John Kerry

US Senator

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Senator John F. Kerry is Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, the 2004 Democratic Nominee for President of the United States, a five-term US Senator, and a decorated Vietnam veteran.   Kerry was born on December 11, 1943 at Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. Not long after, his family settled in Massachusetts. There, his parents taught him the values of service and responsibility and the blessings of his Catholic faith.   Upon graduating from Yale, Kerry volunteered to serve in Vietnam. He was decorated with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts.   When he came home to the United States, Kerry spoke out against a policy he felt protected politicians in Washington while soldiers bore the real burden. He also began a lifelong fight for his fellow veterans - joining with other vets to found the Vietnam Veterans of America and to fight for veterans' benefits, extension of the G.I. Bill for Higher Education, and treatment of PTSD. Later, John Kerry accepted another tour of duty - to serve in America's communities. After graduating from Boston College Law School in 1976, John Kerry went to work as a top prosecutor in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. He took on organized crime, fought for victims' rights and created programs for rape counseling.   John Kerry was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1982. Two years later, he was elected to the United States Senate. He has won reelection four times since.   John Kerry entered the Senate with a reputation as a man of conviction. He helped provide health insurance for millions of low-income children. He has fought to improve public education, protect our natural environment, and strengthen our economy.   From his ground-breaking work on the Iran-Contra scandal to his leadership on global AIDS, Kerry has distinguished himself as one of our nation's most respected voices on national security and international affairs. He worked on a bipartisan basis to craft the American response to 9/11 and has been a leading voice on American policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, counterterrorism, and Middle East politics and peacemaking.   Kerry now chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the very committee he testified before in 1971. The Committee will address the key foreign policy and national security issues facing the United States including Afghanistan and Pakistan, nuclear nonproliferation, global climate change, and a responsible conclusion to the war in Iraq.   In his 24 years on the Committee, Kerry has chaired the Asia and Middle East subcommittees and authored and passed major legislation on international drug trafficking, global AIDS, international money laundering, humanitarian aid, and climate change - and negotiated the UN's genocide tribunal to prosecute war crimes in Cambodia's Killing Fields.   In 2003, John Kerry announced his candidacy for president of the United States -- and went on to mount a come from behind campaign that won the Democratic nomination. Today he continues in the United States Senate fighting for what motivated him to enter public life in the first place: love of country and the call of duty. Today, Senator Kerry is the fourteenth-most senior Senator. He holds senior positions on the Finance, Commerce, and Small Business Committees.   In his life of public service, John Kerry is sustained by his loving family. He is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, and their family together includes two daughters, three sons, and one grandchild.   His clear and dramatic call to every person in the world is best expressed in the words of his acceptance speech: "Because there is global insecurity, nations are engaged in a mad arms race, spending billions of dollars wastefully on instruments of destruction, when millions are starving. And yet, just a fraction of what is expe

John Kerry was a Counsellor at One Young World Summits: 2010 in London.