by John Kerry

ISBN: 9781471177347

Published: 2018

The Observer Book of the Year Every Day Is Extra is John Kerry's personal story. The title comes from a saying he and his buddies had in Vietnam. A child of privilege, Kerry went to private schools and Yale, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He commanded river patrols - swift boats - and was highly decorated, but he discovered that the truth about what was happening in Vietnam was different from what the government was reporting. He returned home disillusioned, became active against the war, and testified in Congress as a 27-year-old veteran who opposed the war. Kerry served as a prosecutor in Massachusetts, then as Massachusetts lieutenant governor, and was elected to the Senate in 1984. His friendship with the Kennedy family gave him valuable contacts, but he earned his victory by campaigning hard. He would be re-elected four times. Kerry's service in the Senate was distinguished. Unlike most senators, who travel on foreign junkets for "fact-finding...