The Rise of RFK Jr., Part 2: Public Purpose, Private Turmoil
The FRONTLINE Dispatch
GBH
4.5 ā¢ 1.1K Ratings
šļø 11 December 2025
ā±ļø 40 minutes
šļø Recording | iTunes | RSS
š§¾ļø Download transcript
Summary
RFK Jr. emerges from a turbulent adolescence determined to reclaim his legacy. Raney Aronson-Rath and filmmaker Michael Kirk trace his rise as an environmental advocateāand the private contradictions that complicated his public missionācontinuing FRONTLINEās serialized audio adaptation of The Rise of RFK Jr.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Losing a parent in a 90 circumstance is devastating, especially when you're young. |
| 0:06.0 | It has to be exceptionally more so when you're in the public eye. |
| 0:12.0 | Today on the Frontline Dispatch, part two of our series, The Rise of RFK Jr. |
| 0:17.0 | His dad was definitely someone he emulated and felt he had to continue to do whatever he could |
| 0:22.7 | as he grew up to follow that. We've been listening to Frontline's new documentary and speaking to |
| 0:29.7 | its director, Michael Kirk. So it's deep inside of him, this idea that no matter what happens to me, |
| 0:37.0 | no matter what I do wrong, no matter whatever, |
| 0:39.0 | I'm going to get there, I'm going to get to St.uit, and if I'm going to do it, I have to be a |
| 0:43.2 | kind of savior, and I have to sacrifice. In this episode, R of K Jr.'s tragic childhood |
| 0:49.8 | and troubled teenage years are behind him, and he's searching for his voice as a Kennedy. |
| 0:55.7 | And if somebody dumps something into the river that's poison, |
| 0:59.5 | and it goes into a drinking water intake, |
| 1:01.7 | and children drink that drinking water, |
| 1:03.9 | that is child abuse. |
| 1:06.1 | I'm Rainey Aronson Roth, |
| 1:07.6 | editor-in-chief and executive producer of Frontline, and this is the Frontline |
| 1:12.3 | Dispatch. |
| 1:18.9 | Mike, thanks for joining me again on the Frontline Dispatch. |
| 1:22.8 | My pleasure, Rainy. Thanks for having me. |
| 1:25.1 | After what seems like a pretty troubled youth and young adulthood, |
| 1:29.5 | Kennedy reemerges as an environmental activist. I had actually almost forgotten that chapter. |
| 1:35.4 | Why do you think those issues were so important to him? |
... |
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