John Kerry
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
John Forbes Kerry was born in November 1943 in Aurora, Colorado. He earned an undergraduate degree in political science at Yale University. He later received a Juris Doctor from Boston College.
He enlisted in the Naval Reserve, and after completing Officer Candidate School at the U.S. Naval Training Center in Newport, Rhode Island, he received a commission. He requested duty in South Vietnam, listing his preference as commander of a Fast Patrol Craft, also known as a “Swift boat.” He received several military honors, including Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts.
After returning to the U.S., he moved to Waltham, Massachusetts, joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and engaged in many incidents of anti-war activism.
He was an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County, and spent some time in the private practice of law. He ran for the U.S. House of Representatives but was not elected. He did make a successful bid for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, a position he held for two years until his election to the United States Senate, serving 28 years. He left the Senate to become Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, serving four years.
President Joe Biden named Kerry as his Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, an office that was established by the new administration and which Kerry assumed on January 20, 2021.
Kerry was married to Julia Thorne and they had two daughters, but that marriage was formally annulled after 14 years. He is presently married to Teresa Heinz, who has three sons from a prior marriage. He is a Roman Catholic.
In the News…
Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry recently stated, “The scientists told us three years ago we had 12 years to avert the worst consequences of climate crisis. We are now three years gone, so we have nine years left.”
He said that the administration’s ambitious climate change agenda and the terms of the Paris climate agreement may not be sufficient to avoid disastrous climate patterns that are developing.
“Even if we did everything that we said we were going to do when we signed up in Paris, we would see a rise in the Earth’s temperature to somewhere around 3.7 degrees or more, which is catastrophic.”
He pointed to the winter weather that plagued Texas and much of the central U.S. “I think it’s a very appropriate way to think of it, so it is directly related to the warming, even though your instinct is to say, wait a minute, this is the new Ice Age. But it’s not. It is coming from the global warming, and it threatens all the normal weather patterns.” He said such patterns would become the new normal if humans don’t take action. “Obviously, we want to prevent this from becoming the new normal to the degree that we can,” he said.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Special Envoy Kerry today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable John Kerry
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
