By adding his influential name to the Trump presidential campaign, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) has expanded the crackpot dimension of the race for the White House. As popular support for him waned from 12 per cent in April to five per cent in latest polls, he suspended his impossible independent bid for the presidency, blaming the US two-party system rather than himself for dooming his candidacy. 

Having launched his campaign as a Democrat in April 2023, Kennedy waited to suspend until that party’s national convention had confirmed incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris as its candidate to stand against Donald Trump. For 18 months Kennedy roundly criticised Trump who forgave him but may not have forgiven him for hurtful comments. Trump is a vengeful man.

Kennedy’s decision to run surprised and upset his highly political Democrat family. He is the nephew of murdered president John F. Kennedy and son of slain attorney general Robert F. Kennedy. By adding his name to Democratic party hopefuls, he challenged President Joe Biden who had opted to run for a second term before retiring in favour of Harris. Under family pressure RFK Jr. dropped the notion of running as a Democrat and joined the hopeless independents and third-party candidates.

His youngest brother, Rory Kennedy told CNN, “I admire his past work as an environmentalist. But due to a wide range of Bobby’s [other] positions, I’m supporting President Biden.” In July, Harris swept into the campaign, dominating the news, confusing Trump, and attracting supportfrom Kennedys other than RFK Jr.

A lawyer by profession, RFK Jr. made an impressive career in protecting the environment, but he has both endorsed and promoted crackpot conspiracy theory theories on vaccines, proposed ineffective treatments for covid, refused to admit the connection of HIV with Aids, and argued Wi-Fi internet has negative impacts on health.

Born in 1954 in Washington, Kennedy is the third child of 11 of attorney general Robert and Ethel Skakel. RFK Jr. had an affluent upbringing at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and the Hickory Hill estate in Virginia. The Kennedys were and are essentially tribal in their clan and family orientation while each individual was encouraged to be highly competitive. For less than mentally confident and physically robust youngsters, the strain could be damaging. RFK Jr. was 9 when his uncle was killed in 1963 and 14 when his father was assassinated while campaigning for the presidency in 1968.

Shocked and unsettled by his father’s death, Kennedy abused drugs, including heroin. He was arrested for possessing cannabis at 16 and expelled from two exclusive boarding schools preparing students for university entry. He eventually settled at a day school outside Boston and lived with a family at a farmhouse far from stifling Kennedy compounds.

Kennedy took his BA from Harvard and his law degree at the University of Virginia. In 1982 while serving as an assistant district attorney for Manhattan, he was charged with heroin possession. He was required to undergo treatment for heroin and sentenced to two years of probation and community service. He was cured of his addiction and volunteered at the Natural Resource s Defence Council where he was gripped by a worthy cause and subsequently tackled the scourge of pollution.

After being admitted to the New York state bar, Kennedy launched a high-profile, highly commendable career. He worked for environmental agencies clearing up river pollution and helped found the Waterkeeper Alliance non-governmental agency which has branches in 44 countries. Kennedy went on to prosecute local and state governments and firms for contaminating drinking water and maintaining polluting waste dumps. He has criticised the US military for bad practices, defended native tribes and poor and Black communities, campaigned against factory farming, oil and gas pipelines, nuclear power, coal ash, offshore wind farms, economic inequality, and controlling corporate interests. In foreign affairs, he opposed the 2003 US war on Iraq, the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war which he blamed on NATO expansion, and global US military bases and worldwide intervention.

Due to his past heroin addition, Kennedy may not have been appointed to senior governmental positions in the environmental field. Of course, his odd ideas have also undermined his credibility. If he hadn’t been a Kennedy, these factors might not have mattered. The Kennedy family’s sobering history may explain RJF Junior’s eccentricities.

The Kennedys are a hereditary political aristocracy and a legend. Grandfather, Joesph P. Kennedy was a wealthy businessman, politician, philanthropist, and patriarch. During the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy served as US ambassador to Britain between 1938-1940. He and his wife, Rose Fitzgerald, had nine children. He created the compounds, competition and complexes which dominated his children’s lives. His oldest son, Joseph Jr., was groomed for the presidency but while serving as a US Navy bomber pilot during World War II was killed in action. John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), the second son, also joined the Navy, survived war, was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts, and in 1960, after a hard-fought campaign, became the 35th and youngest US president. 

Handsome, personable, forward thinking and ambitious, JFK and his beautiful wife Jacqueline excited and energised the dull US political scene. He surrounded himself with men and women in their 40s. He launched the Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress in Latin America and called for the landing of a man on the moon before 1970. He was forgiven his disastrous invasion of Cuba in 1961 and was praised for forcing Moscow to withdraw its missiles from Cuba. The world mourned his assassination in Dallas, Texas, on November 22nd, 1963, before he had a chance to complete his mission. After his death, his brother Attorney General Robert – a crusader for civil rights – was shot dead while running for the presidency. The sole survivor of Joe Kennedy’s sons, Edward (Teddy) Kennedy was a Massachusetts Senator from 1962 until his natural death in 2009. President Kennedy’s son, John Jr., a celebrity publisher, died in a plane crash in 1999 at 38 years of age.

Photo: TNS