial depths in 2020, we may have just gotten our first glimpse at our first Jewish President—unless they try to foist the execrable Ivanka on us first. Now, which one of you lucky 4-year-old girls out there is going to hear from her grandma how she should be First Lady?

Rachel Shukert is the author of the memoirs Have You No Shame? and Everything Is Going To Be Great,and the novel Starstruck. She is the creator of the Netflix show The Baby-Sitters Club, and a writer on such series as GLOW and Supergirl. Her Twitter feed is @rachelshukert.