The Youngbloods

Young went on to lead a moderately successful solo career. Cameron converted to Judaism in 1983 and recently led a Kerry campaign effo. Subsequent efforts were not as popular, and the band soon broke up in 1972 (see 1972 in music). John Kerry has two sisters, Diana and Peggy, and a brother, Cameron, who is a litigator in Boston. That year, the Youngbloods released Elephant Mountain, which was critically acclaimed but sold poorly. [27] (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/12/19/kerry_mortgage_to_help_fund_race/). It didn't hit the charts until after it was used in a public service ad in 1969 (see 1969 in music). [26] (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.

"Get Together" was their first massive success; it was a Dino Valenti song that the Jefferson Airplane and We Five had already recorded. This assessment was based on the couple's combined assets, but Kerry and Heinz signed a pre-nuptial agreement that keeps their assets separate. The band was led by Jesse Colin Young, who had already released several solo LPs and worked with John Sebastian (later of the Lovin' Spoonful). Forbes magazine (a major business magazine named for an unrelated Forbes family) estimated that if elected, Kerry would be the third-richest U.S. President in history when adjusted for inflation [25] (http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/13/cx_da_0213kerry.html). The Youngbloods were an American folk rock and psychedelic band from the 1960s, best known for the Top Ten hit "Get Together". 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. Senator.

Regardless of which figure is given, Kerry is the wealthiest U.S. 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. The Forbes 400 survey estimated in 2004 that Teresa Heinz Kerry had a net worth of $750 million. John Heinz IV, André Heinz, and Christopher Heinz.

Teresa's three sons from her previous marriage—John Kerry's stepsons—are H. They married on May 26, 1995, in Nantucket. They did not meet again until after John Heinz's death, at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. John Heinz III, a Republican, and former United Nations translator, were introduced to each other by John Heinz at an Earth Day rally in 1990.

Kerry and his second wife, Teresa Simões-Ferreira Heinz, the widow of Pennsylvania Senator H. Between his first and second marriages, Kerry dated actresses Morgan Fairchild and Catherine Oxenberg. During the 2004 campaign she announced that she was "100% behind" Kerry's candidacy for President. 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.

The marriage was formally 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. [24] (http://www.washingtonian.com/people/madame_ex.html) They were divorced on July 25, 1988. In 1982 Thorne, who was suffering from severe depression, asked Kerry for a separation.

Vanessa has been active in her father's Presidential campaign. She is a graduate of Phillips Academy (like her grandfather) and Yale University, and is currently a student at Harvard Medical School. Vanessa Kerry was born on December 31, 1976. She graduated in June 2004 from a film school in the Los Angeles area.

Alexandra Kerry was born on September 5, 1973, days before Kerry began law school. Kerry was married to Julia Thorne in 1970, and they had two children together. In 2003, John Kerry was diagnosed with and successfully treated for prostate cancer. His favorite food is chocolate chip cookies.

The Kerrys have a German Shepherd named Cym (pronounced "Kim") and a yellow canary named Sunshine. His favorite movies are Giant and Casablanca. [23] (http://www.booksense.com/candidatebooks/index2.jsp) Previous reading during the campaign included Rogue Nation, by Clyde Prestowitz, and Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich. He had recently read Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, by Margaret MacMillan.

In 2004, he named his favorite books as Trinity, by Leon Uris; Flags of Our Fathers, by James Bradley and Ron Powers; and Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose. Even during his many campaigns, he was reported to have visited bicycle stores both in his home state and elsewhere. Prior to his Presidential bid, John Kerry was known to have participated in several long-distance rides (centuries). Kerry is also known as an avid cyclist, primarily riding on a road bike.

[22]  (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 his campaign theme song. He 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 and he is a fan of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, as well as of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Buffett. His oldest friends and family call him "Johnny." He speaks fluent French. At 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) and 185 pounds (84 kg), Kerry has been called the "Lanky Yankee." If he had won the 2004 Presidential election he would have equalled Abraham Lincoln as the tallest U.S. President in history.

[21] (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/12/05/kerry_creates_pac_to_back_candidates/). He has also established a separate political action committee that can raise money and channel contributions to Democratic candidates in state and federal races. Some critizism was leveled at Kerry for not using the remaining funds for Democratic campaigns in 2004. 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.

In mid-October, 2004, this sum was about $45 million. 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. [20] (http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/11/09/kerry_run_in_08_called_conceivable/). 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." Some aides, however, have stated that Kerry told campaign officials he could not envision another run.

Immediately after the 2004 election, some Democrats mentioned Kerry as a possible contender for the 2008 Democratic nomination. For Senator John Kerry's voting record, go to Massachusetts Senator John Forbes Kerry (http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=S0421103). For more information on Kerry's political views and voting record, see John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004. Poole of the University of Houston found that Kerry was tied for being the 24th most liberal Senator.

For example, Keith T. 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. While conservative special interest groups and the Bush campaign often noted that in 2003 Kerry was rated the National Journal's top Senate liberal, that rating was based only upon voting on legislation within that past year. A member of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council, Kerry has co-sponsored Senate legislation with such prominent conservatives as Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum.

Though portrayed during the 2004 presidential election as a staunch liberal, John Kerry's voting record is more consistent with that of a political centrist. Kerry also serves on several Senate subcommittees:. He remains the ranking member. Kerry was the chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship from 2001 to 2003, but lost the position when Republicans regained control of the Senate.

In the Senate, Kerry serves on several committees:. Although, as in the 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. Kerry carried states with a total of 252 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. 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.

On November 3, 2004, Kerry conceded the Presidential race to Bush. On July 6, 2004, he announced his selection of John Edwards as his running mate. Bush. Kerry thus won the Democratic nomination to run for President of the United States against incumbent George W.

Clark. Wesley K. John Edwards (D-N.C.), former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and retired Gen. In 2003 and 2004, the Presidential campaign of John Kerry defeated several Democratic rivals, including Sen.

His current term will end on January 3, 2009. He was reelected to the Senate in 1990, 1996 (after winning re-election against the then-Governor of Massachusetts, Republican William Weld), and 2002. Kerry was the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 1987 to 1989. Areas of concern in the bills include small business concerns, education, terrorism, veterans' and POW-MIA issues, and marine resource protection.

Kerry has sponsored or cosponsored hundreds of bills during his time as a Senator. Main article: Sponsorship of legislation by John Kerry. Kerry has also contended that Iraq has become a diversion from the fight against terrorism and Osama bin Laden. 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.

The Bush campaign also attacked Kerry for saying "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it". During the 2004 Presidential campaign, Bush criticized Kerry for his vote in September, 2003 against a bill for an additional US$87 billion for expenditures in Iraq and Afghanistan. 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. Kerry attacked Bush for having misled the country: "When the president of the United States looks at you and tells you something, there should be some trust." [19] (http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/27/sprj.nirq.bush/) 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.

After the invasion of Iraq it became apparent that there was no evidence of any such weapons. Bush relied on that resolution in ordering the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 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. The second President Bush argued that Iraq under Saddam Hussein was actively developing weapons of mass destruction (see Yellowcake Forgery).

The United Nations had imposed sanctions on Iraq, and Kerry argued that the sanctions then in place should be given more time to work. Bush to go to war against Iraq in 1991. W. Kerry opposed the bill to allow President George H.

Before the 1992 election, Kerry was considered a potential running mate of Bill Clinton before he chose Tennessee Senator Al Gore. The BCCI scandal was later turned over to the Manhattan District Attorney's office. Kerry himself was criticized in some circles for not pressing harder against certain Democrats, and he was also criticized by some Democrats for pursuing his own party members, including former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford. One of the Bush administration figures criticized for his handling of BCCI was Robert Mueller who, in his then-role as Deputy Attorney General, was criticized about slow performance regarding the investigation.

[18] (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html). It blasted the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, the Customs Service, the Federal Reserve Bank, as well as influential lobbyists and the CIA. The report showed that the bank was crooked and was working with terrorists, including Abu Nidal. In December 1992, Kerry and Senator Hank Brown, a Republican from Colorado, released The BCCI Affair, a report on the BCCI scandal.

This led to a separate inquiry into BCCI, and as a result, banking regulators shut down BCCI in 1991. 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. Bush and his running mate, saying "if Bush is shot, the Secret Service has orders to shoot Dan Quayle." He apologized the following day. On November 15, 1988, at a businessmen's breakfast in East Lynn, Massachusetts, Kerry made a joke about president-elect George H.W.

Kerry's report concluded that the CIA and the State Department had known that "individuals who provided support for the contras were involved in drug trafficking...and elements of the contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers." While some critics attacked him as being a "conspiracy theorist," the CIA inspector general released a pair of reports that confirmed Kerry's findings ten years later. government "turned a blind eye" in the 1980s to the corruption and drug dealings of CIA-backed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who had assisted the Contras. The report contended that the U.S. In 1989, he released a report that slammed the Reagan administration for neglecting and undermining anti-drug efforts while pursuing other objectives in foreign policy.

involvement in Cuba, Haiti, the Bahamas, Panama, and Honduras. Kerry's inquiry eventually widened, expanding its focus from the Contras to U.S. [16] (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/991224onthisday_big.html)[17] (http://www.snopes.com/rumors/north.htm). 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.

On May 4, 1989, North was convicted of charges relating to the Iran/Contra controversy, including three felonies. 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. 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. 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.

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 National Security Council and the CIA to deliver military equipment to right-wing Nicaraguan rebels (Contras). Lugar of Indiana, the Republican chairman of the committee, agreed to conduct the hearings. Richard G. Sen.

In April 1986, Kerry and Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, proposed that hearings be conducted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding charges of Contra involvement in cocaine and marijuana trafficking. The offer was denounced by the Reagan administration as a "propaganda initiative" designed to influence a House vote on a $14 million Contra 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. Through the senators, Ortega offered a cease-fire agreement in exchange for the US dropping support of the Contras. While in Nicaragua, Kerry and Harkin talked to people on both sides of the conflict.

The Sandinista government was opposed by the right-wing CIA-backed rebels known as the Contras. Though Ortega was democratically elected, the trip was criticized because Ortega and his leftist Sandinista government had strong ties to Cuba and the USSR. 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. Senator in January 1985.

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. As the Democratic candidate he was elected to the Senate despite a nationwide landslide for the re-election of Republican president Ronald Reagan. In his campaign he promised to mix liberalism with tight budget controls. Again as in 1982, however, he prevailed in a close primary.

As in his 1982 race for Lieutenant Governor, he did not receive the endorsement of the party regulars at the state Democratic convention. Kerry decided to run for the seat. Senators from Massachusetts, Paul Tsongas, announced in 1984 that he would be stepping down for health reasons. One of the U.S.

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. In particular, Kerry's interest in environmental protection led him to become heavily involved in the issue of acid rain. Dukakis, however, delegated additional matters to Kerry. The position of Lieutenant Governor carried few inherent responsibilities.

The ticket, with Michael Dukakis as the gubernatorial candidate, won the general election without difficulty. He decided to re-enter electoral politics by running for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. He won a narrow victory in the 1982 Democratic primary. Although his private law practice was a success, Kerry was still interested in public office. (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 Chocolate Chip Cookies"—made with Kerry's mother's original recipe—to the media walkthrough at the Democratic Convention.).

Kerry sold his interest in the business in 1988. The partners named it "Kilvert & Forbes" after their mothers' maiden names. He also joined with a friend to open a small cookie and muffin shop in Boston's Quincy Market area. In 1979, Kerry resigned from the District Attorney's office to set up a private law firm with another former prosecutor.

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. In that position, Kerry balanced two key roles. In January 1977, Droney promoted him to First Assistant District Attorney. 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.

Droney. While in law school he had been a student prosecutor in the office of the District Attorney of Middlesex County, John J. He received his law degree in 1976. In July 1974, while attending law school, Kerry was named executive director of Mass Action, a Massachusetts advocacy association.

In September 1973, he entered Boston College Law School at Newton, Massachusetts. He decided that the best way for him to continue in public life was to study law. He spent some time working as a fundraiser for the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), an international humanitarian organization. After Kerry's 1972 defeat, he and his wife bought a house in Lowell.

Cronin won the election. The final blow came when, four days before the election, Durkin withdrew in favor of Cronin. It also ran critical news stories about his out-of-state contributions and his "carpetbagging", because he had moved into the district only in April. The paper editorialized against him.

A major obstacle, however, was the district's leading newspaper, the conservative Lowell Sun. Durkin. Cronin, and an independent, Roger P. In the general election, Kerry was initially favored to defeat the Republican candidate, former state Representative Paul W.

Kerry lost in Lawrence and Lowell, his chief opponents' bases, but placed first in 18 of the district's 22 towns. DiFruscia placed third. Sheehy. 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.

[14] (http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061803.shtml) [15] (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/15/politics/campaign/15CAM.html?ex=1092196800&en=b491c7d0d4b6bc2c&ei=5070&pagewanted=1). "It was an impulsive, rash thing that we did and that John Kerry ended up having to deal with", he added. Cameron Kerry, saying that the police arrived with suspicious alacrity, concluded that political opponents had set him up. 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.

DiFruscia charged that they were trying to disrupt his get-out-the vote efforts. 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. Vallely, both then 22 years old, were found in the basement, where telephone lines were located. On the eve of the September primary, Kerry's younger brother Cameron and campaign field director Thomas J.

DiFruscia of Lawrence, were in the same building. His campaign headquarters and one of his opponents', state Representative Anthony R. Kerry entered the Democratic primary against nine other candidates. Bradford Morse, was a Republican who was thought to be retiring.

The incumbent in that district, F. Instead of moving to Worcester, however, the couple rented an apartment in Lowell. Donohue. Residence there would have enabled Kerry to run against a different incumbent, Harold D.

In February, Kerry's wife, Julia, bought a house in Worcester. In 1972, Kerry had no reason to challenge Drinan. Kerry accordingly supported Drinan, who won the seat. In the caucus, Kerry placed second to Father Robert Drinan, a Jesuit priest.

Philbin. 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 primary challenger to the pro-war incumbent, Philip J. He was then living in Waltham, where he considered running in 1970. House of Representatives. Although his activism had brought him national recognition, he had no strong ties to any particular congressional district in Massachusetts.

In the early 1970s, 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 U.S. Some have raised questions about exactly when Kerry left VVAW; see John Kerry VVAW controversy for a full discussion. Kerry eventually quit the organization over this difference in approach. Other members, however, were more militant.

Kerry was trying to moderate the group, to push it in the direction of nonviolence and working within the system. Despite his important role in Operation POW and other VVAW events, as time went on Kerry found that VVAW was becoming more radical. The mass arrests caused a community backlash and ended up giving positive coverage to the VVAW. At the time, 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.

Kerry and the other protestors later paid a $5 fine and were released. All were given the Miranda Warning and were hauled away on school buses to spend the night at the Lexington Public Works Garage. on May 30, local and state police awoke and arrested 441 demonstrators, including Kerry, for trespassing. At 2:30 a.m.

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. Over the Memorial Day weekend, veterans and other participants marched from 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 event sought to tie antiwar activism to patriotic themes. 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.

One of particular note was Operation POW, organized by the VVAW in Massachusetts. Kerry's prominence also made him a frequent leader and spokesman at antiwar events around the country in 1971. In a 2004 interview, again on Meet The Press, Kerry explained that he regrets using the phrase "war criminals". In the 2004 United States presidential campaign, Kerry's critics often cited this statement.

He responded:. On NBC's Meet The Press in 1971, Kerry was asked whether he had personally committed atrocities in Vietnam. 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.". military leaders in Vietnam, such as free-fire zones and burning noncombatants' houses, were contrary to the laws of war.

On one Cavett program (June 30, 1971), in debating John O'Neill, Kerry argued that some of the policies instituted by the U.S. For example, Kerry appeared more than once on The Dick Cavett Show on ABC television. He was able to use these occasions to bring the themes of his Senate testimony to a wider audience. 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.

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 John Kerry VVAW controversy for a full discussion. Each veteran gave his or her name, hometown, branch of service and a statement. For more than two hours, angry veterans tossed their medals, ribbons, hats, jackets, and military papers over the fence. Jack Smith, a Marine, read a statement explaining why the veterans were returning their military awards to the government.

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. transcript (http://www.c-span.org/vote2004/jkerrytestimony.asp)audio (http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/20/1535232). 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 Vance Hartke that, if the United States set a date for its withdrawal, it could then obtain the release of its prisoners of war. Senator Fulbright asked Kerry if he supported any of the proposals before the committee.

He argued that the real reason for the continued fighting was political purposes: "Someone has to die so that President Nixon 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?". 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. Most of his testimony addressed the larger policy issues. He also addressed the problems faced by returning veterans.

Kerry did not say he had seen them himself. Kerry began with a prepared speech, in which he presented the conclusions of the Winter Soldier Investigation, where veterans had described personally committing or witnessing war crimes. Wearing green fatigues and service ribbons, he spoke for nearly two hours with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in what has been named the Fulbright Hearing, after the Chairman of the proceedings, Senator J.W. Fulbright. 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.

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. Many Vietnam veterans saw the organization as giving voice to the views of the common soldier in exposing official deceit. Americans who opposed the war were grateful for VVAW's work. Beyond such specifics, however, they were seen as having "paid their dues" in Vietnam, and therefore being entitled to at least a respectful hearing.

VVAW's members, including Kerry, could speak with personal knowledge about what they had seen in Vietnam. Numbering about 20,000 [13] (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. Once back in the United States, Kerry joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). For more detail on this, see John Kerry military service controversy.

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. Hibbard and Elliott have alleged, respectively, that Kerry's first Purple Heart and Silver Star were undeserved. Other SBVT members included two of Kerry's former commanding officers, Grant Hibbard and George Elliott. Several SBVT members were in the same unit with Kerry, but only one, Stephen Gardner, served on the same boat.

As the presidential campaign of 2004 developed, around 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. Critics have questioned several aspects of Kerry's military service. Navy for three years and eight months, from August 1966 until March 1970. He lost five close friends in the war, including Yale classmate Richard Pershing, who was killed in action on February 17, 1968. All told, John Kerry was on active duty in the U.S.

He was released from active duty on March 1. On January 1, 1970 Kerry was promoted to full Lieutenant; on January 3, he requested discharge. On April 11, he reported to the 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. He was there for five or six days and left Vietnam in early April.

On March 26, after a final patrol at night on March 25, Kerry was transferred to Cam Ranh Bay to await his orders. [12] (http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000451.asp). If Kerry wanted to stay, he was required to file a second, written request to waive the reassignment. 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.

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 .. On March 17, 1969, shortly after Kerry's third wound, Commodore Charles Horne, the commander of Coastal Squadron 1, filed a request for Kerry's reassignment to the U.S. His injuries included shrapnel wounds in his left upper buttock and contusions on his right forearm from hitting the bulkhead when the mine exploded near his boat. Kerry was wounded twice that day, and he would receive his third Purple Heart.

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. 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. PCF-94 received special recognition from Captain Roy Hoffmann, the commander of Task Force 115 (which included Coastal Division 11), on March 14 in his weekly report to his men:. The Navy's account of Kerry's actions is presented in his medal citation:.

Rassmann was heading to the north bank, expecting to be taken prisoner, when Kerry realized he was gone and came back for him. Coming back up for air, the enemy repeatedly fired at him. Rassmann dived to the bottom of the river. Just afterwards, the boat came under attack from both sides of the bank.

James Rassmann, a Green Beret advisor who was sitting on the deck of the pilothouse eating a chocolate chip cookie, was knocked overboard. Shortly thereafter, another mine exploded near Kerry's boat (PCF-94). A mine detonated directly beneath one of the boats (PCF-3), lifting it into the air. On March 13, five Swift boats were returning to base together on the Bay Hap river from their missions that day.

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 [he] never ever met." [10] (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Nightline/Politics/kerry_medal_040624-1.html). 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. [9] (http://homepage.mac.com/chinesemac/kerry_medals/#silver_star). 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.

The Navy's account of Kerry's actions is presented in the original medal citation signed by Zumwalt. 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. 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. 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 leaped ashore and, followed by Medeiros, pursued the man and killed him. 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. "But the guy didn't miss a stride. "Tommy in the pit tank winged him in the side of the legs as he was coming across," Fred Short said.

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 M-60 machine gun. As they reached the shore, a Viet Cong soldier jumped out of the brush, carrying a loaded B-40 launcher. Kerry ordered the boats to turn and charge the second ambush site. The two boats came under fire from a Viet Cong B-40 rocket-propelled grenade, shattering the crew cabin windows of PCF-94.

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. After the South Vietnamese troops and a team of three U.S. 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 Zumwalt's original medal citation. Along the Bay Hap river, they ran into an ambush.

Their mission included bringing a demolition team and dozens of South Vietnamese soldiers to destroy enemy sampans, structures and bunkers. On this occasion, Kerry was in tactical command of his Swift boat and two others. Only eight days later, on February 28, came the incident for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star. Kerry received his second Purple Heart for this injury, but he did not take any time off from duty.

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. Thereafter, they had no more trouble, and reached the Gulf of Thailand safely. 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. We chose the latter.".

Kerry recorded the situation in his notebook: "We therefore had a choice: to wait for what was not a confirmed return by the helos [and] 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. They returned to their base to refuel and were unable to return to the mission for several hours. On the way up the Bo De, however, the helicopters were attacked. The plan had been for the Swift boats to be accompanied by support helicopters.

Kerry received his second Purple Heart for action on the Bo De river on February 20, 1969. 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.". According to some who retell the story, Kerry and the other visiting officers' concerns were dismissed with what amounted to a pep talk. 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.

forces in Vietnam. Army General Creighton Abrams, the overall commander of U.S. On January 22, 1969, Kerry and several other officers had an unusual meeting in Saigon with Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, the commander of U.S. Naval forces in Vietnam, and U.S. 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.

Such encounters could result in the deaths of innocent civilians. military command in Vietnam had an established policy of "free-fire zones" — areas in which soldiers were to shoot anyone moving around after curfew, without first making sure that they were hostile. At the time, the U.S. Kerry was awarded his first Purple Heart for this injury.

Kerry returned to duty the next day on a regular Swift boat patrol. During this encounter, Kerry suffered a shrapnel wound in the left arm above the elbow. The shrapnel was removed and the wound was treated with bacitracin antibiotic and bandaged. When the men refused to obey an order to stop running, Kerry and his crew of two enlisted men opened fire, destroyed the sampans, and took off. Kerry's boat surprised a group of men unloading sampans at a river crossing, who began to run.

During the night of December 2, 1968 and early morning of December 3, Kerry was in charge of a small boat operating in and around a peninsula north of Cam Ranh Bay together with a Swift boat (PCF-60). [8] (http://homepage.mac.com/chinesemac/kerry_medals/#vietnam_service). 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. 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.

His first command was Swift boat PCF-44, from December 6, 1968 to January 21, 1969, when the crew was disbanded. During his tour of duty as an Officer in Charge of Swift boats, Kerry led five-man crews on patrols into enemy-controlled areas. As part of that plan, the Swift boats were assigned to patrol the narrow waterways — inlets, canals, and coves — of the Mekong River delta, to monitor enemy movements, interdict enemy river-based supply lines, invite attack and otherwise draw out hostile forces. military presence more aggressively into an area that had long been a Viet Cong stronghold.

The goal was to project a U.S. Kerry took part in Operation Sea Lords, the brainchild of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt. On November 17, 1968, Kerry reported for duty at Coastal Squadron 1 in Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam. On June 20, he left the Gridley for special Swift boat training at the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado.

Ten days after returning, on June 16, Kerry was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade. on May 27 and returned to port at Long Beach, California on June 6. The crew performed well and John Kerry’s performance in all aspects of his duty was outstanding." [7] (http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/the%20kerry%20page.html) The ship departed for the U.S. Our helicopter was shot up trying to rescue a downed pilot and the door gunner was killed.

It was a fairly grueling tour of duty. 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. The Gridley traveled to several places, including Wellington in New Zealand, Subic Bay in the Philippines, and the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing." [6] (http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml).

"When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. (Kerry's second choice was to be an officer in a river patrol boat, or "PBR", squadron.) "I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. 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 hulls and have little or no armor, but are heavily armed and rely on speed. On February 9, 1968, the Gridley set sail for a Western Pacific deployment.

Kerry's first tour of duty was as an ensign on the guided missile frigate USS Gridley. Fleet Anti-Air Warfare Training Center for training as a Combat Information Center Watch Officer. On March 22, he reported to the U.S. On January 3, 1967 Kerry began a ten-week Officer Damage Control Course at the Naval Schools Command on Treasure Island, California.

Naval Training Center in Newport, Rhode Island, he received his commission on December 16. After completing sixteen weeks of Officer Candidate School at the U.S. [5] (http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/jkmilservice/Request_For_History_of_Service.pdf) He began his active duty military service on August 19. Naval Reserve.

On February 18, 1966, Kerry enlisted in the U.S. Kerry's military record received considerable attention during his political career, especially during his unsuccessful 2004 bid for the presidency. Kerry received several combat medals during this tour, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. His last tour in Vietnam was four months as officer in charge of a Swift boat in 1969.

Kerry served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War, during the period from 1966 to 1970. The speech he delivered was a broad criticism of American foreign policy, including the Vietnam war, in which he would soon see combat. At the last moment, he rewrote his speech from the version that had already been published. Because of his public speaking skills, he was chosen to give the class oration at graduation.

He did not fail any courses. In addition to Kerry's four D's in his freshman year, he received one D in his sophomore year. He received four D's in his freshman year out of 10 courses, but improved his average in later years. 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.

Over four years, Kerry maintained a 76 grade average. 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." [4] (http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=21803). foreign policy. 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.

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. He was also inducted into the Skull and Bones Society. His involvement with the Political Union gave him an opportunity to be involved with important issues of the day, such as the civil rights movement and Kennedy's New Frontier program. In his sophomore year Kerry became president of the Yale Political Union.

To earn extra money during the summers, he loaded trucks in a grocery warehouse and sold encyclopedias door to door. He also played on the soccer, hockey, lacrosse, and fencing teams; in addition, he took flying lessons. in 1966. There he majored in political science and graduated with a B.A.

In 1962, Kerry entered Yale University. They met again a few weeks later at the America's Cup race off the coast of Rhode Island. Later that day, a White House photographer snapped a photo of Kerry sailing with Kennedy and his family in Narragansett Bay. 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.

When Kerry told Kennedy that he was about to enter Yale University, Kennedy grimaced because he had gone to rival school Harvard University. It was there that Kerry met President Kennedy for the first time. Auchincloss invited Kerry to visit her family's estate, Hammersmith Farm in Rhode Island. That summer, he began dating Janet Jennings Auchincloss (now deceased), Jacqueline Kennedy's half-sister.

In 1962, Kerry volunteered for Edward Kennedy's first Senatorial campaign. While living in the U.S., Kerry spent several summers at the Forbes family's estates on Naushon Island off Cape Cod. Kennedy's election to the White House. In November of 1960, Kerry gave his first political speech, in favor of John F.

Paul's to debate the issues of the day; the Society still exists there. In 1959 Kerry founded the John Winant Society at St. Only 500 copies were made. In 2004, one of the copies was auctioned on eBay for $2,551. Kerry also played electric bass for the prep school's band The Electras, which produced an album in 1961.

Mueller III, the current director of the FBI. In his free time, he enjoyed ice hockey and lacrosse, which he played on teams captained by classmate Robert S. He learned skills in public speaking and he became deeply interested in politics. Despite having difficulty fitting in, he made friends and developed his interests.

Paul's, Kerry felt like an outsider because he was a Catholic and liberal while most of his fellow students were Republican Episcopalians. At St. His father's Foreign Service salary was not enough to pay the school's tuition; Kerry's childless great-aunt, Clara Winthrop, then very much advanced in age, voluntarily covered the costs. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and graduated from there in 1962.

The following year, he enrolled at St. John Joseph Pershing. Gen. There he met and became friends with Richard Pershing, grandson of the famed U.S.

In 1957, he attended the Fessenden School in West Newton, a village in Newton, Massachusetts. Embassy in Oslo, Norway, Kerry was sent to Massachusetts to attend boarding school. While his father was stationed at the U.S. He later named his powerboat after the title character.

While attending the boarding school, Kerry saw the film Scaramouche, which became his favorite movie. He biked through France, took a ferry from Norway to England, and one time camping alone in Sherwood Forest. As a boy, Kerry often spent time alone. When he visited home, he biked around the city, exploring the ruins of the former Nazi capital, and even sneaking into the Soviet Sector, until his father found out and grounded him.

He then went to a Swiss boarding school at age 11 while his family lived in Berlin. Albans School in Washington D.C. For kids, [that's] not the greatest thing." At an early age he attended St. There wasn't a lot of permanence and roots.

It steeled you. It kind of had an effect on you. Many years later, he said that "to my chagrin, and everlasting damnation, I was always moving on and saying goodbye. Because Kerry's family moved often, he attended several schools as a child.

During these summers, he became good friends with his first cousin Brice Lalonde, a future Socialist and Green Party leader in France who ran for president of France in 1981. Kerry occupied his time there racing his cousins on bicycles and challenging relatives to games of kick the can. Kerry and his parents would often spend the summer holidays there. The sprawling estate was rebuilt in 1954.

When the Germans fled, they bombed Les Essarts and burnt it down. The family estate, known as Les Essarts, had been occupied and used as a Nazi headquarters during the war. This visit came shortly after the United States had liberated Saint-Briac from the Nazis on August 14, 1944. 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, France.

[1] (http://www.familyforest.com/Kerry_Bush_Cousins.html) [2] (http://msn.ancestry.com/landing/strange/bush4/tree.htm) [3] (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5723115/). Bush (ninth cousin, twice removed), and to many of the royal houses of Europe. Through her, John Kerry is related to four Presidents, including, ironically, George W. Forbes married Margaret Tyndal Winthrop, who came from a family with deep roots in New England history.

John Kerry's maternal grandfather, James Grant Forbes, was born in Shanghai, China, where the Forbes family of China and Boston accumulated a fortune in the opium and China trade. The couple married in Montgomery, Alabama in January 1941. One of 11 children, she studied to be a nurse, and served in the Red Cross in Paris during World War II (she also was a Girl Scout leader for 50 years). In 1937, Richard Kerry met Rosemary Forbes, a member of the wealthy Forbes family.

Department of State. Army Air Corps, he worked for the Foreign Service and served as an attorney for the Bureau of United Nations Affairs in the U.S. After a stint in the U.S. Richard John Kerry, John's father, was born on July 28, 1915 in Massachusetts.

Frederick Kerry himself committed suicide in the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston on November 23, 1921. Two of Ida's siblings, Otto Loewe and Jenni Loewe, died in the Nazi extermination camps (Theresienstadt and Treblinka, respectively), after being deported from Vienna in 1942. A Czech historian believes that Ida was a descendant of Sinai Loew, one of three older brothers of Rabbi Judah Loew (1525-August 22, 1609), a famous Kabbalist, philosopher and talmudist known as the Maharal of Prague. They raised their three children, including John's father, as Catholics.

They then immigrated to the United States, arriving at Ellis Island in 1905. His wife Ida also converted at the same time. But in 1901, Fritz Kohn converted from Judaism to Catholicism and changed his name to Frederick Kerry. They were both German-speaking Ashkenazi Jews.

His wife Ida (née Loewe) was born in Budapest, Hungary. Kerry (born Fritz Kohn), was born on May 10, 1873 in the town of Horní Benešov, Austria-Hungary (in what is now the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic), and grew up in Mödling, Austria (a small town near Vienna). Kerry's paternal grandfather, Frederick A. Summers were spent at the Forbes family estate in France, and John enjoyed much greater extravagance there than he had come to know back in Massachusetts.

However, John did mix and mingle with the upper class. Although John attended elite schools throughout Europe and New England, the tuition was paid by a wealthy great-aunt, as Richard Kerry's salary could not accommodate the schools attended by the Kerry children. In truth, the Forbes family enjoyed a great fortune, but John's parents themselves were upper-middle class. Another misconception regarding Kerry's upbringing is that his immediate family was wealthy.

In fact, the two Forbes clans are not related. A misconception some Americans have is that John Forbes Kerry is related to billionaire publisher Malcolm Forbes and his son Steve Forbes, the latter of whom twice sought the Republican presidential nomination. He has three siblings: Margery (1941), Diana (1947) and Cameron (1950). Kerry was the second child of Richard John Kerry and Rosemary Forbes Kerry.

His family was Roman Catholic, and as a child John served as an altar boy. Kerry's family returned to their home state of Massachusetts shortly after his birth. His father, Richard Kerry, a World War II Army Air Corps test pilot, had been undergoing treatment there for tuberculosis. Kerry was born at the Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado outside Denver.

Bush. In 2004, he ran an unsuccessful bid for the United States presidency as the Democratic Party's nominee, losing to incumbent president George W. John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts. (2) Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps & Narcotics Affairs. Subcommittee on European Affairs. Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy. Subcommittee on International Trade.

Subcommittee on Health Care. Subcommittee on Transportation. Subcommittee on Communications. (ranking member).

Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries and the Environment (ranking member). Committee on Finance. Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Committee on Foreign Relations.