Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. was born on January 17, 1954, at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Kennedy family, being the third of eleven children of Senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel. His immediate family includes his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and his uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy. Kennedy was raised in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, at the Kennedy Compound, and at Hickory Hill, the family estate in McLean, Virginia.

He graduated from the Palfrey Street School in Watertown, Massachusetts, in June 1972. He then attended Harvard University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in American history and literature in 1976. During his time at Harvard, he collaborated with former roommate Peter W. Kaplan on thesis research conducted in Alabama. Kennedy obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1982 and later earned a Master of Laws from Pace University in 1987.

Kennedy's early years were marked by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the subsequent assassination of his father, Robert F. Kennedy, in 1968. He was nine at the time of JFK's death and 14 during his father's assassination, which he learned about while attending Georgetown Preparatory School. He was present at his father's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery and participated as a pallbearer.

In his youth, Kennedy experienced difficulties with drug abuse, including heroin and cocaine use, which began around age 15. He was expelled from two boarding schools, Millbrook and Pomfret, and was involved in activities labeled as vandalism and theft by some family members. He was arrested at age 16 for cannabis possession in Barnstable, Massachusetts. His cousin Caroline Kennedy later expressed concerns about his influence on other family members concerning drug use.

Kennedy's legal career included serving as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan in 1982; he resigned from this position in July 1983 after failing the New York bar exam. He was charged on September 16, 1983, with heroin possession in Rapid City, South Dakota, and pleaded guilty in February 1984, receiving a sentence of two years of probation and community service. Following this, he entered a drug treatment center.

Kennedy became involved with environmental organizations, beginning with volunteering at the Hudson River Fisherman's Association in 1984, which was later renamed Riverkeeper in 1986. After being admitted to the New York State Bar in 1985, he worked as a senior attorney at Riverkeeper, litigating on issues related to pollution and environmental enforcement along the East Coast. He co-authored the 1997 book *The Riverkeepers*, discussing the history of the waterkeepers and the environmental movement.

In 1999, Kennedy co-founded the Waterkeeper Alliance, serving as a broad organization for waterprotect groups across North America. He also founded the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic in 1987 at Pace University School of Law, where he served as supervising attorney and co-director for three decades, guiding students in environmental legal actions.

Kennedy has authored several books, including *The Riverkeepers* (1997), *Crimes Against Nature* (2004), *The Real Anthony Fauci* (2021), and *A Letter to Liberals* (2022). His career has also included political endeavors, with initial runs as a Democratic candidate and later an independent campaign in the 2024 U.S. presidential election; he withdrew and endorsed Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, in 2024.

Since 2025, Kennedy has been serving as the 26th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is a controversial figure, widely noted for promoting vaccine misinformation and conspiratorial views concerning public health. He is the founder and former chairman of Children’s Health Defense, a group known for its stance against vaccines and misinformation related to COVID-19.

Throughout his career, Kennedy's activities have spanned law, environmental advocacy, authorship, and politics.