Kodiak, re: In playing alternative history, isn't it possible that without the antiwar movement, he would have been a nobody?
I think the following statement you've quoted from the article is incomplete:
In fact, Kerry once again was thinking of running for the US House from Massachusetts. But unlike in 1970, when Kerry was barely known, the antiwar movement had turned him into a national figure and taught him how to campaign, how to organize, how to raise money, how to use the media, even how to debate on national television.
There's no question that his activities in the Veteran's against the war movement increased Kerry's political savvy, but what that quote doesn't reveal is that Kerry was a debating star at Yale who participated in debates with Harvard and other institutions, that he was one of the handful of students chosen for the Skull and Crossbones membership that was so "connected" in politics, economics, and business, that he was raised by a father who was a career diplomat and was aware of international and domestic issues from an early age, that he enjoyed the benefit of Yale connections, his family connections (Forbes) and his social connections which were substantial. He was, after Vietnam, also deserving of recognition for personal courage and for having the wisdom borne of war.
He was also very politically ambitious and his aim was clearly to enter politics and make a difference, or maybe a name for himself if you are of that view.
The reason that I said that if he hadn't spoken out against the war he would have had an easier path is because I've read Brinkley's book and the Kerry history reveals that his antiwar stance was a burden and not a benefit politically. It did springboard him into the national limelight, it did allow him to catch the eye of Ted Kennedy and it did allow him to have a realistic chance to run for office at a young age, but not successfully.
His first time out of the box he stepped aside for another anti war candidate. The second time he ran and lost. The country was divided on the war even after it ended and the country was tired of the conflict. His status as a war veteran and an antiwar protester did little to propel his candidacy. Too nuanced? He then decided to go to law school and upon graduation he became a prosecutor. It was years before he ran for office again. When he did, he did not run on a decade old reputation as a veteran or as an anti war candidate, he ran as John Kerry.
If, after beginning a successful career as a politician, he had been a John McCain or Chuck Hagel type of war veteran in the eyes of the voters, his path through politics would have probably been easier; not harder. Clearly if we now had John Kerry-war hero, without the John Kerry-atrocities and a bad war protester, we'd have a far different poll result for Bush to look at and no bad feelings about the war in Vietnam to focus hatred on Kerry. That's the basis for my opinion that Kerry didn't "need" the notoriety of his protests to grease his successful entry into politics. I believe that was a handicap and that he entered politics successfully by OVERCOMING that handicap.
Note that with a similar backround and admittedly better connections but without the record of academic and career success, the ambition, the record of achievements, the medals, the recognition for standing against the war, or the eperience in politics, George W Bush did pretty well for himself. |
