Obama nominates John Kerry as secretary of state
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E-mail Xinhua, December 22, 2012
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Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Senator John Kerry speaks during a news conference at the headquarters of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Khartoum, Sudan, Jan. 6, 2011. (Xinhua File Photo) |
The following is a profile of John Kerry:
On Dec. 11, 1943, Kerry was born in a military hospital in Denver, Colorado.
After graduating in 1966 from Yale University with a bachelor of arts degree, Kerry joined the U.S. Navy and served in Vietnam from 1968-1969. After returning from Vietnam, Kerry turned into an anti-war hero.
Kerry's first foray into politics was not successful. In 1972, the 28-year-old Kerry declared his candidacy in the fifth Congressional District in Massachusetts but lost the bid.
After the defeat, Kerry went to Boston College and got a law degree in 1976. He worked as an assistant district attorney and opened his own law practice. But he never gave up his political ambition.
In 1982, Kerry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. In 1984, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he is currently serving his fifth consecutive term.
Kerry was the Democratic Party candidate in the 2004 U.S. presidential elections, who based his campaign on opposition to the Iraq War. But some accused his position on the war as "flip-flopping" as he first voted to authorize the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and later opposed the war. In the end, Kerry and his running mate Senator John Edwards lost to then President George W. Bush.
Despite his failure in the presidential race, Kerry remains an influential Senator. He became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2009. As a supporter of Obama in the 2008 presidential elections, Kerry has emerged in recent years as an important envoy of Obama for Afghanistan and Pakistan during times of diplomatic crisis.
Kerry has rich experience in dealing with Middle East affairs. He met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad five times in Damascus before the unrest in Syria broke out in March, 2011. He also paid a rare visit to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in February, 2009.
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