https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/10/opinion/john-kerry-portrait-unveiling/
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Excerpt: Twenty years ago, John Kerry suffered the worst fate possible for an American politician: He lost a one-on-one battle for the presidency. … Yet instead of wallowing in his first-world problem, Kerry decided to rededicate himself to public service and global issues. … The 68th secretary of state will now be remembered in the same way as Hillary Rodham Clinton and Condoleezza Rice, his two immediate predecessors, and all those back to Thomas Jefferson. That Founding Father was the first person to lead the nation’s No. 1 Cabinet agency. …
It’s just recognition for a man who’s easily criticized but not always appreciated for serving the nation continually since being sworn in as a naval officer. Then, he was 22. On Wednesday, he turns 81. …
And we staffers watched as Kerry elevated climate change from a niche issue to a mandatory talking point. It was on the agenda for every bilateral and multinational meeting he held across 91 countries.
In particular, Kerry spearheaded the administration’s efforts to reach the Paris Climate Accord in 2015. Sadly for him, the achievement was short-lived; President Donald Trump backed out after he took office in 2017.
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When his former Senate colleague, Joe Biden, was elected president in 2020, Kerry asked not for a plum posting but accepted an offer to serve as special presidential envoy for climate. He felt worsening storms and rising global temperatures only added to the urgency of the work he’d started as secretary. His one request was walk-in access to the Oval Office.
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In myriad ways, Kerry overcame political humiliation to wage a noteworthy second act. And it’s more meaningful than the painting now hanging on a State Department wall.
