His father was a Foreign Service officer at the US Department of State and his mother was a member of the wealthy Forbes family.
Kerry spent much of his childhood abroad. He attended boarding schools in Switzerland and New Hampshire, and went on to Yale University where he majored in Political Science.
In 1966, after graduation, he served in the United States Navy. He served a tour of duty in South Vietnam as a Swift Boat skipper and was awarded combat medals including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts.
Kerry participated in an anti-war demonstration in which he and other veterans threw their medals and ribbons over a fence at the front steps of the Capitol building to dramatize their opposition to the war.
In 1971, Kerry became the first Vietnam War veteran to testify in Senate hearings titled "Legislative Proposals Relating to the War in Southeast Asia.”
In 1972, Kerry ran for Congress in Massachusetts and lost. He later enrolled at Boston College Law School.
Kerry received his law degree from Boston College Law School in 1976 and went on to work as a top prosecutor in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
In 1982, Kerry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.
In 1984, he was elected to the United States Senate where he served for 28 years.
In 2004, Kerry was the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States, but lost to incumbent President George W. Bush.
On December 16, 2012, US President Barack Obama nominated Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.
On December 21, 2012, Obama proposed the nomination.
On January 29, 2013, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously voted to approve Kerry as secretary of state.
Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry. He has two daughters from his first marriage, three sons and two grandchildren.
