Episode Details

Born into one of the most storied families in American history, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was fourteenyears old when his father was assassinated. He has since spent his life grappling with the weight of his family's legacy. Like his martyred father, RFK Jr. longs to be a hero, but he has struggled with his demons. "I knew daddy was watching me, and that he loved me," he wrote in a diary entry, "But I also felt I was disappointing him."Those thoughts were set down in his diary when he was serving out a monthlong prison term in Puerto Rico for civil disobedience. The experience changed his life. Alone in his cell, he was forced to grapple with his personal conflicts-his addictions to drugs and women-but also to question everything that he and his family once held sacred, including their allegiance to the Democratic Party, which had sustained the Kennedy family for generations.RFK Jr. became disillusioned with many of the party's leaders even as he committed himself to carving out a distinct identity as a public servant. He would vow to step up his environmental crusade, later establishing himself as a public health critic with controversial views on vaccines. He became a political maverick.But even now, in his seventies, and after an unexpected pivot into the national spotlight as a political and cultural figure at odds with both the Democratic Party and his family, RFK Jr. is still fighting to live up to the legacy of his father.This timely release marks the one-year anniversary of RFK Jr.'s appointment as Secretary for Health and Human Services, reflecting on his impactful first year in office. It uncovers the personal struggles, family pressures, and political milestones that have shaped his extraordinary and often contradictory life.

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