The Rise and Fall of the Kennedys

Throughout modern American history, the Kennedy name has been associated with some of America’s greatest politicians, up until recent years, when a certain Robert F. Kennedy Junior came into the public eye. John F. Kennedy (JFK) was known throughout his time as a politician for his constant support of public service, most notably in his inaugural address, in which he asked, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

He also worked on many Cold War issues, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Space Race, which he heavily encouraged and funded, though he did not live long enough to see them through. Tragically, he was shot on Nov. 22, 1963, at the age of 46 while touring in Dallas, Texas. The nation soon went into mourning, with an overwhelming majority of the United States of America’s population watching his funeral on live TV.

Robert F. Kennedy (RFK), JFK’s brother, managed his campaigns throughout his political career and was often described by his supporters as determined and ruthless by his critics, but everyone agreed he was no doubt hardworking. Once his brother was assassinated, RFK went into a period of intense grief, making few public appearances but still holding his position as attorney general under the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson. By 1964, RFK had finally worked through most of his intense pain caused by his brother’s death, retired as attorney general, and went back into politics, running for the Senate from New York state. He won the race and worked as a senator for the next four years, focusing on poverty, civil rights, and opposing the Vietnam War. 

Sadly, on June 5, 1968, he was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel right after giving a speech to his campaign supporters for the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Eight shots were fired by his assailant at point-blank range, leaving him wounded on the floor. In the room with him was his pregnant wife, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, along with some of his supporters and campaign aides. The assailant was then unarmed and held back by bystanders as Kennedy lay on the floor. 25 hours later, he was declared dead at Good Samaritan Hospital in California. 

Right after he was shot, a man named Juan Romero, who was just seconds before shaking his hand, knelt by RFK, helping provide a jacket to rest his head and placing a rosary in his hand. In his final moments of consciousness, RFK turned away from Romero and told the room, “Everything’s going to be OK.”

These are his official last words. At that same time, a 14-year-old RFK Jr. was attending school back in Georgetown, where he would soon find out about his father’s death.

Starting in the 80s, RFK Jr. began his career as an environmental lawyer, working on projects dedicated to keeping rivers clean of pollution from factories and companies. His firm won major class-action lawsuits in 2018 and 2019, which made significant progress toward keeping waterways clean and clear. In 2015, he started advocating for anti-vaccination policies and widespread anti-vaccination rhetoric, which many consider to be his first step toward unreliability. In 2023, he ran for the Democratic primary and later switched his party affiliation to Independent, but didn’t win either primary. Then, in mid-2024, he began supporting Donald Trump for the 2024 election, showing up at rallies and openly showing his willingness to work with him. 

In 2025, he was officially installed as the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. So far, he has lowered the recommended number of vaccines for minors ages 17 to 11, cut large portions of his staff, including many from the CDC, and has removed large amounts of funding from vaccine research and production. While he has claimed to believe in climate change as an existential threat, his alignment with Trump and MAGA (Make America Great Again) suggests otherwise, as they have been very vocal in the assumption that climate change is a “hoax” and “the greatest con job by the left.” 

But associating himself with Trump is only the tip of the iceberg; over the course of his political career, he consistently contributed to the spread of misinformation, false truths, and in some cases, blatant lies, as well as supporting pseudoscientific ideologies. 

These include his claims of having a dead worm in his brain, vaccines causing autism, that chemicals in the water supply can make people gay and/or transgender, linking Wi-Fi and 5G technology to cancer, claiming he will not take sides on 9/11, dumping a dead bear cub in Central Park, having a diet consisting of roadkill he had found and last but certainly not least, that COVID-19 was engineered to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people while targeting Caucasians and African Americans. All of these claims and actions are absolutely outrageous in just about every way possible, and I find in totality, really show the kind of man he is. 

Due to all of these claims and accusations over his time in the public eye, the Kennedy name has suffered significantly. What once stood as a name that held pride and hope for the American people has become stained with misinformation and hate, a complete turnaround from what the name Kennedy once stood for. I still believe that RFK Jr. does not define the family’s legacy, and I hold out hope that when people look back on the Kennedy name, they will remember the brave and patriotic names of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy and what they did for our country.