Kerry, John F., 1943-

<p>John Forbes Kerry was born on December 11, 1943, in Aurora, Colorado. He was one of four children born to Rosemary Kerry and Richard Kerry, who served as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department. Shortly after he was born, his family moved to Massachusetts. After graduating from Yale University, Kerry enlisted in the United States Navy and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. During his service, he earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts. After returning to the United States, Kerry spoke out against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He co-founded Vietnam Veterans of America and served as a spokesperson for Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He fought for better treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and increased veterans' benefits.</p>

<p>In 1976, he graduated from Boston College Law School and went to work as a prosecutor in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Kerry was elected lieutenant governor of Massachusetts in 1982 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984. During his 28 years in the Senate, Kerry held senior positions on the Finance, Commerce, and Small Business committees. He also served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his entire tenure, chairing subcommittees on Asia and the Middle East. In 2009, Kerry became the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also served as Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Affairs.</p>

<p>In 2004, Kerry was the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States and lost to Republican nominee, George W. Bush, in the general election. President Obama nominated Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as the 68th Secretary of State. He was sworn in on February 1, 2013.</p>

<p>John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 68th United States Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1985 until 2013. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2004 presidential election, losing to Republican incumbent President George W. Bush.</p>

<p>Kerry grew up as a military brat, and attended boarding school in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He graduated from Yale University in 1966 with a major in political science. Kerry enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1966, and between 1968 and 1969, he served an abbreviated four-month tour of duty in South Vietnam as officer-in-charge (OIC) of a Swift Boat. For that service, he was awarded combat medals that include the Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal and three Purple Heart Medals. Securing an early return to the United States, Kerry joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War organization, in which he served as a nationally recognized spokesman and as an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War. He appeared in the Fulbright Hearings before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs where he described United States war policy in Vietnam as the cause of war crimes.</p>

<p>After receiving a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School, Kerry worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Massachusetts. He served as Lieutenant Governor under Michael Dukakis from 1983 to 1985 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and was sworn in the following January. On the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he led a series of hearings from 1987 to 1989 which were a precursor to the Iran–Contra affair. Kerry was reelected to additional terms in 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2008. On October 11, 2002, Kerry voted to authorize the President "to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein," but warned that the administration should exhaust its diplomatic avenues before launching war.</p>

<p>In his 2004 presidential campaign, Kerry criticized George W. Bush for the Iraq War. He and his running mate, U.S. Senator from North Carolina John Edwards, lost the election, finishing 35 electoral votes behind Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Kerry returned to the Senate, becoming Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship in 2007 and then of the Foreign Relations Committee in 2009. In January 2013, Kerry was nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then confirmed by the U.S. Senate, assuming the office on February 1, 2013. Kerry retained the position until the end of Obama's second term on January 20, 2017 when he retired from public service. </p>