[cyncooper]

Richard Kerry's father, a Czech Jew, fled Europe. The son, by contrast, embraced it. As a law student at Harvard in the late '30s, he read continental philosophers like Kierkegaard and histories about Bismarck and Metternich; he traveled to France, where he took sculpture classes and met his wife.

Plucking out a trivial factoid, it turns out John Kerry's mother is indeed from France.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

News of candidate’s Jewish roots adds another flavor to campaign ***NEW YORK, Feb. 4 (JTA) — First it was then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Next it was Gen. Wesley Clark, the supreme allied commander of NATO during the war in Kosovo. Now it’s Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry whose Jewish roots are being reported.

Kerry? The Massachusetts senator, the quintessential WASP-y looking politician with an Irish-sounding name?

Yup.

Two of Kerry’s grandparents were Jewish, it turns out.

Kerry, who is a practicing Catholic, said he has known for 15 years that his paternal grandmother was Jewish, but had unsuccessfully searched for news of his paternal grandfather’s roots.

However, a genealogist hired by the Boston Globe found that Kerry’s grandfather was born to a Jewish family in a small town in the Czech Republic.

“This is incredible stuff,” Kerry told the Globe. “I think it is more than interesting. It is a revelation.” ***

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Why is he acting dumb about his grandfather?

[maica]

he traveled to France, where he took sculpture classes and met his wife.

His mother also has Boston Brahmin roots. His pedigree on both sides should be more widely known.

Kerry has first cousins in France (also politicians) and he spent childhood summers at an oceanfront 'cottage' there, belonging to family members. I wonder when we will be hearing about this in the lamestream media.