Victoria Maxwell

Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, born in 1965, is an American lawyer and author, and the ninth child of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. He faced challenges in his youth, including expulsion from Phillips Academy, but achieved sobriety and pursued higher education at Georgetown University, Harvard College, and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Kennedy's career includes service as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia. He later transitioned to writing, publishing a collection of his father's writings and speeches, "Make Gentle the Life of This World." He also led an environmental nonprofit and taught at Boston College. He explored a congressional run in 2001 but withdrew to focus on his family. His other notable book, "Danger's Hour," details the story of the USS Bunker Hill during World War II. Kennedy has also been involved in political endorsements and served on the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Born in New York City on January 11, 1965, Max Kennedy is the ninth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. He was baptized a Catholic and named after General Maxwell D. Taylor. His childhood was marked by an elevator accident at age 12 that required hospitalization. Described as "wild in his youth," Kennedy was expelled from Phillips Academy but later graduated from Moses Brown School in 1983, achieving sobriety in 1985. He continued his education at Georgetown University, Harvard College, and the University of Virginia School of Law.

Kennedy began his professional career as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia, prosecuting felonies and working with juvenile offenders. He later shifted his focus to writing, compiling "Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy and the Words That Inspired Him," published in 1998. He also headed the Watershed Institute, an environmental nonprofit at Boston College, and briefly taught English there. In 2001, he considered running for Congress but ultimately decided against it to prioritize his family. His historical writing includes "Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her," released in 2008, which vividly recounts a World War II naval engagement.

As a member of the prominent Kennedy family, Max Kennedy has navigated his family's public legacy. He supported the demolition of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, the site of his father's assassination, advocating for a school complex as a more fitting memorial. In 2021, he joined other siblings in opposing the parole recommendation for Sirhan Sirhan, his father's assassin, though two siblings supported parole. Kennedy has also engaged in political endorsements, including for Barack Obama in 2008 and Joe Biden in 2024, and has spoken out against his brother Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s political stances.

“The Ambassador Hotel has nothing to do with who my father was or what he tried to do with his life.”

“a fitting memorial”