I discovered in an old New York Times article (on his first wedding), that Kerry had been orator at his 1966 class graduation and that he had spoke out against U.S. foreign policy in that speech. I also discovered through one of the links on the vanity thread that I posted about this speech, that Kerry was supposed to have made an entirely different speech. Just hours prior to giving the speech, he changed the subject matter. The speech he was supposed to give had already been printed up by the school. I checked with the Archives at Yale and they told me they could not find any record of either speech. I find that hard to believe, but I have no other way of pursuing this.
The New York Times article also claims that Kerry told them that he went to Vietnam to study the U.S. policy there first-hand. This leads me to believe that he didn't go because he felt a compulsion to serve, but went to further his political education/beliefs for future use when running for public office.
"I checked with the Archives at Yale and they told me they could not find any record of either speech. I find that hard to believe, but I have no other way of pursuing this."
Joe Klein interviewed Kerry in 2002, for the New Yorker.I found the interview here-
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/01/279284.shtml. Klein was also interested in Kerry's Class Oration-the one he actually delivered,but,the Kerry Staffers were unable to find a copy of it.
Until-Kerry opened his desk drawer,in his expensively and elegantly decorated office.
" Kerry began to rummage around his desk and eventually pulled out a manila folder.
"Oh my, look at this!" He held up a sheaf of yellowed, double-spaced, typewritten pages. It looked like an old college term paper, taken from a three-ring binder. "It's the original copy of my Class Oration. What on earth is it doing here?"
"He sat down again and studied the speech, transfixed. Then he began to read it aloud, curious, nostalgic, embarrassed by, and yet impressed with, his undergraduate eloquence. He read several pages. Worried looks passed between the two staff members who were in the room: Was he going to read the whole damn thing?"
"But the speech he gave, hastily rewritten at the last moment, was anything but traditional: it was a broad, passionate criticism of American foreign policy, including the war that he would soon be fighting."
"The speech was notable for its central thesis:
“The United States must . . . bring itself to understand that the policy of intervention”—against Communism—“that was right for Western Europe does not and cannot find the same application to the rest of the world.”
"In most emerging nations, the spectre of imperialist capitalism stirs as much fear and hatred as that of communism".
"Never in the last twenty years has the government of the United States been as isolated as it is today." Kerry was saying the same things in 1966,that he continues to say today.
Another interesting item from the article,was Kerry's mental state,after his first election loss.He was mute for 3 days-whether voluntary or elective,is unclear.
"He came to my home in New Hampshire that weekend," his friend George Butler, a documentary filmmaker who was then a freelance photographer, recalls. "He wouldn't say a word to anyone. He sat there Friday night and built an entire model ship from scratch. On Saturday, he and I climbed a mountain together. He still wasn't talking. ... He was the most despondent-looking human being I had ever seen."