John Kerry

Background

One of the world’s leading diplomatic figures, John Kerry is a decorated Vietnam veteran, five-term U.S. senator, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, and the 68th U.S. Secretary of State. A Yale graduate, Kerry enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1966, serving valiantly in Vietnam. He returned highly decorated (three Purple Hearts, Silver Star, and Bronze Star with Valor for Heroic Achievement), but disillusioned. He testified powerfully before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April 1971 as a young veteran opposed to the war at the age of 28, saying, memorably, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to die for a mistake?” The next day, he was arrested during a VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War) march near Boston honoring American POWs held captive in North Vietnam. Kerry served as a prosecutor in Massachusetts, then as lieutenant governor, and was elected to the Senate in 1984. In 2004, he came within one state, Ohio, of winning the presidency.  He returned to the Senate, chairing the important Foreign Relations Committee. As Secretary of State, he tried to find peace in the Middle East, dealt with the Syrian civil war while combatting ISIS, and negotiated the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement. He is currently a Distinguished Fellow for Global Affairs at Yale University, as well as the inaugural Visiting Statesman for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.