Maria Shriver publicly declared her support for her cousin Caroline Kennedy Tuesday night, following the latter’s scathing denouncement of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
And the journalist/author invoked President John F. Kennedy’s “Profile In Courage,” Pulitzer Prize winning book, to make her point.
“Courage is when you do something hard, heartbreaking, and painful... and you do it anyway. Love you, Caroline. Always have, always will. #profilesincourage,“ Shriver posted on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
The posts included a photo of Caroline Kennedy along with the cover of the 2003 edition of “Profiles in Courage,” which tells the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers by taking principled stands for unpopular positions.
Earlier Tuesday, Caroline Kennedy sent a letter to senators, urging them to reject RFK Jr.’s nomination, saying that her cousin’s views on vaccines are disqualifying. She offered personal details from their lives growing up together that she said pose an even greater concern.
In a six-minute video posted to a social media account of her son, Jack Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy said that she felt “an obligation to speak out” on her cousin’s nomination as health secretary.
The post came on a day that marked an unusual display of public disagreement among America’s most famous Democratic family.
RFK Jr., whose nomination hearing before the senate is set for Wednesday, did win some support from another cousin, former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy. Kennedy, a recovering alcoholic, told the Globe on Tuesday that his cousin would be a strong leader on the issues of addiction and recovery.
Caroline Kennedy, a former ambassador to Australia and Japan, is the last surviving child of President Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the president’s brother, who was assassinated in 1968, and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.
Maria Shriver is the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, who was a sister of the Kennedy brothers. Her father, Sargent Shriver, is a former director of the Peace Corps and an ambassador to France.
Patrick Kennedy is the son of the late Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Joan Bennet Kennedy.
Katherine McCabe of the Globe Staff contributed to this story.
Rita Chandler can be reached at rita.chandler@globe.com.