RFK Jr., page 30
12One local developer: Ibid., 97.
13“At that moment I knew I wanted to be an environmental lawyer”: Ibid.
14“Our offer put the city government”: Cronin and Kennedy, The Riverkeepers, 98.
15“We were able to stall the vote in city council”: Ibid., 112.
16“The results of the Quassaick Creek cases”: Ibid., 111.
17“I have enough friends and family”: Jacques Steinberg, “A Son Sees Reflection in the Water; Kennedy Scion Shuns Public Office for Beloved Reservoirs,” New York Times, February 13, 1995.
18“Nobody else was talking to him”: Encounter with Mario Cuomo at Andrew’s bachelor party Jacques Steinberg, “A Son Sees Reflection in the Water; Kennedy Scion Shuns Public Office for Beloved Reservoirs,” New York Times, February 13, 1995.
19“Andrew could win because he is totally focused”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, January 1, 2001.
20“Bobby was never part of the negotiations”: Author interview with Dan Ruzow, June 11, 2025.
21speculated about how much of Amy Fisher’s urine: Steinberg, “A Son Sees Reflection in the Water.”
22“He was very ambitious”: Author interview with Marilyn Gelber, June 11, 2025.
23“They all thought Bobby was a lunatic”: Author interview with Dan Ruzow, June 12, 2025.
24“Kennedy saw Riverkeeper as a way”: Author interview with Alex Boyle, January 27, 2025.
25“People used to choose the Kennedys”: Sara Rimer, “The 1994 Campaign; Kennedy’s Wife Is Giving Him a Political Advantage in a Difficult Contest,” New York Times, September 24, 1994.
26“In 1993 my former husband”: Sheila Rauch Kennedy, Shattered Faith: A Woman’s Struggle to Stop the Catholic Church from Annulling Her Marriage (Pantheon Books, 1997), 1.
27“We had a true and valid marriage”: Scott Malone, “Ex-Kennedy Wife Says Vatican Overturns Annulment,” Reuters, August 9, 2007.
28“Mary was as talented with the left side”: Laurence Leamer, “Exclusive: The Last Days of Mary Kennedy,” Newsweek, June 11, 2012.
29remembered Mary as a detail-oriented: Jen Just, www.maryrk.org memorial page, August 11, 2012, https://web.archive.org/web/20120827192907/http://maryrk.org/remembrances/.
30Another friend, Diana Kellogg: Diana Kellogg, wwwmaryrk.org memorial page, October 5, 2012, https://web.archive.org/web/20120827192907/http://maryrk.org/remembrances/.
31“Fred thought Mary would be a good assistant”: Author interview with Bob Colacello, June 25, 2025.
32“His one true love”: Anonymous, www.maryrk.org memorial page, June 10, 2012.
33“in terrible trouble”: “Carlos Mavroleon, Freelancer, Killed in Peshawar, Pakistan, August 27, 1998,” Committee to Protect Journalists, https://cpj .org/data/people/carlos-mavroleon.
34“She was always so kind”: Nicholas Mavroleon, www.maryrk.org memorial page, August 2, 2012, https://web.archive.org/web/20120827192907/http://maryrk.org/remembrances/
35“She was a contrarian”: Author interview with source, June 10, 2025.
36Kennedy “fell deeply in love” with Mary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., affidavit, September 16, 2011.
37“This is my fifth”: Nadine Brozan, “The Newest Kennedy, William Finbar, Joins the Clan,” New York Times, November 13, 1997.
38“I’ve been given everything”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 5, 2001.
Chapter 6: “The Sirens were on Every Rock”
1“Someone should have edited this book”: James Gorman, “River Patrol,” New York Times, November 16, 1997.
2“Michael, now is the time to fight”: Nancy Gibbs, “The Kennedy Family: Tragedy Strikes Again,” Time, January 12, 1998.
3the babysitter refused to cooperate: Sara Rimer, “A Kennedy Faces the Fallout from a Scandal,” New York Times, July 10, 1997.
4the scene of so many Kennedy weddings and baptisms: David McPherson, “Family, Friends Mourn Michael Kennedy,” Cape Cod Times,January 3, 1998.
5“I ask now only that we look at Michael truly”: Excerpts from the eulogy by U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III for his brother, Michael,” Cape Cod Times, January 1, 1998.
6“I feel bad for John”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, May 15, 1999.
7A partnership based on vigilance and the law”: Roger Rosenblatt, “Fresh Water: Let Rivers Run Deep,” Time, August 2, 1999.
8“Cronin and the board are doing nothing”: Robert F. Kennedy, diary, March 7, 1999.
9“My father considered it”: Author interview with Alex Boyle, June 20, 2025.
10Kennedy wrote about having dinner: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, February 25, 1999.
11“I was struck by how small Willis was”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, February 24, 1999.
12“I rode 12 to 15 waves”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, February 26, 27, 28, 1999.
13“Roger and I gave lectures”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, March 3, 1999.
14“I made it through a difficult week”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, June 19, 1999.
15“This is how she gets in the summer”: Robert Kennedy Jr., diary, May 7, 8, 9, 1999.
16“She did it to embarrass and hurt me”: Robert Kennedy Jr., diary, May 30, 1999.
17“I couldn’t be trusted with any of her children”: Robert Kennedy Jr., diary, May 30, 1999.
18“He definitely gaslit her”: Author interview with source, June 10, 2025.
19“She was just 200 percent invested”: Author interview with source, November 23, 2012.
20“She loved being a Kennedy”: Author interview with source, June 10, 2025.
21“Conor saw him the same time I did”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, June 24, 1999.
22“Mary is being impossible”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, June 25, 1999.
23“Demerol refused”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, July 9, 1999.
24“The passions against my father were equal”: Randal C. Archibold, “Robert Kennedy Jr. Endorses Hillary Clinton,” New York Times, September 7, 2000.
25“It’s a way to access a culture”: Anita Gates, “Television/Radio; A Filmmaker Now Known for Two Families,” New York Times, November 28, 1999.
26“does a good job of showing us”: Stephen Holden, “Film Review; A Family United by Home and Want,” New York Times, May 26, 1999.
27For the Kennedys, the links to the past: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, May 26, 1999.
28“This has been a difficult year for our family”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, July 15, 1999.
29“This event, and the culture”: Alex Kuczynski, “Washington Memo; A Melding of Extremes at Correspondents Dinner,” New York Times, May 3, 1999.
30“He has trouble refinancing”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, July 15, 1999.
31“Mary and I resolved”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, July 16, 1999.
32“Other pilots flying similar routes”: Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside, “Revisiting JFK, Jr.,” Aviation Safety, December 27, 2019.
33The NTSB later determined: Burnside, “Revisiting JFK, Jr.”
34The bickering over the bodies: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, July 15–30, 1999.
35“Judge Johnson, really through his courage”: Associated Press, “Judge Johnson Buried in the Alabama Hills,” July 28, 1999.
Chapter 7: “Things Fall Apart”
1“Her eulogy was beautiful”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 13, 1999.
2“I’m really in despair”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 14, 1999.
3New York’s watershed agreement: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, September 15, 1999.
4“walking on eggshells”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 30, 1999.
5“He wonders, as do I”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, September 19, 1999.
6“My defects are like weeds”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 17, 1999.
7“was unrecognizable”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 24, 1999.
8Although Mary was trying to deal: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, May 20, 1999.
9“He looked like a playboy”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, September 22, 1999.
10At the fundraiser two months later: Matea Gold, “Gore Outlines Plan for Environmental Spending,” Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1999.
11“There is no American political leader”: CBSNews.com staff, “Gore Gets a Kennedy Nod,” CBS News, February 28, 2000, https://www.cbsnews .com/news/gore-gets-a-kennedy-nod.
12“She doesn’t seem angry”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, October 4, 1999.
13“Kyra is so sociable and fun”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 20, 1999.
14When he had put his older children: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 29, 1999.
15“Mary is very upset”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, April 17, 1999.
16“Riverkeeper has always had clean hands”: Robert Worth, “A Kennedy and His Mentor Part Ways over River Group,” New York Times, November 5, 2000.
17flush the chicks down the airplane toilet: Peter Jamison, “How RFK Jr. Hiring a Bird Smuggler Threw His Environmental Group into Turmoil,” Washington Post, March 2, 2024.
18“The meeting was at the lawyer’s office”: Author interview with source, January 23, 2025.
19“What we’ve succeeded in doing now”: Worth, “A Kennedy and His Mentor Part Ways over River Group.”
20“I nearly drowned, actually”: William J. Clinton, “Remarks at a Dinner for Gubernatorial Candidate Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend of Maryland in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts,” August 5, 2000, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-dinner-for-gubernatorial-candidate-lieutenant-governor-kathleen-kennedy-townsend.
21“Clinton was breathtaking as usual”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 5, 2000.
22remarks about the Kennedy matriarch, Ethel: Clinton, “Remarks at a Dinner for Gubernatorial Candidate Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend of Maryland in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.”
23“I got my three minutes”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 15, 2000.
24“She’s written terrible stuff about us”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 16, 2000.
25“struggling to keep my thoughts pure”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 28, 2000.
26“Every time I’ve walked into an AA meeting”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 30, 2000.
27The Kennedys endured another near tragedy: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, October 26, 27, 28, 2000.
28“The Gods and Fates were plotting his destiny”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, November 29, 2000.
29as he flew to Vail: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, November 26, 2000.
Chapter 8: “My Voice is Gone”
1“When visitors with hacking coughs”: Robin Wilson, Kennedy Green House: Designing an Eco-Healthy Home from the Foundation to the Furniture (Greenleaf Book Group, 2010), xx.
2“I defended the Clintons”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, January 29, 2001.
3The Rich pardon was so radioactive: Andrea Bernstein, “At Private Lovefest in a Shoe Store, a Cuomo Declares for Governor,” Observer, February 5, 2001.
4“I thought of it”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, January 28, 2001.
5“Upstairs, shoved between racks of micro-mini shorts”: Bernstein, “At Private Lovefest.”
6“It’s being billed as a brilliant political move”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, January 31, 2001.
7The year started on a somber note: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, January 31 and February 1, 2001.
8“Sheldon delivered a fantastic eulogy”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, June 30, 2001.
9“I told him I’d never done”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, May 5, 2001.
10“The tragedy of Martha Moxley’s death”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “A Miscarriage of Justice,” Atlantic, January–February 2003.
11He had begun having difficulties: Robert F. Kennedy, deposition in Robert F. Kennedy v. Mary Kennedy, February 3, 2012.
12He had also been diagnosed: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, May 20, 1999.
13“My voice is gone”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, May 20, 2001.
14When he failed to secure assistance: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, January 16, 2001.
15“My goal is not to have it stopped”: Raymond Hernandez, “Both Sides Attack Bush Plan to Halt Bombing on Vieques,” New York Times, June 15, 2001.
16“My face looks like a teenager’s”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 10, 2001.
17“Our family is exactly the opposite of yours”: Ibid.
18“He’s running a good union”: Steven Greenhouse, “Teamsters Seek to End U.S. Oversight,” New York Times, September 9, 2001.
19“I’ve got the best family ever!”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 16, 2001.
20“Kyra insisted that she be in Kick’s film”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 11, 2001.
21Kyra, who was six years old: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, August 29, 2001.
22Earlier, while still in prison: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, July 13, 2001.
23“Our president fled to Nebraska”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., diary, September 11, 2001.
24polo with members of the British royal family: Richard Johnson, “Polo ‘Playboy’ Was Kerry’s Other Man—Bizman & Wife Vacationed with Cuomos,” New York Post, July 4, 2003.
25allegedly involved with Kennedy: Jane MacIntosh, “RFK Jr. ‘Bedded’ Heartbroken-wife of Sister’s Loverboy: Sources,” New York Post, May 25, 2012.
26“It wasn’t totally random”: Author interview with Sarah Bridges, January 25, 2025.
27“My family basically migrated into this state”: Micah Leith, “In Depth: How West Virginia Plays a Role in Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Presidential Plans,” WOAY, January 30, 2024, https://woay.com/in-depth-how-west-virginia-plays-a-role-in-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-presidential-plans.
28“sloshed through deep mud”: “Kennedy in West Virginia,” New York Times, April 29, 1964.
29As he continued his crusade: Barry Werth, “Somewhere Down the Crazy River,” Outside, May 2, 2004.
30“If you ever run for president”: Ibid.
31Mary, who had trained as an architect: Wilson, Kennedy Green House, xii.
32according to court documents: Kennedy, deposition.
33“My children, accustomed to the bedlam”: Wilson, Kennedy Green House, 2010, xiii.
34“We all reduced our fees”: Ibid., 7.
35Contractors and vendors donated their services: Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein, “RFK Jr. and Late Wife Didn’t Pay for Many of Renovations to Make Westchester Mansion Eco-friendly,” New York Post, October 28, 2012.
36“He didn’t think he should pay for anything”: Author interview with source, October 25, 2012.
37Mary called up Franken: Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein, “RFK Jr. and Late Wife asked Al Franken to Help Them Receive No-Cost Home Renovations: Designer,” New York Post, November 4, 2012.
38“Cheryl was introduced to Bobby by Larry”: Author interview with source, November 23, 2012.
39“I had developed a special friendship with Bobby’s sixteen-year-old daughter Kyra”: Cheryl Hines, Unscripted (Skyhorse Publishing, 2025), 137.
40“completely shattered”: Author interview with source, November 23, 2012.
41“It wasn’t a private place for her and the kids”: Author interview with source, October 25, 2012.
42It didn’t take long for Mary’s private life: Katie Ryan O’Connor, “Updated: Kennedy Wife Arrested for DWI in Westchester,” Patch, May 19, 2010, https://patch.com/new-york/harrison/reports-kennedy-wife-arrested-for-dwi-in-westchester-3.
43“Bobby used it all against her”: Author interview with source, November 23, 2012.
Chapter 9: Vaccine Warrior
1“Mary presented as someone”: Author interview with source, June 10, 2025.
2“a very important project”: Nicholas Mavroleon, www. maryrk.org memorial page, August 2, 2012, https://web.archive.org/web/20120827192907/http://maryrk.org/remembrances/.
3“Mary was waiting and hoping for Bobby”: Author interview with source, November 23, 2012.
4“She was petrified of his wagging finger”: Author interview with source, October 15, 2025.
5According to the Bedford Police report: Town of Bedford Police Report, May 16, 2012 BP-008222-12.
6arrived unexpectedly: Author interview with source, May 17, 2012.
7interrupting an evening session: Author interview with source, May 23, 2012.
8he wrote in the 2011 document: M. J. Lee, “Report: RFK Jr. Says Wife Abused Him,” Politico, June 11, 2012, https://www.politico.com/story/2012/06/report-rfk-jr-says-wife-abused-him-077268.
9a private funeral was held: Peter Applebome, “At a Kennedy’s Funeral, Friends and Family Focus on the Lives She Touched,” New York Times, May 19, 2012.
10“The mood there was quite hostile”: Author interview with source, June 19, 2025.
11a high-powered private investigation firm: Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein, “Investigators Looking into ‘Unanswered Questions’ About Mary Richardson Kennedy’s Suicide,” New York Post, November 25, 2012.
12“Kerry’s been instrumental”: Andrea Peyser, “RFK Jr. Goes to Bat for Sister Ahead of Trial,” New York Post, February 23, 2014.
13“I know Bobby well enough”: Author interview with source, June 20, 2025.
14Peter Kaplan’s death from lymphoma: Joe Pompeo, “Hundreds Gather in Tribute to the Late, Great Peter Kaplan,” Politico, December 5, 2014, https://www.politico.com/media/story/2014/12/hundreds-gather-in-tribute-to-the-late-great-peter-kaplan-003181.
15“She has an incredible career”: Robert F. Kennedy on The Megyn Kelly Show, March 22, 2022.
16he had started dating Hines: Bob Woletz, “No Curbs on Their Enthusiasm,” New York Times, August 3, 2014.
17Still, they made plans to elope: Cheryl Hines, Unscripted (Skyhorse Publishing, 2025), 155.
18“They said that if I was serious”: Rita Shreffler, “Environmental and Humanitarian Legend RFK Jr., Mainstream Media and the Very Corrupt CDC,” Children’s Health Defense, https://childrenshealthdefense.org/about-us/mercury-vaccines-cdcs-worst-nightmare.
