Robert F. Kennedy Jr. facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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Official portrait, 2025
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| 26th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services | |
| Assumed office February 13, 2025 |
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| President | Donald Trump |
| Deputy | Jim O'Neill (nominee) |
| Preceded by | Xavier Becerra |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Robert Francis Kennedy Jr.
January 17, 1954 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
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| Spouses |
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| Children | 6 |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Kennedy family |
| Education |
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Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954), often called RFK Jr., is an American politician and environmental lawyer. He became the 26th Secretary of Health and Human Services on February 13, 2025. Before this, he ran as an independent candidate in the 2024 United States presidential election. He is part of the famous Kennedy family. His father was U.S. attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy. His uncles were U.S. president John F. Kennedy and senator Ted Kennedy.
He also started and leads Children's Health Defense, a group that speaks out about vaccines.
Contents
Early Life and Education
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was born in Washington, D.C., on January 17, 1954. He is the third of eleven children born to Senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy. He is also a nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy.
He grew up in his family's homes in McLean, Virginia, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. When he was nine, his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963. Five years later, in 1968, his father was assassinated while running for president.
After his father's death, Kennedy lived with another family in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He finished high school at Palfrey Street School in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1972. He then went to Harvard University, earning a degree in American history and literature in 1976. He also studied at the London School of Economics. Later, he earned a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and another law degree from Pace University.
Career and Environmental Work
Kennedy started his career as a lawyer for the district attorney's office in New York City.
In 1984, he joined Riverkeeper, a group that protects rivers. In 1986, he also joined the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), another environmental group. Kennedy is an expert in environmental law. He works as a lawyer for the firms Morgan & Morgan and Kennedy & Madonna, LLP.
He has worked to protect waterways, support indigenous rights (the rights of native peoples), and promote renewable energy. He does this through lawsuits, talking to lawmakers, teaching, and public campaigns.
From 1986, he taught environmental law as a professor at Pace University School of Law. In 1987, he started the Pace Law School's Environmental Litigation Clinic. He was a supervising lawyer and co-director there until 2017. In 1999, he founded the non-profit environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance and was its president.
Kennedy also worked with VantagePoint Capital Partners, a large company that invests in clean energy businesses. This company was an early investor in Tesla. He also advises other companies that focus on water and energy. For example, he works with Ostara, a company that turns pollution from wastewater into fertilizer. He is also an advisor to Starwood Energy Group.
He is on the board of Vionx, a company that makes large batteries for power grids. In 2017, Vionx, National Grid, and the U.S. Department of Energy installed these batteries at a high school in Worcester, Massachusetts. This was one of the biggest energy storage projects in the state.
Kennedy is also a partner in ColorZen. This company helps cotton factories use less water and create less pollution when dyeing cotton.
Running for President in 2024
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On March 3, 2023, Kennedy said he was thinking about running for president in 2024. He officially filed to run for the Democratic nomination on April 5, 2023. However, on October 9, 2023, he decided to run as an independent candidate instead. He is the fifth person from his family to seek the presidency.
He was considered as a candidate for the Libertarian Party in May 2024 but did not win their nomination.
Kennedy's campaign received support from some Republican donors. They thought he might take votes away from Joe Biden.
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On August 23, Kennedy announced in Phoenix, Arizona, that he was ending his presidential campaign. He then supported Donald Trump for president.
Secretary of Health and Human Services (2025–Present)
Days before the 2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump said Kennedy would have an important role in health care.
In January 2025, the Senate Committee on Finance and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held meetings about Kennedy's nomination.
On February 13, 2025, the Senate approved Kennedy as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He was confirmed by a vote of 52 to 48.
First Actions as Secretary
On February 13, 2025, Kennedy was officially sworn in as the 26th Secretary of Health and Human Services. This happened in the Oval Office by Justice Neil Gorsuch. He is the first independent or third-party presidential candidate to become a cabinet member after running for president.
The next day, agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were told that about 5,200 new federal health workers would be let go.
Political Views
Kennedy often uses ideas that some people call conspiracy theories.
He has questioned the official story of the COVID-19 pandemic. He suggested it might have helped very rich people.
He also believes that the financial industry and the military industry are funded at the expense of the American middle class. Kennedy thinks a strong middle class is key to the economy. He says the economy has gotten worse because the middle class has become poorer.
Kennedy is against military action and foreign involvement. He strongly criticized the Iraq War.
He supports regenerative farming. He believes environmentalists should focus on the "carbon industry." Kennedy wants the world to move away from fossil fuels and use more renewable energy. He has been very critical of the oil industry. He says our current society and economy rely too much on "coal and oil." He also believes the current economic system rewards pollution. He supports the Green New Deal plan and wants to put it into action.
Kennedy has spoken out against geoengineering. He claims that these solutions are a way for big businesses to make money from climate change.
He is also against nuclear energy. He thinks it is too expensive and not safe enough.
Views on Gun Control
Kennedy supports "common sense" gun control. However, he has also said he would not "take away anybody’s guns." He believes the Supreme Court has settled the debate about the Second Amendment. Kennedy also supports a plan to ban assault weapons that has support from both major political parties.
International and Indigenous Rights
Starting in 1985, Kennedy helped develop the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)'s international program. This program focuses on environmental, energy, and human rights. He traveled to Canada and Latin America to help native tribes protect their lands. He also helped them oppose large energy and mining projects in wild areas.
In 1990, Kennedy helped the native Pehuenche people in Chile. They were trying to stop a series of dams on Chile's Biobío River. Their efforts stopped all but one of the planned dams. From 1992, he helped the Cree Indians in northern Quebec. They were fighting against Hydro-Québec to stop about 600 dams planned for eleven rivers in James Bay.
In 1993, Kennedy and NRDC worked with Cultural Survival, a group that supports indigenous rights. They disagreed with other American environmental groups about the rights of Indians to control their own lands in Ecuador. Kennedy represented a group of Indian peoples called CONFENIAE. He negotiated with the American oil company Conoco to limit oil development in the Ecuadorian Amazon. At the same time, he worked to get benefits from resource extraction for Amazonian tribes. Kennedy strongly criticized Texaco for polluting the Ecuadoran Amazon in the past.
From 1993 to 1999, Kennedy worked with five native tribes on Vancouver Island. They were trying to stop logging by MacMillan Bloedel in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia.
In 1996, Kennedy met with Cuban President Fidel Castro. He tried to convince Castro to stop plans to build a nuclear power plant in Juraguá. During their long meeting, Castro talked about Kennedy's father and uncle. He thought U.S. relations with Cuba would have been better if President Kennedy had not been assassinated.
Between 1996 and 2000, Kennedy and NRDC helped Mexican fishermen. They stopped Mitsubishi's plan to build a salt factory in the Laguna San Ignacio. This area is where gray whales give birth and raise their young. Kennedy wrote against the project and traveled to Japan to meet with the Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
In 2000, he helped local environmental activists. They stopped plans by a real estate developer and a U.S. engineering company, Bechtel. These companies wanted to build a large hotel and resort in the Bahamas. Kennedy argued that the project threatened coral reefs and public beaches used by local Bahamians at Clifton Bay, New Providence Island.
Kennedy was an early editor of Indian Country Today. This is North America's largest newspaper for Native Americans. He helped lead the fight against damming the Futaleufú River in the Patagonia region of Chile. In 2016, the Spanish power company, Endesa, gave up its rights to dam the river. This was due to pressure from the campaign against the dams.
Personal Life
Hobbies and Interests
Kennedy is a skilled falconer. He has trained hawks since he was 11 years old. He also breeds hawks and falcons. He is licensed to raise raptors and help injured wildlife. He has special permits for Federal Game Keeper, Bird Bander, and Scientific Collector. He was president of the New York State Falconry Association from 1988 to 1991. In 1987, he wrote the test for new falconers in New York State. He also wrote the New York State Apprentice Falconer's Manual, which is still used today.
Kennedy also enjoys whitewater kayaking. His father introduced him and his siblings to this sport. They went on trips down rivers like the Green and Yampa Rivers in Utah and Colorado. Between 1976 and 1981, Kennedy was a guide for a whitewater company called "Utopian." He led several first-time kayaking trips to Latin America. These included three rivers that had not been explored by kayakers before: the Apurimac, Peru, in 1975; the Atrato, Colombia, in 1979; and the Caroni, Venezuela, in 1982. He also made an early trip down the Great Whale River in northern Quebec in 1993.
In 2015, he took two of his sons to the Yukon. They visited Mount Kennedy and kayaked the Alsek River. Mount Kennedy was named after his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, in 1964. His father was the first person to climb Mount Kennedy in 1965.
Family Life
On April 3, 1982, Kennedy married Emily Ruth Black. They met at the University of Virginia School of Law. They had two children: Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy III (born 1984) and Kathleen Alexandra ('Kick') Kennedy (born 1988). Kennedy and Black separated in 1992 and divorced in 1994.
On April 15, 1994, Kennedy married Mary Kathleen Richardson. They had four children: Conor Richardson Kennedy (born 1994), Kyra LeMoyne Kennedy (born 1995), William Finbar "Finn" Kennedy (born 1997), and Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy (born 2001). Mary passed away on May 16, 2012.
Kennedy married his third wife, actress and director Cheryl Hines, on August 2, 2014. Their wedding was at the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod. They were introduced by Hines' co-star Larry David. Kennedy and Hines started dating in 2012. They now live in Los Angeles, California, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Images for kids
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Kennedy in 2000
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Kennedy at a taping of ETown during the 2008 Democratic National Convention
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See also
In Spanish: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. para niños
- Bobby Kennedy – Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s father
- Kennedy family
