Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954) is an American environmental lawyer and author known for promoting
anti-vaccine
Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...
propaganda and
conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
. Kennedy is a son of U.S. senator
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
and a nephew of President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
. He helped found the non-profit environmental group
Waterkeeper Alliance
Waterkeeper Alliance is a worldwide network of environmental organizations founded in 1999 in response to a growing movement of organizations with such names as Riverkeeper, Baykeeper and Soundkeeper. By December 2019, the group said it had gro ...
in 1999 and has served as the president of its board. Kennedy has co-hosted ''
Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...
'', a nationally syndicated radio program, and written or edited ten books, including two ''New York Times'' bestsellers.
From 1986 until 2017, Kennedy was a senior attorney for the
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...
(NRDC), a non-profit environmental organization. From 1984 until 2017, he was a board member and attorney for
Hudson
Hudson may refer to:
People
* Hudson (given name)
* Hudson (surname)
* Henry Hudson, English explorer
* Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back
* Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...
Riverkeeper
Riverkeeper is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection of the Hudson River and its tributaries, as well as the watersheds that provide New York City with its drinking water. It started out as the Hudson River Fisherman' ...
. Earlier in his legal career, he served as assistant district attorney in New York City. For over thirty years, Kennedy was an adjunct professor of
Environmental law
Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...
at
Pace University School of Law
The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is the law school of Pace University located in White Plains, New York. Founded in 1976 as Pace Law School, the American Bar Association (ABA) accredited it in 1978. Pace has a top-ranked Envir ...
. Until August 2017, he held the post as supervising attorney and co-director of Pace Law School's Environmental Litigation Clinic, which he founded in 1987.
Since 2005, he has promoted the scientifically discredited idea that vaccines cause autism, and is founder and chairman of
Children's Health Defense
Children's Health Defense is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit activist group mainly known for anti-vaccine propaganda and has been identified as one of the main sources of misinformation on vaccines. Founded under the name World Mercury Project ...
, an anti-vaccine propaganda group.
Early life and education
Kennedy was born at
Georgetown University Hospital
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital is one of the Washington, D.C. area's oldest academic teaching hospitals. It is a not-for-profit, acute care teaching and research facility located in the Georgetown neighborhood of the Northwest Quadrant ...
in Washington, D.C., on January 17, 1954. He is the third of eleven children of senator and attorney general
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
and
Ethel Kennedy
Ethel Kennedy (' Skakel; born April 11, 1928) is an American human rights advocate. She is the widow of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a sister-in-law of President John F. Kennedy, and the sixth child of George Skakel and Ann Brannack. Shortly a ...
, Skakel. He is a nephew of president and senator
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
, and senator
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
.
Kennedy grew up at his family's homes in
McLean, Virginia
McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxim ...
, and
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
. He was 9 years old in 1963 when his uncle, President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
Georgetown Preparatory School
Georgetown Preparatory School (also known as Georgetown Prep) is a Jesuit college-preparatory school in North Bethesda, Maryland for boys in ninth through twelfth grade. It has a 93-acre (380,000 square meters) campus. It is the only Jesuit board ...
boarding school in North Bethesda, Maryland. A few hours later, he flew to Los Angeles on vice-president Hubert Humphrey's plane, along with his elder sister Kathleen and elder brother
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, and was with his father when he died. Kennedy was a pallbearer in his father's funeral, where he spoke and read excerpts from his father's speeches at the Mass commemorating his death at
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
.
After obtaining his high school diploma from the Palfrey Street School in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, Kennedy continued his education at
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
, graduating from
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts in American History and Literature. He went on to earn a
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
from the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
and a
Master of Laws
A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...
from
Pace University
Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pac ...
.
Career
In 1983, when Kennedy was an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, he was arrested and pled guilty to heroin possession and was sentenced to two years' probation and community service. Following his arrest he entered a drug treatment center and during his probation volunteered for the
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...
. His probation ended a year early.
In 1984, Kennedy joined Riverkeeper as an investigator, and was promoted to senior attorneyCronin, John; Kennedy, Robert F. Jr. (1997). ''The Riverkeepers: Two Activists Fight to Reclaim Our Environment as a Basic Human Right''. New York: Scribner. p. 304. . when he was admitted to the New York bar in 1985.Dunlap, David W. and Perlez, Jane (June 4, 1985). A Quiet Victory For Robert F. Kennedy Jr . ''The New York Times''.
Kennedy is an environmental law specialist and partner in the law firms of
Morgan & Morgan
Morgan & Morgan is an American law firm. Founded in 1988 by John Morgan, it is headquartered in Orlando, Florida. While Morgan & Morgan was historically considered a firm focused on personal injury, medical malpractice and class action lawsui ...
and of Kennedy & Madonna, LLP, and is an advocate for
environmental justice
Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...
.
Through litigation, lobbying, teaching, and public campaigns and activism, Kennedy has advocated for the protection of waterways,
indigenous rights
Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...
, and
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
.
In 2018, the National Trial Lawyers Association awarded Kennedy and his trial team Trial Team of the Year for their work winning a $289 million jury verdict in Dewayne "Lee" Johnson v Monsanto.
Riverkeeper
Kennedy litigated and supervised environmental enforcement lawsuits on the east coast estuaries on behalf of Hudson Riverkeeper and the Long Island Soundkeeper, where he was also a board member. Long Island Soundkeeper brought numerous lawsuits against cities and industries along the Connecticut and New York coastlines. In 1986, Kennedy won a landmark case against Remington Arms Trap and Skeet Gun Club in
Stratford, Connecticut
Stratford is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. Stratford is in the Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was settled ...
, that ended the practice of shooting lead shot into
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
. Kennedy also filed federal lawsuits to close the
Pelham Bay
Pelham Bay Park is a municipal park located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is, at , the largest public park in New York City. The park is more than three times the size of Manhattan's Central Park. The par ...
landfill and the New York Athletic clubs, arguing that those facilities were interfering with public use of Long Island Sound. On the Hudson, Kennedy brought a series of lawsuits against municipalities, including New York City, to properly treat sewage, and against industries, including
Consolidated Edison
Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison (stylized as conEdison) or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 b ...
,
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
and
Exxon
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
, to stop discharging pollution and to clean up legacy contamination.
In 1995, Kennedy advocated for repeal of the anti-environmental legislation during the 104th Congress.Werth, Barry (May 2, 2004). Somewhere Down the Crazy River ". ''Outside''. In 1997, Kennedy worked with John Cronin to write ''The Riverkeepers'', a history of the early Riverkeepers and a primer for the Waterkeeper movement.
Drawing on his experience investigating and suing polluters on behalf of the Waterkeepers, Kennedy has written extensively about environmental law enforcement.
Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic
In 1987, Kennedy founded the Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University School of Law, where for three decades he was the clinic's supervising attorney and co-director, and as Clinical Professor of Law. Kennedy obtained a special order from the New York State Court of Appeals that permitted his 10 clinic students–second- and third-year law students–to practice law and to try cases against Hudson River polluters in state and federal court, under the supervision of Kennedy and his co-director, Professor Karl Coplan. The clinic's full-time clients are Riverkeeper and Long Island Soundkeeper.Kennedy, Robert F. Jr., Solow, Steven P. (1993). "Environmental Litigation as Clinical Education: A Case Study". ''University of Oregon Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation'' Volume 8
The clinic has sued numerous governments and companies for polluting Long Island Sound and the Hudson River and its tributaries. The clinic argued cases to expand citizen access to the shoreline and won hundreds of settlements for the Hudson Riverkeeper. Kennedy and his students also sued dozens of municipal waste-water treatment plants to force compliance with the
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...
. In 2010, a Pace lawsuit forced
ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...
to clean up tens of millions of gallons of oil from legacy refinery spills in Newtown Creek in Brooklyn, New York.
On April 11, 2001, ''
Men's Journal
''Men's Journal'' is an American monthly men's lifestyle magazine focused on outdoor recreation and comprising editorials on the outdoors, environmental issues, health and fitness, style and fashion, and gear. It was founded in 1992 by Jann Wenne ...
'' recognized Kennedy with its "Heroes" Award for his creation of the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic. Kennedy and his Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic received other awards for successful legal work cleaning up the environment. The Pace Clinic became a model for similar environmental law clinics throughout the country including Rutgers, Golden Gate, UCLA, Widener, and Boalt Hall at Berkeley.
Waterkeepers Alliance
In June 1999, as Riverkeeper's success on the Hudson began inspiring the creation of Waterkeepers across North America, Kennedy and a few dozen Riverkeepers gathered in Southampton, Long Island, to found the Waterkeeper Alliance, which is now the umbrella group for the 344 licensed Waterkeeper programs located in 44 countries. As President of the Alliance, Kennedy oversees its legal, membership, policy and fundraising programs. The Alliance states that it is dedicated to promoting "swimmable, fishable, drinkable waterways, worldwide," and is also a clearinghouse, approving new Keeper programs and licensing use of the trademarked "Waterkeeper," "Riverkeeper," "Soundkeeper," "Lakekeeper," "Baykeeper," "Bayoukeeper," "Canalkeeper," "Coastkeeper," etc. names.
Kennedy and his environmental work have been the focus of several films including ''The Hudson Riverkeepers'' (1998) and ''The Waterkeepers'' (2000), both directed by Les Guthman. In 2008, he appeared in the
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
in a wooden dory with his daughter 'Kick' and with anthropologist Wade Davis.
New York City Watershed Agreement
Beginning in 1991, Kennedy represented environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers in a series of lawsuits against New York City and upstate watershed polluters. Kennedy authored a series of articles and reports alleging that New York State was abdicating its responsibility to protect the water repository and supply. In 1996, he helped orchestrate the $1.2 billion New York City Watershed Agreement, which ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine recognized in its cover story, "The Kennedy Who Matters". This agreement, which Kennedy negotiated on behalf of environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers, is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development.
Kennedy & Madonna LLP
In 2000, Kennedy and environmental lawyer Kevin Madonna founded the
environmental law
Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...
firm Kennedy & Madonna, LLP, to represent private
plaintiffs
A plaintiff (pi (letter), Π in List of legal abbreviations, legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the co ...
against polluters. The firm litigates environmental contamination cases on behalf of individuals, non-profit organizations, school districts, public water suppliers, Indian tribes, municipalities and states. In 2001, Kennedy & Madonna organized a team of prestigious plaintiff law firms to challenge pollution from industrial pork and poultry production. In 2004, the firm was part of a legal team that secured a $70 million settlement for property owners in Pensacola, Florida whose properties were contaminated by chemicals from an adjacent
Superfund
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
site.
Kennedy & Madonna is profiled in the 2010 HBO documentary ''Mann v. Ford'' that chronicles four years of litigation brought by the firm on behalf of the Ramapough Mountain Indian Tribe against the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
over the dumping of toxic waste on tribal lands in northern New Jersey. In addition to a monetary settlement for the tribe, the lawsuit contributed to the community's land being re-listed on the federal Superfund list, the first time in the nation's history that a de-listed site was re-listed. In 2007 Kennedy was one of three finalists nominated as "Trial Lawyer of the Year" by Public Justice for his role in the $396 million jury verdict against
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
for contamination from its Spelter, West Virginia zinc plant. In 2017, the firm was part of the trial team that secured a $670 million settlement on behalf of over 3,000 residents from Ohio and West Virginia whose drinking water was contaminated with the toxic chemical, C8, which was released into the environment by
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
in
Parkersburg
Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna metro ...
, West Virginia.
Morgan & Morgan
In 2016, Kennedy became counsel to the
Morgan & Morgan
Morgan & Morgan is an American law firm. Founded in 1988 by John Morgan, it is headquartered in Orlando, Florida. While Morgan & Morgan was historically considered a firm focused on personal injury, medical malpractice and class action lawsui ...
law firm. The partnership arose from the two firms' successful collaboration on the case against SoCalGas Company following the
Aliso Canyon gas leak
The Aliso Canyon gas leak (also called Porter Ranch gas leak and Porter Ranch gas blowout) was a massive natural gas leak in the Santa Susana Mountains near Porter Ranch, Los Angeles, California. Discovered on October 23, 2015,Sharon McNary ( ...
in California. In 2017, Kennedy and his partners sued Monsanto in federal court in San Francisco, on behalf of plaintiffs seeking to recover damages for
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include lymphadenopathy, enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight los ...
, that, the plaintiffs allege, were a result of exposure to Monsanto's
glyphosate
Glyphosate (IUPAC name: ''N''-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is a broad-spectrum Herbicide, systemic herbicide and Crop desiccation, crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by inhibiting the plan ...
-based herbicide,
Roundup
A roundup is a systematic gathering together of people or things.
Roundup, Round Up or Round-up may also refer to:
Agriculture
* A muster (livestock) (AU/NZ) or a roundup (US/CA) is the process of gathering livestock.
* Roundup (herbicide), a M ...
. Kennedy and his team also filed a class action lawsuit against
Monsanto
The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...
for failing to warn consumers about the dangers allegedly posed by exposure to Roundup. In September 2018, Kennedy and his partners filed a class-action lawsuit against
Columbia Gas of Massachusetts Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, the assumed name of Bay State Gas Company, is a supplier of retail natural gas to over 300,000 customers in parts of Massachusetts surrounding Springfield, Brockton, and Lawrence. It is a subsidiary of NiSource. The ...
alleging negligence following
gas explosions
A gas explosion is an explosion resulting from mixing a gas, typically from a gas leak, with air in the presence of an ignition source. In household accidents, the principal explosive gases are those used for heating or cooking purposes such as na ...
in three towns north of Boston. Of Columbia Gas, Kennedy said "as they build new miles of pipe, the same company is ignoring its existing infrastructure, which we now know is eroding and is dilapidated."
Cleantech and renewable energy infrastructure entrepreneurship
In 1998, Kennedy, Chris Bartle and John Hoving created a bottled-water company, Keeper Springs, which donated all of its profits to Waterkeeper Alliance. In 2013, Kennedy and his partner sold the brand to
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
in exchange for a donation to local Waterkeepers.
Kennedy was a venture partner and senior advisor at VantagePoint Capital Partners, one of the world's largest
cleantech
Clean technology, in short cleantech, is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities. Cle ...
venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
firms. Among other activities, VantagePoint was the original and largest pre-
IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
institutional investor in Tesla. VantagePoint also backed BrightSource Energy and Solazyme, amongst others. Kennedy is a board member and counselor to several of Vantage Point's portfolio companies in the water and energy space, including Ostara, a Vancouver-based company that markets the technology to remove
phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
and other excessive nutrients from
wastewater
Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industr ...
, transforming otherwise pollution directly into high-grade fertilizer. He is also a senior advisor to Starwood Energy Group and has played a key role in a number of the firm's investments.
He is on the board of Vionx, a
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
US Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United State ...
completed the installation of advanced flow batteries at
Holy Name High School
Holy Name High School (HNHS) is a private, Catholic, co-educational high school in Parma Heights, Ohio, US. It is a part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland.
Holy Name is a member of the Great Lakes Conference with Fairview, Buckeye, P ...
in the city of
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
. The collaboration also includes
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
and the
United Technologies
United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous areas, including aircraft engines, aerospace systems ...
Research Center and constitutes one of the largest energy storage facilities in Massachusetts.
Kennedy is a Partner in ColorZen, which offers a turnkey cotton fiber pre-treatment solution that reduces water usage and toxic discharges in the cotton dyeing process.
Kennedy was a co-owner and Director of the
smart grid
A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operation and energy measures including:
*Advanced metering infrastructure (of which smart meters are a generic name for any utility side device even if it is more capable e.g. a f ...
company Utility Integration Solutions (UISol), which was acquired by
Alstom
Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
. He is presently a co-owner and Director of GridBright, the market-leading grid management specialist.
In October 2011, Kennedy co-founded ''EcoWatch'', an environmental news site. He resigned from the board of directors in January 2018.
Minority and poor communities
In his first case as an environmental attorney, Kennedy represented the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
in a lawsuit against a proposal to build a garbage transfer station in a minority neighborhood in
Ossining, New York
Ossining may refer to:
* Ossining (town), New York, a town in Westchester County, New York state
*Ossining (village), New York, a village in the town of Ossining
* Ossining High School, a comprehensive public high school in Ossining village
* Ossi ...
.
In 1987, he successfully sued
Westchester County
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
, New York, to reopen the
Croton Point Park
Croton Point Park is a Westchester County park in the village of Croton-on-Hudson.
The park has several public attractions including a miniature aircraft airport, boat launch, tent and RV camping, cabin rental,
cross-country skiing, fishing, gro ...
, which was heavily used primarily by poor and minority communities from
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
. He then forced the reopening of the
Pelham Bay Park
Pelham Bay Park is a public park, municipal park located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. It is, at , the largest public park in New York City. The park is more than three times the siz ...
in the
Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, which New York City had closed to the public and converted to a police firing range.
Kennedy has argued that poor communities shoulder the disproportionate burden of environmental pollution. Speaking at the 2016
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
Eco environment conference in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, he said, "Polluters always choose the soft target of poverty", noting that Chicago's south side has the highest concentration of toxic waste dumps in America. Furthermore, he added that 80 percent of "uncontrolled toxic waste dumps" can be found in black neighborhoods, with the largest site in the United States being in
Emelle, Alabama
Emelle is a town in Sumter County, Alabama, Sumter County, Alabama, United States. It was named after the daughters of the man who donated the land for the town. The town was started in the 19th century but not incorporated until 1981. The daught ...
, which is 90 percent black.
International and indigenous rights
Starting in 1985, Kennedy helped develop the
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...
(NRDC)'s international program for environmental, energy, and human rights, traveling to Canada and Latin America to assist indigenous tribes in protecting their homelands and opposing large-scale energy and extractive projects in remote wilderness areas.
In 1990, Kennedy assisted indigenous
Pehuenche
Pehuenche (or ''Pewenche'', people of the "pehuen" or "pewen" in Mapudungun) are an indigenous people of South America. They live in the Andes, primarily in present-day south central Chile and adjacent Argentina. Their name derives from their de ...
s in Chile in a partially successful campaign to stop the construction of a series of dams on Chile's iconic
Biobío River
The Biobío River (also known as Bío Bío or Bio-Bio) is the second largest river in Chile. It originates from Icalma and Galletué lakes in the Andes and flows 380 km to the Gulf of Arauco (in Spanish) on the Pacific Ocean.
The major tri ...
. That campaign derailed all but one of the proposed dams. Beginning in 1992, he assisted the
Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
Indians of northern Quebec in their campaign against
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.
It was established by the ...
to halt construction of some 600 proposed dams on eleven rivers in
James Bay
James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost par ...
.
In 1993, Kennedy and NRDC, working with the indigenous rights organization
Cultural Survival
Cultural Survival (founded 1972) is a nonprofit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, which is dedicated to defending the human rights of indigenous peoples.
History
Cultural Survival was founded by anthropologist David Maybur ...
, clashed with other American environmental groups in a dispute about the rights of Indians to govern their own lands in the Oriente region of Ecuador.Kane, Joe (September 27, 1993). With Spears from All Sides . ''The New Yorker''. Kennedy represented the
CONFENIAE The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon ( es, La Confederación de las Nacionalidades Indígenas de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana) or CONFENIAE is the regional organization of indigenous peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon or O ...
, a confederation of Indian peoples, in negotiation with the American oil company
Conoco
Conoco Inc. ( ) was an American oil and gas company that operated from 1875 until 2002, when it merged with Phillips Petroleum to form ConocoPhillips. Founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875 as the "Continental Oil and Transportation Company". Curr ...
to limit oil development in Ecuadorian Amazon and, at the same time, obtain benefits from resource extraction for Amazonian tribes. Kennedy was a vocal critic of
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...
for its previous record for polluting the Ecuadoran Amazon.
From 1993 to 1999, Kennedy worked with five
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...
Indian tribes in their campaign to end industrial logging by
MacMillan Bloedel
MacMillan Bloedel Limited, sometimes referred to as "MacBlo", was a Canadian forestry company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was formed through the merger of three smaller forestry companies in 1951 and 1959. Those were the Po ...
in
Clayoquot Sound
, image = Clayoquot Sound - Near Tofino - Vancouver Island BC - Canada - 08.jpg
, image_size = 260px
, alt =
, caption =
, image_bathymetry = Vancouver clayoquot sound de.png
, alt_bathyme ...
, British Columbia.
In 1996, Kennedy met with Cuban President
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
to persuade the leader to halt his plans to construct a nuclear power plant at
Juraguá
Juraguá is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Abreus, in Cienfuegos Province. With a population of ca. 7,000 it is the most populated village in the municipality after Abreus.
Histor ...
. During a lengthy latenight encounter, Castro reminisced about Kennedy's father and uncle, speculating that U.S. relations with Cuba would have been far better had President Kennedy not been assassinated.
Between 1996 and 2000, Kennedy and NRDC helped Mexican commercial fishermen to halt
Mitsubishi
The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries.
Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
's proposal to build a salt facility in the
Laguna San Ignacio
Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to:
People
* Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay
* Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist
* Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet ...
, a known area in Baja where
gray whale
The gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), also known as the grey whale,Britannica Micro.: v. IV, p. 693. gray back whale, Pacific gray whale, Korean gray whale, or California gray whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and bree ...
s bred, and nursed their calves. Kennedy wrote extensively against the project, and took the campaign to Japan, meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
In 2000, he assisted local environmental activists to stop proposals by Chaffin Light, a real estate developer, and U.S. engineering giant
Bechtel
Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the ''Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the sec ...
from building a large hotel and resort development that, Kennedy argued, threatened
coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Co ...
s and public beaches used extensively by local Bahamians, at Clifton Bay,
New Providence
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...
Island. Following this, the new Bahamian government designated the area a Heritage Park.
Kennedy was one of the early editors of ''
Indian Country Today
''ICT News'' (formerly known as ''Indian Country Today'') is a daily digital news platform that covers the Indigenous world, including American Indians, Alaska Natives and First Nations.
It was founded in 1981 as a weekly print newspaper, ''The ...
'', North America's largest Native American newspaper. He helped lead the opposition to the damming of the
Futaleufú River
The Futaleufú River, located in northern Patagonia, is one of the premier whitewater rivers in the world. One of only two rivers to cross the 5,308 kilometer Chile-Argentina border, the Futaleufú headwaters can be found in the glacial snow mel ...
in the
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
region of Chile. In 2016, citing the pressure precipitated by the Futaleufú Riverkeeper's campaign against the dams, the Spanish power company,
Endesa
Endesa, S.A. (, originally an initialism for ''Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A''.) is a Spanish multinational electric utility company, the largest in the country. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, ...
, which owned the right to dam the river, reversed its decision and relinquished all claims to the Futaleufú.
Military and Vieques
Kennedy has been a critic of environmental damage by the U.S. military. In 1993, he successfully represented the
Suquamish
The Suquamish () are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Suquami ...
and
Duwamish Duwamish may refer to:
* Duwamish tribe, a Native American tribe in Washington state
* Duwamish River, in Washington state
* Duwamish (fireboat), ''Duwamish'' (fireboat)
See also
* Elliott Bay, often called "Duwamish Bay" in the 19th century
* Du ...
Indian tribes in a lawsuit against the U.S.
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted u ...
in
Bremerton
Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerto ...
, Washington, to stop polluting
Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
.
In a 2001 article, Kennedy described how he sued the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
on behalf of fishermen and residents of
Vieques
Vieques (; ), officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, ...
, an island off
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
, to stop weapons testing, bombing, and other military exercises. Kennedy argued that the activities were unnecessary, and that the Navy had illegally destroyed several endangered species, polluted the island's waters, harmed the residents' health, and damaged its economy. He was arrested for trespassing at
Camp Garcia Vieques
MCAS Vieques Airport was a Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) at MCB Camp Garcia on the island-municipality of Vieques in Puerto Rico. It was built in 1960 by USMC engineers and consisted of a single 5,000 ft east–west runway. It was used to ...
, the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
training facility, where he and others were protesting the use of a section of the island for training. Kennedy served 30 days in a maximum security prison in Puerto Rico. The trespassing incident forced the suspension of
live-fire exercise
A live-fire exercise (LFX) is a military exercise in which live ammunition and ordnance (as opposed to blanks or dummies) is expended. The term can also be found in non-military usage.
Armed services
Armed services usually use live-fire exercis ...
s for almost three hours. The lawsuits and protests by Kennedy, and hundreds of Puerto Ricans who were also imprisoned, eventually forced the termination of naval bombing in Vieques by president George Bush.
In a 2003 article for the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'', Kennedy accused the U.S. federal government of being "America's biggest polluter" and the
U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
as the worst offender. Citing the
EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
, he said that "unexploded ordnance waste can be found on 16,000 military ranges...and more than half may contain biological or chemical weapons".
Factory farms
For almost twenty years, Kennedy and his Waterkeepers waged a legal and public relations battle against pollution by factory farms. In the 1990s, he rallied opposition to factory farms among small independent farmers, convened a series of "National Summits" on factory meat products, and conducted press conference whistle stop tours across North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and in Washington DC. Beginning in 2000, Kennedy sued factory farms in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Maryland, and Iowa.Hahn Niman, Nicolette (February 17, 2009). ''Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food beyond Factory Farms''. Published by William Morrow. p.336 . He wrote numerous articles on the subject, arguing that factory farms produce lower-quality, less healthy food, and are harmful to independent family farmers by poisoning their air and water, reducing their property values, and using extensive state and federal subsidies to impose unfair competition against smaller farmers.
In 1995, Premier
Ralph Klein
Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...
of Alberta declared Kennedy persona non grata in the province due to Kennedy's activism against Alberta's large-scale hog production facilities. In 2002,
Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods, Inc., is an American pork producer and food-processing company based in Smithfield, Virginia, in the United States, and an independent subsidiary of WH Group. Founded in 1936 as the Smithfield Packing Company by Joseph W. Luter ...
filed a lawsuit against Kennedy in Poland, under a Polish law that makes criticizing a corporation illegal, after Kennedy denounced the company in a debate with Smithfield's Polish director before the Polish parliament.
Oil, gas, and pipelines
Kennedy has been an advocate for a global transition away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy. He has been particularly critical of the oil industry. He began his career at Riverkeeper during the time that the organization discovered that Exxon was using its oil tankers in order to steal fresh water from the Hudson River for use in its Aruba refinery and to sell to Caribbean Islands. Riverkeeper won a $2 million settlement against Exxon and lobbied successfully for a state law outlawing the practice. In one of his first environmental cases, Kennedy filed a lawsuit against
Mobil Oil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
for polluting the Hudson.
Kennedy helped lead the battle against fracking in New York State. He had been an early supporter of natural gas as viable bridge fuel to renewables, and a cleaner alternative to coal. However, he said he turned against this controversial extraction method after investigating its cost to public health; climate and road infrastructure. As a member of Governor
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
's fracking commission, Kennedy helped engineer the Governor's 2013 ban on fracking in New York State.
Kennedy mounted a national effort against the construction of liquefied natural gas facilities. Waterkeepers maintains a national watch that documents numerous crude oil spills annually. In Alaska, Kennedy was active in the fight to save the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States on traditional Gwich'in lands. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest national wildlife ...
(ANWR), the largest undisturbed ecosystem in North America, from drilling.
In 2013, Kennedy assisted the
Chipewyan
The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified ...
First Nation and the Beaver Lake Cree fighting to protect their land from
tar sands
Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...
production. In February 2013, while protesting the
Keystone XL Pipeline
The Keystone Pipeline System is an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, commissioned in 2010 and owned by TC Energy and as of 31 March 2020 the Government of Alberta. It runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Albert ...
Kennedy, along with his son, Conor, was arrested for blocking a thoroughfare in front of the White House during a protest. In August 2016, Kennedy and Waterkeeper participated in protests to block the extension of the
Dakota Access pipeline
The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) or Bakken pipeline is a underground pipeline in the United States that has the ability to transport up to 750,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil per day. It begins in the shale oil fields of the Bakken Forma ...
across the
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
Indian
Standing Rock Reservation
The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...
's water supply.
Kennedy claims that the only reason the oil industry is able to remain competitive against renewables and electric cars is through massive direct and indirect subsidies and political interventions on behalf of the oil industry. In a June 2017 interview on ''EnviroNews'', Kennedy said about the oil industry, "That's what their strategy is: build as many miles of pipeline as possible. And what the industry is trying to do is to increase that level of infrastructure investment so our country won't be able to walk away from it.
Coal
Under Kennedy's leadership, Waterkeeper launched its "Clean Coal is a Deadly Lie" campaign in 2001, bringing dozens of lawsuits targeting mining practices, which include
mountaintop removal
Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams. Thi ...
,
slurry
A slurry is a mixture of denser solids suspended in liquid, usually water. The most common use of slurry is as a means of transporting solids or separating minerals, the liquid being a carrier that is pumped on a device such as a centrifugal pu ...
pond construction, and targeting mercury emissions and
coal ash
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when de ...
piles by coal-burning utilities. Kennedy's Waterkeeper alliance has also been leading the fight against coal export, including from terminals in the Pacific Northwest.
Kennedy has promoted replacing coal energy with renewable energy, which, he argues, would thereby reduce costs and greenhouse gases while improving air and water quality, the health of the citizens, and the number and quality of jobs.
In June 2011, film producer Bill Haney televised his award-winning film ''
The Last Mountain
''The Last Mountain'' is a feature-length documentary film directed by Bill Haney and produced by Haney, Clara Bingham and Eric Grunebaum. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and went into general release on June 3, 2011. The fi ...
'', co-written by Haney and Peter Rhodes, depicting Kennedy's fight to stop Appalachian mountaintop removal mining.
Nuclear power
Kennedy has been an opponent of conventional nuclear power, arguing that it is unsafe and not economically competitive. On June 15, 1981, he made international news when he spoke at an anti-nuclear rally at the
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018.
The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...
, with
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...
,
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...
and
Jackson Browne
Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States.
Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...
.
His thirty-year battle to close Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York ended in victory in January 2017, when Kennedy signed onto an agreement with New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and
Entergy
Entergy Corporation is a Fortune 500 integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations in the Deep South of the United States. Entergy is headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and ge ...
, the plant's operator, to close the plant by 2021. Kennedy was featured in a 2004 documentary, ''Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable'', directed by his sister and documentary filmmaker
Rory Kennedy
Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy (born December 12, 1968) is an American documentary filmmaker who is the eleventh and youngest child of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel. Kennedy has made documentary films that center on social is ...
.
Hydro
Kennedy has been an outspoken opponent of dams, particularly of dam projects that affect indigenous communities.
In 1991, Kennedy helped lead a campaign to block
Hydro-Québec
Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.
It was established by the ...
from building the James Bay Hydro-project, a massive dam project in northern Quebec.
His campaigns helped block dams on Chile's
Biobío River
The Biobío River (also known as Bío Bío or Bio-Bio) is the second largest river in Chile. It originates from Icalma and Galletué lakes in the Andes and flows 380 km to the Gulf of Arauco (in Spanish) on the Pacific Ocean.
The major tri ...
in 1990 and its
Futaleufú River
The Futaleufú River, located in northern Patagonia, is one of the premier whitewater rivers in the world. One of only two rivers to cross the 5,308 kilometer Chile-Argentina border, the Futaleufú headwaters can be found in the glacial snow mel ...
in 2016. In 2002, he mounted what was ultimately an unsuccessful battle against building a dam on
Belize
Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...
's
Macal River
The Macal River is a river running through Cayo District in western Belize. Sites along the river include the ancient Maya civilization, Mayan town of Cahal Pech and the Belize Botanic Gardens. The Macal River discharges to the Belize River. The ...
. Kennedy termed the
Chalillo Dam The Chalillo Dam is a gravity dam on the Macal River about south of San Ignacio in Cayo District, Belize. Chalillo Dam's maximum capacity is 7.0MW. The dam was constructed by Sinohydro of Beijing, China between 2002 and 2005 with the primary purpo ...
"a boondoggle", and brought a high-profile legal challenge against
Fortis Inc.
Fortis Inc. is a St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador-based international diversified electric utility holding company. It operates in Canada, the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean. In 2015, it earned .
Fortis was formed in 19 ...
, a Canadian power company and the monopoly owner of Belize's electric utility.Guynup, Sharon (June 7, 2002). "Belize Dam Fight Heats Up as Court Prepares to Rule". ''National Geographic Today''. In a 3–2 ruling in 2003, the
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of e ...
upheld the Belizean government's decision to permit dam construction.
In 2004, Kennedy met with Provincial officials and brought foreign media and political visitors to Canada to protest the building of
hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
dams on Quebec's Magpie River. Hydro-Quebec dropped plans for the dam in 2017.
In November 2017, the Spanish hydroelectric syndicate
Endesa
Endesa, S.A. (, originally an initialism for ''Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A''.) is a Spanish multinational electric utility company, the largest in the country. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, ...
decided to abandon HydroAysen, a massive project to construct dams on dozens of
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
's rivers accompanied by thousands of miles of roads, power lines and other infrastructure. Endesa returned its
water right
Water right in water law refers to the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentious ...
s to the Chilean government. The Chilean press credits advocacy by Kennedy and Riverkeeper as critical factors in the company's decision.
Cape Wind
In 2005, Kennedy clashed with national environmental groups over his opposition to the
Cape Wind Project
The Cape Wind Project was a proposed offshore wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States. It was approvedKrasny, RosCape Wind, first U.S. offshore wind farm, approved ''Reuters'', 28 April 2010. ...
, a proposed
offshore wind farm
Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea. There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms generate more electricity per amount of c ...
off of the coast of
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
in
Nantucket Sound
Nantucket Sound_(geography), Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is long and wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on ...
. Taking the side of Cape Cod's commercial fishing industry, Kennedy argued that the project was a costly
boondoggle
A boondoggle is a project that is considered a waste of both time and money, yet is often continued due to extraneous policy or political motivations.
Etymology
"Boondoggle" was the name of the newspaper of the Roosevelt Troop of the Boy Sco ...
. This position angered some environmentalists, and brought Kennedy criticism by industry groups and Republicans. Kennedy argued in an opinion piece in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' that "Vermont wants to take its nuclear plant off line and replace it with clean, green power from HydroQuébec — power available to Massachusetts utilities — at a cost of six cents per kilowatt hour (kwh). Cape Wind electricity, by a conservative estimate and based on figures they filed with the state, comes in at 25 cents per kwh."
Political views
Criticisms
Throughout the
presidency of George W. Bush
George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic i ...
, Kennedy was a persistent critic of Bush's environmental and energy policies. He accused Bush of defunding and corrupting federal science projects.
Kennedy was also critical of Bush's 2003
hydrogen car
A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen fuel for motive power. Hydrogen vehicles include hydrogen-fueled space rockets, as well as ships and aircraft. Power is generated by converting the chemical energy of hydrogen to mechanical energ ...
initiative, arguing that it was a gift to the fossil fuel industry disguised as a green automobile.
In 2003, Kennedy wrote an article in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' about Bush's environmental record, which he subsequently expanded into a ''New York Times'' bestselling book. His opposition to the environmental policies of the Bush administration earned him recognition as one of ''Rolling Stone'' "100 Agents of Change" on April 2, 2009.
During an October 2012 interview with ''
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'', Kennedy called on environmentalists to direct their dissatisfaction towards the
U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
rather than President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
, reasoning that Obama "didn't deliver" due to having a partisan U.S. Congress "like we haven't seen before in American history". He also accused politicians who failed to act on climate change policy as serving special interests and, selling out the public trust. He accused Charles and David Koch, the owners of
Koch Industries
Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in th ...
, Inc., the nation's largest privately owned oil company, of subverting democracy and for "making themselves billionaires by impoverishing the rest of us". Kennedy has spoken of the Koch Brothers as leading "the apocalyptical forces of Ignorance and Greed".
During the
2014 People's Climate March
The People's Climate March (PCM) was a large-scale activist event orchestrated by the People's Climate Movement to advocate global action against climate change, which took place on Sunday, September 21, 2014, in New York City, along with a serie ...
, Kennedy said, "American politics is driven by two forces: One is intensity, and the other is money. The Koch brothers have all the money. They're putting $300 million this year into their efforts to stop the climate bill. And the only thing we have in our power is people power, and that's why we need to put this demonstration on the street".
U.S. foreign policy
Kennedy has written extensively on foreign policy, beginning with a 1974 ''
Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' article titled, "Poor Chile", discussing the overthrow of Chilean President
Salvador Allende
Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...
. Kennedy also wrote editorials against the execution of Pakistan President
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourth ...
by General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law in ...
. In 1975, he published an article in ''The Wall Street Journal'', criticizing the use of assassination as a foreign policy tool. In 2005, he wrote an article for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' decrying President Bush's use of torture as anti-American. Senator Edward Kennedy entered the article into the ''
Congressional Record
The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Inde ...
''.
In an article titled "Why the Arabs Don't Want Us in Syria", published in ''
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' in February 2016, Kennedy referred to the "bloody history that modern interventionists like
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
,
Ted Cruz
Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...
and
Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Florida, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Speaker of the Florida Hous ...
miss when they recite their narcissistic trope that Mideast nationalists 'hate us for our freedoms.' For the most part they don't; instead they hate us for the way we betrayed those freedoms — our own ideals — within their borders". Kennedy blames the Syrian war on a pipeline dispute. He cites apparent
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
disclosures alleging that the CIA-led military and intelligence planners to foment a
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
uprising against
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
's president,
Bashar al-Assad
Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...
, following his rejection of a proposed Qatar-Turkey pipeline through Syria in 2009, well before the
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...
.
Political endorsements
Kennedy was on the National Staff and a State Coordinator for Edward M. Kennedy for President from 1979 to 1980. Prior to that he had been on Senator Kennedy's 1970 and 1976 Massachusetts senatorial campaigns. He was a co-founder and a former board member of the New York
League of Conservation Voters
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "advocates for sound environmental laws and policies, holds elected officials accountable for their votes and actions, and elects pro-environmen ...
.
Kennedy endorsed and campaigned extensively for Vice President
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes.
The son of Lebanese immigrants to the Un ...
's
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
presidential campaign
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
, noting his strong environmental record.
In late 2007, Kennedy and his sisters
Kerry
Kerry or Kerri may refer to:
* Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name)
Places
* Kerry, Queensland, Australia
* County Kerry, Ireland
** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
in the
2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries
From January 3 to June 3, 2008, voters of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party chose their nominee for President of the United States, president in the 2008 United States presidential election. United States Senate, Senato ...
. After the
Democratic Convention
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...
, Kennedy campaigned for Obama across the country. After the election, he was named as a front-runner for Obama's
EPA administrator
The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is the head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is thus responsible for enforcing the nation's Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, as well as numerous other enviro ...
.
Kennedy has been critical of the integrity of the voting process. In June 2006, he published an article in ''Rolling Stone'' purporting to show that GOP operatives stole the 2004 presidential election for President George W. Bush.
Farhad Manjoo
Farhad Manjoo (born 1978) is an American journalist. Manjoo was a staff writer for ''Slate'' magazine from 2008 to September 2013, when they left to join ''The Wall Street Journal''. In January 2014, they joined ''The New York Times'', replacing ...
countered Kennedy's conclusions, but there were other people who argued otherwise.
Kennedy has written frequent warnings about the ease of election hacking and the dangers of voter purges and
voter ID laws
A voter identification law is a law that requires a person to show some form of identification in order to vote. In some jurisdictions requiring photo IDs, voters who do not have photo ID often must have their identity verified by someone els ...
. He wrote the introduction and a chapter in ''Billionaires and Ballot Bandits'', a 2012 book on election hacking by the investigative journalist
Greg Palast
Gregory Allyn Palast (born June 26, 1952) is an author and a freelance journalist who often worked for the BBC and ''The Guardian''. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but he has also worked with labour unions and consumer advoc ...
.
Political aspirations
Kennedy first considered running for political office in 2000, when New York Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New York in the United States Senate from 1977 until 2001 and served as an ...
did not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Kennedy's father. His father was elected to the same seat in 1964, and held it for 41 months, until his death in 1968.
In 2005, Kennedy considered running for
New York Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...
, which would have meant a possible run against his then brother-in-law
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
, but in the end he decided against entering the race, even though he had been considered the frontrunner.
On December 2, 2008, Kennedy stated that he did not wish to be appointed to the U.S. Senate by New York Governor
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...
. He felt that it would take too much time away from his family.
Personal opinions
Food allergies
Kennedy was a founding board member of the
Food Allergy Initiative
The Food Allergy Initiative (FAI) was a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1998 with the mission to fund food allergy research that seeks a cure, to improve diagnosis and treatment, and to keep patients safe through advocacy and educatio ...
. His son suffers from anaphylactic peanut allergies. Kennedy wrote the foreword to ''The Peanut Allergy Epidemic'', in which he and the authors falsely link increasing food allergies in children to certain vaccines that were approved beginning in 1989.
Autism and vaccines
Kennedy is the chairman of
Children's Health Defense
Children's Health Defense is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit activist group mainly known for anti-vaccine propaganda and has been identified as one of the main sources of misinformation on vaccines. Founded under the name World Mercury Project ...
(formerly the World Mercury Project), an advocacy group he founded in 2016. The group alleges a large proportion of American children are suffering from conditions as diverse as
autism
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
,
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...
,
food allergies
A food allergy is an abnormal immune response to food. The symptoms of the allergic reaction may range from mild to severe. They may include itchiness, swelling of the tongue, vomiting, diarrhea, hives, trouble breathing, or low blood pressure ...
, cancer, and
autoimmune disease
An autoimmune disease is a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a functioning body part. At least 80 types of autoimmune diseases have been identified, with some evidence suggesting that there may be more than 100 types. Nearly a ...
s due to exposure to certain chemicals and radiation. The Children's Health Defense has blamed and campaigned against
vaccines
A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity
The adaptive immune system, also known as the acquired immune system, is a subsystem of the immune system that is composed of specialized, systemic cells and pro ...
,
fluoridation of drinking water
Water fluoridation is the controlled adjustment of fluoride to a public water supply solely to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water contains fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or by adding ...
,
paracetamol
Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, is a medication used to treat fever and mild to moderate pain. Common brand names include Tylenol and Panadol.
At a standard dose, paracetamol only slightly decreases body temperature; it is inferior ...
(acetaminophen), aluminum,
wireless communications
Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
, and others. Kennedy's group has been identified as one of two major buyers of anti-vaccine
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
advertising in late 2018 and early 2019.
In its early years, the group focused on the perceived issue of
mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
in industry and medicine, especially the ethylmercury compound
thimerosal
Thiomersal (INN), or thimerosal (USAN, JAN), is an organomercury compound. It is a well-established antiseptic and antifungal agent.
The pharmaceutical corporation Eli Lilly and Company gave thiomersal the trade name Merthiolate. It has been u ...
in
vaccine
A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...
s, proposed by the discredited former doctor
Andrew Wakefield
Andrew Jeremy Wakefield (born September 3, 1956) is a British anti-vaccine activist, former physician, and discredited academic who was struck off the medical register for his involvement in ''The Lancet'' MMR autism fraud, a 1998 study that ...
as a mechanism for the disproved link between vaccines and autism. Other members of his family have criticized Kennedy and his organization, saying he spreads "dangerous misinformation" and said his work has "heartbreaking" consequences.
According to the
Center for Countering Digital Hate
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) is a British non-profit organisation with offices in London and Washington, DC. It campaigns for big tech firms to stop providing services to individuals who may promote hate and misinformation, ...
, Kennedy leverages his status as a prominent activist for environmental causes to bolster other actors of the anti-vaccination movement, regularly appearing in online conversations with the likes of Wakefield,
Del Bigtree
Del Matthew Bigtree is an American television and film producer as well as CEO of the anti-vaccination group Informed Consent Action Network. He produced the film '' Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe'', based on the discredited opinions of ...
,
Rashid Buttar
Rashid Ali Buttar (January 20, 1966 – May 18, 2023) was an American conspiracy theorist, anti-vaxxer and licensed osteopathic physician. He was known for his controversial use of chelation therapy for numerous conditions, including autism and ...
. Kennedy has stated the media and governments are engaged in a conspiracy to deny that vaccines cause autism. The Center for Countering Digital Hate in 2021 identified Kennedy as one of 12 people responsible for up to 65% of anti-vaccine content on social media platforms Facebook and Twitter.
In June 2005, Kennedy wrote an article in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' and ''
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
'' called "
Deadly Immunity
"Deadly Immunity" is an article written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. that appeared in the July 14, 2005 issue of ''Rolling Stone'' and, simultaneously, on the website ''Salon''. The article is focused on the 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference and cla ...
", alleging a government conspiracy to conceal a connection between thimerosal and the epidemic of childhood
neurodevelopmental disorders
Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of disorders that affect the development of the nervous system, leading to abnormal brain function which may affect emotion, learning ability, self-control, and memory. The effects of neurodevelopmental ...
, including
autism
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
. The article contained five factual errors, leading ''Salon'' to issue corrections.Lauerman, Kerry (January 16, 2011). Correcting our Record . ''Salon''. Six years later ''Salon'' retracted the article completely. According to ''Salon'', the retraction was motivated by accumulating evidence of alleged errors and
scientific fraud
Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research. A '' Lancet'' review on ''Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countrie ...
underlying the vaccine-autism claim. A corrected version of the original article can still be found on the ''Rolling Stone'' website.
In May 2013, Kennedy delivered the keynote address at the anti-vaccination AutismOne /
Generation Rescue
Generation Rescue is a nonprofit organization that advocates the scientifically disproven view that autism and related disorders are primarily caused by environmental factors, particularly vaccines. The organization was established in 2005 by ...
conference.
In 2014, Kennedy's book, ''Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury—a Known Neurotoxin—from Vaccines'', was published. While
methylmercury
Methylmercury (sometimes methyl mercury) is an organometallic cation with the formula . It is the simplest organomercury compound. Methylmercury is extremely toxic, and its derivatives are the major source of organic mercury for humans. It is a ...
is a potent neurotoxin, ethylmercury, as used in vaccine preservatives, is safer. The preface to the book is written by Mark Hyman, a proponent of the alternative medical treatment called functional medicine. Kennedy has published many articles on the inclusion of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal in vaccines.
In April 2015, Kennedy participated in a Speakers' Forum to promote the film '' Trace Amounts'', which promotes the link between autism and mercury in vaccinations. At a film screening, Kennedy described the autism epidemic as a "holocaust".
On January 10, 2017, incoming White House Press Secretary
Sean Spicer
Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is a former American political aide who served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump in 2017. Spicer was communications dire ...
confirmed that Kennedy and
President-elect
An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Unit ...
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
met to discuss a position in the Trump administration. Kennedy accepted an offer made by Trump to become the chairman of the Vaccine Safety Task Force. A spokeswoman for Trump's transition said that no final decision had been made. In an August 2017 interview with ''
STAT News
STAT, Stat. , or stat may refer to:
* Stat (system call), a Unix system call that returns file attributes of an inode
* ''Stat'' (TV series), an American sitcom that aired in 1991
* Stat (website), a health-oriented news website
* STAT protein, a ...
'' reporter
Helen Branswell
Helen Branswell is a Canadian infectious diseases and global health reporter at Stat News. Branswell spent fifteen years as a medical reporter at The Canadian Press, where she led coverage of the Ebola, Zika, SARS and swine flu pandemics. She jo ...
, Kennedy said that he had been meeting with the federal public health regulators to discuss defects in vaccine safety science, at the White House's request.
On February 15, 2017, Kennedy and actor
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
gave a press conference at the
National Press Club
Organizations
A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...
in Washington, D.C., in which they accused the press of acting as propagandists for the $35 billion vaccination industry and refusing to allow debates on vaccination science. They offered a $100,000 reward to any journalist or other citizen who could point to a study showing that it is safe to inject mercury into babies and pregnant women at levels currently contained in flu vaccines. Craig Foster, a psychology professor who studies
pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
, deemed the challenge "not science", observing that it was a "carefully constructed 'contest' that allows its creators to generate the misleading outcome they presumably want to see". He also stated that "Proving that something is safe is importantly different than proving that something is harmful".
Several members from his close family have distanced themselves from his anti-vaccination activities and condemned Kennedy's comments equating public health measures with nazi atrocities. On May 8, 2019,
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend (born July 4, 1951) is an American attorney who was the sixth Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. She ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Maryland in 2002. She was the first female lieutenant g ...
,
Joseph P. Kennedy
Joseph Patrick Kennedy (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Ken ...
and
Maeve Kennedy McKean
Maeve Fahey Kennedy McKean (''née'' Townsend; November 1, 1979 – April 2, 2020) was an American public health official, human rights attorney, and academic. A member of the Kennedy family, she was a daughter of Maryland Lieutenant Governor Ka ...
wrote an open letter stating that while their relative has championed many admirable causes, he "has helped to spread dangerous misinformation over social media and is complicit in sowing distrust of the science behind vaccines". On December 30, 2020, Kennedy's niece Kerry Kennedy Meltzer, a physician, wrote a similar open letter. She argued her uncle published misinformation about the side effects of the new COVID-19 vaccines.
On June 4, 2019, during a visit to
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
coinciding with that nation's 57th annual independence celebration, Kennedy appeared in an Instagram photo with Australian-Samoan anti-vaccine activist
Taylor Winterstein
Taylor Winterstein is an Australian-Samoan online influencer known for her public anti-vaccination stance. Winterstein has been heavily criticised in several South Pacific, and Australasian countries for her anti-vaccination rhetoric and he ...
. Kennedy's charity and Winterstein have both perpetuated the allegation that the
MMR vaccine
The MMR vaccine is a vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles), abbreviated as ''MMR''. The first dose is generally given to children around 9 months to 15 months of age, with a second dose at 15 months to 6 years of age, ...
played a role in the 2018 deaths of two Samoan infants, despite the subsequent revelation that the infants had received a
muscle relaxant
A muscle relaxant is a drug that affects skeletal muscle function and decreases the muscle tone. It may be used to alleviate symptoms such as muscle spasms, pain, and hyperreflexia. The term "muscle relaxant" is used to refer to two major therapeu ...
along with the vaccine by mistake. Kennedy has drawn criticism for fueling
vaccine hesitancy
Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...
amid a social climate which gave rise to the
2019 Samoa measles outbreak
The 2019 Samoa measles outbreak began in September 2019. As of 6 January 2020, there were over 5,700 cases of measles and 83 deaths, out of a Samoan population of 200,874. Over three percent of the population were infected. The cause of the o ...
, which killed over 70 people, and the
2019 Tonga measles outbreak
The 2019 Tonga measles outbreak began in October 2019 after a squad of Tongan rugby players came back from New Zealand. The epidemic as of 8 December is currently ongoing. As of 5 January, there have been 612 cases of measles.
Background
B ...
. On February 11, 2021, his
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
account was permanently deleted "for repeatedly sharing debunked claims" about
COVID-19 vaccine
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...
s.
Kennedy is listed as executive producer of ''Vaxxed II: The People's Truth'', the 2019 sequel to Wakefield's and Bigtree's anti-vaccination documentary ''
Vaxxed
''Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe'' is a 2016 American pseudoscience propaganda film alleging a cover-up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of a purported link between the MMR vaccine and autism. According to Variety ...
''.
Similar to many who share his beliefs, Kennedy has claimed that he is not against vaccines but wishes that they be more thoroughly tested and investigated.
In early March 2021, Kennedy's anti-vaccine organization, Children's Health Defense released a new anti-vaccine propaganda video, " Medical Racism: The New Apartheid" that promotes COVID-19 conspiracy theories and claims that COVID-19 vaccination efforts are medical experiments on the Black community. Kennedy himself appears in the video, inviting the viewers to disregard information dispensed by health authorities and doctors. Brandi Collin-Dexter, a Fellow at the
Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center that explores the intersection and impact of media, politics and public policy in theory and practice.
Among other activities, the center or ...
states "the notorious figures and false narratives in the documentary were recognizable" and that "the film's incompatible narratives sought to take advantage of the pain felt by Black communities".
COVID-19
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
Anthony Fauci
Anthony Stephen Fauci (; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical advisor to the president. ...
and the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...
are trying to profit off a vaccine, and suggesting that
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
would cut off access to money of people who do not get vaccinated, allowing them to starve. In August 2020, Kennedy appeared in an hour-long interview with
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...
on
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
, where he touted a number of incorrect and misleading claims about vaccines and public health measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Baldwin was criticized by public health officials and scientists for allowing Kennedy's proclamations to go unchallenged. Kennedy has promoted misinformation about the
COVID-19 vaccine
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...
, falsely suggesting that it contributed to the death of 86-year-old
Hank Aaron
Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...
and others. In February 2021 his Instagram account was blocked for "repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines." The
Center for Countering Digital Hate
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) is a British non-profit organisation with offices in London and Washington, DC. It campaigns for big tech firms to stop providing services to individuals who may promote hate and misinformation, ...
identified Kennedy as one of the main propagators of conspiracy theories about Bill Gates and 5G phone technology. His success as a conspiracy theorist increased his social media impact considerably; between the Spring and the Fall of 2020, his Instagram account grew from 121,000 followers to 454,000.
In November 2021, Kennedy's book ''The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health'' was published wherein he alleges Fauci sabotaged treatments for AIDS, violated federal laws, and conspired with Bill Gates and social media companies such as Facebook to suppress any information about COVID-19 cures, to leave vaccines as the only options to fight the pandemic.
In the book, Kennedy calls Fauci "a powerful technocrat who helped orchestrate and execute 2020’s historic coup d’etat against Western democracy". He claims Fauci and Bill Gates plan to prolong the pandemic and exaggerate its effects, promoting expensive vaccinations for the benefit of "a powerful vaccine cartel". The book repeats several discredited myths about the COVID-19 pandemic, notably about the effectiveness of
ivermectin
Ivermectin (, '' EYE-vər-MEK-tin'') is an antiparasitic drug. After its discovery in 1975, its first uses were in veterinary medicine to prevent and treat heartworm and acariasis. Approved for human use in 1987, today it is used to treat inf ...
. The ''
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...
'' has said of the book "…polemics alternate with chapters that pedantically seek to substantiate Kennedy's accusations with numerous quotations and studies." He also released a video depicting Fauci with a Hitler moustache. In response to the book, Fauci called Kennedy "a very disturbed individual."
Kennedy wrote the foreword for ''
Plague of Corruption
Judy Anne Mikovits (born April 1, 1958) is an American former research scientist who is known for her discredited medical claims, such as that murine endogenous retroviruses are linked to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). As an outgrowth of thes ...
'' (2020), a book by former research scientist and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist
Judy Mikovits
Judy Anne Mikovits (born April 1, 1958) is an American former scientist, research scientist who is known for her discredited medical claims, such as that mouse, murine endogenous retroviruses are linked to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). As an ...
.
Kennedy appeared as a speaker at the partially violent demonstration in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
on August 29, 2020, where
populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
groups called for an end to restrictions caused by COVID-19. His YouTube account was removed in late September 2021 for breaking the company's new policies on vaccine misinformation.
In a January 23, 2022, speech at an anti-vaccination rally in Washington D.C., Kennedy said: "Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you can hide in the attic like Anne Frank did…Today the mechanisms are being put in place that will make it so none of us can run, none of us can hide." The Auschwitz Memorial stated on Twitter: "Exploiting of the tragedy of people who suffered, were humiliated, tortured & murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany - including children like Anne Frank - in a debate about vaccines & limitations during global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral & intellectual decay." Two days later, Kennedy apologized for his comment.
Views on the murder of Martha Moxley
In January 2003, Kennedy wrote a controversial article in ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
Monthly'' about the 1975
murder of Martha Moxley
Martha Elizabeth Moxley (August 16, 1960 – October 30, 1975) was a 15-year-old American high school student from Greenwich, Connecticut, who was murdered in 1975. Moxley was last seen alive spending time at the home of the Skakel fa ...
in Greenwich, Connecticut, in which he insists that his cousin Michael Skakel's indictment "was triggered by an inflamed media, and that an innocent man is now in prison." The article argues that there is more evidence suggesting that Kenneth Littleton, the Skakel family's live-in tutor, killed Moxley. He also calls
Dominick Dunne
Dominick John Dunne (October 29, 1925 – August 26, 2009) was an American writer, investigative journalist, and producer. He began his career in film and television as a producer of the pioneering gay film ''The Boys in the Band (1970 film), ...
the "driving force" behind Skakel's prosecution. In July 2016, Kennedy released a book titled ''Framed: Why Michael Skakel Spent over a Decade in Prison for a Murder He Didn't Commit''. In 2017, the rights to Kennedy's book were optioned by
FX Productions
FX Productions (FXP) is an American television and in-house production company owned by FX Networks (and jointed with Disney Television Studios), a division of the Walt Disney Television unit of The Walt Disney Company. The studio currently produc ...
to develop a multi-part television series.
Views on JFK and RFK assassinations
On the evening of January 11, 2013,
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP.
Rose also co-an ...
interviewed Kennedy and his sister
Rory
Rory is a given name of Goidelic languages, Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the ga, Ruairí/''Ruaidhrí'' and gd, Ruairidh and is common to the Irish people, Irish, Scottish people, Highland Scots and their diasporas. for the given n ...
at the
Winspear Opera House
The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House is an opera house (one of four venues in the AT&T Performing Arts Center) located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA).
Designed as a 21st-century reinterpretation of the traditional op ...
in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
as a part of then Dallas Mayor
Mike Rawlings
Michael Scott Rawlings (born August 25, 1954) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 59th Mayor of Dallas, Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, he won the nonpartisan 2011 Dallas mayoral election defeating former Dallas ...
' hand-chosen committee's yearlong program of celebrating the life and presidency of
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
.DiEugenio, Jim (February 3, 2013). "The MSM and RFK Jr.: Only 45 years late this time". Kennedy and King (formerly CTKA). On the
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
of John F. Kennedy, he said his father was "fairly convinced"
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.
Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...
had not acted alone and privately believed the
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson through on November 29, 1963, to investigate the assassination of United States Pr ...
report was a "shoddy piece of craftsmanship". According to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr in January 2013: "The evidence at this point I think is very, very convincing that it was not a lone gunman". The 2013 edition of ''
JFK and the Unspeakable
''JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters'' is a book by theologian and Catholic Worker James W. Douglass ( Orbis Books, 2008; Touchstone Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, 2010) that analyzes the presidency of John F. Kenned ...
'' was endorsed by Kennedy, who said it had moved him to visit
Dealey Plaza
Dealey Plaza is a city park in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is sometimes called the "birthplace of Dallas". It was also the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963; 30 minutes after the shooting ...
, the site of his uncle's assassination, for the first time.
Orbis Books
Orbis Books, is an American imprint of the Maryknoll order. It has been a small but influential publisher of liberation theology works. It was founded by Nicaraguan Maryknoll priest Miguel D'Escoto with Philip J. Scharper in 1970. Its editor-in- ...
Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (; ar, سرحان بشارة سرحان ''Sirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān'', born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian Jordanian man who was convicted for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
Kennedy, a United States Sena ...
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
, and visited the
Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility
Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJDCF or RJD) is a California state prison located in unincorporated southern San Diego County, California, near San Diego. After meeting Sirhan, he came to the conclusion there was a second gunman and gave his support for a reinvestigation of the assassination.
Personal life
General interests
Kennedy is a licensed master falconer and has trained hawks since he was 11. He breeds hawks and falcons and is also licensed as a raptor propagator and a wildlife rehabilitator. He holds 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, while on Governor Mario Cuomo's New York State Falconry Advising Committee, Kennedy authored the examination to qualify apprentice falconers given by New York State. Later that year he wrote the ''New York State Apprentice Falconer's Manual'', which was published by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and continues in use today.
Kennedy is also a whitewater kayaker. His father introduced him and his siblings to whitewater kayaking during early trips down the
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
and Yampa Rivers in Utah and Colorado, the Columbia River, the Middle Fork Salmon River, Middle Fork Salmon in Idaho, and the Upper Hudson Gorge. From 1976 to 1981, Kennedy was a partner and guide at a whitewater company, "Utopian", based in West Forks, Maine. He organized and led several "first-descent" whitewater expeditions to Latin America including three hitherto unexplored rivers: the Apurímac River, Apurimac, Peru, in 1975; the Atrato, Colombia, in 1979; and the Caroní River, Caroni, Venezuela, in 1982. He made an early descent of Great Whale River in Northern Quebec, in 1993, and has made many trips to Patagonia, Chile, to run the Biobío River, the Futaleufú and other whitewater rivers.
In 2015, he took two of his sons to the Yukon to visit Mount Kennedy and run the Alsek River, a whitewater river fed by the Alsek Glacier. Mount Kennedy had been Canada's highest unclimbed peak, when the Canadian Government named it for the assassinated American president, in 1964. In 1965, his father
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
was the first person to climb Mount Kennedy.
Marriages and children
On April 3, 1982, Kennedy married Emily Ruth Black (born 1957), whom he had met at the University of Virginia School of Law. They had two children: Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy III (born 1984; married to writer, peace activist and former Central Intelligence Agency, CIA officer Amaryllis Fox) and Kathleen Alexandra ('Kick') Kennedy (born 1988). The latter shares the nickname of her great-aunt, the late Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington.
The couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1994.
On April 15, 1994, Kennedy married Mary Richardson Kennedy, Mary Kathleen Richardson (1959–2012) aboard a research vessel on the Hudson River. 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). On May 12, 2010, Kennedy filed for divorce from Mary; three days later she was charged with drunk driving. On May 16, 2012, Mary was found dead in a building on the grounds of her home in Mount Kisco, New York. The Westchester County Medical Examiner ruled the death to be a Suicide by hanging, suicide due to asphyxiation from hanging.
Kennedy married his third wife, actress-director Cheryl Hines, on August 2, 2014, at the Kennedy Compound, Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. They were introduced by Larry David, whose wife Hines played in the HBO series ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', and began dating in 2012.
Health
In 2008, it was reported that Kennedy has spasmodic dysphonia, which causes his voice to :wikt:quaver, quaver and makes speech difficult. It is a form of an involuntary movement disorder called dystonia that affects only the larynx.
Selected works
Kennedy has authored books on subjects such as the environment, science, biography, and American heroes, including three bestsellers and three children's books.
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Children's books
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Select awards and recognition
Over the course of his career, Kennedy has received numerous awards in his name and on behalf of organizations and causes that he has championed.
*2018, The National Trial Lawyers, Mass Tort Trial Team of the Year - for "groundbreaking case of Dewayne "Lee" Johnson v. Monsanto Company"
*2017, Earthjustice, Earth Justice Mountain Heroes
*2017, Foro La Region Award for "La Proteccion de los Recrsos Naturales"
*2014, Stroud Award of Freshwater Excellence
*2009, ''Rolling Stone'' "100 Agents of Change"
*2008, USC Dornsife Sustainability Champion Award
*2008, Theodre Gordon Flyfishers Conservation Award
*2007, ''Vanity Fair'' "The Green Team"
*2005, William O. Douglas Award, on behalf of the Waterkeeper Alliance
*2003, Professional Resource Award, NY State Council of Trout Unlimited
*2001, Distinguished Service Award presented at Pace Law School's 25th Anniversary
*2001, ''Men's Journal'' "Heroes" Award
*2000, 12th Annual Manhattan Award
*2000, Jacques Sartisky Peace Award
*2000, New York State Champion of the Environment
*1999, ''Time (magazine), Time Magazine'' "Heroes of the Planet"
*1998, William E. Ricker Resource Conservation Award
*1997, EPA Environmental Quality Award
*1997, The Brave 40 Award from NYC Department of Environmental Conservation
*1997, Thomas Berry Environmental Award, presented to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic
*1995, Green Star Award presented by the Environmental Action Coalition
*1991, Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Award
See also
* Robert F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy – Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s father
*
Deadly Immunity
"Deadly Immunity" is an article written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. that appeared in the July 14, 2005 issue of ''Rolling Stone'' and, simultaneously, on the website ''Salon''. The article is focused on the 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference and cla ...
*
Environmental law
Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...
* Kennedy family
*
Waterkeeper Alliance
Waterkeeper Alliance is a worldwide network of environmental organizations founded in 1999 in response to a growing movement of organizations with such names as Riverkeeper, Baykeeper and Soundkeeper. By December 2019, the group said it had gro ...
* Vaccines and autism
References
External links
Pace Law School Profile *
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Robert F. Jr.
1954 births
Living people
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
Alumni of the London School of Economics
American anti-vaccination activists
American biographers
American Book Award winners
American conspiracy theorists
American environmentalists
American legal scholars
American male biographers
American male bloggers
American bloggers
American non-fiction environmental writers
American people convicted of drug offenses
American political writers
American talk radio hosts
COVID-19 conspiracy theorists
Environmental bloggers
American environmental lawyers
Georgetown Preparatory School alumni
Harvard University alumni
Kennedy family, Robert F
Natural Resources Defense Council people
New York (state) lawyers
New York County Assistant District Attorneys
Non-interventionism
Pace University faculty
Pace University School of Law alumni
Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
Thiomersal and vaccines
University of Virginia School of Law alumni
Writers from New York (state)
Writers from Washington, D.C.
Autism pseudoscience