John Kerry - Yale (Page 3 of 3)

[angrydemocrat]

By his seinor year, Kerry was brooding about his future. He would go flying constantly, then return to Yale, where he would spend hours inside the Skull and Bones headquarters. Women, sex, and money were inevitably discussed at Bones but fellow Bonesmen most remember how Kerry steered talk to Vietnam. Kerry increasingly expressed doubts about Vietnam. When president Lyndon B.Johnson had greatly increased troops being sent to Vietnam, Kerry made a spontaneous speech to others decrying the implications of this political event and what this meant in terms of our engagement in Vietnam. One fellow Bonesmen Alan Cross said "Kerry was alarmed at what we were doing. That doesn't mean we opposed what we were doing. Buy Kerry saw this growing quagmire we were headed into with the good intention and certain results. My recollection of the talk was not so muchthe statement of opposition but was really,a clarion, Kerry said hey guys, this is happening, this is going to be critical."

In 1966 Kerry had been chosen to deliver the class oration, a high honor. For weeks Kerry thought about the speech. Should he talk about Vietnam? Should he question the countries direction? He pondered these thoughts on a final trip with his fellow Bonesmen, a vacation trip to Deer Island in St. Lawrence Seaway. The property is owned by Skull and Bones.

Kerry and Pershing, as usual were inseprable. But one day they asked fellow Bonesmen Micheal Dalby to join them on a boat ride. Dalby agreed to go along, only to realize too late that he was going on a trip with two men who seemed to be equally drawn to danger. Dalby said "We were in the St. Lawrence, and its a big seaway, with great big ships. So Pershing, who was completely uncontrollable got three of us in this small dinghy boat with a motor and started approaching this gigantic ship and I was completely terrified. I thought that was going to be it, and you know, it could of been. He was crazy. So John seemed really nervous about this, figured out the last moment to turn back, and so the two of them played a complete ruse on me, I've never been so scared in my life. Kerry was very capable of that kind of switch back and forth between humerous self to very solemn."

Kerry began to write his speech. Then on June 12,1966 Kerry delivered his speech.

"What was an excess of isolationism has become an excess of interventionism. And this Vietnam War has found our policy makers forcing Americans in a strange corner...that if victory escapes us, it would not be the fault of those that lead, but of the doubters that stabbed them in the back, notions all to typical of an American that had to find Americans to blame for the takeover in China by the Communists, and then for the takeover in Cuba. The United States must, I think bring itself ti understand the policy of intervention that was right for Western Europe does not and cannot find the same application to the rest of the world. We have not lost the desire to serve. We question the very roots we are serving."

Despite his doubts, Kerry was already signed up to go attend Officer Canidate School in Rhode Island, and he was heading off to war. It was as if he was questioning his own movements at a time when they were unstoppable. It was like the great ship in the St. Lawrence Seaway, Vietnam was looming ahead of him, and he was heading towards it, knowing a collision could be deadly. Something drew him to it nonetheless a mixture of dander, duty, and comradeship. Kerry said "I wanted to be there and be able to be a part of it, make my contribution, have a sense of what it was all about. Like all young men who have a sence of adventure, who are testing themselves. Me and my friends had a sense of invincibility. Persh was going and so were Smith and Thorne and Kerry was not be left behind

[WildEyedLiberal]

1. It's cool that you're posting all this, angrydem

Reading this, I can't help but feel even more disdain for people who sneer at Kerry's Skull and Bones connections. John Kerry was clearly a much different man before Vietnam than he was after; losing his best friend, being wounded in combat, and taking human life changed his life forever. So people who obsess about Skull and Bones are obsessing about something that mattered to him 40 years ago, because it is clear that his life changed in Vietnam. I have never understood that criticism.

[angrydemocrat]

2. I enjoy doing it

I hope others start reading them and telling there opinions of my post as well. I hope they don't get mad over how long they are but when you are writing about this man it takes more than two or three paragraphs. He is truly a remarkable man. And a very interesting man at that. I think if people took time to read what I have wrote so far they will discover something about him they didn't know. I know the more research and reading I do on him I keep learning. I love this man. He is my hero.

What I made sure I pointed out in my post was that him and Bush was not good buddies like so many try to say. Kerry and Bush didn't hang out together or any of that they clashed. I get sick of people saying he is buddies with Bush he wasn't then and he sure as hell isn't now! People blow the Skull and Bones thing way out paportion.