Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954), also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, author, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist currently serving as the 26th United States secretary of health and human services since February 13, 2025.

A member of the Kennedy family, he is a son of U.S. attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy. After growing up in the Washington, D.C. area and Massachusetts, Kennedy graduated from Harvard University and the University of Virginia School of Law. He 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). He became an adjunct professor of environmental law at Pace University School of Law in 1986. In 1987, Kennedy founded Pace's Environmental Litigation Clinic. He founded the nonprofit environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance in 1999. He ran as a Democratic candidate and later an independent candidate in the 2024 United States presidential election, then withdrew from the race and endorsed Donald Trump.

Since 2005, Kennedy has promoted vaccine misinformation and public-health conspiracy theories, including the scientifically disproved claim of a causal link between vaccines and autism. He is the founder and former chairman of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group and proponent of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. Kennedy has written books including ''The Riverkeepers'' (1997), ''Crimes Against Nature'' (2004), ''The Real Anthony Fauci'' (2021), and ''A Letter to Liberals'' (2022). Provided by Wikipedia