The Mutant Prince

Our Ph.D. mills have worked overtime to mine the buried lore of our great Republic, from studies of the colonizing Founding Fathers to the political incorrectness of their slave holding descendants; but, to date, there seems to be no contrasting studies of the personalities of presidential grandsons who have included such opposites as Gavin Arthur, grandson of President Chester A. Arthur, who hawked newspapers on the streets of San Francisco and advised Beat hero Neal Cassady on the occult, and Henry Adams, grandson of John Quincy Adams, who wrote an august seven volume history of the Madison-Jefferson era.

Somewhere in-between these polar opposites falls young Jack Schlossberg, grandson of John Fitzgerald Kennedy--our 35^th president-- or, "Grandpa," as Jack called him on a recent YouTube performance.

For the record, Jack's full name is John Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg; the Bouvier is in honor of "Black Jack" Bouvier, Grandmother Jacqueline Kennedy's father, a society stockbroker who showed up loaded at his daughter's wedding to the dashing young senator--and future president. Dropped from the family tree is the name Fitzgerald, JFK's own middle name, for the president's grandfather, the storied "Honey Fitz," who served as mayor of Boston and whom the aristocratic but impecunious Bouviers never appreciated. A showman in his own right, "Honey Fitz" was known for his rendition of "Sweet Adeline" at Irish weddings (and wakes) and ran the city from the backroom of his saloon.

Old fashioned scholars like Henry Adams were forced to research their subjects in musty libraries, though actually Henry used his family's considerable wealth to hire scribes to scour archives around the world. Fortunately, today's curious need only to click on Wikipedia to master at least the basics of a subject's background.

As of September 2025, young Schlossberg has forty footnotes outlining his accomplishments, which include a brief stint on the State Department's Bureau of Oceans desk, as well as a political correspondent for Vogue, covering the 2024 campaign of Kamala Harris, whose defeat ended any hope for another political sinecure.

Education was the standard Ivy League fare: Yale, where he wrote for the Yale Daily News, and found time to perform stand-up comedy, which may have been foreshadowing of things to come. Then, it was on to Harvard Law and a joint MBA degree. "I don't have a life, but that's what I signed up for, Wikipedia (footnote 16) quotes him as saying. Upon graduation, Jack passed the New York bar on his first try, predicting that it was "not unlikely" that he made it in the "top 1%." This immodesty marked a clear departure from the self-deprecating humor that JFK, and Bobby, his brother, the Attorney General, were known for.

Even before young Schlossberg debuted on social media, the outline of his early life was familiar to a curious public through the tabloid stories and biographies about his grandmother's post White House life. In a short period, she went from being the admired First Lady who had been tragically widowed, to "Jackie O," the wife of Aristotle Onassis, a wealthy Greek shipping tycoon of dubious personal habits and shady business dealings. It was an alliance, some would say, that marked the end of Camelot, the mythical kingdom that had surrounded the Kennedys and had had its origin in Teddy White's adoring campaign biography, The Making of the President (1960). The marriage was summed up in Bobby Kennedy's comment when Jackie broke the news to him: "You must be joking."

Jack's mother, Caroline, was five when her father was assassinated, supposedly by a lone gunman. She grew up in New York City, a shy and studious girl, along with her younger brother John, who was handsome and outgoing. When John was killed in 1999, along with his stunning wife, in a plane he was piloting, Caroline fought her sister-in-law's family so that the bulk of her brother's multi-million dollar estate would be preserved for her young son.

Unlike her raucous Kennedy cousins, Caroline stayed out of the headlines. At Radcliffe, she became involved with a Yalie, but he ended the relationship on the grounds that his ego would not permit him to become the future "Mr. Caroline Kennedy."

While working at the Metropolitan Museum, Caroline met Edwin Schlossberg, a multi-media artist who lived in a million dollar loft that his wealthy family had provided. Though he held two Ph.D.s from Columbia University, his career involved writing novelty books, and after their marriage, designing an award that was given by the Profiles in Courage Foundation, named after the Pulitzer Prize book that Jack Kennedy had written with the help of Jackie and Ted Sorensen, one of the brilliant young men who surrounded his presidency.

Pleasant and well-liked, Schlossberg was from an Orthodox Jewish family. He acquiesced in raising their children in his wife's religion. "Everyone I knew growing up was Jewish," Jack noted in one of his YouTube appearances, "I thought it was cool to be Catholic."

After receiving his joint degree, Jack aimed for a career in "public service," rather than being cooped up in a Wall Street office. For a Kennedy, this meant being appointed, or elected, to high office, like his mother, who received two ambassadorships for her early support for Joe Biden, or even like Uncle Ted Kennedy who, despite being tossed from Harvard, made it to the United States Senate at the age of thirty.

Jack's apprenticeship has been fairly light. He has presided over award ceremonies in his grandfather's honor, a not so subtle reminder of his connection to the New Frontier; and, in his capacity as political correspondent, sat down for a thoughtful interview with Governor Josh Shapiro, an up-and-coming member of the Democratic Party on the merits of Philadelphia pizza. In the course of their discussion, Jack revealed that he enjoyed mayonnaise on his pizza, maybe another foreshadowing of his novel personality.

Back in the already ancient days of the 2020 election, Jack made his national debut, if only virtually, with a speech supporting Joe Biden at the Democratic convention. In the best backroom tradition of "Honey Fitz," the young comer was rewarded by his landsman with an appointment to a national commission.

Jack"s first convention appearance proved but a dry run for 2024. Given a prime slot on the second day, he boldly told the delegates, "John F. Kennedy is my grandfather and my hero" and echoed JFK's inaugural exhortation--"Let the word go forth"--in telling them: "The torch has been passed..." to Kamala Harris.

The campaign turned out to be frustrating to someone, like Jack, who understood the new medium was social media, and the message had to be "entertaining and fun."

"Make more videos," he claims the Harris people urged him--and he did just that. In them, he parodied voters, playing the roles of an old Jewish man, an Italian American named "Ant'ny," and a good ole boy who had some words for Donald Trump. "He's always grabbin' stuff," he politely put it.

"You can't just harass people with how bad stuff is," Jack explained to the New York Post, "You've got to bring some positivity and good energy to the things you think are important. That's the only strategy I have."

As an actor, Jack's accents and mannerisms were more than just passable, but some voters were skeptical of the Harvard-trained lawyer turned drumbeater.

"All that education and he goes to work for Vogue," one critic who signed herself "Mrs. Hercule Poirot" put it. "His parents should do him a favor and get him a real job."

"Life is unfair," JFK once mused on the fortunes of war; and, it must have seemed that politics is, too, when, on election day, the voters returned to the presidency, Donald J. Trump, who had spent his interregnum appealing felony convictions.

For someone who was being touted for Congress, one might have expected a more measured response. Maybe the shock was too great; but there Jack was, shortly after Donald's victory, having an imaginary conversation on Instagram with a photograph of Audrey Hepburn. "She's been talking my ear off," he said of the English actress who had died in 1993 and had never voted in an American election. "She's not happy."

"I thought a lot about it," Jack later explained to the curious on a popular podcast. So, he decided "to give them something else. What have I to lose, making a dumb video?"

Soon thereafter, Jack was all over TikTok and Instagram, running through Walmart in his socks, sucking his thumb, or singing in falsetto the Beatles' " She's Got a Ticket to Ride."

Those who prefer their political scions socially conscious were not amused. "You're trust fund homeless" one critic posted. Another commented: "This is Little Edie 2.00"--a reference to the 1975 documentary, Grey Gardens, about Jackie's eccentric Bouvier relations who lived in a rundown Long Island mansion and fed the pack of racoons that occupied their attic.

In the Age of Trump, family squabbles over support for Donald are to be expected. Even the Kennedys had no immunity when Bobby Kennedy, Jr. a crusading environmental lawyer--and sometime conspiracy theorist--crossed the aisle and joined the administration as Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services.

"I saw it coming a year ago," Jack said, referring to his cousin's brief race for the Democratic Party nomination. "They had the same donors."

After Bobby, Jr. joined the cabinet, Jack accused him of "misusing Camelot," and it was Kennedy v. Kennedy, as mother Caroline jumped in, labeling Bobby a drug abuser--and worse. LBJ must have been smiling down from Heaven, as Jack signaled the end of the dynasty. "There is no family--it's not the Godfather," he told New York magazine. "We don't meet every year and have a discussion of what to do."

Every great performer requires a signature role: Olivier appearing as Henry V, Marlon Brando playing Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. For his, Jack Schlossberg donned a blond wig and impersonated Melania Trump, reading a letter that she had written to Vladimir Putin on the plight of the children of Ukraine.

The on-line reaction was predictable: "He's in trans," one wag noted.

Off-line, things were not much better. Out in L.A., a Mexican-American who recalled the days when a Kennedy had marched with Cesar Chavez just shook his head when asked about Jack's performance; and the reaction of a Palm Springs lady who had made her own "No Kings" poster was one word: "Yikes!"

"Yikes!"--it doesn't have to be. After all, Jack's parents are okay with his role. Recently, they took turns interviewing him outside the family compound. Topics ranged from clean energy and MAGA's inroads in New York City to surfing. "I like surfing," Jack said wisely. "If you get up on a wave, it's not because you're a Kennedy."

Jack himself continues to surprise. He began the year with a post to Usha Vance, the wife of JD, in which he hailed her as "the most beautiful woman in the world," and proclaimed, "Whenever you're ready, I'm here for you." There was no reported reaction from Usha, but one of the faithful posted: "Every generation needs a handsome Kennedy, and I'm so glad Jack is ours."

Endnotes: Ron Martinetti for AL. Ron has interviewed the late Budd Schulberg, Gay Talese, and others for American Legends. Jackie Kennedy's background and Bobby's reaction to her second marriage are from Just Jackie: Her Private Years by Edward Klein. (Ballantine Books, 1998) Caroline Kennedy's courtship and marriage to Edwin Schlossberg are discussed in Christopher Andersen's Jackie After Jack. (Warner Books ed., 1998) Like many recent authors, Andersen casts a cold eye on Camelot. The "torch has been passed" speech is referred to in many works, including Robert Kennedy by Evan Thomas. (Simon & Schuster, 2000) Jack Schlossberg's comments about growing up Catholic were made on The Bulwork podcast. Carolyn Cassady's recollections of Gavin Arthur are in her memoir of life with Neal: Off the Road. (William Morrow, 1990)The title of this profile is with apologies to the late David Dalton and his Jimmy Dean biography, The Mutant King. Grey Gardens is a documentary by the Mayseles brothers that chronicles the sad and touching story of Jackie's aunt, Big Edie, and her cousin, Little Edie; both had hoped to go on the stage, but, hard luck and poor choices, allowed the world to pass them by.