WASHINGTON - The Senate has confirmed the daughter of slain President John F. Kennedy to be U.S. ambassador to Japan.
Caroline Kennedy won the Senate's unanimous endorsement late Wednesday shortly after it voted to end a partial shutdown of the government and extend its borrowing authority.
Kennedy was nominated for the ambassador's job by President Barack Obama after playing a role in his re-election campaign. At her confirmation hearing last month, she promised to carry forward her father's legacy.
Japan is the U.S.' fourth-largest trading partner and home to the Navy's 7th Fleet and 50,000 American troops. Kennedy's father battled Japanese forces as a Navy officer in World War II.
Caroline Kennedy was five days shy of her sixth birthday when her father was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.
