Max Kennedy

Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy was born on January 11, 1965, in New York City. He is a member of the Kennedy family, being the ninth child of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy, and one of eleven children of his parents.

Kennedy was baptized at St. Patrick's Cathedral by William Jerome McCormack in front of approximately 200 witnesses. His name honors General Maxwell D. Taylor, who was then serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam. At age 12, he was hospitalized following an injury sustained in an elevator accident at his uncle and aunt Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Potomac residence.

During his youth, Kennedy was described as "wild," and he was expelled from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He completed his secondary education at Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, graduating in 1983. He achieved sobriety in 1985. Kennedy enrolled at Georgetown University in the fall of 1983 but later graduated from Harvard College. He also earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

On July 13, 1991, Kennedy married Victoria Anne Strauss, who is the granddaughter of Maurice "Moe" Strauss. The couple has three children: a son, Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy Jr., born in 1993; and two daughters, Caroline Summer Rose Kennedy (born 1994) and Noah Isabella Rose Kennedy (born 1998).

Kennedy's professional career includes serving as an assistant district attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, where he prosecuted felony cases and worked within the juvenile crime unit. After three years, he relocated to Los Angeles, living in Brentwood, where he paused his legal career to compile a book about his father. The book, titled "Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy and the Words That Inspired Him," was published by Harcourt Brace in 1998.

He later returned to the East Coast to lead the Watershed Institute at Boston College, an environmental organization. In the 2000 U.S. presidential election campaign, Kennedy served as chairman of the re-election campaign for his uncle U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy. He also taught English at Boston College.

In 2001, Kennedy considered a run for the Democratic nomination in Massachusetts's 9th congressional district, a seat vacated by Joe Moakley. He moved from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to the district to prepare for the campaign but ultimately did not declare candidacy, citing family commitments. Subsequently, Kennedy relocated to California.

Kennedy authored "Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her," published in 2008 by Simon & Schuster. The book details the attack on the USS Bunker Hill during World War II’s final months in 1945. Critical reviews noted the detailed description of the attack and its aftermath.

Politically, Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama during the 2008 Democratic primaries and introduced him at a June 2008 fundraiser at the McLean, Virginia home of his mother, Ethel Kennedy. He also endorsed Alan Khazei in the 2010 special election for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts after Kennedy's death.

Kennedy was appointed by President Obama as a member of the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). He was confirmed by the Senate in October 2011 and served until January 2018.

In 2004, Kennedy supported the demolition of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, site of his father's 1968 assassination, advocating for the development of a public school as a memorial. Regarding the parole of Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy, in 2021, Kennedy was among those opposing his release.

Kennedy and his wife married in Philadelphia, and they have three children. Visiting historical sites related to his family, Kennedy traveled to the Solomon Islands in 2002 with Robert Ballard to revisit the location of the story of JFK’s PT-109 rescue.

Kennedy has publicly supported current Democratic candidates, endorsing Joe Biden’s reelection campaign in 2024, and after Biden's withdrawal, he endorsed Kamala Harris. His siblings have had differing views on the endorsement of other candidates, including Robert Kennedy Jr.

He has authored three books: "Make Gentle the Life of This World" (1998), "Danger's Hour" (2008), and "Sea Change" (2018).