In her first statement as the White House's nominee as ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy identified vaccine access and the urgency of addressing climate change as priorities once she arrives down-under and presents her credentials to Governor General David Hurley.
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If confirmed by the US Senate, Ms Kennedy will be the 27th person to hold the position that sat vacant for most of the Trump administration but is seen by Democrats as an important one for the Biden administration due to increasing significance of the Indo-Pacific in US economic and foreign policy.
It's rare for high profile political diplomats to have personal links to their host countries, but for one from the Kennedy clan, the Pacific is home to bittersweet events.
Ms Kennedy offered gratitude to the World War II coast watchers from the Solomon Islands and Australia, such as Reg Evans, who found and helped rescue her father and 10 others that survived the sinking of the PT-109 in August 1943.
"If confirmed, I will work hard to repay this debt," she said in the statement. "I look forward to collaborating with the government of Australia to strengthen our alliance, improve global health and increase vaccine access during this terrible pandemic and to address the urgent climate crisis.
"I am excited to get to know the Australian people, learn about their fascinating country and share with them what I love most about America."
Ms Kennedy is a lawyer, but also a prolific book editor of what she loves most about the United States, namely its constitution, history, politics and poetry in volumes such as A Patriot's Handbook. She also serves as honorary president of her father's presidential library.
Pageantry of office is in the blood of her famous political family.
How certain is the appointment?
The Kennedy clan is a perennial favourite among Democrats for both elected and patronage positions. Victoria Kennedy, the wife of Caroline's late uncle Ted, was confirmed as ambassador to Austria earlier this year. Caroline has previously served as the US ambassador to Japan between 2013 and 2017 without a single Republican voting against her nomination.
As a prestige pick with broad popularity among Americans it's unlikely Ms Kennedy's new nomination would face serious roadblocks in the Senate, where delaying tactics from Republicans have held up several other of President Joe Biden's picks.
But Ms Kennedy has had cold feet about a high-profile appointment before, withdrawing her name to become Hillary Clinton's replacement in the Senate to represent New York when the former first lady was named secretary of state. Mystery still surrounds her last-minute decision to back out.
Legacy from her time in Japan
Accounts of Ms Kennedy's tenure in the posting to Japan have praised her ability to transcend the traditional role.
Feathers were ruffled early, according to reports, when she tweeted her opposition to Japan's dolphin hunt. and issued a statement expressing "disappointment" that Japan continued to memorialise World War II war criminals. The only thing that the Australian government feels particularly squeezed on is the transition away from fossil fuels as the world deals with climate change, and that's been neutralised in her first statement.
On the significant and contentious matters of military and defence - Japan's armed forces are called the Self-Defence Force for a reason - Ms Kennedy was seen as capable and forthright despite her inexperience when she began her lengthy tenure.
One report suggested her popularity among the Japanese people strained embassy resources as it dealt with a flood of requests for her participation in events across Japan, noting the embassy had "now caught up on the backlog of gifts sent to the ambassador in her first six months in Japan".
It was the personal touch that others remembered. A hand-written note to a female Tokyo legislator who had been taunted publicly by male colleagues for raising the problems of working mothers in Japan.
"We never know when our actions will have the greatest impact and it's often not when we expect," Ms Kenndy wrote in the note that was recalled fondly years later.
Women's equality was a priority of Obama's foreign policy, but Ms Kennedy brought her own flair to the diplomacy.
A busy workload on arrival
The Biden administration has made re-engaging the Indo-Pacific a key priority, appointing people with deep policy expertise in the region to critical roles in the US government.
Ms Kennedy will be working under Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who has visited the region - but not Australia - several times since assuming the office.
US officials have been eager to continue ministerial meetings with Australia, but less thrilled about complying with Australia's two-week quarantine requirements. If Ms Kennedy is confirmed, she will likely be hosting a string of senior officials from the Biden administration playing catch-up promised in-person visits.
In addition to Mr Blinken, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and a coterie of other cabinet ministers, a visit by President Biden is also likely during his first term.
The reason for their likely visits is deeper than just enthusiasm to commemorate AUKUS, the new trilateral security pact between Australia, UK and the US announced in September this year.
As Mr Blinken told a university in Jakarta this week in a major speech about the region, "what happens in the Indo-Pacific will, more than any other region, shape the trajectory of the world in the 21st century."
The Kennedys were also on Mr Blinken's mind, drawing on the words of JFK about his vision for the world: "Our basic goal remains the same: a peaceful world, a community of free and independent states, free to choose their own future and their own system, so long as it does not threaten the freedom of others.
"For all that's changed in the nearly 70 years since President Kennedy spoke those words, it's remarkable how much that vision aligns with the one we share."