Content created by Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA)
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has spent his entire career in public service. Starting in 1985 as an attorney for the environmental nonprofit Riverkeeper, he eventually became one of the most influential environmentalists in the United States, focusing especially on the impact of pollution on human health and the conservation of healthy ecosystems.
Kennedy went on to co-found the Waterkeeper Alliance and served as its president for 21 years. Under his direction, it became the world's largest nonprofit devoted to clean water, with more than 1 million volunteers and branches in 40 countries. He also co-founded the nonprofit Children's Health Defense, an organization dedicated to understanding and addressing the dramatic rise in autism and other childhood chronic conditions.
Whether it was hunters and fishermen impacted by pollution on the Hudson River, or families and farmers challenging transnational pharma and chemical corporations, Kennedy has also been on the side of the people. Through hundreds of legal victories suing corporations and government agencies, Kennedy learned the inner workings of the system and became deeply familiar with the science of human health, both from a conventional and alternative perspective. Now, as Secretary of HHS, he is putting that knowledge to work to align it with the public interest, particularly those whose voices have not been heard.
Kennedy comes from an illustrious political family. The son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, Bobby Jr. was a lifelong Democrat but became increasingly estranged from the party in the 2010s as it drifted away from its traditional values. He made his final break on October 9, 2023, when he announced his candidacy as an independent for President of the United States.