The presidential chancellery confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Austria had given the USA the consent (“agrément”) required for the appointment. For the time being, there was no confirmation from the White House. “Nothing is final as long as we do not announce a nomination,” said a spokesman on Tuesday morning (local time).
Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) did not want to comment on the journalists who had traveled with him on the sidelines of his visit to New York. In diplomatic relations, it is customary to obtain the consent of the host country before appointing an ambassador before announcing the nomination. In the USA, confirmation from ambassadors by the US Senate is also required. No difficulties are expected, however, as US President Joe Biden’s Democrats have a majority in the more powerful of the two chambers of parliament. However, nominated ambassadors also have to face a hearing in the Senate. Ambassador Trevor Traina, who left office in January, was confirmed by the Senate with 100 to 0 votes.
The US portal Axios had already reported at the end of May that “Vicki” Kennedy was earmarked for an ambassadorial post “in a Western European country”. The daughter of the former US President John F. Kennedy, Caroline, will become an ambassador to Australia. Caroline had already been the US ambassador to Japan under US President Barack Obama. According to “Axios”, the nominations should serve to draw additional supporters for the democratic government on board via the Kennedy clan.
The 67-year-old Victoria Kennedy comes from the southern state of Louisiana. Her father Edmund Reggie was a judge and banker who supported John F. Kennedy in his unsuccessful 1956 presidential campaign. Her mother Doris Ann Boustany was also active in the Democratic Party. Victoria Kennedy has Maronite ancestors from Lebanon who immigrated to Louisiana.
Ted and Victoria Kennedy married in 1992. His second wife helped the presidential brother get away from the drunkard and philanderer image. The New York Times reported that she was instrumental in helping Kennedy keep Republican challenger Mitt Romney at bay in the 1994 Senate election. Three years later, Vicki Kennedy gave up her legal profession and began to be more involved in politics. For example, she tried to organize Catholic supporters for Democratic President Barack Obama.
After the death of her husband in 2009, she was also under discussion as a possible successor. But she refused to take her husband’s seat until the new Senate election. Republican Scott Brown won the early election race in 2010. When a regular Senate election took place in 2012, Kennedy again refused to throw her hat in the ring. Brown’s challenger was Elizabeth Warren, who became an icon of the left wing after her election victory in the Senate and whose presidential candidacy in 2020 was accompanied by great euphoria.
Kennedy, who also made a name for herself as an activist for stricter gun laws, was earmarked for a government post under Obama. The then President nominated her for the post of Governor of the US Post Office (USPS) in February 2014. However, the nomination did not go through in the highly polarized US Senate.
