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John Kerry
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John Kerry
{{Infobox Senator | name=John Forbes Kerry
| nationality=American
| image name=John F. Kerry.jpg
| jr/sr and state=U.S. Senator,
Massachusetts
| party=
Democratic Party (United States) Democratic
| term=January 1985–present
| preceded=
Paul Tsongas
| succeeded=Incumbent (2009)
| date of birth=
December 11,
1943
| place of birth=
Aurora, Colorado Aurora,
Colorado
| dead=alive
| date of death=
| place of death=
| law school=
Boston College, 1976
| spouse=(1)
Julia Thorne,
divorced;
(2)
Teresa Heinz Kerry
| religion=
Roman Catholic
}}
'''John Forbes Kerry''' (born
December 11,
1943) is the
Junior senator junior United States Senate United States Senator from
Massachusetts. In 2004, he made an
John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004 unsuccessful bid for the
President of the United States United States presidency as the nominee of the
Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party, losing to
incumbent President
George W. Bush.
Family history and childhood years
Kerry was born at the
Fitzsimons Army Medical Center Fitzsimons Army Hospital in
Aurora, Colorado Aurora,
Colorado outside
Denver, Colorado Denver, where his father,
Richard Kerry, a
World War II Army Air Corps test pilot, had been undergoing treatment for
tuberculosis. Kerry's family returned to their home state of
Massachusetts two months after his birth.
Family background
Kerry is the second child of Richard John Kerry and
Rosemary Forbes Kerry. He has three siblings: Margery (1941), Diana (1947) and Cameron (1950). He and his immediate family members were observant
Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholics. As a child, Kerry served as an
altar boy.
Although the extended family enjoyed a great fortune, Kerry's parents themselves were upper-
middle class; a wealthy great aunt paid for Kerry to attend
elite schools in
Europe and
New England.
Kerry spent his summers at the
Les Essarts, Forbes family estate Forbes family estate in
France, and there, he enjoyed a more opulent lifestyle than he had previously known in Massachusetts. While living in the U.S., Kerry spent several summers at the Forbes family's estates on
Naushon Island off
Cape Cod.
=Maternal family background
=
John Kerry's maternal grandfather,
James Grant Forbes, was born in
Shanghai,
China, where the family accumulated a fortune in
opium and China trade. Forbes married
Margaret Tyndal Winthrop, who came from the
Dudley-Winthrop Family Dudley-Winthrop political family. Through her, John Kerry is distantly related to four US Presidents [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4286105/] and to various royals in Europe. [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5723115/]
=Paternal family background
=
Kerry's paternal grandfather,
Frederick A. Kerry (born Fritz Kohn), was born on
May 10,
1873 in the town of
Horní Benešov,
Austria-Hungary, and grew up in
Mödling,
Austria (a small town near
Vienna). He and his wife Ida were both
German language German-speaking
Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews. In 1901, Fritz and Ida Kohn converted from
Judaism to
Roman Catholic Church Catholicism and changed his name to Frederick Kerry. They then immigrated to the United States, arriving at
Ellis Island in 1905. They raised their three children, including John's father, as Catholics. Frederick Kerry himself committed
suicide in the
Copley Plaza Hotel in
Boston on
November 23,
1921.
Kerry's father, Richard Kerry, was born on
July 28,
1915 in Massachusetts. After a stint in the
United States Army Air Corps U.S. Army Air Corps, he worked for the
United States Foreign Service Foreign Service and served as an attorney for the
Bureau of United Nations Affairs in the
United States Department of State U.S. Department of State.
In 1937, Richard Kerry met
Rosemary Forbes Kerry Rosemary Forbes, a member of the wealthy
Forbes family. One of 11 children, she studied to be a nurse, and served in the
Red Cross in
Paris during World War II. The couple married in
Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery,
Alabama in January 1941.
Childhood years
Kerry has said that his first memory is from when he was three years old, of holding his crying mother's hand while they walked through the broken glass and rubble of her childhood home in
Saint-Briac-sur-Mer Saint-Briac,
France. This visit came shortly after the United States had liberated Saint-Briac from the
Military history of Germany during World War II Nazis on
August 14,
1944. The family estate, known as
Les Essarts, Forbes family estate Les Essarts, had been occupied and used as a Nazi headquarters during the war. When the Germans abandoned it, they bombed Les Essarts and burnt it down.
The sprawling estate was rebuilt in 1954. Kerry and his parents would often spend the summer holidays there. During these summers, he became good friends with his first cousin
Brice Lalonde, a future
French Socialist Party Socialist and
French Green Party Green Party leader in France who ran for
president of France in 1981.
Boarding school (1957-1962)
While his father was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in
Oslo, Norway Oslo,
Norway, Kerry was sent to Massachusetts to attend boarding school. In 1957, he attended the Fessenden School in West Newton, a village in
Newton, Massachusetts Newton,
Massachusetts. There he met and became friends with Richard Pershing, grandson of
WW1 U.S. Gen.
John J. Pershing John Joseph Pershing.
The following year, he enrolled at
St. Paul's School (U.S.) St. Paul's School in
Concord, New Hampshire, and graduated from there in 1962. Kerry's elderly great-aunt,
Clara Winthrop, covered the costs. According to Kerry, at St. Paul's, he felt out of place because he was a Catholic and liberal, while most of his fellow students were
United States Republican Party Republicans and
Episcopalians.
Despite having difficulty fitting in, Kerry made friends and developed his interests. He learned skills in
public speaking and began developing interest in
politics. In his free time, he enjoyed
ice hockey and
lacrosse, which he played on teams captained by classmate
Robert Mueller Robert S. Mueller III, the current director of the
FBI. Kerry also played
electric bass for the prep school's band
The Electras, which produced an album in 1961. Only 500 copies were made — one which was auctioned on
eBay in 2004 for $2,551.
In 1959 Kerry founded the John Winant Society at St. Paul's to debate the issues of the day; the Society still exists there. In November 1960, Kerry gave his first political speech, in favor of
John F. Kennedy's election to the
White House.
Yale University (1962-1966)
Image:KerryLacross.JPG lacrosse.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|200px|right|Kerry (bottom, far right) played on the [[lacrosse team at
Yale University as #14. Kerry also played on the
ice hockey hockey team..html" title="Meaning of 200px|right|Kerry (bottom, far right) played on the [[lacrosse">thumb|200px|right|Kerry (bottom, far right) played on the [[lacrosse team at
Yale University as #14. Kerry also played on the
ice hockey hockey team.">200px|right|Kerry (bottom, far right) played on the [[lacrosse">thumb|200px|right|Kerry (bottom, far right) played on the [[lacrosse team at
Yale University as #14. Kerry also played on the
ice hockey hockey team.
In 1962, Kerry entered Yale University, majoring in
political science. He graduated with a
bachelor's degree B.A. in 1966. Kerry played on the
soccer,
ice hockey hockey,
lacrosse, and
Fencing fencing teams; in addition, he took flying lessons. To earn extra money during the summers, he loaded trucks in a grocery warehouse and sold encyclopedias door to door.
In his
sophomore year, Kerry became president of the
Yale Political Union. His involvement with the Political Union gave him an opportunity to be involved with important issues of the day, such as the
American Civil Rights Movement civil rights movement and Kennedy's
New Frontier program. He was also inducted into the
Skull and Bones Skull and Bones Society. President George W Bush was inducted two years later.
Under the guidance of the speaking coach and history professor Rollin Osterweis, Kerry won many debates against other college students from across the nation. In March 1965, as the
Vietnam War escalated, he won the Ten Eyck prize as the best
orator in the junior class for a speech that was critical of U.S.
foreign policy. In the speech he said, "It is the specter of Western
imperialism that causes more fear among Africans and Asians than communism, and thus it is self-defeating." [http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=21803]
Over four years, Kerry maintained a 16 grade average and received an 81 average in his senior year.[http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/06/07/yale_grades_portray_kerry_as_a_lackluster_student?mode=PF] Kerry, even then a capable speaker, was chosen to give the class oration at graduation. His speech was a broad criticism of American foreign policy, including the Vietnam War, in which he would soon participate.
Encounters with President Kennedy (1962)
Image:Kerry Kennedy.jpg Coast Guard.html" title="Meaning of right right|thumb|250px|Kerry sails aboard the [[Coast Guard yacht ''Manitou'' with
President of the United States President John F. Kennedy off
Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island Narragansett,
Rhode Island, on
August 26,
1962..html" title="Meaning of thumb|250px|Kerry sails aboard the [[Coast Guard">right|thumb|250px|Kerry sails aboard the [[Coast Guard
yacht ''Manitou'' with
President of the United States President John F. Kennedy off
Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island Narragansett,
Rhode Island, on
August 26,
1962.">thumb|250px|Kerry sails aboard the [[Coast Guard">right|thumb|250px|Kerry sails aboard the [[Coast Guard
yacht ''Manitou'' with
President of the United States President John F. Kennedy off
Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island Narragansett,
Rhode Island, on
August 26,
1962.
In 1962, Kerry was a volunteer for
Edward Kennedy's first
United States Senate Senatorial campaign. That summer, he dated
Janet Jennings Auchincloss,
Jacqueline Kennedy's half-sister. Auchincloss invited Kerry to visit her family's estate,
Hammersmith Farm in
Rhode Island. It was there that Kerry met President Kennedy for the first time.
According to Kerry, when he told the president he was about to enter
Yale University, Kennedy grimaced because he had gone to rival
Harvard University. Kerry later recalled, "He smiled at me, laughed and said, 'Oh, don't worry about it. You know I'm a Yale man too now.'" According to Kerry, "The President uttered that famous comment about how he had the best of two worlds now: a Harvard education and Yale degree," in reference to the
honorary degree he had received from Yale a few months earlier. Later that day, a White House photographer snapped a photo of Kerry sailing with Kennedy and his family in
Narragansett Bay.
Military service (1966-1970)
{{seealso|John Kerry military service controversy}}
Kerry served as a
Lieutenant in the
United States Navy during the
Vietnam War from 1966 to 1970. His 2nd
tour of duty Vietnam was four months as commanding officer of a
Swift boat. Kerry was awarded several medals during this tour, including the
Silver Star,
Bronze Star Medal Bronze Star, and three
Purple Hearts. Kerry's military record has received considerable praise and criticism during his political career, especially during his unsuccessful
John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004 2004 bid for the presidency.
Commission, training, and tour of duty on the USS ''Gridley''
Image:Tour_of_Duty.jpg Douglas Brinkley.html" title="Meaning of right right|thumb|180px|Historian [[Douglas Brinkley wrote ''Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War''..html" title="Meaning of thumb|180px|Historian [[Douglas Brinkley">right|thumb|180px|Historian [[Douglas Brinkley wrote ''Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War''.">thumb|180px|Historian [[Douglas Brinkley">right|thumb|180px|Historian [[Douglas Brinkley wrote ''Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War''.
On
February 18,
1966, Kerry enlisted in the
U.S. Naval Reserve. [http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Request_For_History_of_Service.pdf] He began his active duty military service on August 19. After completing sixteen weeks of
Officer Candidate School at the U.S. Naval Training Center in
Newport, Rhode Island Newport,
Rhode Island, Kerry received his officer's commission on December 16.
Kerry's first tour of duty was as an
Ensign (rank) ensign on the
guided missile frigate USS Gridley (DLG-21) USS ''Gridley''. On
February 9,
1968, the ''Gridley'' set sail for a Western Pacific deployment. The next day, Kerry requested duty in
Vietnam, listing as his first preference a position as the commander of a
Fast Patrol Craft (PCF), also known as a "Swift boat." These 50-foot boats have
aluminum hull (watercraft) hulls and have little or no armor, but are heavily armed and rely on speed. (Kerry's second choice was to be an officer in a river patrol boat, or "
Patrol boat, rigid PBR", squadron.) "I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing." [http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603..html]
The ''Gridley'' sailed to several places, including
Wellington in
New Zealand,
Subic Bay in the
Philippines, and the
Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. The executive officer of the ''Gridley'' has described the deployment: "We deployed from San Diego to the Vietnam theatre in early 1968 after only a six-month turnaround and spent most of a four month deployment on rescue station in the Gulf of Tonkin, standing by to pick up downed aviators." [http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/the%20kerry%20page.html] The ship departed for the U.S. on May 27 and returned to port at
Long Beach, California Long Beach,
California on June 6. Ten days after returning, on June 16, Kerry was promoted to the rank of
Lieutenant, junior grade. On June 20, he left the ''Gridley'' for Swift boat training at the Naval Amphibious Base in
Coronado, California Coronado.
Kerry's tour of duty as commander of a Swift boat
On
November 17,
1968, Kerry reported for duty at Coastal Squadron 1 in
Cam Ranh Bay in
South Vietnam. In his role as an officer in charge of Swift boats, Kerry led five-man crews on a number of patrols into enemy-controlled areas. His first command was Swift boat PCF-44, from
December 6,
1968 to
January 21,
1969, when the crew was disbanded. They were based at Coastal Division 13 at Cat Lo from December 13 to January 6. Otherwise, they were stationed at Coastal Division 11 at An Thoi. On January 30, Kerry took charge of PCF-94 and its crew, which he led until he departed An Thoi on March 26 and the crew was disbanded. [http://homepage.mac.com/chinesemac/kerry_medals/#vietnam_service]
=Meeting with Zumwalt and Abrams
=
On
January 22,
1969, Kerry and several other officers had a meeting in
Saigon with
Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. Elmo Zumwalt, the commander of U.S. Naval forces in Vietnam, and
United States Army U.S. Army General Creighton Abrams, the overall commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam. Kerry and the other officers reported that the "
free-fire zone" policy was alienating the Vietnamese and that the Swift boats' actions were not accomplishing their ostensible goal of interdicting Viet Cong supply lines. As they saw it, Kerry and the other visiting officers' concerns were dismissed with what amounted to a pep talk.
=First Purple Heart
=
During the night of
December 2,
1968 and early morning of December 3, Kerry was in charge of a small boat operating near a peninsula north of
Cam Ranh Bay together with a Swift boat (PCF-60). Kerry's boat surprised a group of men unloading
sampans at a river crossing, who began running and failed to obey an order to stop. As the men fled, Kerry and his crew of two sailors opened fire on the sampans and destroyed them, then rapidly left. During this encounter, Kerry suffered a
shrapnel wound in the left arm above the elbow. It was for this injury, that Kerry received his first
Purple Heart.
=Second Purple Heart
=
Kerry received his second Purple Heart for a wound received in action on the Bo De River on
February 20,
1969. The plan had been for the Swift boats to be accompanied by support helicopters. On the way up the Bo De, however, the helicopters were attacked. They returned to their base to refuel and were unable to return to the mission for several hours.
As the Swift boats reached the Cua Lon River, Kerry's boat was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade round, and a piece of shrapnel hit Kerry's left leg, wounding it. Thereafter, they had no more trouble, and reached the
Gulf of Thailand safely. Kerry still has shrapnel in his left thigh because the doctors tending to him decided to remove the damaged tissue and close the wound with
sutures rather than make a wide opening to remove the shrapnel. Kerry received his second Purple Heart for this injury, but he did not lose any time off from duty.
=Silver Star
=
Image:Kerry with crew3.jpg March 6.html" title="Meaning of right right|thumb|248px|Kerry with his crew after the medal ceremony, [[March 6,
1969. Top, from left: Del Sandusky, John Kerry, Gene Thorson, Thomas Belodeau. Bottom, from left: Mike Medeiros and Fred Short..html" title="Meaning of thumb|248px|Kerry with his crew after the medal ceremony, [[March 6">right|thumb|248px|Kerry with his crew after the medal ceremony, [[March 6,
1969. Top, from left: Del Sandusky, John Kerry, Gene Thorson, Thomas Belodeau. Bottom, from left: Mike Medeiros and Fred Short.">thumb|248px|Kerry with his crew after the medal ceremony, [[March 6">right|thumb|248px|Kerry with his crew after the medal ceremony, [[March 6,
1969. Top, from left: Del Sandusky, John Kerry, Gene Thorson, Thomas Belodeau. Bottom, from left: Mike Medeiros and Fred Short.
Eight days later, on February 28, came the events for which Kerry was awarded his
Silver Star. On this occasion, Kerry was in tactical command of his Swift boat and two others. Their mission included bringing a demolition team and dozens of South Vietnamese soldiers to destroy enemy
sampans, structures and bunkers. Along the Bay Hap river, they ran into an ambush. Kerry directed the boats "to turn to the beach and charge the Viet Cong positions" and he "expertly directed" his boat's fire and coordinated the deployment of the South Vietnamese troops, according to Admiral
Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. Zumwalt's original medal citation. [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14774]
After the South Vietnamese troops and a team of three U.S. Army advisors that were with them had disembarked at the ambush site, Kerry's boat and another headed up river to look for the fleeing enemy. The two boats came under fire from a Viet Cong
rocket-propelled grenade, shattering the crew cabin windows of PCF-94. Kerry ordered the boats to turn and charge the second ambush site. As they reached the shore, a Viet Cong soldier jumped out of the brush, carrying an
rocket-propelled grenade RPG launcher. With the enemy soldier only a short distance away from the boat and crew, forward gunner Tommy Belodeau shot him in the leg with the boat's 7.62x51 caliber
M60 machine gun M-60 machine gun. Belodeau's machine gun jammed after he fired, and while fellow crewmate Michael Medeiros attempted to fire, he was unable to do so. Kerry leaped ashore followed by Medeiros. As they pursued the fleeing Viet Cong soldier, Kerry shot and killed him with rifle fire.
Kerry's commanding officer,
Lieutenant George Elliott, joked that he didn't know whether to court-martial him for beaching the boat without orders or give him a medal for saving the crew. Elliott recommended Kerry for the Silver Star, and Zumwalt flew into An Thoi to personally award medals to Kerry and the rest of the sailors involved in the mission. The Navy's account of Kerry's actions is presented in the original
Wikisource:Silver Star Citation - John Kerry medal citation signed by Zumwalt. In addition, the after-action reports for this mission are available, along with the original press release written on March 1, a historical summary dated March 17, and more. [http://homepage.mac.com/chinesemac/kerry_medals/#silver_star]
=Bronze Star and third Purple Heart
=
Image:Kerrymedals.jpg Bronze Star Medal right|thumb|248px|Kerry is awarded the [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star. For his service during the
Vietnam War, Kerry also received the
Silver Star and three
Purple Hearts..html" title="Meaning of Bronze Star.html" title="Meaning of right|thumb|248px|Kerry is awarded the [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star">right|thumb|248px|Kerry is awarded the [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star. For his service during the
Vietnam War, Kerry also received the
Silver Star and three
Purple Hearts.">Bronze Star.html" title="Meaning of right|thumb|248px|Kerry is awarded the [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star">right|thumb|248px|Kerry is awarded the [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star. For his service during the
Vietnam War, Kerry also received the
Silver Star and three
Purple Hearts.
On March 13, five Swift boats were returning to base together on the Bay Hap river from their missions that day. A mine detonated directly beneath one of the boats (PCF-3), lifting it into the air. Shortly thereafter, another mine exploded near Kerry's boat (PCF-94).
James Rassmann, a
Green Berets Green Beret advisor who was sitting on the deck of the pilothouse, was knocked overboard. Rassmann dived to the bottom of the river. Coming back up for air, the enemy repeatedly fired at him. Rassmann was heading to the north bank, expecting to be taken prisoner, when Kerry realized he was gone and came back for him. Kerry's Bronze Star was awarded for recognized bravery in rescuing Rassman while under fire.
After the crew of PCF-3 had been rescued, PCFs 43 and 23 left the scene to evacuate the four most seriously wounded sailors. PCFs 51 and 94 remained behind and helped salvage the stricken boat together with a damage-control party that had been immediately dispatched to the scene.
During this encounter that Kerry sustained shrapnel wounds, leading to his 3rd Purple Heart.
Return from Vietnam
After Kerry's third qualifying wound, he was entitled per routine Navy regulations, to re-assignment away from combat duties. Navy records show that Kerry's preferred choice for re-assignment was as an aide in Boston, New York or Washington DC. [http://files.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/jkerry/thricewnd.pdf]
On March 26, after a final patrol at night on March 25, Kerry was transferred to Cam Ranh Bay to await his orders. He was there for five or six days and left Vietnam in early April. On April 11, he reported to the
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn-based Atlantic
Military Sea Transportation Service, where he would remain on active duty for the following year as a personal aide to an officer, Rear Admiral
Walter Schlech. On
January 1,
1970 Kerry was promoted to full
Lieutenant. As a condition for taking the position as an admiral's aide, Kerry agreed to an extension of his active duty obligation through August 1970. On January 3, he requested early discharge. He was discharged from active duty on March 1.
John Kerry was on active duty in the U.S. Navy for three years and eight months, from August 1966 until March 1970. He continued to serve in the Navy Reserves until February 1972. He lost five friends in the war, including Yale classmate Richard Pershing, who was
KIA killed in action on
February 17,
1968.
Criticism of military service and awards
Critics have questioned several aspects of Kerry's military service.
As the presidential campaign of 2004 developed, approximately 200 Vietnam-era veterans formed the group
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) and held press conferences, ran ads, and endorsed a book questioning Kerry's service record and his military awards. Several SBVT members were in the same unit as Kerry, but did not serve at the same time as Kerry's service. Others were listed as serving in the same swift boat, but again not at the same time as Kerry. One of them,
Stephen Gardner, served on the same boat with Kerry. Gardner, however, was not present for the events leading up to Kerry's silver star, bronze star or purple hearts. Other SBVT members included two of Kerry's former commanding officers, Grant Hibbard and George Elliott. Hibbard and Elliott have alleged, respectively, that Kerry's first Purple Heart and Silver Star were undeserved. In addition, various members of SBVT have questioned Kerry's other medals and his truthfulness in testimony about the war. Defenders of John Kerry's war record, including most of his surviving former crewmates, have asserted that several organizers of SBVT had close ties to the Bush presidential campaign and that certain SBVT accusations were politically motivated and false.
Anti-Vietnam War activism (1970-1971)
Image:The_New_Soldier.jpg The New Soldier.html" title="Meaning of 150x 150x|thumb|right|Kerry co-authored the book ''[[The New Soldier'' with the VVAW..html" title="Meaning of thumb|right|Kerry co-authored the book ''[[The New Soldier">150x|thumb|right|Kerry co-authored the book ''[[The New Soldier'' with the VVAW.">thumb|right|Kerry co-authored the book ''[[The New Soldier">150x|thumb|right|Kerry co-authored the book ''[[The New Soldier'' with the VVAW.
Joining the Vietnam Veterans Against the War
After returning to the United States, Kerry joined the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). Then numbering about 20,000 [http://www.vvaw.org/veteran/article/?id=378], VVAW was considered by some (including the administration of President
Richard Nixon) to be an effective component of the antiwar movement. VVAW's members, including Kerry, could speak with personal knowledge about what they had seen in Vietnam. Beyond such specifics, however, they were seen as having "paid their dues" in Vietnam, and therefore being entitled to at least a respectful hearing. Americans who opposed the war were grateful for VVAW's work. Many Vietnam veterans saw the organization as giving voice to the views of the common soldier in exposing official deceit. Many other veterans, however, such as those who in 2004 formed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, deeply resented the VVAW's activities, feeling that their own military service was being attacked or cheapened.
Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Image:Kerrytestimony.jpg U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 250px|thumb|left|Kerry testified before the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971..html" title="Meaning of Senate Foreign Relations Committee.html" title="Meaning of 250px|thumb|left|Kerry testified before the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee">250px|thumb|left|Kerry testified before the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971.">Senate Foreign Relations Committee.html" title="Meaning of 250px|thumb|left|Kerry testified before the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee">250px|thumb|left|Kerry testified before the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971.
On
April 22,
1971, Kerry became the first Vietnam veteran to testify before Congress about the war, when he appeared before a Senate committee hearing on proposals relating to ending the war. Wearing green
Fatigues (uniform) fatigues and service ribbons, he spoke for nearly two hours with the
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Senate Foreign Relations Committee in what has been named the
Fulbright Hearing, after the Chairman of the proceedings, Senator J.W. Fulbright. Kerry began with
s:Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement a prepared speech, in which he presented the conclusions of the
Winter Soldier Investigation, where veterans had described personally committing or witnessing war crimes. Controversially referring to US servicemen in Vietnam as having been sent ''"to die for the biggest nothing in history,"'' Kerry alleged that the military had ''"created a monster"'' in the form of violence-prone American soldiers, and recounted that soldiers had personally recollected stories of having ''"personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads,"'' of Vietnamese citizens and rampaging across Vietnam ''"[razing] villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan"'' [http://www.nationalreview.com/document/kerry200404231047.asp].
Most of Kerry's testimony addressed the larger policy issues. Kerry expressed his view that the war was essentially a
civil war and that nothing in Vietnam was a realistic threat to the United States. He argued that the real reason for the continued fighting was political purposes: ''"Someone has to die so that
Richard Nixon President Nixon won't be, and these are his words, 'the first President to lose a war.'"'' That conclusion led him to ask: ''"[H]ow do you ask a man to be
McMahon and Judge the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"''
The protest at the U.S. Capitol
The day after this testimony, Kerry participated in a demonstration with 800 other veterans in which he and other veterans threw their medals and ribbons over a fence at the front steps of the
U.S. Capitol building to dramatize their opposition to the war. Jack Smith, a
United States Marine Corps Marine, read a statement explaining why the veterans were returning their military awards to the government. For more than two hours, angry veterans tossed their medals, ribbons, hats, jackets, and military papers over the fence. Each veteran gave his or her name, hometown, branch of service and a statement. As Kerry threw his decorations over the fence, his statement was: "I'm not doing this for any violent reasons, but for peace and justice, and to try and make this country wake up once and for all." Some have questioned whether he gave up his own medals or just his ribbons during the demonstration at the Capitol; see
John Kerry VVAW controversy for a full discussion.
In response to questions, Kerry has stated that he threw his ribbons, and later, the medals of two other vets who could not attend. This statement was supported by at least one eyewitness, reporter Tom Oliphant:
As he neared the spot from which members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War were parting with a few of the trappings of their difficult past to help them face their future more squarely, I watched Kerry reach with his right hand into the breast pocket of his fatigue shirt. The hand emerged with several of the ribbons that most of the vets had been wearing that unique week of protest, much as they are worn on a uniform blouse. [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/04/27/i_watched_kerry_throw_his_war_decorations/]
Media appearances
Because Kerry was a decorated veteran who took a stand against the government's official position, he was frequently interviewed by broadcast and print media. He was able to use these occasions to bring the themes of his Senate testimony to a wider audience.
For example, Kerry appeared more than once on ''
Dick Cavett The Dick Cavett Show'' on
American Broadcasting Company ABC television. On one Cavett program (
June 30,
1971), in debating
John O'Neill (Vietnam veteran) John O'Neill, Kerry argued that some of the policies instituted by the U.S. military leaders in Vietnam, such as free-fire zones and burning noncombatants' houses, were contrary to the
laws of war. In the ''
Washington Star'' newspaper (June 6, 1971), he recounted how he and other Swift boat officers had become disillusioned by the contrast between what the leaders told them and what they saw: "That's when I realized I could never remain silent about the realities of the war in Vietnam."
On
NBC's
Meet The Press in 1971, Kerry was asked whether he had personally committed atrocities in Vietnam. He responded:
:''"There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals."''
Image:Kerry_Lennon.jpg The Beatles 200px|thumb|Kerry with ex-[[The Beatles|Beatle John Lennon during a protest rally at
New York City's
Bryant Park in the summer of 1971..html" title="Meaning of Beatle.html" title="Meaning of 200px|thumb|Kerry with ex-[[The Beatles|Beatle">200px|thumb|Kerry with ex-[[The Beatles|Beatle
John Lennon during a protest rally at
New York City's
Bryant Park in the summer of 1971.">Beatle.html" title="Meaning of 200px|thumb|Kerry with ex-[[The Beatles|Beatle">200px|thumb|Kerry with ex-[[The Beatles|Beatle
John Lennon during a protest rally at
New York City's
Bryant Park in the summer of 1971.
Image:Kerryarrest.JPG Lexington, Massachusetts.html" title="Meaning of frame frame|Kerry (upper left) is arrested in May, 1971 while leading the VVAW in a protest ("Operation POW") in [[Lexington, Massachusetts..html" title="Meaning of Kerry (upper left) is arrested in May, 1971 while leading the VVAW in a protest ("Operation POW") in [[Lexington, Massachusetts">frame|Kerry (upper left) is arrested in May, 1971 while leading the VVAW in a protest ("Operation POW") in [[Lexington, Massachusetts.">Kerry (upper left) is arrested in May, 1971 while leading the VVAW in a protest ("Operation POW") in [[Lexington, Massachusetts">frame|Kerry (upper left) is arrested in May, 1971 while leading the VVAW in a protest ("Operation POW") in [[Lexington, Massachusetts.
Operation POW
Kerry's prominence also made him a frequent leader and spokesman at antiwar events around the country in 1971. One of particular note was Operation POW, organized by the VVAW in Massachusetts. The protest got its name from the group's concern that Americans were prisoners of the Vietnam War, as well as to honor American POWs held captive by
North Vietnam.
The event sought to tie antiwar activism to patriotic themes. Over the
Memorial Day weekend, veterans and other participants marched from
Concord, Massachusetts Concord to a rally on
Boston Common. The plan was to invoke the spirit of the
American Revolution and
Paul Revere by spending successive nights at the sites of the
Battle of Lexington and Concord and the
Battle of Bunker Hill, culminating in a Memorial Day rally with a public reading of the
Declaration of Independence.
The second night of the march, May 29, was the occasion for Kerry's only arrest, when the participants tried to camp on the village green in
Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington. At 2:30 a.m. on
May 30, local and state police awoke and arrested 441 demonstrators, including Kerry, for trespassing. All were given the
Miranda Warning and were hauled away on school buses to spend the night at the Lexington Public Works Garage. Kerry and the other protestors later paid a $5 fine and were released. At the time,
Julia Thorne Kerry's wife kept $100 under her pillow in case she needed to bail her husband out of jail if he was arrested at a protest. The mass arrests caused a community backlash and ended up giving positive coverage to the VVAW.
Despite his important role in Operation POW and other VVAW events, as time went on Kerry found that VVAW was becoming more radical. Kerry was trying to moderate the group, to push it in the direction of nonviolence and working within the system. Other members, however, were more militant. Kerry eventually quit the organization over this difference in approach. Some have raised questions about exactly when Kerry left VVAW; see
John Kerry VVAW controversy for a full discussion.
Early career (1972-1985)
1972 Campaign for Congress
In February 1972, after Kerry previously passed on an opportunity to run in another district, his wife,
Julia Thorne Julia bought a house in
Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester. Residence there would have required Kerry to run for
United States House of Representatives Congress against an incumbent
Democratic Party (United States) Democrat,
Harold D. Donohue. Instead however, the couple rented an apartment in
Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell. The incumbent in that district,
F. Bradford Morse, was a Republican who was thought to be retiring.
Counting Kerry, the Democratic primary race in 1972 had 10 candidates. One of these was State Representative
Anthony R. DiFruscia of
Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence. Both Kerry's and DiFuscia's campaign HQ's were in the same building. On the eve of the September primary, Kerry's younger brother Cameron and campaign field director
Thomas J. Vallely, both then 22 years old, were found by police in the basement of this building, where the telephone lines were located. They were arrested and charged with "
breaking and entering with the intent to commit
grand larceny", but the case was dismissed about a year later. At the time of the incident, DiFruscia alleged that they were trying to disrupt his get-out-the vote efforts. Vallely and Cameron Kerry maintained that they were only checking their own telephone lines because they had received an anonymous call warning that the Kerry lines would be cut. [http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061803_p.shtml]
Although Kerry's campaign was hurt by the election-day report of the arrest, he still won the primary by a comfortable margin over state Representative Paul J. Sheehy. DiFruscia placed third. Kerry lost in Lawrence and Lowell, his chief opponents' bases, but placed first in 18 of the district's 22 towns.
In the general election, Kerry was initially favored to defeat the Republican candidate, former state Representative
Paul W. Cronin, and an independent, Roger P. Durkin. A major obstacle, however, was the district's leading newspaper, the
conservative ''
Lowell Sun''. The paper editorialized against him. It also ran critical news stories about his out-of-state contributions and his "
carpetbagger carpetbagging", because he had moved into the district only in April. The final blow came when, four days before the election, Durkin withdrew in favor of Cronin. Cronin won the election, becoming the only Republican to be elected to Congress that November in a district carried by Democratic
President of the United States Presidential nomination nominee George McGovern.
Career in law and politics (1972-1985)
Image:Johnkerrybclawgraduation.jpg academic regalia.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|200px|right|John Kerry (center) was among the students who opted against [[academic regalia at his graduation from
Boston College Boston College Law School Law School in 1976.html" title="Meaning of 200px|right|John Kerry (center) was among the students who opted against [[academic regalia">thumb|200px|right|John Kerry (center) was among the students who opted against [[academic regalia at his graduation from
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Boston College Boston College Law School Law School in 1976
After Kerry's 1972 defeat, he and his wife bought a house in Lowell. He spent some time working as a fundraiser for the
Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), an international humanitarian organization. He decided that the best way for him to continue in public life was to study law. In September 1973, he entered
Boston College Law School at
Newton, Massachusetts. In July 1974, while attending
law school, Kerry was named executive director of Mass Action, a Massachusetts advocacy association.
He received his
Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in 1976. While in law school he had been a student prosecutor in the office of the
District Attorney of
Middlesex County, Massachusetts Middlesex County, John J. Droney. After passing the bar exam and being admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1976, he went to work in that office as a full-time prosecutor.
In January 1977, Droney promoted him to First Assistant District Attorney. In that position, Kerry had dual roles. First, he tried cases, winning convictions in a high-profile rape case and a murder. Second, he played a role in administering the office of the district attorney by initiating the creation of special white-collar and organized crime units, creating programs to address the problems of rape and other crime victims and of witnesses, and managing trial calendars to reflect case priorities. It was in this role in 1978, that Kerry announced an investigation into possible criminal charges against then Senator
Edward Brooke, regarding "misstatements" in his first divorce trial. [http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/images/day5/01.htm]
=Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
=
In 1979, Kerry resigned from the District Attorney's office to set up a private law firm with another former prosecutor. And, although his private law practice was a success, Kerry was still interested in public office. He re-entered electoral politics by running for
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and won a narrow victory in the 1982 Democratic primary. The ticket, with
Michael Dukakis as the gubernatorial candidate, won the general election without difficulty.
The position of Lieutenant Governor carried few inherent responsibilities. Dukakis, however, delegated additional matters to Kerry. In particular, Kerry's interest in environmental protection led him to become heavily involved in the issue of
acid rain. His work contributed to a
National Governors Association resolution in 1984 that was a precursor to the 1990 amendments to the federal
Clean Air Act.
During his campaign, Kerry had argued that nuclear evacuation planning was "a sham intended to deceive Americans into believing they could survive a nuclear war". Once in office, he drafted an Executive Order condemning such planning, which Dukakis signed.
=1984 Senate election
=
The junior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts,
Paul Tsongas, announced in 1984 that he would be stepping down for health reasons. Kerry decided to run for the seat. As in his 1982 race for Lieutenant Governor, he did not receive the endorsement of the party regulars at the state Democratic convention. Again as in 1982, however, he prevailed in a close primary. In his campaign he promised to mix liberalism with tight budget controls. As the Democratic candidate he was elected to the Senate despite a nationwide landslide for the re-election of Republican president
Ronald Reagan, whom Massachusetts voted for by a narrow margin. In his acceptance speech, Kerry asserted that his win meant that the people of Massachusetts "emphatically reject the politics of selfishness and the notion that women must be treated as second-class citizens." Kerry was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in January 1985.
Service in the U.S. Senate (1985-present)
Image:JohnKerry.jpg thumb|200px|right|An earlier Senate portrait of Kerry
Meeting with Ortega
On
April 18,
1985, a few months after taking his Senate seat, Kerry and Senator
Tom Harkin of
Iowa traveled to
Nicaragua and met the country's president,
Daniel Ortega. Though Ortega was democratically elected, the trip was criticized because Ortega and his
leftist Sandinista government had strong ties to
Cuba and the
USSR. The Sandinista government was opposed by the
right-wing CIA-backed rebels known as the
Contras. While in Nicaragua, Kerry and Harkin talked to people on both sides of the conflict. Through the senators, Ortega offered a cease-fire agreement in exchange for the US dropping support of the Contras. The offer was denounced by the
Ronald Reagan Reagan administration as a "
propaganda initiative" designed to influence a House vote on a $14 million Contra
foreign aid aid package, but Kerry said "I am willing...to take the risk in the effort to put to test the good faith of the Sandinistas." The House voted down the Contra aid, but Ortega flew to
Moscow to accept a $200 million loan the next day, an act which in part prompted the House to pass a larger $27 million aid package six weeks later. [http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/062003..html]
Iran-Contra hearings
In April 1986, Kerry and Senator
Christopher Dodd, a Democrat from
Connecticut, proposed that hearings be conducted by the
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding charges of
Contra involvement in
cocaine and
marijuana drug trafficking trafficking. Sen.
Dick Lugar Richard G. Lugar of
Indiana, the Republican chairman of the committee, agreed to conduct the hearings.
Meanwhile, Kerry's staff began their own investigations, and on October 14 issued a report which exposed illegal activities on the part of
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, who had set up a private network involving the
United States National Security Council National Security Council and the
CIA to deliver military equipment to right-wing Nicaraguan rebels (Contras). In effect, North and certain members of the President's administration were accused by Kerry's report of illegally funding and supplying armed militants without the authorization of Congress.
These parties were said to be involved in shipping cocaine and marijuana to the United States, with the profits from the sales going to pay for the Contra weaponry. The investigation, Kerry's report said, raised "serious questions about whether the United States has abided by the law in its handling of the contras over the past three years." The Kerry report generated a firestorm of controversy and marked the beginning of years of investigations, hearings, and televised proceedings, which altogether, were referred to by some as the
Iran-Contra affair. On
May 4,
1989, North was convicted of charges relating to the Iran/Contra controversy, including three felonies. On
September 16,
1991, however, North's convictions were overturned on appeal because North's testimony before Congress under immunity may have affected testimony in the trial. [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/991224onthisday_big.html][http://www.snopes.com/rumors/north.htm]
Kerry and the George H. W. Bush administration
On
November 15,
1988, at a businessmen's breakfast in
Lynn, Massachusetts East Lynn, Massachusetts, Kerry made a joke about
president-elect George H.W. Bush and his running mate, saying "if Bush is shot, the
United States Secret Service Secret Service has orders to shoot
Dan Quayle." He apologized the following day.
During their investigation of Noriega, Kerry's staff found reason to believe that the
Pakistan-based
Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) had facilitated Noriega's drug trafficking and
money laundering. This led to a separate inquiry into BCCI, and as a result, banking regulators shut down BCCI in 1991. In December 1992, Kerry and Senator
Hank Brown, a Republican from
Colorado, released ''The BCCI Affair'', a report on the BCCI scandal. The report showed that the bank was crooked and was working with
terrorism terrorists, including
Abu Nidal. It blasted the
U.S. Department of Justice Department of Justice, the
U.S. Department of the Treasury Department of the Treasury, the
United States Customs Service Customs Service, the
Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve Bank, as well as influential
lobbyists and the CIA. [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html]
Kerry was criticized by some Democrats for having pursued his own party members, including former
United States Secretary of Defense Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford, although Republicans said he should have pressed against some Democrats even harder. The BCCI scandal was later turned over to the
Manhattan District Attorney's office.
1996 re-election bid
{{main|Massachusetts United States Senate election, 1996}}
In 1996, Kerry faced a difficult re-election fight against Governor
William Weld, a popular Republican incumbent who had been re-elected in 1994 with 71% of the vote. The race was covered nationwide as one of the most closely-watched Senate races that year. Kerry and Weld held several debates and negotiated a campaign spending cap of $6.9 million at Kerry's
Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts Beacon Hill mansion. During the campaign, Kerry spoke briefly at the
1996 Democratic National Convention. Senator Kerry won re-election with 53 percent to Weld's 45 percent. According to ''
Newsweek'', during the
U.S. presidential election, 2004 2004 presidential election, Weld was interviewed by
Karl Rove,
Karen Hughes and other senior members of the
George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2004 Bush campaign on debating and running against Kerry.
In the late 1990s, Kerry led a trade mission to China on behalf of Boston Capital & Technology. [http://gogov.com/kerryoutsourcing1.htm] Later as a Presidential candidate, Kerry referred to firms which outsource jobs as "
Benedict Arnolds". [http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/478554.cms]
2000 presidential election
{{main|U.S. presidential election, 2000}}
In the 2000 presidential elections, Kerry again found himself close to being chosen as the vice presidential running mate [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LOCAL/northeast/07/14/boh.kerry.veep/index.html].
A release from the presidential campaign of presumptive Democratic nominee
Al Gore listed Kerry on the short list to be selected as the vice-presidential nominee, along with North Carolina Senator
John Edwards, Indiana Senator
Evan Bayh, Missouri Congressman
Richard Gephardt, New Hampshire Governor
Jeanne Shaheen, and Connecticut Senator
Joe Lieberman. Gore eventually selected Lieberman as the nominee, but Kerry continued to campaign on behalf of the Gore-Lieberman campaign through Election Day.
Kerry and Iraq
In 1991, Kerry initially opposed the measure aimed at liberating
Kuwait from the
Iraq Iraqi invasion. The
United Nations had imposed sanctions on Iraq, and Kerry argued that the
sanctions then in place should be given more time to work.
More recently, Kerry said on
October 9,
2002; "I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force--if necessary--to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." Bush relied on that resolution in ordering the
2003 invasion of Iraq. Kerry also gave a
January 23,
2003 speech to
Georgetown University saying "Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator; leading an oppressive regime he presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation. So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real." Kerry did however warn the administration should exhaust its diplomatic avenues before launching war: "Mr. President, do not rush to war, take the time to build the coalition, because it's not winning the war that's hard, it's winning the peace that's hard." [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/02/politics/main571162.shtml]
After the invasion of Iraq, regarding the limited discovered evidence of any such weapons, Kerry strongly criticized Bush, contending that he had misled the country: "When the president of the United States looks at you and tells you something, there should be some trust." [http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/27/sprj.nirq.bush/] Although strongly critical of the president on the Iraq invasion, Kerry has stated that he does not regret being one of 29 Democratic Senators to support the resolution.
Sponsorship of legislation
{{main|Sponsorship of legislation by John Kerry}}
During his Senate career, Kerry has sponsored or cosponsored dozens of
Act of Congress bills. Some of his notable bills have addressed
small business concerns,
education,
terrorism,
veterans' and
POW-
Missing in action MIA issues,
marine resource protection and other topics. Of those bills with his sponsorship, as of 12.2004, 11 have been signed into law.
Political chairmanships
Kerry was the chairman of the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 1987 to 1989. He was reelected to the Senate in
U.S. Senate election, 1990 1990,
U.S. Senate election, 1996 1996 (after winning re-election against the then-
List of Governors of Massachusetts Governor of Massachusetts, Republican
William Weld), and
U.S. Senate election, 2002 2002. His current term will end on
January 3 2009.
Committee assignments
As of 2006, Kerry serves on four Senate committees and twelve subcommittees:
*
U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Committee on Finance
**
U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care Subcommittee on Health Care
**
U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy
**
U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Long-term Growth and Debt Reduction Subcommittee on Long-term Growth and Debt Reduction (
Ranking member)
*
U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (
Ranking member - was the chairman from 2001 to 2003)
*
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
**
U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Fisheries and the Coast Guard Subcommittee on Fisheries and the Coast Guard
**
U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Trade, Tourism and Economic Development Subcommittee on Trade, Tourism and Economic Development
**
U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Technology, Innovation and Competitiveness Subcommittee on Technology, Innovation and Competitiveness (
Ranking member)
**
U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Global Climate Change and Impacts Subcommittee on Global Climate Change and Impacts
**
U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on National Ocean Policy Study Subcommittee on National Ocean Policy Study
*
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Committee on Foreign Relations
**
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs (
Ranking member)
**
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Ecomonic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion Subcommittee on International Ecomonic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion
**
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism
**
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps & Narcotics Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps & Narcotics Affairs
Issues and voting record
John Kerry is member of the
Democratic Leadership Council, which advocates liberal and neoliberal positions. Most analyses place Kerry's voting record near to, or somewhat to the left of, center within the Senate Democratic caucus.[http://www.factcheck.org/article284m.html] During the 2004 presidential election he was portrayed as a staunch
Liberalism in the United States liberal by conservative special interest groups and the Bush campaign, who often noted that in 2003 Kerry was rated the ''
National Journal'''s top Senate liberal. However, that rating was based only upon voting on legislation within that past year. In fact, in terms of career voting records, the ''National Journal'' found that Kerry is the 11th most liberal member of the Senate. Most analyses find that Kerry is "a bit" more liberal than the typical Democratic Senator. For example,
Keith T. Poole of the
University of Houston found that Kerry was tied for being the 24th most liberal Senator.
Kerry has stated that he opposes privatizing
Social Security, supports
abortion rights for adult women and minors, supports
civil unions for
same-sex couples, opposes
capital punishment except for
terrorists, supports most
Gun politics in the United States#Gun control laws gun control laws, and is generally a supporter of trade agreements. Kerry supported the
North American Free Trade Agreement and
Most Favored Nation status for
China, but opposed the
Central American Free Trade Agreement.
2004 Presidential election
{{main2|U.S. presidential election, 2004|John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004}}
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Jon Stewart
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Boston Harbor.
In the 2004 Democratic Presidential primaries, John Kerry defeated several Democratic rivals, including Sen.
John Edwards (D-N.C.), former Vermont Governor
Howard Dean and
Wesley Clark retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark. His victory in the Iowa caucuses is widely believed to be the tipping point where Kerry revived his sagging campaign in New Hampshire and the February 3rd primary states like Arizona, South Carolina and New Mexico. Kerry then went on to win landslide victories in Nevada and Wisconsin. Kerry thus won the Democratic nomination to run for President of the United States against incumbent George W. Bush. On
July 6 2004, he announced his selection of John Edwards as his running mate.
On
November 3,
2004, Kerry conceded the race. Kerry won 59.03 million votes or about 48 percent of the popular vote; Bush won 62.04 million votes, or about 51 percent of the popular vote. Kerry received the second-highest number of votes ever for president of the United States, Bush getting the highest. Kerry carried states with a total of 252
U.S. Electoral College electoral votes, but one Kerry elector voted for Kerry's running mate, Edwards, so in the final tally Kerry had 251 electoral votes to Bush's 286. Although, as in the
U.S. presidential election, 2000 2000 election, there were disputes about the voting (see
2004 U.S. Election controversies and irregularities), no state was as close as
Florida had been in 2000.
Career future
Immediately after the 2004 election, some Democrats mentioned Kerry as a possible contender for the 2008 Democratic nomination. His brother has said such a campaign is "conceivable," and Kerry himself reportedly said at a farewell party for his 2004 campaign staff, "There's always another four years", and has repeatedly responded to the question of running again by saying "I'm keeping all of my options open." Some aides, however, have stated that Kerry told campaign officials he could not envision another run. [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/11/09/kerry_run_in_08_called_conceivable/].
Kerry's campaign fund still holds some unspent money that he raised in running for the 2004 Democratic nomination, because he was not allowed to spend it in the general election. In mid-October, 2004, this sum was about $45 million. He donated most of that to the
Democratic National Committee and to state Democratic parties, but he has at least $15 million left, which could be used directly for another presidential campaign, or indirectly to build his stature within the party by helping other Democratic candidates. Some criticism was leveled at Kerry for not using the remaining funds for Democratic campaigns in 2004. He has also established a separate
political action committee,
Keeping America's Promise [http://www.keepingamericaspromise.com/], that can raise money and channel contributions to Democratic candidates in state and federal races. [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/12/05/kerry_creates_pac_to_back_candidates/] Through Keeping America's Promise, Kerry has raised over $5.5 million for other Democrats up and down the ballot. Through his campaign account and his political action committee, Keeping America's Promise, Kerry has donated a total of $700,000 to 80 candidates and $5.3 million for dozens of Democratic candidates, state parties and charitable causes. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/02/politics/main1172571.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=Politics_1172571] Kerry has held political events in 22 states since last year's election, including visits to the presidential proving grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire and swing states such as Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.[http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/11/kerry_takes_another_look_at_presidency/?page=1] He has helped organize 45 fund-raisers for Democratic candidates, and has used his e-mail list of 3 million supporters for lobbying campaigns on major issues in Congress. [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/11/15/direct_jab_from_bush_pleases_kerry_camp/?page=2] He also raised over $3.4 million in federal money for his Senate account which can be transferred to another presidential run. [http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/02/friday_line_pre.html] Kerry's $15 million war chest is surpassed only by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York -- who has a war chest of about $17 million -- among potential 2008 Democratic contenders. [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/03/11/kerry_takes_another_look_at_presidency/?page=1]
In some polls during 2005, Kerry remained a leading Democratic candidate for his party's nomination in the
U.S. presidential election, 2008 presidential election of 2008. Several polls showed him beating George Bush if the 2004 election were held today. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/04/opinion/polls/main1011154.shtml] His online community generated 3 million responses of one sort or another last year. [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/02/09/pondering_a_second_act_for_kerry/?page=2]
Personal life
Kerry's oldest friends and family call him "Johnny". Kerry is 6'4" [http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/09/politics/campaigns/09KERR.html], speaks
English language English and fluent
French language French, enjoys
surfing and
windsurfing, as well as
ice hockey,
hunting, and playing
bass guitar. According to an interview he gave to ''
Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2004, Kerry's favorite album is ''
Abbey Road (album) Abbey Road'' and he is a fan of
The Beatles and
The Rolling Stones, as well as of
Jimi Hendrix and
Jimmy Buffett. [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6562106?rnd=1106291647897&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040] During his 2004 presidential campaign, Kerry used
Bruce Springsteen's ''No Surrender'' as one of his campaign songs. Later he would adopt U2's "Beautiful Day," as his official campaign song.
Kerry is described by ''
Sports Illustrated'', among others, as an "avid
cycling cyclist" [http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/news/?id=/news/2005/jul05/jul24news2][http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/more/specials/tour_de_france/2005/07/23/bc.cyc.tourdefrance.not.ap/], primarily riding on a road bike. Prior to his Presidential bid, Kerry was known to have participated in several long-distance
challenge riding rides (centuries). Even during his many campaigns, he was reported to have visited bicycle stores both in his home state and elsewhere.
In 2003, Kerry was diagnosed with and successfully treated for
prostate cancer [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/11/politics/main540196.shtml].
Family
Kerry was
marriage married to
Julia Thorne in 1970, and they had two children together.
Alexandra Kerry was born on
September 5,
1973, days before Kerry began law school. A graduate of
Brown University, Alexandra received her M.F.A. in June 2004 from the
AFI Conservatory.
Vanessa Kerry was born on
December 31,
1976. She is a graduate of Phillips Academy (like her grandfather) and
Yale University, and is currently a student at
Harvard Medical School. Vanessa has been active in her father's Presidential campaign.
In 1982 Thorne, who was suffering from severe
clinical depression depression, asked Kerry for a separation. [http://www.washingtonian.com/people/madame_ex.html] They were
divorced on
July 25,
1988. According the Washington Blade: ''"Kerry and Thorne finalized their divorce in 1988... After Thorne requested an increase in alimony in 1995, Kerry sought an annulment of their marriage from the Catholic Church, a move observers saw as retaliatory. Kerry eventually received the annulment from the Boston diocese despite Thorne’s vehement objections."'' [http://www.washblade.com/2004/3-5/news/national/kerryback.cfm] The marriage was formally
annulment annulled by the
Roman Catholic Church in 1997.
"After 14 years as a political wife, I associated politics only with anger, fear and loneliness" she wrote in ''A Change of Heart'', her book about depression. Thorne later married
Richard Charlesworth, an
architect, and moved to
Bozeman, Montana, where she became active in local environmental groups such as the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
Kerry and his second wife,
Teresa Heinz Kerry Teresa Simões-Ferreira Heinz, the widow of
Pennsylvania Senator
H. John Heinz III, a Republican, and former
United Nations interpreter, as well as a Bonesman legacy, were introduced to each other by John Heinz at an
Earth Day rally in 1990. They did not meet again until after John Heinz's death, at the 1992
Earth Summit in
Rio de Janeiro. They married on
May 26,
1995, in
Nantucket, Massachusetts Nantucket. John Kerry's stepsons – Teresa's three sons from her previous marriage – are
H. John Heinz IV,
André Heinz, and
Christopher Heinz.
The ''
Forbes 400'' survey estimated in 2004 that Teresa Heinz Kerry had a
net worth of $750 million. However, estimates have frequently varied, ranging from around $165 million to as high as $3.2
billion, according to a study in the ''
Los Angeles Times''. Regardless of which figure is given, Kerry is the wealthiest U.S. Senator. Kerry is wealthy in his own name, and is the beneficiary of at least four trusts inherited from
Forbes family members, including his mother, who died in 2002. ''
Forbes'' magazine (a major business magazine named for an
Forbes family (publishers) unrelated Forbes family) estimated that if elected, Kerry would be the third-richest U.S. President in history when adjusted for
inflation [http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/13/cx_da_0213kerry.html]. This assessment was based on the couple's combined assets, but Kerry and Heinz signed a
pre-nuptial agreement that keeps their assets separate. [http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20040823.html] Kerry's financial disclosure form for 2002 put his personal assets in the range of $409,000 to $1.8 million, with additional assets held jointly by Kerry and his wife in the range of $300,000 to $600,000. [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/12/19/kerry_mortgage_to_help_fund_race/]
John Kerry has two sisters,
Diana Kerry Diana and
Peggy Kerry Peggy, and a brother,
Cameron Kerry Cameron, who is a
litigation litigator in Boston. Cameron converted to
Judaism in 1983. During the 2004 election, he led a Kerry campaign effort in
Israel to reach American
expatriate voters.
Religious beliefs and practices
According to some of these who know him, Kerry is a religious man. A practicing
Roman Catholic Church Roman Catholic, he is said to carry a
rosary, a prayer book, and a
St. Christopher medal (the patron saint of travelers) when he campaigns. However, he supports policies such as abortion, which is in opposition to Roman Catholic beliefs. [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/150/story_15043_1.html] "I thought of being a priest," Kerry recalled. "I was very religious while at school in Switzerland. I was an altar boy and prayed all the time. I was very centered around the Mass and the church."
According to ''
Christianity Today'':
:''"I'm a Catholic and I practice, but at the same time I have an open-mindedness to many other expressions of spirituality that come through different religions. … I've spent some time reading and thinking about [religion] and trying to study it, and I've arrived at not so much a sense of the differences, but a sense of the similarities in so many ways; the value-system roots and linkages between the
Torah, the
Qur'an, and the
Bible and the fundamental story that runs through all of this, that … really connects all of us."'' [http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/010/20.28.html]
See also
*
Dudley-Winthrop Family
*''
Going Upriver'', a documentary about Kerry's Vietnam war service and later anti-war activities based on Douglas Brinkley's ''
Tour of Duty''.
*''
Stolen Honor'', a controversial documentary with interviews of Vietnam veterans who criticize Kerry.
External links and references
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons|John Kerry}}
Official
-
JohnKerry.com — John Kerry's political website
*
-
Kerry's military records - from JohnKerry.com via the
Internet Archive
-
John Kerry's Online Office — Official senatorial site
-
Keeping America's Promise — PAC led by Kerry
Print media
* Gibbs, Nancy and Douglas Waller, "[http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101040209/ What Kind of President Would Kerry Be?]," ''
TIME Magazine'',
February 9,
2004.
*
Joe Klein Klein, Joe, "[http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?021202fa_fact1 The Long War of John Kerry: Can a Massachusetts Brahmin become President?]," ''
The New Yorker'',
December 2,
2002.
* Kranish, Michael, "[http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/ John Kerry: Candidate in the making]," ''
Boston Globe'',
June 15,
2003.
-
The 2004 Debates
Online media
* "[http://freekerrybook.org/ The New Soldier, John Kerry's book.]" FreeKerryBook.org.
* "[http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?CID=N00000245 Senate Elections, John Kerry (1997-2002)]". OpenSecrets.org.
* "[http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=S0421103 Senator John Forbes Kerry]". Project Vote Smart. 2002-2004.
* "[http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3003306.stm Profile: John Kerry]".
BBC News.
-
Frontline: the choice 2004 - Thorough two-hour special compares Kerry and Bush.
-
John Kerry's complete 1971 statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from National Review
-
Selections from John Kerry's 1971 statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Information
-
John Kerry Family Tree
*
s:Vietnam_Veterans_Against_the_War_Statement Statement on behalf of Vietnam Veterans Against the War - April 1971.
-
Senator John Kerry's voting record
-
John Kerry's Senate hearing testimony to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1971. (PDF file)
-
Voting history for Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts in the 108th Congress
-
The BCCI Affair, A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, by Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown, December 1992
-
Political donations made by John Kerry
-
Snopes.com: "Service Mettle" - ''
Urban Legends Reference Pages Snopes.com'' on Kerry's Vietnam service medals
-
''Tour of Duty'' - excerpt from Brinkley's book about Kerry's Vietnam service
-
Irish Catholic or Czech Jew? - Kerry's long lost Jewish ethnic ancestry
-
John Kerry's letter to his parents about Richard Pershing's death -
1968
Further reading
*Brinkley, Douglas, ''Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War'', William Morrow & Company, 2004. ISBN 0060565233
*Kerry, John and Vietnam Veterans Against the War, ''[http://freekerrybook.org/ The New Soldier]'', MacMillan Publishing Company, 1971. ASIN 002073610X
*Kerry, John, ''The New War: The Web of Crime That Threatens America's Security,'' Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0684818159
*Kerry, John, ''A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America'', Viking Press, 2003. ISBN 0670032603
*Kranish, Michael, Brian C. Mooney, and Nina J. Easton. ''John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography by the'' Boston Globe ''Reporters Who Know Him Best'', PublicAffairs, 2004. ISBN 1586482734.
*O'Neill, John E. & Corsi, Jerome R. ''Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry'',
Regnery Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0895260174
{{start box}}
{{succession box
| title=
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
| before=
Thomas P. O'Neill III
| after=
Evelyn Murphy
| years=1983–1985}}
{{Incumbent U.S. Senator box
| state=Massachusetts
| class=2
| before=
Paul Tsongas
| start=1985
| alongside=
Ted Kennedy}}
{{succession box
| title=
List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets Democratic Party Presidential nominee
| before=
Al Gore
| after=—
(a)
| years=
U.S. presidential election, 2004 2004(lost)}}
{{succession footnote
| marker=
(a)
| footnote=Most recent presidential election
:as of as of as of 2005 2005}}
{{end box}}
{{MA-FedRep}}
{{Current U.S. Senators}}
{{USDemPresNominees}}
{{Persondata
|NAME=Kerry, John Forbes
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=
Junior senator Junior United States Senate United States Senator from
Massachusetts,
John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004 2004 Presidential candidate for the
Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party
|DATE OF BIRTH=
11 December 1943
|PLACE OF BIRTH=
Aurora, Colorado
|DATE OF DEATH=
|PLACE OF DEATH=}}
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