Kerry's World: Father Knows Best

CBS News ^ | March 3, 2004 | Franklin Foer

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Cash-and-Kerry*** John Forbes Kerry was born December 11, 1943, in a hospital in Denver, Colorado, where his test-pilot father Richard had been sent to treat his tuberculosis. His mother, Rosemary, was by descent a double New England Brahmin, her father James part of the colonial Forbes family and her mother a Winthrop whose lineage included the pilgrim leader who helped establish the Congregational Church in the young Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Rosemary's Forbes family had wealth through its hereditary ownership of much of Cape Cod. Her father used his money to raise his family in France, where aspiring lawyer Richard met her during a youthful idyll. Setting a pattern his son would follow more than once, Richard did not hesitate to wed a rich girl.

In this aristocratic tradition, young John Kerry spent much of his childhood in Europe - with his family in Berlin, Oslo and St. Briac, France - and in an upper-class boarding school in Switzerland. So recounts historian Douglas Brinkley in his fawning-but-eye-opening new biography Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War. Kerry grew up speaking foreign tongues and absorbing a European socialist's view of the world - and of America.***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A Midland, TX upbringing keeps one's loyalites close to home.

[AmishDude]

just as Americans exaggerate their own goodness,

Actually, this statement is breathtaking enough.

[Fedora]

Very informative post. A couple notes on this:

Two years into his Washington stint, Kerry's relocation paid off. The State Department's Bureau of United Nations Affairs hired him to help work through the thicket created by America's adherence to a new set of postwar international agreements.

Alger Hiss and Dean Acheson were heavily involved in the State Department's early UN activity during this period, so there may be a connection here between them and Kerry's father (which is interesting to relate to the information that while at Yale Kerry roomed with Harvey H. Bundy III, whose relative William Bundy--Dean Acheson's son-in-law--had previously contributed to Alger Hiss' defense fund). I haven't read Brinkley's book yet but Brinkley also wrote a biography of Acheson, so I'd be curious if he mentions Acheson in his book on Kerry.

According to Brinkley, through these conferences, Kerry established relationships with a group of like-minded government officials, including the famed French planning commissioner (and intellectual architect of the European Union) Jean Monnet.

[SNIP]

His father introduced the adolescent boy to such luminaries as Monnet and West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

Monnet helped found a socialist group called ACUE (American Committee for a United Europe) which was a halfway point between European capitalism and Soviet communism, and which thus became central in the tug-of-war between the Soviets and the CIA for influence among intellectuals in post-WWII Europe. It might be enlightening to discover who at ACUE Kerry's father associated with. I'm looking forward to reading Brinkley's book and seeing if there's any additional information of relevance here.

[afraidfortherepublic]

And don't forget NY Senator Hillary Clinton's "Jewish roots" -- even if was only a step-grandparent by marriage. She certainly made a big deal about it.

[Carolinamom]

Thanks. Other than her family background and her being a homemaker, there seems to be precious little of any personal influence she might have had on her son. Supposedly, she was at the dinner table when all those father-son discussions of world affairs were taking place, but from the dirth of info about what SHE thought or said, who would know that she was even present?

At some point in his growing up, it is said that sons are often closer to their mothers than to their fathers. I wonder if she ever was, or if she was remote in her mothering and homemaker roles.

[CharlieOK1]

bump!

[Shermy]

I agree - important article. Lots sound like a fellow traveller - eg the strawman of American "militarism" torn down by his other suppositions.

Was Daddy Kerry a comrade? He certainly sounds like he wants to be European.

And interesting Kerry so little talks about dad.

"...although his book does read like a contemporary brief against neoconservatism..."

Yawn. It's a "contemproary brief" of its time, against the policies of specifically democrats like Kennedy and Johnson - who were not anti-Americans or uncomfortable with America. They were "neo-conservatives" - though not in the cryptic religious sense.

When Kerry mouths off Bush should cite Kennedy.

[Shermy]

Bump.

[Purdue Pete]

Keeping it bumped.....

[Shermy]

Told ya' Jean was a French agent of influence.

[Shermy]

Why is he acting dumb about his grandfather?

You have any doubt John Kerry didn't know about his declasse roots? Not something to talk about in the mansions of the Winthrops and Forbes.

Kerry's lying.

[marron]

What I hear is intellectual arrogance. He's too smart to believe in America, and whatever we do, he is too smart to fall for it.

There is plenty of that going around, by the way.

If we work with existing governments, we are trafficking with dictators. If we lean on them to mitigate their abuses, we are too haughty. If we promote democracy and rule of law we are too stupid to recognize the cultural differences among men. We should have intervened to resolve Haiti's misery. Our rescue of Aristide was an overthrow that should be investigated.

What drives men like this is not a basic belief in any particular philosophical values but rather a wounded sense that the world has not properly appreciated them. Whatever is done, they would have done it better.

[okie01]

"It's a "contemproary brief" of its time, against the policies of specifically democrats like Kennedy and Johnson - who were not anti-Americans or uncomfortable with America."

Add Harry Truman to the list. In Daddy Kerry's mind, Truman was not only strategically misguided in "starting" the Cold War, he was also a vulgar commoner. A failed haberdasher, no less.

Daddy Kerry must have really had it in for Kennedy, though. Not only was JFK I pro-American, he betrayed his class by not buying into what the intellectual elite was thinking at the time.

If John Effin' Kerry is capable of having "core beliefs", we now know they definitely include: a.) America is always wrong, b.) the Europeans are always right and c.) international organizations should be running the world.

[SuziQ]

It's clear in Kerry's case, as the old saying goes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[SuziQ]

What was important was that his two sons were not slouches. Concepts like diligence, duty, and loyalty were instilled in them, with tenderness usually coming last

What a stark contrast to the Bush family. George H. W. Bush has no problem in publicly showing his love and pride for his two politically successful sons.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Bump.

It's becoming clear to my why the media and democratic primary voters allow Kerry to simply campaign on anti-Bush rhetoric and not his position on meaningful issues.

[SkyPilot]

The Dims will follow Kerry off a bridge if they have to.

There is a famous story of Joseph Stalin. He brought his most powerful ministers, generals, and cabinet members into a room. Stalin held a live chicken in his arms. To the horror of the men in the room, Stalin began plucking out its feathers, one by one. The bird was being tortured.

When he was done, he put the bleeding bird down, and scooped up some chicken feed in his hand. The terrified and wounded bird came over to him and started to eat the feed out of his hand.

Stalin told his ministers: "This is how you treat the masses."

[antivenom]

you for got....

"Red Diaper Gold Digger Doper Baby"

[antivenom]

Check out the website...www.crushkerry.com, it has potential.