John Kerry

John Kerry, an American politician who served as a US senator from 1985 to 2013 and US secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 before being selected by Joe Biden to serve as a special presidential envoy for climate following Biden's election as president in November 2020, distinguished himself early in his career with his groundbreaking investigations into the Iran-Contra affair in the late 1980s. His greatest strength is exhibited in his mastery of foreign affairs and military policy.

Background and Education

John Forbes Kerry was born on December 11, 1943, in Aurora, Colorado, the son of wealthy parents Rosemary Forbes and Richard John Kerry. He was born in a military hospital where his father, who had volunteered to fly DC-3s for the Army in World War II, was recovering from tuberculosis. When Kerry was young, the family moved to Washington, DC, and later to Oslo, Norway, where his father was stationed at the US embassy. He then attended the private Fessenden School in Newton, Massachusetts, and St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, where he founded the school's debate club.

Kerry earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1966 and addressed his fellow students at graduation. During his time at Yale, he was president of the school's Political Union, an active debater, and a member of the exclusive Skull and Bones secret society.

Military Service and Activism

Even though he had denounced the Vietnam War in his commencement speech, Kerry enlisted in the US Navy soon after graduation. He served as captain of a small boat ferrying troops up the rivers of Vietnam's Mekong Delta. He was wounded three times in four months, after which he was sent home with a Bronze Star and a Silver Star for significant acts of courage. He also won three Purple Hearts, the Navy Unit Commendation, and the Presidential Citation awards for his military service.

In 1969, Kerry was discharged from the Navy with the rank of lieutenant, but he returned home with his mind full of the horrors of war. He began questioning the decisions made by the federal government at the expense of the soldiers fighting in Vietnam. Kerry was one of the founders of Vietnam Veterans of America, and he became involved with the protest group Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

He organized demonstrations against the war, including an April 1971 protest in which a group of veterans camped out on the Washington Mall and abandoned their war medals and combat decorations on the Capitol steps. Kerry recalled his debating experience at Yale when he spoke to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and asked, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Kerry's speech propelled him into the political arena. He ran for a congressional seat in Massachusetts' Fifth District in 1972. He won the Democratic primary but lost the general election to Republican Paul W. Cronin.

Public Life and Political Career

Kerry earned his law degree from Boston College in 1976 and worked as an assistant district attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, for three years. As a top prosecutor, Kerry took on organized crime and put several New England mobsters behind bars. He modernized the district attorney's office and helped create an innovative rape crisis crime unit.

In 1979, Kerry opened his own law practice in Boston, and he also taught college classes and worked as a commentator for news programs. He was elected lieutenant governor of Massachusetts in 1982, and two years later Kerry was elected to the US Senate after Senator Paul Tsongas stepped down from the position.

From 1986 to 1989, Senator Kerry investigated allegations that the Nicaraguan Contras, a guerrilla group opposed to the left-wing Sandinista government, had been trafficking drugs. His subcommittee on narcotics and terrorism showed that Oliver North, a junior Marine officer assigned to the White House, was in charge of funneling arms to the Contras. His investigation also exposed the US Central Intelligence Agency's dubious ties with Panamanian dictator and drug lord Manuel Noriega. The subsequent hearings were among the first to take a close look at the ways terrorists, drug dealers, and international criminals conducted business.

During his second term in the Senate, Kerry pushed for the government to declassify records regarding soldiers missing in action (MIA) and prisoners of war (POW), and subsequently, earned the respect of military families across the nation. He voted against the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

The 1996 Senate race between Kerry and Massachusetts Governor William Weld was the most closely watched Senate contest in the country. After a hotly contested, $12 million campaign, Kerry won with the support of labor and teacher's unions, by a slim 8 percent margin.

Political Agenda

In his third term as senator, Kerry concentrated on environmental issues and was a leading opponent of the George W. Bush administration's efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. The Energy Act of 2001 included the Kerry Amendment, which prevented oil and gas drilling on federally protected land.

In the weeks following the September 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, Kerry proposed a concerted energy-conservation campaign to develop renewable sources of energy and eliminating US dependence on foreign oil and criticized President Bush for missing an opportunity to call the nation to a cause of "energy independence."

Reelected to a fourth term in November 2002, Kerry became the ranking Democratic member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He also served on the Commerce, Finance and Foreign Relations Committees and is ranking member of the Hispanic Task Force. Through 2002 he chaired the Senate Democratic Leadership Steering and Coordination Committee.

Senator Kerry worked to reform public education, address children's issues, strengthen the economy, protect the environment, and advance America's foreign policy interests around the globe. He voted in favor of gun control, abortion rights, welfare reform, gay rights, and free trade. He opposes the death penalty and school voucher programs.

On the issue of the controversial US-led invasion of Iraq in early 2003, Kerry supported the use-of-force resolution President Bush sought in order to declare war. However, when it became apparent that Bush intended to proceed with his war plan even in the face of overwhelming international opposition, Kerry became more vocal in his criticism of the administration's lackluster foreign policy performance.

In 2003, Kerry officially declared his candidacy in the 2004 presidential election. Although he was painted as an early favorite to win the Democratic nomination, by late 2003 some polls showed him lagging behind former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and retired General Wesley Clark in the crowded Democratic field. Kerry prevailed and won the nomination and later named Senator John Edwards of North Carolina as his running mate. During his presidential campaign, a 527 group called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (later renamed the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth) questioned details of Kerry's military service record and argued that he had not deserved the medals that he had earned for his service in Vietnam. The smear campaign was later discredited as false by Kerry's own crew mates. Kerry lost the 2004 election to President George W. Bush.

In late January 2007, Kerry announced that he would not mount a campaign for the 2008 US presidential election. The announcement followed a scandal that erupted after Kerry made what he called a "botched joke" while giving a speech to college students in California. Kerry stated that students who don't do well in school "get stuck in Iraq." He apologized for the remark, stating that he was criticizing Bush's "broken policy" related to the Iraq War. He ultimately endorsed then-senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

Following the death of Senator Ted Kennedy in 2009, Kerry became the senior senator from Massachusetts.

In December 2012, President Obama nominated Kerry for the position of US secretary of state. Kerry was confirmed to the position by the Senate on January 29, 2013, by a vote of 94–3, and was sworn in on February 1, 2013. As secretary of state until 2017, Kerry helped to negotiate the removal of chemical weapons from Syria during the Syrian civil war, impose sanctions against Russia in 2014 after the Russian annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region, negotiate a deal to limit the capacity of Iran's nuclear program in 2015, and persuade more than two hundred nations to sign the Paris Climate Accords in 2016.

Due to Kerry's longtime work on the issue, including his involvement in the signing of the Paris Climate Accords and his establishment in 2019 of a bipartisan coalition aimed at fighting climate change, he was tapped to serve as part of Joe Biden's administration after the former vice president was declared the winner of the presidential election in November 2020. Later that month, Biden announced that he had chosen Kerry to serve as his special presidential envoy for climate. Shortly after Biden's inauguration in January 2021, Kerry, for the first time in this official capacity, spoke at a G20 forum about how the United States was once again committing to international climate change efforts and discussions as well as about the state of the world's climate change fight as a whole.

In November 2022, while at the United Nations’ COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Kerry announced a new climate change plan to raise funds for climate action. He proposed a voluntary market in which companies would purchase carbon credits to offset their greenhouse gas emissions and meet corporate climate targets.

Kerry also played a key role in increasing climate cooperation with China and visited with leader Xi Jinping during a trip to Beijing, China in July 2023.

In January 2024, Kerry announced that he would be stepping down from his position, but would continue to help Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign.

Personal Life

In 1970, Kerry married Julia Thorne; they had two daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa. The couple separated in 1982 and divorced in 1988.

In 1995, Kerry married Teresa Heinz, whose late husband, Senator J. John Heinz III, was an heir to his family's ketchup fortune. She is chair of The Heinz Endowments and the Heinz Family Philanthropies, institutions dedicated to education, environmental protection, and the arts.

In 2015, Kerry was hospitalized in Geneva, Switzerland, after he broke his right femur in a cycling accident in Scionzier, France.

Bibliography

"John Kerry Condemns Russia's 'Repeated Aggression' in Syria and Ukraine." The Guardian, 13 Feb. 2016, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/13/john-kerry-condemns-russias-repeated-aggression-in-syria-and-ukraine. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.

Kerry, John. A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America. Penguin Books, 2003.

Kerry, John, and Teresa Heinz Kerry. This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future. Public Affairs, 2007.

Milman, Oliver, and Fiona Harvey. "John Kerry Commits US to Climate Crisis Fight but Warns World Is Way Off Pace." The Guardian, 21 Jan. 2021, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/21/john-kerry-climate-crisis-joe-biden-envoy. Accessed 8 Feb. 2021.

O'Hanlon, Michael E. "Making the Grade? Assessing John Kerry's Record as Secretary of State." Brookings Institution, 20 Jan. 2016, www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2016/01/20/making-the-grade-assessing-john-kerrys-record-as-secretary-of-state. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.

Sullivan, Kate. "Biden Prioritizes Climate Crisis by Naming John Kerry Special Envoy." CNN, 24 Nov. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/11/23/politics/john-kerry-biden-climate-envoy/index.html. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.

Viser, Matt. "John Kerry Leaves a Legacy of Hope in Role at State." The Boston Globe, 18 Dec. 2016, www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/12/17/kerry-leaving-legacy-hope-and-determination-role-state/3DqcfBTEvs8euhTThnhvIK/story.html. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.

Zernike, Kate. "Kerry Pressing Swift Boat Case Long after Loss." The New York Times, 28 May 2006, www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/washington/28kerry.html. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.