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| Kerry was born on ], ] at the ] in ], ] outside ], where his father, ], a ] ] ], had been undergoing treatment for ]. Kerry's family returned to their home state of ] shortly after his birth. | |||
| {{Infobox Senator | name=John Forbes Kerry | |||
| | nationality=american | |||
| | image name=John F. Kerry.jpg | |||
| | jr/sr and state=Junior Senator, ] | |||
| | party=] | |||
| | term=January ]–present | |||
| | preceded=] | |||
| | succeeded=Incumbent (2009) | |||
| | date of birth=], ] | |||
| | place of birth=], ] | |||
| | dead=alive | |||
| | date of death= | |||
| | place of death= | |||
| | spouse=(1) ], divorced; | |||
| (2) ] | |||
| | religion=] | |||
| }} | |||
| '''John Forbes Kerry''' (born ], ]) is the ] ] from ]. In ], he made an ] for the ] as the nominee for the ]. He was ] by ] President ]. | |||
| ] | |||
| == Early life and education == | |||
| ] | |||
| Kerry was born on ], ] at the ] in ], ] outside ], where his father, ], a ] ] ], had been undergoing treatment for ]. Kerry's family returned to their home state of ] shortly after his birth. | |||
| ===Family background=== | |||
| Kerry was the second child of Richard John Kerry and ]. He has three siblings: Margery (]), Diana (]) and Cameron (]). His family was ], and as a child John served as an ]. | |||
| John Forbes Kerry is not related to ] publisher ] and his son ]—the latter of whom twice sought the Republican presidential nomination. The two Forbes clans are not related. | |||
| Another misconception regarding Kerry's upbringing is that his ] was ]. The ] family enjoyed a great fortune, but Kerry's parents themselves were upper-]. Although Kerry attended ] schools in ] and ], the tuition was paid by a wealthy great-aunt, as Richard Kerry's salary could not accommodate the schools attended by the Kerry children. However, Kerry did mix and mingle with the ]. Summers were spent at the ] in ], and Kerry enjoyed a more opulent lifestyle there than he had come to know in Massachusetts. | |||
| ====Maternal family background==== | |||
| John Kerry's maternal grandfather, ], was born in ], ], where the Forbes family of ] and ] accumulated a fortune in ] and the China trade. Forbes married ], who came from the ], which had deep roots in New England history. Through her, John Kerry is related to four Presidents, including George W. Bush (ninth cousin, twice removed). , and to many of the royal houses of Europe. | |||
| ====Paternal family background==== | |||
| Kerry's paternal grandfather, ] (born Fritz Kohn), was born on ], ] in the town of ], ] (in what is now the ] of the ]), and grew up in ], ] (a small town near ]). His wife Ida (née Loewe) was born in ], ]. They were both ]-speaking ]s. But in 1901, Fritz Kohn converted from ] to ] and changed his name to Frederick Kerry. His wife Ida also converted at the same time. They then immigrated to the United States, arriving at ] in ]. They raised their three children, including John's father, as Catholics. A Czech historian believes that Ida was a descendant of Sinai Loew, one of three older brothers of Rabbi ] (]-], ]), a famous ], philosopher and ]ist known as the ] of ]. Two of Ida Kohn's siblings, Otto Loewe and Jenni Loewe, died in the Nazi ]s (] and ], respectively), after being deported from Vienna in 1942. Frederick Kerry himself committed ] in the ] in ] on ], ]. | |||
| Kerry's father, ], was born on ], ] in Massachusetts. After a stint in the ], he worked for the ] and served as an attorney for the ] in the ]. | |||
| In ], Richard Kerry met ], a member of the wealthy ]. One of 11 children, she studied to be a nurse, and served in the ] in ] during World War II (she also was a ] leader for 50 years). The couple married in ], ] 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 ], ]. This visit came shortly after the United States had liberated Saint-Briac from the ] on ], ]. The family estate, known as ], had been occupied and used as a Nazi headquarters during the war. When the Germans fled, they bombed Les Essarts and burnt it down. | |||
| The sprawling estate was rebuilt in ]. Kerry and his parents would often spend the summer holidays there. Kerry occupied his time there racing his cousins on bicycles and challenging relatives to games of ]. During these summers, he became good friends with his first cousin ], a future ] and ] leader in France who ran for ] in ]. | |||
| Because Kerry's family moved often, he attended several schools as a child. Many years later, he said that "to my chagrin, and everlasting damnation, I was always moving on and saying goodbye. It kind of had an effect on you. It steeled you. There wasn't a lot of permanence and roots. For kids, not the greatest thing." At an early age he attended ] in Washington D.C. He then went to a ] ] at age 11 while his family lived in ]. When he visited home, he biked around the city, exploring the ruins of the former ] capital, and even sneaking into the ], until his father found out and grounded him. As a boy, Kerry often spent time alone. He biked through ], took a ferry from ] to ], and one time camped alone in ]. While attending the boarding school, Kerry saw the film '']''. He later named his powerboat after the title character. | |||
| ===Boarding school (1957-1962)=== | |||
| ] | |||
| While his father was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in ], ], Kerry was sent to Massachusetts to attend boarding school. In ], he attended the Fessenden School in West Newton, a village in ], ]. There he met and became friends with Richard Pershing, grandson of the famed U.S. Gen. ]. | |||
| The following year, he enrolled at ] in ], and graduated from there in ]. His father's Foreign Service salary was not enough to pay the school's tuition; Kerry's childless great-aunt, ], then very much advanced in age, voluntarily covered the costs. At St. Paul's, Kerry felt like an outsider because he was a Catholic and liberal while most of his fellow students were ] ]s. | |||
| Despite having difficulty fitting in, he made friends and developed his interests. He learned skills in ] and he became deeply interested in ]. In his free time, he enjoyed ] and ], which he played on teams captained by classmate ], the current director of the ]. Kerry also played ] for the prep school's band ], which produced an album in 1961. Only 500 copies were made — one which was auctioned on ] in 2004 for $2,551. | |||
| In ] Kerry founded the John Winant Society at St. Paul's to debate the issues of the day; the Society still exists there. In November of ], Kerry gave his first political speech, in favor of ]'s election to the ]. | |||
| While living in the U.S., Kerry spent several summers at the Forbes family's estates on ] off ]. | |||
| ===Encounters with President Kennedy (1962)=== | |||
| ] ] ''Manitou'' with ] ] off ], ], on ], ].]] | |||
| In ], Kerry volunteered for ]'s first ] campaign. That summer, he began dating ], ]'s half-sister. Auchincloss invited Kerry to visit her family's estate, ] in ]. It was there that Kerry met President Kennedy for the first time. | |||
| When Kerry told Kennedy that he was about to enter ], Kennedy grimaced because he had gone to rival school ]. 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 ] 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 ]. They met again a few weeks later at the ] race off the coast of ]. | |||
| ===Yale University (1962-1966)=== | |||
| ] team at ] as #14.]] | |||
| ] team.]] | |||
| In ], Kerry entered Yale University. There he majored in ] and graduated with a ] in ]. He also played on the ], ], ], and ]; 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 ] 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 ] and Kennedy's ] program. He was also inducted into the ]. | |||
| Under the guidance of the speaking coach and history professor Rollin Osterweis, Kerry won dozens of debate contests against other college students from across the nation. In March ], as the ] escalated, he won the Ten Eyck prize as the best ] in the junior class for a speech that was critical of U.S. ]. In the speech he said, "It is the specter of Western ] that causes more fear among Africans and Asians than communism, and thus it is self-defeating." | |||
| Over four years, Kerry maintained a 76 grade average and received an 81 average in his senior year. Under Yale's grading system in effect at the time, grades between 90 and 100 equaled an A, 80-89 a B, 70-79 a C, 60 to 69 a D, and anything below that was a failing grade. He received four D's in his freshman year out of 10 courses, but improved his average in later years. In addition to Kerry's four D's in his freshman year, he received one D in his sophomore year. He did not fail any courses. Because of his public speaking skills, he was chosen to give the class oration at graduation. At the last moment, he rewrote his speech from the version that had already been published. The speech he delivered was a broad criticism of American foreign policy, including the Vietnam war, in which he would soon see combat. | |||
| ==Military service (1966-1970)== | |||
| Kerry served as a ] in the ] during the ], during the period from ] to ]. His last tour in ] was four months as officer in charge of a ] in 1969. Kerry received several combat medals during this tour, including the ], ], and three ]s. Kerry's military record has received considerable praise and criticism during his political career, especially during his unsuccessful ]. | |||
| ===Commission, training, and tour of duty on the USS ''Gridley''=== | |||
| ] | |||
| On ], ], Kerry enlisted in the ]. He began his active duty military service on August 19. After completing sixteen weeks of ] at the U.S. Naval Training Center in ], ], he received his commission on December 16. | |||
| On ], ] Kerry began a ten-week Officer Damage Control Course at the Naval Schools Command on ], California. On March 22, he reported to the U.S. Fleet Anti-Air Warfare Training Center for training as a Combat Information Center Watch Officer. | |||
| Kerry's first tour of duty was as an ] on the ] ] ]. On ], ], the ''Gridley'' set sail for a Western Pacific deployment. The next day, Kerry requested duty in ], listing as his first preference a position as the commander of a ] (PCF), also known as a "Swift boat." These 50-foot boats have ] ]s 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 "]", 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." | |||
| The ''Gridley'' traveled to several places, including ] in ], ] in the ], and the ] 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. It was a fairly grueling tour of duty. Our helicopter was shot up trying to rescue a downed pilot and the door gunner was killed. The crew performed well and John Kerry's performance in all aspects of his duty was outstanding." The ship departed for the U.S. on May 27 and returned to port at ], ] on June 6. Ten days after returning, on June 16, Kerry was promoted to the rank of ]. On June 20, he left the ''Gridley'' for special Swift boat training at the Naval Amphibious Base in ]. | |||
| ===Kerry's tour of duty as commander of a Swift boat=== | |||
| ], ]. The first line reads, "I request duty in Vietnam."]] | |||
| On ], ], Kerry reported for duty at Coastal Squadron 1 in ] in ]. Kerry took part in ], the brainchild of ] ]. The goal was to project a U.S. military presence more aggressively into an area that had long been a ] stronghold. As part of that plan, the Swift boats were assigned to patrol the narrow waterways—inlets, canals, and coves—of the ] ], to monitor enemy movements, interdict enemy river-based supply lines, invite attack and otherwise draw out hostile forces. | |||
| During his tour of duty as an Officer in Charge of Swift boats, Kerry led five-man crews on patrols into enemy-controlled areas. His first command was Swift boat PCF-44, from ], ] to ], ], 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. | |||
| ====First Purple Heart==== | |||
| {{seealso|John Kerry military service controversy}} | |||
| During the night of ], ] and early morning of December 3, Kerry was in charge of a small boat operating near a peninsula north of ] together with a Swift boat (PCF-60). Kerry's boat surprised a group of men unloading ]s 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 ] wound in the left arm above the elbow. Later, medical staff removed the shrapnel and applied a ] dressing. The next day, with Kerry's arm bandaged, he returned to regular Swift boat patrol duty. During the 2004 election, this incident and Kerry's resulting ] were disputed by critics of Kerry. Also in 2004, the Navy conducted a review of the existing documentation and determined that Kerry's medals were properly approved. | |||
| ====Meeting with Zumwalt and Abrams==== | |||
| At the time, the U.S. military command in Vietnam had an established policy of "]s": areas in which soldiers were to shoot anyone moving around after curfew, without first making sure that they were hostile. Such encounters could result in the deaths of innocent civilians. Kerry has stated that he never thought he or his crew were at fault: "There wasn't anybody in that area that didn't know you don't move at night, that you don't go out in a sampan on the rivers, and there's a curfew." Nevertheless, he soon concluded that the policy should be changed. | |||
| On ], ], Kerry and several other officers had an unusual meeting in ] with ] ], the commander of U.S. Naval forces in Vietnam, and ] ] ], the overall commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam. Kerry and the other officers reported that the "free-fire" policy was alienating the Vietnamese and that the Swift boats' actions were not accomplishing their ostensible goal of interdicting Viet Cong supply lines. According to some who retell the story, Kerry and the other visiting officers' concerns were dismissed with what amounted to a pep talk. One of the other officers who participated later recalled, "We all looked at each other and thought, 'What is this crap?'" Kerry later said that the Saigon meeting left him "more depressed than when I came." | |||
| ====Second Purple Heart==== | |||
| Kerry received his second Purple Heart for action on the Bo De river on ], ]. 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. Kerry recorded the situation in his notebook: "We therefore had a choice: to wait for what was not a confirmed return by the helos give any snipers more time to set up an ambush for our exit or we could take a chance and exit immediately without any cover. We chose the latter." | |||
| As the Swift boats reached the Cua Lon river, Kerry's boat was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade round, and a piece of hot shrapnel hit Kerry's left leg. Thereafter, they had no more trouble, and reached the ] 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 ]s rather than make a wide opening to remove the shrapnel. Kerry received his second Purple Heart for this injury, but he did not take any time off from duty. | |||
| ====Silver Star==== | |||
| ], ]. Top, from left: Del Sandusky, John Kerry, Gene Thorson, Thomas Belodeau. Bottom, from left: Mike Medeiros and Fred Short.]] | |||
| Only eight days later, on February 28, came the incident for which Kerry was awarded the ]. 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 ]s, 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 ]'s original ]. | |||
| 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 B-40 ], 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 a B-40 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 ] ]. "Tommy in the pit tank winged him in the side of the legs as he was coming across," Fred Short said. "But the guy didn't miss a stride. I mean, he did not break stride." 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 and, followed by Medeiros, pursued the man and killed him. The medal citation notes that Kerry "then led an assault party and conducted a sweep of the area" until the enemy had "been completely routed." The mission was judged highly successful for having destroyed numerous targets and confiscated substantial combat supplies while sustaining no casualties. | |||
| Kerry's commanding officer, ] 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 ] 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. | |||
| Sources close to Kerry say the incident had a profound effect on him: "It's the reason he gets so angry when his patriotism is challenged. It was a traumatic experience that's still with him, and he went through it for his country." It affects the way Kerry lives his life every day, the source said, since "he knows he very well would not be alive today had he not taken the life of another man never ever met." | |||
| ====Bronze Star and third Purple Heart==== | |||
| ]. For his service during the ], Kerry also received the ] and three ]s.]] | |||
| ] Gene Thorson, David Alston, Thomas Belodeau, and Del Sandusky, Kerry's second-in-command. The fifth crewman, Michael Medeiros, took the photograph.]] | |||
| 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). ], a ] advisor who was sitting on the deck of the pilothouse eating a chocolate chip cookie, was knocked overboard. Just afterwards, the boat came under attack from both sides of the bank. 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. | |||
| The Navy's account of Kerry's actions is presented in his medal citation: | |||
| :''Lt. Kerry directed his gunners to provide ], while from an exposed position on the bow, his arm bleeding and in pain, with disregard for his personal safety, he pulled the man aboard. Lt. Kerry then directed his boat to return and assist the other damaged craft and towed the boat to safety. Lt. Kerry's calmness, professionalism and great personal courage under fire were in keeping with the highest traditions of the US Naval Service.'' (]) | |||
| PCF-94 received special recognition from ] ], the commander of Task Force 115 (which included Coastal Division 11), on March 14 in his weekly report to his men: | |||
| :''Special recognition is due to the following unit this week, for exceptional performance: To PCF 94 for providing extraordinary assistance to PCF 3 which was seriously damaged by a mine explosion while proceeding down the Bay Hap . PCF 94 picked up the MSF advisor out of the water and towed PCF 3 out of the danger area. PCF 43, 51, and 23 all assisted in suppression of automatic weapons and small arms fire, evacuation of wounded in action, and damage control effort on PCF 3.'' | |||
| After the dazed and injured 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. | |||
| Kerry was wounded twice that day, and he would receive his third Purple Heart. His injuries included shrapnel wounds in his left upper ] and contusions on his right ] from hitting the bulkhead when the mine exploded near his boat. | |||
| ===Return from Vietnam=== | |||
| On ], ], shortly after Kerry's third wound, ] Charles Horne, the commander of Coastal Squadron 1, filed a request for Kerry's reassignment to the U.S. He was entitled to this early departure from Vietnam (subject to approval by the Bureau of Naval Personnel), because those who had been wounded three times, "regardless of the nature of the wound or treatment required ... will not be ordered to serve in Vietnam and contiguous waters or to duty with ships or units which have been alerted for movement to that area." According to the Navy regulation that governed this (BUPERS Instruction 1300.39), the request for the "thrice-wounded reassignment" was required no matter what. If Kerry wanted to stay, he was required to file a second, written request to waive the reassignment. | |||
| 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 ]-based Atlantic ], where he would remain on active duty for the following year as a personal aide to an officer, Rear Admiral ]. On January 1, ] Kerry was promoted to full ]; on January 3, he requested discharge. He was released from active duty on March 1. | |||
| All told, 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, 1978. He lost five close friends in the war, including Yale classmate Richard Pershing, who was ] on ], ]. | |||
| ===Criticism of military service and awards=== | |||
| Critics have questioned several aspects of Kerry's military service. | |||
| As the presidential campaign of 2004 developed, around 200 Vietnam-era veterans formed the group ] (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 with Kerry, but only one, Stephen Gardner, served on the same boat. 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, members of SBVT have questioned his other medals and his truthfulness in testimony about the war. Defenders of John Kerry's war record, including nearly all of his surviving former crewmates, have charged that organizers of SBVT had close ties to the Bush presidential campaign and that the accusations were false and politically motivated. For more detail on this, see ]. | |||
| ==Anti-Vietnam War activism (1970-1971)== | |||
| ]'' with the VVAW.]] | |||
| ===Joining the Vietnam Veterans Against the War=== | |||
| Once back in the United States, Kerry joined the ] (VVAW). Then numbering about 20,000 , VVAW was considered by some (including the administration of President ]) 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=== | |||
| ] on April 22, 1971.]] | |||
| On ], ], 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 ] and service ribbons, he spoke for nearly two hours with the ] in what has been named the ], after the Chairman of the proceedings, Senator J.W. Fulbright. Kerry began with a prepared speech, in which he presented the conclusions of the ], where veterans had described personally committing or witnessing war crimes. Kerry did not say he had seen them himself. He also addressed the problems faced by returning veterans. | |||
| Most of his testimony addressed the larger policy issues. Kerry expressed his view that the war was essentially a ] 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 ] won't be, and these are his words, 'the first President to lose a war.'" That conclusion led him to ask: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" | |||
| Senator Fulbright asked Kerry if he supported any of the proposals before the committee. Kerry responded that, based on his conversations in Paris with both Communist delegations to the peace talks (North Vietnamese and Viet Cong), he agreed with Senator ] that, if the United States set a date for its withdrawal, it could then obtain the release of its prisoners of war. | |||
| ===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 ] building to dramatize their opposition to the war. Jack Smith, a ], 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 ribbons and the medals of two other absent veterans 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 the ribbons during the demonstration at the Capitol; see ] for a full discussion. | |||
| ===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 '']'' on ] television. On one Cavett program (June 30, 1971), in debating ], 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 ]. In the '']'' 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 ]'s ] in ], 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."'' | |||
| In the 2004 United States presidential campaign, Kerry's critics often cited this statement. In a 2004 interview, again on Meet The Press, Kerry explained that he regrets using the phrase "war criminals". | |||
| ] ] during a protest rally at ]'s ] in the summer of 1971.]] | |||
| ].]] | |||
| ===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 ]. | |||
| The event sought to tie antiwar activism to patriotic themes. Over the ] weekend, veterans and other participants marched from ] to a rally on ]. The plan was to invoke the spirit of the ] and ] by spending successive nights at the sites of the ] and the ], culminating in a Memorial Day rally with a public reading of the ]. | |||
| The second night of the march, ], was the occasion for Kerry's only arrest, when the participants tried to camp on the village green in ]. At 2:30 a.m. on ], local and state police awoke and arrested 441 demonstrators, including Kerry, for trespassing. All were given the ] 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, ] 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 ] for a full discussion. | |||
| ==Early career (1972-1985)== | |||
| ===Campaigning for Congress (1970s)=== | |||
| In the early ], Kerry wanted to extend his political work beyond protesting. Although some antiwar activists were dismissive of electoral politics, Kerry's choice was to run for the ]. Although his activism had brought him national recognition, he had no strong ties to any particular congressional district in Massachusetts. | |||
| He was then living in ], where he considered running in ]. Early in that election, however, there was an agreement among the prospective antiwar candidates that all would participate in a caucus to unite behind a single Democratic ] challenger to the pro-war incumbent, ]. In the caucus, Kerry placed second to Father ], a ] priest. Kerry accordingly supported Drinan, who won the seat. | |||
| In ], Kerry had no reason to challenge Drinan. In February, Kerry's wife, ], bought a house in ]. Residence there would have enabled Kerry to run against a different incumbent, ]. Instead of moving to Worcester, however, the couple rented an apartment in ]. The incumbent in that district, ], was a Republican who was thought to be retiring. | |||
| Kerry entered the Democratic primary against nine other candidates. His campaign headquarters and one of his opponents', state Representative ] of ], were in the same building. On the eve of the September primary, Kerry's younger brother Cameron and campaign field director ], both then 22 years old, were found in the basement, where 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 by superior court. DiFruscia charged 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. Cameron Kerry, saying that the police arrived with suspicious alacrity, concluded that political opponents had set him up. "It was an impulsive, rash thing that we did and that John Kerry ended up having to deal with", he added. | |||
| 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 ], and an independent, Roger P. Durkin. A major obstacle, however, was the district's leading newspaper, the ] ''Lowell Sun''. The paper editorialized against him. It also ran critical news stories about his out-of-state contributions and his "]", 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 ] ] ]. | |||
| ===Career in law and politics (1972-1985)=== | |||
| ] ] commencement, 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 ] (CARE), an international humanitarian organization. He decided that the best way for him to continue in public life was to study law. In September ], he entered ] at ]. In July ], while attending ], Kerry was named executive director of Mass Action, a Massachusetts advocacy association. | |||
| He received his ] (J.D.) degree in ]. While in law school he had been a student prosecutor in the office of the ] of ], 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 ], Droney promoted him to First Assistant District Attorney. In that position, Kerry balanced two key roles. First, he tried cases and won convictions in both 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 ], regarding "misstatements" in his first divorce trial. | |||
| In ], Kerry resigned from the District Attorney's office to set up a private law firm with another former prosecutor. He also joined with a friend to open a small cookie and muffin shop in Boston's Quincy Market area. The partners named it "Kilvert & Forbes" after their mothers' maiden names. Kerry sold his interest in the business in ]. (The store still exists today as "Maggie's Sweets." The current owners, Carol Troxell and Sara Youngelson, supplied 1,000 gift bags of "John Kerry ]" — made with Kerry's mother's original recipe — to the media walkthrough at the ].) | |||
| ====Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts==== | |||
| Although his private law practice was a success, Kerry was still interested in public office. He decided to re-enter electoral politics by running for ] of Massachusetts. He won a narrow victory in the ] Democratic primary. The ticket, with ] 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 ]. His work contributed to a ] resolution in ] that was a precursor to the 1990 amendments to the federal ]. | |||
| 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==== | |||
| One of the U.S. Senators from Massachusetts, ], 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 ]. 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 ]. | |||
| ==Service in the U.S. Senate (1985-present)== | |||
| ] | |||
| ===Meeting with Ortega=== | |||
| On ], ], a few months after taking his Senate seat, Kerry and Senator ] of ] traveled to ] and met the country's president, ]. Though Ortega was democratically elected, the trip was criticized because Ortega and his ] ] government had strong ties to ] and the ]. The Sandinista government was opposed by the ] ]-backed rebels known as the ]. 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 ] administration as a "] initiative" designed to influence a House vote on a $14 million Contra ], 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 ] 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. | |||
| ===Iran-Contra hearings=== | |||
| In April ], Kerry and Senator ], a Democrat from ], proposed that hearings be conducted by the ] regarding charges of ] involvement in ] and ] ]. Sen. ] of ], the Republican chairman of the committee, agreed to conduct the hearings. | |||
| Meanwhile, Kerry's staff began their own investigations, and on ] issued a report which exposed illegal activities on the part of ] ], who had set up a private network involving the ] and the ] 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 ]. On ], ], North was convicted of charges relating to the Iran/Contra controversy, including three felonies. On ], ], however, North's convictions were overturned on appeal because North's testimony before Congress under immunity may have affected testimony in the trial. | |||
| ===Other investigations=== | |||
| Kerry's inquiry eventually widened, expanding its focus from the Contras to U.S. involvement in ], ], the ], ], and ]. In ], he released a report that slammed the Reagan administration for neglecting and undermining ] while pursuing other objectives in foreign policy. The report contended that the U.S. government "turned a blind eye" in the ] to the corruption and drug dealings of CIA-backed ]nian dictator ], who had assisted the Contras. Kerry's report concluded that the CIA and the ] had known that "individuals who provided support for the contras were involved in ]...and elements of the contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers." While some critics attacked him as being a "]," the CIA inspector general released a pair of reports that confirmed Kerry's findings ten years later. | |||
| The subcommittee's investigation into the connection with drug trafficking included an examination of the role of ], a veteran CIA agent and personal friend of George H. W. Bush. Rodriguez's business partner, Gerald | |||
| Latchinian, was convicted of a conspiracy to smuggle $10 million worth of cocaine. Felix Rodriguez had met with a money launderer named Ramon Milian Rodriguez (not related to him). Milian Rodriguez testified that, at the meeting, Felix Rodriguez accepted his offer to provide $10 million in drug money to the Contras. Felix Rodriguez, at a closed subcommittee hearing, denied this version and countered that he had not only rejected the offer but had reported it to the CIA and the FBI. Given this conflict between the two accounts of what happened, Kerry, as the subcommittee chair, arranged for Ramon Milian Rodriguez to be given a ] test. He flunked it. The subcommittee then granted Felix Rodriguez his request to give public testimony, at which time "Senator Kerry stated that he did not believe Ramon Milian Rodriguez' version of the meeting was truthful." Regardless of Rodriguez's role, however, a convicted leader of the ]n drug cartel testified at the 1991 trial of ] that the cartel had donated $10 million to the Contras. | |||
| ===Kerry and the George H.W. Bush administration=== | |||
| On ], ], at a businessmen's breakfast in ], Massachusetts, Kerry made a joke about ] ] and his running mate, saying "if Bush is shot, the ] has orders to shoot ]." He apologized the following day. | |||
| During their investigation of Noriega, Kerry's staff found reason to believe that the ]-based ] (BCCI) had facilitated Noriega's drug trafficking and ]. This led to a separate inquiry into BCCI, and as a result, banking regulators shut down BCCI in ]. In December ], Kerry and Senator ], a Republican from ], released ''The BCCI Affair'', a report on the BCCI scandal. The report showed that the bank was crooked and was working with ], including ]. It blasted the ], the ], the ], the ], as well as influential ]s and the CIA. | |||
| Kerry was criticized by some Democrats for having pursued his own party members, including former ] ], although Republicans said he should have pressed against some Democrats even harder. The BCCI scandal was later turned over to the ] District Attorney's office. | |||
| Before the ] election, Kerry was considered a potential running mate of ] before he chose ] ] ]. | |||
| ===1996 re-election bid=== | |||
| ''For more details on this topic, see ]''. | |||
| In ], Kerry faced a difficult re-election fight against Governor ], a popular Republican incumbent who was 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 ] mansion. During the election, Kerry spoke briefly at the ]. Kerry later won re-election 53 percent to Weld's 45 percent. According to Newsweek, during the ], Weld was interviewed by ], ] and other members of the ] on debating and running against Kerry. | |||
| ===2000 presidential election=== | |||
| In the ] presidential elections, Kerry again found himself close to being chosen as the vice presidential running mate . | |||
| A release from the presidential campaign of presumptive Democratic nominee ] listed Kerry on the short list to be selected as the vice-presidential nominee, along with North Carolina Senator ], Indiana Senator ], Missouri Congressman ], New Hampshire Governor ], and Connecticut Senator ]. | |||
| 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=== | |||
| Kerry opposed the bill to allow President George H. W. Bush to go to war against ] in ]. The ] had imposed sanctions on Iraq, and Kerry argued that the ]s then in place should be given more time to work. | |||
| The second President Bush argued that Iraq under ] was actively developing weapons of mass destruction (see ]). Kerry cited the "threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction" as his principal reason for supporting the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq with assurances from Bush that all diplomatic efforts would be exhausted before using such force. 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 ]. Kerry also gave a ], ] speech to ] 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." | |||
| After the invasion of Iraq it became apparent that there was no evidence of any such weapons. Kerry then turned around to attack Bush as having misled the country: "When the president of the United States looks at you and tells you something, there should be some trust." Nevertheless, Kerry has upset many anti-war activists by saying that he does not regret being one of 29 Democratic Senators to support the resolution. He has stated that he had hoped the threat of force would induce Saddam Hussein to comply with United Nations resolutions, but that the Bush administration rushed into war. | |||
| Before the war started, most Democrat primary candidates, including Kerry, promised that they would not attack the President while he was fighting the actual war. This was done in order to give the country a sense of unity during the war. Kerry then criticised the President's foreign policy on the same day the war started. He claimed that he did not know the war was going to begin on that day. | |||
| During the 2004 Presidential campaign, Bush criticized Kerry for his vote in September ] against a bill for an additional ]87 ] for expenditures in Iraq and ]. The Bush campaign also attacked Kerry for saying "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it". Kerry co-sponsored a bill that would have provided the $87 billion and funded it by reversing some of Bush's tax cuts, but voted against the bill that provided $87 billion through deficit spending. | |||
| Kerry has contended that Iraq has become a diversion from the fight against terrorism and ]. In a speech at Georgetown University on ] ], he outlined a proposal for phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, calling for 20,000 troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2005, after the planned ] parliamentary elections. He said, "The way forward in Iraq is not to pull out precipitously or merely promise to stay 'as long as it takes,' " and that America should, "instead simultaneously pursue both a political settlement and the withdrawal of American combat forces." | |||
| ===Sponsorship of legislation=== | |||
| ''Main article: ]'' | |||
| During his Senate career, Kerry has sponsored or cosponsored hundreds of ]s. Some of his notable bills have addressed ] concerns, ], ], ]s' and ]-] issues, ] and other topics. Of those bills with his sponsorship, as of 12.2004, 11 have been signed into law. | |||
| ===Political chairmanship and presidential nomination=== | |||
| Kerry was the chairman of the ] from ] to ]. He was reelected to the Senate in ], ] (after winning re-election against the then-], Republican ]), and ]. His current term will end on ] ]. | |||
| ] from ].]] | |||
| In 2003 and 2004, the Presidential campaign of John Kerry defeated several Democratic rivals, including Sen. ] (D-N.C.), former Vermont Governor ] and ]. Kerry thus won the Democratic nomination to run for President of the United States against incumbent George W. Bush. On ], 2004, he announced his selection of John Edwards as his running mate. | |||
| On ], ], Kerry conceded the Presidential race to Bush. 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 ], 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 ], there were disputes about the voting (see ]), no state was as close as ] had been in ]. | |||
| ===Committee assignments=== | |||
| In the Senate, Kerry serves on several committees: | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| Kerry was the chairman of the ] from ] to ], but lost the position when Republicans regained control of the Senate. He remains the ]. | |||
| Kerry also serves on several Senate subcommittees: | |||
| *] (ranking member) | |||
| * ] (ranking member) | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ===Issues and voting record=== | |||
| John Kerry is member of the ], which advocates centrist and neoliberal positions, and he has co-sponsored Senate legislation with such prominent conservatives as ]'s ]. Most analyses place Kerry's voting record near to, or somewhat to the left of, center within the Senate Democratic caucus. During the ] presidential election he was portrayed as a staunch ] by conservative special interest groups and the Bush campaign, who often noted that in ] Kerry was rated the '']'''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, ] of the ] found that Kerry was tied for being the 24th most liberal Senator. | |||
| Kerry has stated that he opposes privatizing ], supports ] rights for adult women and minors, supports ] for ], opposes ] except for ], supports most ], and is generally a supporter of trade agreements. Kerry supported the ] and ] status for ], but opposed the ]. | |||
| For more information on some of Kerry's political positions and excerpts from his voting record, see ]. | |||
| ==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. . It is fairly unusual for an unsuccessful presidential candidate to receive a major political party's nomination a second time. ] and ] were, respectively, the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956, and the Republican nominee in 1944 and 1948, but both lost twice. Republican candidate ], however, lost his presidential bid in 1960 and was renominated in 1968, winning the presidency. | |||
| 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 ] 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 ], ] , that can raise money and channel contributions to Democratic candidates in state and federal races. 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 $3.1 million to 17 local and national political organizations. Kerry has held political events in 15 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. 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. | |||
| In polls during 2005, Kerry remained a leading Democratic candidate for his party's 2008 nomination ]. Several polls showed him beating George Bush if the 2004 election were held today. . | |||
| Kerry has recruited several top staffers to run it including John Giesser, the No. 2 operative at the DNC in 2000 and 2004, to run it and Jay Dunn, who served as DNC finance director, to manage its finances. Also involved are Jenny Backus and Leigh Garland who worked under ] and long-time Kerry fundraisers Josh Warren and Jon Patsavos. "That’s a very, very high-powered team that he’s keeping in place. You don’t generally spend those kind of resources and put that effort in building the A team to run for another term in the U.S. Senate," said former DNC chairman Steve Grossman. Dan Payne, a Democratic strategist, told the '']'' that "This is the kind of thing he has to do" in order to run for President in 2008 . Kerry told ], with respect to a run in 2008, "it's crazy to be thinking about it now" but went on to say that "I'll make my judgment when the time comes and I don't care what history says." Kerry raised eyebrows when he made a strong statement as to how to lead in the aftermath of ] following Bush's address to the nation. | |||
| ==Home life and interests== | |||
| ] | |||
| Kerry's oldest friends and family call him "Johnny". Kerry is over six feet tall (6'3" according to his ), speaks fluent ], and enjoys ] and ], as well as ], ], and playing ]. According to an interview he gave to '']'' magazine in 2004, Kerry's favorite album is '']'' and he is a fan of ] and ], as well as of ] and ]. During his 2004 presidential campaign, Kerry used ]'s ''No Surrender'' as his campaign theme song. | |||
| Kerry is described by Sports Illustrated, among others, as an "avid ]" , primarily riding on a road bike. Prior to his Presidential bid, John Kerry was known to have participated in several long-distance ] (centuries). Even during his many campaigns, he was reported to have visited bicycle stores both in his home state and elsewhere. | |||
| In 2004, he named his favorite books as ], by ]; ''Flags of Our Fathers'', by James Bradley and Ron Powers; and ''Undaunted Courage'', by ]. He had recently read ''Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World'', by Margaret MacMillan. Previous reading during the campaign included ''Rogue Nation'', by Clyde Prestowitz, and '']'', by ]. His favorite movie is ''Animal House''. | |||
| The Kerrys have a ] named Cym (pronounced "Kim") , a yellow ] named Sunshine . Kerry's favorite food is ]. | |||
| In 2003, John Kerry was diagnosed with and successfully treated for ] . | |||
| ===Family=== | |||
| Kerry was ] to ] in ], and they had two children together. ] was born on ], ], days before Kerry began law school. She graduated in ] from a ] in the ] area. ] was born on ], ]. She is a graduate of Phillips Academy (like her grandfather) and ], and is currently a student at ]. Vanessa has been active in her father's Presidential campaign. | |||
| In 1982 Thorne, who was suffering from severe ], asked Kerry for a separation. They were ]d on ], ]. "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. The marriage was formally ] by the ] in 1997. Thorne later married ], an ], and moved to ], where she became active in local environmental groups such as the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. During the 2004 campaign she announced that she was "100% behind" Kerry's candidacy for President. | |||
| Between his first and second marriages, Kerry dated actresses ] and ]. | |||
| Kerry and his second wife, ], the widow of ] Senator ], a Republican, and former ] interpreter, were introduced to each other by John Heinz at an ] rally in ]. They did not meet again until after John Heinz's death, at the ] ] in ]. They married on ], ], in ]. John Kerry's stepsons – Teresa's three sons from her previous marriage – are ], ], and ]. | |||
| The '']'' survey estimated in ] that Teresa Heinz Kerry had a ] of $750 million. However, estimates have frequently varied, ranging from around $165 million to as high as $3.2 ], according to a study in the '']''. 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 ] members, including his mother, who died in ]. '']'' magazine (a major business magazine named for an ]) estimated that if elected, Kerry would be the third-richest U.S. President in history when adjusted for ] . This assessment was based on the couple's combined assets, but Kerry and Heinz signed a ] that keeps their assets separate. 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. | |||
| John Kerry has two sisters, ] and ], and a brother, ], who is a ] in Boston. Cameron converted to ] in 1983. During Election 2004, he led a Kerry campaign effort in ] to reach American ] voters. | |||
| === Religious beliefs and practices === | |||
| According to those who know him, Kerry is a religious man. A practicing ] he is said to carry a ], a prayer book, and a ] medal (the patron saint of travelers) when he campaigns. "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 '']'': | |||
| :''"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 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 ], the ], and the ] and the fundamental story that runs through all of this, that … really connects all of us."'' | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| *'']'', a documentary film about Kerry's Vietnam war and anti-war activities based on Douglas Brinkley's biography ''Tour of Duty''. | |||
| *'']'', a controversial documentary with interviews of Vietnam veterans who criticize Kerry. | |||
| ==External links and references== | |||
| {{wikiquote}} | |||
| ===Official=== | |||
| * — John Kerry's official website. | |||
| * — Official senatorial site. | |||
| * | |||
| * — PAC led by Kerry | |||
| ===Print media=== | |||
| *Gibbs, Nancy and Douglas Waller, "," '']'', ], ]. | |||
| *], "," '']'', ], ]. | |||
| *Kranish, Michael, "," '']'', ], ]. | |||
| * | |||
| ===Online media=== | |||
| *"" FreeKerryBook.org. | |||
| *"". OpenSecrets.org. | |||
| *"". Project Vote Smart. 2002-2004. | |||
| *"". ] News. | |||
| * - Thorough two-hour special compares Kerry and Bush. | |||
| ===Information=== | |||
| * | |||
| * - ] | |||
| * - ] ]. | |||
| * | |||
| * to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1971. (PDF file) | |||
| * | |||
| *, by Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown, December 1992 | |||
| * | |||
| * - '']'' on Kerry's Vietnam service medals | |||
| * - excerpt from Brinkley's book about Kerry's Vietnam service | |||
| * - Kerry's long lost Jewish ethnic ancestry | |||
| ===Further reading=== | |||
| {{commons|John Kerry}} | |||
| *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, '''', 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'', ], 2004. ISBN 0895260174 | |||
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Revision as of 05:06, 21 November 2005
Kerry was born on December 11, 1943 at the Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado outside 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 shortly after his birth.
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