Kerry Not Exactly a W.A.S.P. (He's Jewish!)

Being Catholic, of course Kerry's not a WASP though that's the charge you might hear of a "well bred New Englander" from someone not familiar that the "P" stands for White Anglo Saxon Protestant.

But it may suprise you to learn (as it did Kerry a few years ago), that he's not exactly from a long line of white anglo saxons either.

The story of John Kerry's grandparents' immigration to America is told in the new CNN biography airing this week, as well as colorfully outlined here:

Sen. John F. Kerry's Jewish connection came, in part, as a surprise to him when it was researched by reporters. Kerry's grandparents were Fritz and Ida Kohn, Czech Jews. In 1902, Fritz Kohn changed his name to Frederick Kerry. He also converted from Judaism to Catholicism. Fritz (Frederick) and Ida came to the U.S. in 1905. In 1915, Ida gave birth to Richard, who was John Kerry's father. Richard married Rosemary Forbes, a descendant of two wealthy Massachusetts families, the Forbes and the Winthrops. Richard and Rosemary's first son, (Sen.) John Forbes Kerry, was born on December 11, 1943. Isn't it a bit ironic that John Kerry would later marry an heir to the Heinz food-products fortune? A chip off the old block. John Kerry's younger brother Cameron converted to Judaism in 1983, shortly before marrying Kathy Weinman, a Jewish woman - at the time not knowing of his own Jewish background. I can't wait for the movie.

The site author Richard C. Rhodes, having himself "dated several Jewish women" is quick to point out...

Let's get one thing straight. I am not anti-Semitic.

...then going on to list thousands of famous Jewish Americans, many of whom have changed their names, like Kerry's grandparents.

But back to Kerry...having seen the CNN Kerry documentary and earlier one on Teresa Heinz, one can't help but be struck on how international this couple really is (Teresa being Portugese and having grown up in Africa).

I recommend both "CNN/People in the News" docs if you can see them but just thought I'd make the Jewish connection for ATS since my search only produced one small reference from back during the primaries.

And I don't care either way, as it's certainly not a "scandal" but people seem to like to know this stuff. So there ya go.

Actually because in the Jewish tradition the mother is the one to transfer the line, onces the father married a none Jewish woman the line is broken.

What difference does it make what religion he is? If he's qualified for the job, then he should have the job.

The fact that he is NOT 'pure-bred' is a very POSITIVE thing.

In general pure-bred = in-bred = defective and often just plain stupid.

The ability to view the world from many perspectives creates a depth of thinking. It is much like stereo vision, gathering data from more than one source point.
Something GW Bush lacks by orders of magnitude.

And this is important...why? Who cares what religion he may or not be? Last I knew, there was no religious requirements to be President Of The United States.....

If you go back to Adam, we are all Jewish. Too bad nobody usually wants to see the obvious, and gets it. Universal brotherhood is just too simple for people to grasp when people are too busy despising themselves and others.

Of course if you are not too warm about the Adam story, try mitochondrial DNA or the "DNA Eve," theory. The near extinction funnel of 80k years ago, makes genetic diversity so close, that for practical purposes we too much the same.

Originally posted by slank
Kudos for having a rich heritage

Well said. That's the point I was trying to make about both John and Teresa. Guess it got lost.

Originally posted by deeprivergal
What difference does it make what religion he is? If he's qualified for the job, then he should have the job.

I don't think religion matters either, but the fact is that Kerry IS NOT QUALIFIED to be in the Presidency!

Religeon has nothing to do with the presidency, the fact that his heritage is so varied is a good point, If he could get over a little of his stiffness, he should give ole dubba a run for his money. He's way more qualified the Bush was when he was elected.

Personally, I don't care if the president is jewish or not.

I just wonder what the rest of the world and especially terrorists will think about this.

Imagine what people would say if Kerry gave Isreal a bunch of money, or backed them in some millitary operation.

Jewish president = bad for world opinion (not that I relly care about world opinion)

The Jews rule the world too, so it dosent matter.