John Kerry's Grandparents - Fredrick and Ida Kerry

[angrydemocrat]

Fred Kerry was born a Jew named Fritz Kohn, to a family of brewers and shoemakers. Fritz Kohn was born May 11, 1873 in Benisch in the Austrian Empire, now known as Horni Benesov in the Czech Republic, according to Austrian records. Fritz Kohn married a Jewish woman from Budapest named Ida Lowe, they had a son named Eric. Although the family was well off in Vienna, this was of rampant anti-Semitism in the city. The City Council was run by the Christian Social Party which treated Jews harshly.

In 1900 Fritz applied to change his name to Kerry. But why was the name Kerry chosen? According to family legend another family member opened a atlas at random and dropped a pencil on the map. It fell on Kerry Country in Ireland, and thus the name was chosen. The couple would now be known as Fradrick and Ida Kerry. But the name change wasn't enough. On Oct.9,1901 Fred and Ida and their newborn son Eric went to St. Othmar Catholic parish in Modling and were jointly baptized as Catholics. The name change was in by Dec.17,1901 according to the notation in the Jewish marriage records in Vienna.

The Kerry's felt their opportunity layed across the ocean. So they departed from from an Italian port aboard the ship Konigen Luise and arrived in Ellis Island on May 18,1905. Fred and Ida and their newborn son were listed in immigration documents as Austrian. They soon moved to Chicago were they prospered. Kerry ran an ad in a city directory that described "Fred A Kerry & Staff" as business councilers,and Kerry himself was in the Chicago Blue Book, which listed city leaders.

By 1915 the Kerry's lived in Brookline Mass. with Eric and their two children born in the United States: Mildred a newborn and Richard, the father of Senator Kerry. By all accounts they lived a prosperous life at 10 Downing Rd. The family acquired a Cadillac and was able to travel to Europe.

By 1920 the Kerry's suffered a financial setback. They sold there house and moved into a nearby apartment building. Still the Kerry's managed to have enough money to travel to Europe and Ida and two of the children did so in the fall of 1921. the reason for the sea voyage is not known but they returned to New York City on Oct.21,1921 and went back home to Brookline from there to join Fred. Perhaps something happened on the trip or they learned of bad news. But something seems extraordinary given what happen next.

Eight days later the rain clouds hanging low in the sky on a raw cold day, Fred Kerry stuck to his usual routine. He traveled from Brookline to his downtown office on Boylston St., probably by trolley. Around 11:30am Kerry arrived at the Copley Plaza Hotel near his office. The hotels Oval Room at that time featured a painted angel on the ceiling, it was the place to be seen. Kerry as a leading businessman in the city, was a frequent visitor. But the morning of the Nov.23, Kerry was in despair. It was lunchtime, and the Copley was busy. He made his way to the washroom, pulled a gun from his pocket and shot himself in the head. The lunch crowd heard a sharp blast. Fredrick Kerry was dead.

The next morning a Boston Herald article said "F.A.Kerry Ends Life In Hotel-Shoe Dealer Weakened And Depressed-Reorganized Many Department Strores." Kerry left behind the family he treasured including his younger 6 year old son, Richard who became a foreign service officer and who one day would have a son of his own John Forbes Kerry. John Kerry would not learn of the details of his grandfather's Jewish ancestry or the circumstances of the suicide until 2003, when he was preparing to run for the president of the United States.

Indeed some of John Kerry's closest associates and family members assumed the senator was Irish on his fathers side and a Brahmin on his mothers side which include the Forbes and Winthrop families.

[LittleClarkie]

1. People are so cynical about this

"Sure he knew he wasn't Irish. He was just pretending because it plays better in Massachusetts."

Kerry's father never spoke about this stuff, and I read that he was not the kind of man you asked such questions of. So I have no trouble believing that Kerry's ignorance of the history on his father's side was real.

Kerry sure does sound Irish, doesn't it. If you had to guess as to your nationality, it sounds like a reasonable assumption.

The Boston Globe was the paper that found this story for the bio they wrote. Anyone read it? Any good? Was it credible?

They showed Kerry the newspaper clipping about his grandfather, and they said he just kept repeating "That's awful." He hadn't known the details.

[JohnKleeb]

2. Fred Kerry killed himself in 1921 when Richard Kerry was only like 6

I wish Kerry really were Irish though that said but as a part Slovak as well as Irish, it's nice he's a Czech too.

[TayTay]

3. Revealing the past

This was actually a bit nasty, and a bit long. Bear with me. Hopefully, it's worth it.

The Boston Globe was deeply embarrased in 1988 when other newspapers revealed some of the history of Mike Dukasis instead of them. They vowed that this would NEVER happen again. So, when it looked like Kerry would finally run for Pres, the Globe assembled a team of reporters to ferret out every possible tidbit of info they could on the Senator. They hired an Austrian geneologist to look into the Kerry family background. That research revealed the story of his grandfathers unfortunate suicide.

The Boston Globe and John Kerry have always had a contentious relationship. This bipolar aspect, to this long time Globe reader, has been odd to watch. On the one hand, the Globe has always held John Kerry to a higher standard than anyone else. (The Globe is partial to neighborhood guys who have that romantic 'up-from-nothing', ethnic background. Needless to say, this is not Sen. Kerry's background.) Little things that would be brushed off if applied to other pols seemed to get blown up when it came to Kerry. Yet, every single time Kerry has run for statewide office, the Globe has endorsed him. To be fair, this was a two-way street. Kerry, who was first elected to the Senate at the age of 41 was notoriously thin-skinned when it came to newspaper coverage. (Many out and out shouting matches, bad feelings and misunderstood motives. Cie la gare!) In my humble opinion, both sides have mellowed somewhat. Howwever, the animosity remains to this day. It's part of what makes politics, politicians and newspaper coverage interesting in Boston.

Kerry was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Christmas Eve in 2002. (This disease was the listed cause of death of Kerry's Dad two and a half years early.) In January, the Globe presented Kerry with the info they had found out about his Grandfather's suicide. The Senator had known about the Austrian origin of his family. (Most folks in MA assumed Kerry was Irish. More on that later.) He did not know the details of the suicide or that it had happened at the Coply Plaza hotel. In their book, the Globe reporters noted that Kerry looked thin and wan as they were telling him the news of his family's past. (What a nice bunch of guys!) The Senator had successful surgery at John Hopkins hospital in Feb of 2003. (The recovery from this surgery derailed some early Pres campaigning in 2003. I don't think he really got back on his feet until around April of that year.)

Boston has an annual tradition at St. Patrick's Day of having a breakfast and making politicians from both partys attend and pretend to be funny. For political junkies, it is a great time, though I imagine it is less so for politicians who have to come up with jokes and stories. This event is televised statewide. It is also an occasion when you get to tease other politicians and the point is to run right up to the edge of knifing someone, then back off and say, 'Just kidding.' Of course, in 2003, the news of the Senator being Austrian not Irish and of Jewish descent was all over the news and the subject of numerous jokes at the breakfast. Comments were made to the effect that Kerry wouldn't dare show his face at this breakfast, cuz the heat would be too intense. Much laughter and jokes at Kerry's expense ensued. (Yes, they knew he was recovering from cancer surgery, but everything looked okay by then, and besides, it was just too good. Nobody could resist.)

About half way through the breakfast the moderator announced to the surprised gathering that Sen. Kerry was in the hall and would address the crowd. Kerry strode to the dias, spread his arms out wide and announced to the gathering, "Who said I didn't have the Matzo Balls to come here?" It completely broke up the house. (One of my alltime favorite Kerry moments.) He then sang a variation of an Irish song to the effect of: 'If you're Jewish, come into the parlor." Having completely slayed the crowd, the Senator departed, reputation repaired. I never heard anything about the ancestry thing after that.

Even the Globe loved this. It was a great, gutsy and funny moment. Kerry has had numerous good appearances at St. Pat's Day breakfast, but this one is my favorite.

[angrydemocrat]

5. WOW

I would have loved to seen that. I'm glad he did it. Just another example of the kind of man he really is.... A GREAT ONE! I have always love Kerry. I don't care if he is Irish or not. I find his background and his family to be very interesting indeed. This is one of the greatest politicians I have seen in my lifetime. If you really learn about him and wha he has accomplished in his lifetime it is truly great. You can't help but love and respect the man.

[LittleClarkie]

6. Heh, matzo balls

I love it.

Bless his heart, I can't help but think with a better PR team willing to let him be himself, that he could still be prez yet.

That's so amazing, and damn sad knowing the ending, that he overcame cancer at the beginning of the campaign. Nobody can tell me that he didn't work his butt of to win this election. He overcame so much, including bias against him and all the bad press, to come so damn close.

[seito]

7. Just let him be himself...

Campaigns are too scripted, yet the most memorable moments are when we catch them just being normal. I think the most quoted Kerryism of the campaign was the remark under the mic about the repukes being nothing but a bunch of crooks.

[Withywindle]

8. Just beautiful!

Oh, to have seen that! Thank you so much for that story, that's going to keep me smiling for a good while.

[angrydemocrat]

4. I got the book by the Boston Globe about his biography

Thats where I got the story about his grandparents from. The book list dates of documents and where to find some. It has been a interesting book so far. I havn't finished it. I was sharing some of what I learned out of it. John Kerry is a very intelligent man and if you learn about all his history. It is amazing some of it. Some sad some not.

[angrydemocrat]

9. kick

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[angrydemocrat]

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[angrydemocrat]

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[angrydemocrat]

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