Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Acting
- January 17, 1954 · Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Biography
Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954), also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, author, conspiracy theorist, and anti-vaccine activist serving as the 26th United States secretary of health and human services since 2025. A member of the Kennedy family, he is a son of senator and former U.S. attorney general Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy, and a nephew of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy began his career as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan. In the mid-1980s, he joined two nonprofits focused on environmental protection: Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). In 1986, he became an adjunct professor of environmental law at Pace University School of Law, and in 1987 he founded Pace's Environmental Litigation Clinic. In 1999, Kennedy founded the nonprofit environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance. He first ran as a Democrat and later started an independent campaign in the 2024 United States presidential election, before withdrawing from the race and endorsing Republican nominee Donald Trump. Since 2005, Kennedy has promoted vaccine misinformation and public-health conspiracy theories, including the chemtrail conspiracy theory, HIV/AIDS denialism, and the scientifically disproved claim of a causal link between vaccines and autism. He has drawn criticism for fueling vaccine hesitancy amid a social climate that gave rise to the deadly measles outbreaks in Samoa and Tonga. Kennedy is the founder and former chairman of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group and proponent of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. He has written books including The Riverkeepers (1997), Crimes Against Nature (2004), The Real Anthony Fauci (2021), and A Letter to Liberals (2022).
Known for
Filmography
- By Dawn's Early Light · Self
- The Rise of RFK Jr. · Self
- RFK: Legacy · Self
- The Donald Trump Show · Self
- My View with Lara Trump · Self
- Confessions of a CEO: My Life in an Out-of-Balance World · Self
- Biohack Yourself: Lifespanning Our Vitality · Self
- Trump's Big FUSS: Fight for US Sovereignty · Self
- Trump vs. Kamala: Race for the White House · Self
- First Do No Pharm · Self
- God Bless Bitcoin · Self
- INactive, Americaʼs Silent Killer · Self
- The Tucker Carlson Show · Self
- The Trust Fall: Julian Assange · Self
- The Real Anthony Fauci · Self, Writer
- Virulent: The Vaccine War · Self
- Shots: Eugenics to Pandemics · Self
- Covidland: The Shot · Self
- JFK: Destiny Betrayed · Self
- JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass · Self
- Dis/Informed · Self
- Silenced, As Mercury Rises · Self
- The Anti-Vax Conspiracy · Self
- Tucker Carlson Today · Self
- Medical Racism · Producer
- 1986: The ACT · Self
- A Better Way
- Killing John F. Kennedy · Self
- Vaxxed II: The People's Truth · Self, Executive producer
- Mandate for Choice · Self
- The Alec Baldwin Show · Self
- American Dynasties: The Kennedys · Self
- Poisoning Paradise
- The Best Democracy Money Can Buy · Self
- Good Fortune · Self
- Climate Hustle · Self
- DARK SIDE of the GREENS · Self
- A Dangerous Game · Self
- Food Chains
- JFK: The Private President · Self
- The Last Mountain · Self
- Overheard with Evan Smith · Self
- Smash His Camera · Self
- The Vaccine War · Self
- Autism: Made in the U.S.A. · Self
- Dominick Dunne: After the Party · Self
- The Rachel Maddow Show · Self
- One Water · Self
- Al Franken: God Spoke · Self
- Earth to America · Self
- The Colbert Report · Self
- Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable · Self
- Real Time with Bill Maher · Self
- The Waterkeepers · Self
- Frontline · Self
- The Mike Douglas Show · Self
- One Planet · Self