Robert "Bobby" Kennedy Jr. had a very controversial youth. Kennedy entered a drug rehabilitation program, at the age of 28, after being found guilty of drug possession following the South Dakota incident. He was sentenced to two years probation and community service.

Clearly the incident was a turning point in Bobby's life. "Let's just say, I had a tumultuous adolescence that lasted until I was 29," he told a reporter for New York magazine, which ran a long profile of Kennedy in 1995, entitled "Nature Boy." The title refers to the passion which has enabled Kennedy to emerge from his bleak years as a strong and vital participant in environmental causes.

A Harvard graduate and published author, Kennedy serves as chief prosecuting attorney for a group called the Hudson Riverkeeper (named after the famed New York river...