John Kerry

John Kerry was Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017 after twenty-eight years in the Senate, including four as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He had served in the United States Navy in Vietnam and became a prominent critic of the war after returning home. As a Massachusetts senator he worked on veterans’ affairs and foreign policy, and he was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004. His earlier work with John McCain to clarify the fate of missing Americans helped prepare the restoration of diplomatic relations with Vietnam. ¹

Kerry made sustained negotiations central to his secretaryship. In 2015 the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the European Union reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran. The agreement restricted Iran’s nuclear activities, imposed monitoring arrangements, and provided nuclear-related sanctions relief. Kerry’s account of the negotiations emphasized the combination of sanctions pressure with bilateral and multilateral talks; the agreement addressed the nuclear issue without resolving the wider conflict between Washington and Tehran. ^{2, 3}

He also helped negotiate the 2015 Paris climate agreement, making international climate policy a major State Department responsibility. The same year, Washington and Havana restored diplomatic relations and reopened embassies after more than five decades. The administration expanded travel and other exchanges while the statutory American embargo remained in place. These initiatives illustrate the reach and limits of Kerry’s diplomacy: negotiated arrangements could reopen relationships and establish rules, but their durability depended on implementation and continued political support. ²