John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts. In 2004, he made an unsuccessful bid for the United States presidency as the Democratic Party's nominee. He was defeated by incumbent President George W. Bush.

Early life and education

Kerry was born at the Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado outside Denver. His father, Richard Kerry, a World War II Army Air Corps test pilot, had been undergoing treatment there for tuberculosis.

Related Topics:
Fitzsimons Army Hospital - Aurora - Colorado - Denver - Richard Kerry - World War II - Army Air Corps - Test pilot - Tuberculosis

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Kerry's family returned to their home state of Massachusetts shortly after his birth. His family was Roman Catholic, and as a child John served as an altar boy.

Related Topics:
Massachusetts - Roman Catholic - Altar boy

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Family background

Kerry was the second child of Richard John Kerry and Rosemary Forbes Kerry. He has three siblings: Margery (1941), Diana (1947) and Cameron (1950).

Related Topics:
Rosemary Forbes Kerry - 1941 - 1947 - 1950

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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. In fact, the two Forbes clans are not related.

Related Topics:
Billionaire - Malcolm Forbes - Steve Forbes

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Another misconception regarding Kerry's upbringing is that his immediate family was wealthy. In truth, the Forbes family enjoyed a great fortune, but Kerry's parents themselves were upper-middle class. Although Kerry attended elite schools in 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. However, Kerry did mix and mingle with the upper class. Summers were spent at the Forbes family estate in France, and Kerry enjoyed much greater extravagance there than he had come to know in Massachusetts.

Related Topics:
Immediate family - Wealthy - Forbes - Middle class - Elite - Europe - New England - Upper class - Forbes family estate - France

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Kerry is a distant cousin of U.S. President George W. Bush, though there appears to be some dispute regarding exactly how related they are http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4286105/ http://www.familyforest.com/Kerry_Bush_Cousins.html http://msn.ancestry.com/landing/strange/bush4/tree.htm http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5723115/.

Related Topics:
U.S. President - George W. Bush

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Maternal family background

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. Forbes married Margaret Tyndal Winthrop, who came from a family with 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. http://www.familyforest.com/Kerry_Bush_Cousins.html http://msn.ancestry.com/landing/strange/bush4/tree.htm http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5723115/

Related Topics:
James Grant Forbes - Shanghai - China - Boston - Opium - Margaret Tyndal Winthrop

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Paternal family background

Kerry's paternal grandfather, Frederick A. Kerry (born Fritz Kohn), was born on May 10, 1873 in the town of Horní Bene?ov, 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). His wife Ida (née Loewe) was born in Budapest, Hungary. They were both German-speaking Ashkenazi Jews. But in 1901, Fritz Kohn converted from Judaism to Catholicism 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 Ellis Island in 1905. 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 Judah Loew (1525-August 22, 1609), a famous Kabbalist, philosopher and talmudist known as the Maharal of Prague. Two of Ida Kohn's siblings, Otto Loewe and Jenni Loewe, died in the Nazi extermination camps (Theresienstadt and Treblinka, respectively), after being deported from Vienna in 1942. Frederick Kerry himself committed suicide in the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston on November 23, 1921.

Related Topics:
Frederick A. Kerry - May 10 - 1873 - Horní Bene?ov - Austria-Hungary - Moravian-Silesian Region - Czech Republic - Mödling - Austria - Vienna - Budapest - Hungary - German - Ashkenazi Jew - Judaism - Catholicism - Ellis Island - 1905 - Judah Loew - 1525 - August 22 - 1609 - Kabbalist - Talmud - Maharal - Prague - Extermination camp - Theresienstadt - Treblinka - Suicide - Copley Plaza Hotel - Boston - November 23 - 1921

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Kerry's father, Richard John Kerry, was born on July 28, 1915 in Massachusetts. After a stint in the U.S. 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. Department of State.

Related Topics:
Richard John Kerry - July 28 - 1915 - U.S. Army Air Corps - Foreign Service - Bureau of United Nations Affairs - U.S. Department of State

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In 1937, Richard Kerry met Rosemary Forbes, a member of the wealthy Forbes family. One of 11 children, she studied to be a nurse, and served in the Red Cross in Paris during World War II (she also was a Girl Scout leader for 50 years). The couple married in Montgomery, Alabama in January 1941.

Related Topics:
1937 - Rosemary Forbes - Forbes family - Red Cross - Paris - Girl Scout - Montgomery - Alabama

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Childhood years

Kerry has said that his first memory is from when he was three years old, of holding his crying mother's hand while they walked through the broken glass and rubble of her childhood home in Saint-Briac, France. This visit came shortly after the United States had liberated Saint-Briac from the Nazis on August 14, 1944. The family estate, known as Les Essarts, had been occupied and used as a Nazi headquarters during the war. When the Germans fled, they bombed Les Essarts and burnt it down.

Related Topics:
Saint-Briac - France - Nazis - August 14 - 1944 - Les Essarts

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The sprawling estate was rebuilt in 1954. 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 kick the can. 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.

Related Topics:
1954 - Kick the can - Brice Lalonde - Socialist - Green Party - President of France - 1981

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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 St. Albans School in Washington D.C. He then went to a Swiss boarding school at age 11 while his family lived in Berlin. 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. As a boy, Kerry often spent time alone. He biked through France, took a ferry from Norway to England, and one time camped alone in Sherwood Forest. While attending the boarding school, Kerry saw the film Scaramouche, which became his favorite movie. He later named his powerboat after the title character.

Related Topics:
St. Albans School - Swiss - Boarding school - Berlin - Nazi - Soviet Sector - Norway - England - Sherwood Forest - Scaramouche

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Boarding school (1957-1962)

While his father was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway, Kerry was sent to Massachusetts to attend boarding school. In 1957, he attended the Fessenden School in West Newton, a village in Newton, Massachusetts. There he met and became friends with Richard Pershing, grandson of the famed U.S. Gen. John Joseph Pershing.

Related Topics:
Oslo - Norway - 1957 - Newton - Massachusetts - John Joseph Pershing

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The following year, he enrolled at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and graduated from there in 1962. 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. At St. Paul's, Kerry felt like an outsider because he was a Catholic and liberal while most of his fellow students were Republican Episcopalians.

Related Topics:
St. Paul's School - Concord, New Hampshire - 1962 - Clara Winthrop - Republican - Episcopalian

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Despite having difficulty fitting in, he made friends and developed his interests. He learned skills in public speaking and he became deeply interested in politics. In his free time, he enjoyed ice hockey and lacrosse, which he played on teams captained by classmate Robert S. Mueller III, the current director of the FBI. Kerry also played electric bass for the prep school's band The Electras, which produced an album in 1961. Only 500 copies were made. In 2004, one of the copies was auctioned on eBay for $2,551.

Related Topics:
Public speaking - Politics - Ice hockey - Lacrosse - Robert S. Mueller III - FBI - Electric bass - The Electras - EBay

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In 1959 Kerry founded the John Winant Society at St. Paul's to debate the issues of the day; the Society still exists there. In November of 1960, Kerry gave his first political speech, in favor of John F. Kennedy's election to the White House.

Related Topics:
1959 - 1960 - John F. Kennedy - White House

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While living in the U.S., Kerry spent several summers at the Forbes family's estates on Naushon Island off Cape Cod.

Related Topics:
Naushon Island - Cape Cod

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Encounters with President Kennedy (1962)

In 1962, Kerry volunteered for Edward Kennedy's first Senatorial campaign. That summer, he began dating Janet Jennings Auchincloss (now deceased), Jacqueline Kennedy's half-sister. Auchincloss invited Kerry to visit her family's estate, Hammersmith Farm in Rhode Island. It was there that Kerry met President Kennedy for the first time.

Related Topics:
1962 - Edward Kennedy - Senatorial - Jacqueline Kennedy - Rhode Island

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When Kerry told Kennedy that he was about to enter Yale University, Kennedy grimaced because he had gone to rival school Harvard University. Kerry later recalled, "He smiled at me, laughed and said, 'Oh, don't worry about it. You know I'm a Yale man too now.'" According to Kerry, "The President uttered that famous comment about how he had the best of two worlds now: a Harvard education and Yale degree," in reference to the honorary degree he had received from Yale a few months earlier. Later that day, a White House photographer snapped a photo of Kerry sailing with Kennedy and his family in Narragansett Bay. They met again a few weeks later at the America's Cup race off the coast of Rhode Island.

Related Topics:
Yale University - Harvard University - Narragansett Bay - America's Cup

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Yale University (1962-1966)

In 1962, Kerry entered Yale University. There he majored in political science and graduated with a B.A. in 1966. He also played on the soccer, hockey, lacrosse, and fencing teams; in addition, he took flying lessons. To earn extra money during the summers, he loaded trucks in a grocery warehouse and sold encyclopedias door to door.

Related Topics:
1962 - Political science - B.A. - 1966 - Soccer - Hockey - Lacrosse - Fencing teams

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

Related Topics:
Sophomore - Civil rights movement - New Frontier - Skull and Bones Society

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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 1965, as the Vietnam War escalated, he won the Ten Eyck prize as the best orator in the junior class for a speech that was critical of U.S. foreign policy. In the speech he said, "It is the specter of Western imperialism that causes more fear among Africans and Asians than communism, and thus it is self-defeating." http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=21803

Related Topics:
1965 - Vietnam War - Orator - Foreign policy - Imperialism

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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.

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