Old Crimson Interview Reveals A More Radical John Kerry
The Crimson reported Kerry called for U.N. control of troops in 1970
By ZACHARY M. SEWARD
Crimson Staff Writer
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Ten months after returning home from Vietnam, a young John Kerry strolled into the offices of The Harvard Crimson on Feb. 13, 1970 as an obscure underdog in the Democratic Congressional primary.
The decorated veteran, honorably discharged after a tour of duty in the Mekong Delta, spoke in fierce terms during his daylong interview with The Crimson's Samuel Z. Goldhaber.
But almost 34 years later, Kerry's remarks on American military and intelligence operations vastly diverge from opinions expressed by the present-day Sen. John F. Kerry, D.-Mass., the leading candidate in the Democratic primary for president.
I'm an internationalist,Kerry told The Crimson in 1970. I'd like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.
Kerry said he wanted to almost eliminate CIA activity. The CIA is fighting its own war in Laos and nobody seems to care.
The Kerry campaign, celebrating primary victories in Virginia and Tennessee last night, declined to comment on the senator's remarks.
As a candidate for president, Kerry has said he supports the autonomy of the U.S. military and has never called for a scale-back of CIA operations.
Former Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich defended Kerry's 1970 statements as appropriate for their time.
In the context of the Vietnam War, those comments are completely understandable,said Reich, who has endorsed Kerry.
But a spokesperson for President Bush's reelection campaign said Kerry's 1970 remarks signaled the senator's weakness on defense.
President Bush will never cede the best interests of the national security of the American people to anybody but the president of the United States, along with the Congress, said the spokesperson, Kevin A. Madden.
The increasingly likely matchup between Kerry and Bush has already prompted comparisons of the senator's record in Vietnam and the president's domestic service in the National Guard. And the two Yale graduates, both members of the secret society Skull and Bones, appeared set to square off in future months under the specter of the ongoing war in Iraq.
Goldhaber, whose first-person profile of Kerry ran in The Crimson Feb. 18, 1970, said yesterday he recalled the candidate as an emerging outsider whose campaign focused squarely on his opposition to the Vietnam War.
We lived, dreamed and breathed Vietnam, Goldhaber said.
Still, Adam Clymer 58, political director of the National Annenberg Election Survey at the University of Pennsylvania, said Kerry's comments would likely find their way into Bush campaign materials.
"If I were them, I'd use this," said Clymer, a former Crimson president. "I'd use it in direct mail."
Kerry's conservative opponents have already begun painting the Massachusetts senator and former deputy governor as an elite, New England liberal, and his 21-year voting record in the Senate may provide considerable ammunition.
Madden said the Bush campaign would highlight Kerry's Senate votes should he win the Democratic nomination.
And Reich forecasted G.O.P. research would extend far beyond Capitol Hill.
"If Kerry is the nominee, Republicans will try and search back into everything he ever said on every issue", Reich predicted.
Kerry's 1970 remarks to Goldhaber portray a fiery, novice politician inspired by his opposition to the Vietnam War.
"He struck me as very ambitious," Goldhaber said yesterday. "He struck me as the sort of person even back then, newly returned from Vietnam who was thinking about running for president."
we know johnF kerry, friend of hanoi jane will say he has changed his mind, but he said it.
he wanted us troops under the control of the un. we wanted to disband the cia!!
it doesnt matter if he repudiates what he said now. his voting record since then says he hates the military and cia!!
in a time of war, can we hand our security over to such a dangerous, radical man? trustme, there is plenty more to come, baby!!
i have been saying kerry hates the military and cia!!
let the counter attack begin!!
edited to remove formatting from cut and paste
BREAKING NEWS!! kerry hands bush bombshell!!
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GalvestonDuck
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Ya beat me to it, Linda. 
BTW, the cut and paste job was terrible. What's with all the extra crap in there? Oh, nevermind...that's Kerry's mindless babble.
BTW, the cut and paste job was terrible. What's with all the extra crap in there? Oh, nevermind...that's Kerry's mindless babble.
Last edited by GalvestonDuck on Wed Feb 11, 2004 11:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Spoke to my brother this weekend..a diehard Democrat from Massachusetts as well as a Vietnam Veteran. However....the very mention of Jane Fonda or John Kerry sets his blood to boiling.
Funny how the elite Media have led the general public to believe that Kerry has the support of Veterans across the country.
I don't see it with veterans I know. Just where are they finding these people?
Funny how the elite Media have led the general public to believe that Kerry has the support of Veterans across the country.
I don't see it with veterans I know. Just where are they finding these people?
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Rainband
Amen!!! I agree 100% stephanie, I find it so funny when I read on here how some of people THINK they seem to know people just by what they are fed. Like I said I will never be a sheep in a flockStephanie wrote:Lindaloo wrote:Stephanie wrote:Can a person change his or her mind also?
Change his mind? No. A leopard never changes his spots he just learns how to hide them better over the years.
So, you're saying people can't learn? That's just too generalistic.
People can and do change their minds. I do it everyday. We aren't all robots. To state otherwise is ludicrous IMHO.
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stormchazer
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Trust me....he is Left of Ted Kennedy!!!
Trust me....he is Left of Ted Kennedy!!!
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The posts or stuff said are NOT an official forecast and my opinion alone. Please look to the NHC and NWS for official forecasts and products.
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Opinions my own.
Model Runs Cheat Sheet:
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Opinions my own.
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Rainband
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southerngale
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rainstorm
Stephanie wrote:Can a person change his or her mind also?
he hasnt changed his mind!! his voting record is one of being anti-military, anti-cia. he is one of the ones that are responsible for our poor intelligence agencies. can anyone find evidence to the otherwise? if all his votes and been put into law, the military would be unable to fight now, and the cia would be impotent, if it existed at all.
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streetsoldier
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John Kerry...the man of "what" people? Certainly not the United States...
This person voted against the F-16, F-18, B-1, Strategic Defense Initiative, voted to gut our intelligence, gut our Armed Forces..and yet, he brazenly states that he will follow the Clinton lead in "treating terrorists as a law enforcement problem" (?)...the same policy that convinced Al Qaida that the U.S. was weak and would collapse in the face of a massive attack such as that of 9-11-01.
We, the people, cannot afford Kerry's "vision" for our future survival.
This person voted against the F-16, F-18, B-1, Strategic Defense Initiative, voted to gut our intelligence, gut our Armed Forces..and yet, he brazenly states that he will follow the Clinton lead in "treating terrorists as a law enforcement problem" (?)...the same policy that convinced Al Qaida that the U.S. was weak and would collapse in the face of a massive attack such as that of 9-11-01.
We, the people, cannot afford Kerry's "vision" for our future survival.
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