"Chronicling the Life of Former President JFK's Nephew, and RFK Jr's 2024 focuses on a range of things from protecting the ENVIRONMENT to getting rid of vaccine mandates." --Aphrodite Avidon, Seventh Grade
On April 19, 2023 Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. announced his running for American presidential office. Kennedy is the child of Ethel Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy Sr., the 1968 presidential candidate in the Democratic primary. His campaign focuses on stopping mandating vaccination, though the connection is unknown to his past where he focused on environmental law.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was born in Washington, D.C and grew up in Massachusetts. He was nine when he lost his uncle, president John F. Kennedy. He was 14 when his father was assassinated while visiting Los Angeles. He also had to cope with losing two of his older brothers, Michael to drugs, and David to a skiing accident. He resorted to alcohol and drugs. He was arrested for marijuana possession when he was 16 and then was sentenced to 13 months of probation. Kennedy then developed a love for nature and falconry.
In 1976 he graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in American History
and Literature. He soon went to London School of Economics where he received a Juris Doctor Degree. He finished his education at Pace University with a Master in Law.
He went to work as the Assistant Attorney General for Manhattan, then resigned when he failed his bar exam. He soon was charged with heroin possession and sentenced to two years probation, and community service.
The community service was a turning point in his life. He volunteered for the Natural Resources Defence Council, cleaning the Hudson River. While cleaning the river, Kennedy was discovered by Riverkeeper, an environmental law company where he worked up to become a Senior Attorney. He passed the bar in 1985 and became a lawyer.
Kennedy worked for many years to protect renewable energy sources with Riverkeeper.
In 1986 Kennedy won his first settlement against Remington Arms Trap & Skeet Gun Club for shooting lead into the Long Island Sound. Kennedy won many other cases against industry leaders such as General Electric.
Kennedy later founded the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University and worked with Professor Karl Coplan. He obtained a permit from the state of New York to allow 10 students to fight in environmental law cases with Kennedy and Coplan. In 2010 the clinic got the ExxonMobil corporation to clean up many millions of gallons of oil that was spilled from the legacy refinery in Newton Creek, New York.
In 2001 Kennedy was recognized as one of Men’s Journal’s heroes for creating the Litigation clinic at Pace. Many universities have taken influence from Kennedy and Coplan’s clinic, and now many universities have their own environmental law program such as Berkeley, UCLA, and Rutgers.
Riverkeeper was very successful with Kennedy as their senior attorney, and became a notable environmental firm. Kennedy went to found Waterkeeper, an alliance that created Soundkeeper, Lakekeeper, Baykeeper, Bayoukeeper, Canalkeeper, and Coastkeeper. The programs work in 47 countries, protecting 344 bodies of water. They are now the largest nonprofit that is designated to make drinkable, safe, and swimmable water.
Kennedy eventually created his own firm, Kennedy and Madonna, with lawyer Kevin Madonna. The firm represented individuals against polluters. In 2004 Kennedy and Madonna won a $70 million suit against a superfund chemical company in Pensacola, Florida that was unsafe for their client, and their client’s farm. He also won major cases such as Ramapough Mountain Native American Tribe v. Ford Motor Company, because Ford was dumping toxic waste on government protected native land in New Jersey. The trial is chronicled in the HBO documentary Mann v. Ford. In 2007 Kennedy was a finalist for Public Justice’s lawyer of the year award for his work in winning a $396 million lawsuit against the DuPont chemical company, who was releasing unsafe zinc (a chemical found in sunscreen) into drinking water.
In 2016 Kennedy was offered a partner job at the successful firm Morgan & Morgan, where he worked at their New York office and he notably defended residents in the Aliso Canyon Gas Leak. The gas leak was a major methane leak located just outside of the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood of Porter Ranch. The gas leak was said by reporters, arguably to be the single worst gas leak of all time. Residents were awarded large sums of money to help with health and property damage. Kennedy remains a partner there.
Kennedy, John Hoving, and Chris Bartle worked to create Keeper Springs, their own bottled water company, in which all profits of the company were donated to the Waterkeeper alliance. Keeper springs was purchased by Nestlé in exchange for a very large donation to Waterkeeper.
Kennedy has been in the race for president for a few months now, and he’s very appealing to anti-vaccination Democrats, and the Republicans who have stepped away from former President Trump. Even though his past shows his love for protection of the environment, he recently, notably became an anti-vaccines activist, and has spoken out against other reasonable environmental and health things, such as having fluoride in the water.
In 2022 Kennedy published The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, which became a New York Times Bestseller. The book declares many far-fetched claims, such as HIV not causing AIDS, measles leading to ulcers, and that vaccines are not tested at all. Kennedy’s stance shows that he’s clearly an anti-vaxxer, as do vaccination records of his. However he describes himself to be welcome to vaccines as long as they are safety tested, which he claims many of the 72 mandatory vaccines are not.
He also reportedly thinks that because the Chinese manufacture many parts of our cell phones, they are sending waves into our brains, and because of vaccines they can cause autism and other disorders. He says the Chinese are immune to the brain waves because they use different vaccines made with other drugs.
In the early pandemic, around January of 2021 Ethel Kennedy, mother of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got COVID-19. She was 93. Kennedy asked, “What happens if she starts getting dangerously sick?” The doctors said they could do nothing unless she had trouble breathing. (Ethel Kennedy was fine.) Kennedy asked about other drugs that he said the Japanese have been using, with “extraordinary results”, even though he has no medical training.
A major focus of Kennedy’s campaign is “honest government, ”where he claims, “The blizzard of misinformation that is now inundating our democracy will end only when the government and the media start telling the truth to Americans.” He is very clear that he wants money to leave politics, endorsing true free speech. His sister, Kerry Kennedy says, “I love my brother Bobby, but I do not share or endorse his opinions on many issues, including the COVID pandemic, vaccinations, and the role of social media platforms in policing false information. It is also important to note that Bobby's views are not reflected in or influence the mission or work of our organization.”
It’s clear that Kennedy’s longshot primary campaign is unlikely to take off to the point of fighting a republican in the final presidential vote in November of 2024. The people who do support him aren’t enough to beat Joe Biden. In a survey conducted by the Washington Post, 65% of Democrats would write in Biden if Kennedy got the party nomination. By an over 50% margain, Kennedy is estimated to lose.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was born in Washington, D.C and grew up in Massachusetts. He was nine when he lost his uncle, president John F. Kennedy. He was 14 when his father was assassinated while visiting Los Angeles. He also had to cope with losing two of his older brothers, Michael to drugs, and David to a skiing accident. He resorted to alcohol and drugs. He was arrested for marijuana possession when he was 16 and then was sentenced to 13 months of probation. Kennedy then developed a love for nature and falconry.
In 1976 he graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in American History
and Literature. He soon went to London School of Economics where he received a Juris Doctor Degree. He finished his education at Pace University with a Master in Law.
He went to work as the Assistant Attorney General for Manhattan, then resigned when he failed his bar exam. He soon was charged with heroin possession and sentenced to two years probation, and community service.
The community service was a turning point in his life. He volunteered for the Natural Resources Defence Council, cleaning the Hudson River. While cleaning the river, Kennedy was discovered by Riverkeeper, an environmental law company where he worked up to become a Senior Attorney. He passed the bar in 1985 and became a lawyer.
Kennedy worked for many years to protect renewable energy sources with Riverkeeper.
In 1986 Kennedy won his first settlement against Remington Arms Trap & Skeet Gun Club for shooting lead into the Long Island Sound. Kennedy won many other cases against industry leaders such as General Electric.
Kennedy later founded the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University and worked with Professor Karl Coplan. He obtained a permit from the state of New York to allow 10 students to fight in environmental law cases with Kennedy and Coplan. In 2010 the clinic got the ExxonMobil corporation to clean up many millions of gallons of oil that was spilled from the legacy refinery in Newton Creek, New York.
In 2001 Kennedy was recognized as one of Men’s Journal’s heroes for creating the Litigation clinic at Pace. Many universities have taken influence from Kennedy and Coplan’s clinic, and now many universities have their own environmental law program such as Berkeley, UCLA, and Rutgers.
Riverkeeper was very successful with Kennedy as their senior attorney, and became a notable environmental firm. Kennedy went to found Waterkeeper, an alliance that created Soundkeeper, Lakekeeper, Baykeeper, Bayoukeeper, Canalkeeper, and Coastkeeper. The programs work in 47 countries, protecting 344 bodies of water. They are now the largest nonprofit that is designated to make drinkable, safe, and swimmable water.
Kennedy eventually created his own firm, Kennedy and Madonna, with lawyer Kevin Madonna. The firm represented individuals against polluters. In 2004 Kennedy and Madonna won a $70 million suit against a superfund chemical company in Pensacola, Florida that was unsafe for their client, and their client’s farm. He also won major cases such as Ramapough Mountain Native American Tribe v. Ford Motor Company, because Ford was dumping toxic waste on government protected native land in New Jersey. The trial is chronicled in the HBO documentary Mann v. Ford. In 2007 Kennedy was a finalist for Public Justice’s lawyer of the year award for his work in winning a $396 million lawsuit against the DuPont chemical company, who was releasing unsafe zinc (a chemical found in sunscreen) into drinking water.
In 2016 Kennedy was offered a partner job at the successful firm Morgan & Morgan, where he worked at their New York office and he notably defended residents in the Aliso Canyon Gas Leak. The gas leak was a major methane leak located just outside of the wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood of Porter Ranch. The gas leak was said by reporters, arguably to be the single worst gas leak of all time. Residents were awarded large sums of money to help with health and property damage. Kennedy remains a partner there.
Kennedy, John Hoving, and Chris Bartle worked to create Keeper Springs, their own bottled water company, in which all profits of the company were donated to the Waterkeeper alliance. Keeper springs was purchased by Nestlé in exchange for a very large donation to Waterkeeper.
Kennedy has been in the race for president for a few months now, and he’s very appealing to anti-vaccination Democrats, and the Republicans who have stepped away from former President Trump. Even though his past shows his love for protection of the environment, he recently, notably became an anti-vaccines activist, and has spoken out against other reasonable environmental and health things, such as having fluoride in the water.
In 2022 Kennedy published The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, which became a New York Times Bestseller. The book declares many far-fetched claims, such as HIV not causing AIDS, measles leading to ulcers, and that vaccines are not tested at all. Kennedy’s stance shows that he’s clearly an anti-vaxxer, as do vaccination records of his. However he describes himself to be welcome to vaccines as long as they are safety tested, which he claims many of the 72 mandatory vaccines are not.
He also reportedly thinks that because the Chinese manufacture many parts of our cell phones, they are sending waves into our brains, and because of vaccines they can cause autism and other disorders. He says the Chinese are immune to the brain waves because they use different vaccines made with other drugs.
In the early pandemic, around January of 2021 Ethel Kennedy, mother of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got COVID-19. She was 93. Kennedy asked, “What happens if she starts getting dangerously sick?” The doctors said they could do nothing unless she had trouble breathing. (Ethel Kennedy was fine.) Kennedy asked about other drugs that he said the Japanese have been using, with “extraordinary results”, even though he has no medical training.
A major focus of Kennedy’s campaign is “honest government, ”where he claims, “The blizzard of misinformation that is now inundating our democracy will end only when the government and the media start telling the truth to Americans.” He is very clear that he wants money to leave politics, endorsing true free speech. His sister, Kerry Kennedy says, “I love my brother Bobby, but I do not share or endorse his opinions on many issues, including the COVID pandemic, vaccinations, and the role of social media platforms in policing false information. It is also important to note that Bobby's views are not reflected in or influence the mission or work of our organization.”
It’s clear that Kennedy’s longshot primary campaign is unlikely to take off to the point of fighting a republican in the final presidential vote in November of 2024. The people who do support him aren’t enough to beat Joe Biden. In a survey conducted by the Washington Post, 65% of Democrats would write in Biden if Kennedy got the party nomination. By an over 50% margain, Kennedy is estimated to lose.