Kerry Honeymooned With The Vietcong And North Vietnamese in May 1970

March 25, 2004 | Compiled

[Hon]

I do applaud the Boston Globe for finally picking up this story.

[Hon]

Another very choice bit from the Boston Globe story:

Indeed, there may be a tie between Kerry's statement before the Senate committee and the interest of the FBI in his activities. One FBI report provided to the Globe by Nicosia shows that the government was monitoring whether Kerry planned to go to Paris again. Kerry was "planning to travel to Paris, France . . . for talks with North Vietnamese peace delegation," said the report, dated Nov. 11, 1971.

What is hilarious is that Nicosia doesn't even mention Kerry having gone to Paris in his book, Home To War. He is now finding all kinds of interesting things he forgot to mention.

[kabar]

If the VVAW meeting took place in Paris in March 1971 and Kerry and Thorne were married in May 1970, when did Kerry go to Paris on his "honeymoon" and meet privately with the Vietnamese? By the way, Fonda was in Paris in March 1971 and met with Madame Binh privately at that time .

[Hon]

More about Kerry's negotiations from the BG article:

Kerry's statement dealt with the question of whether he was trying to negotiate in Paris as a private citizen and was thus on that "borderline" of what was allowable. A US law forbids citizens from negotiating with foreign governments on matters such as peace treaties. Meehan said Kerry was not negotiating. "Senator Kerry had no role whatsoever in the Paris peace talks or negotiations," Meehan said in his statement. "He did not engage in any negotiations and did not attend any session of the talks. Prior to his Senate testimony, he went to Paris on a private trip, where he had one brief meeting with Madam Binh and others. In an effort to find facts, he learned the status of the peace talks from their point of view and about any progress in resolving the conflict, particularly as it related to the fate of the POWs."

If you scroll up and read my excerpts from Kerry's testimony, you can see that he is clear that he negotiated. He said that Senator Eugene McCarthy (who had run for President in the previous elections), had set the precedent for negotiating with the enemy.

Kerry seems to have forgotten that he wasn't a Senator in 1970. He was simply a private citizen who had spent about four months in Vietnam.

[Hon]

"If the VVAW meeting took place in Paris in March 1971 and Kerry and Thorne were married in May 1970, when did Kerry go to Paris on his "honeymoon" and meet privately with the Vietnamese? By the way, Fonda was in Paris in March 1971 and met with Madame Binh privately at that time."

Sorry, I must have presented it in a confusing manner. Kerry went to Paris and met with the enemy BEFORE the VVAW ever got around to going there.

[OXENinFLA]

I HATE TREE HUGGING HIPPIES!!!

[kabar]

No you didn't present it in a confusing manner, I was just wondering if you had a source for the date that Kerry was in Paris.

When Meehan tries to spin why Kerry was in Paris, i.e., "After their May 1970 marriage, Kerry traveled to Paris with his wife, Julia Thorne, on a private trip, Meehan said. Kerry did not go to Paris with the intention of meeting with participants in the peace talks or involving himself in the negotiations., I wonder if this was just another spin job in terms of when Kerry was actually there. Maybe he was there at the same time as the VVAW and Fonda in March 1971. Kerry testified before Congress in April 1971.

Do we really know when Kerry was in Paris on his honeymoon aside from the Meehan statement, which leads us to conclude that it was in May 1970?

[isthisnickcool]

This is interesting. Especially this part:

John Kerry's maternal grandfather, James Grant Forbes, was born in Shanghai, China, where the Forbes family of Boston accumulated a fortune in the opium and China trade

[al baby]

[kellynla]

"I do applaud the Boston Globe for finally picking up this story."

Thank you "Hon" for the work you have done and continue to do in revealing this issue to us all.

However, I do not applaud the Boston Globe. The Globe should have been on top of this issue 35 years ago. I suspect that the only reason the Globe is on it now is for ulterior motives...maybe the 'Rat party wants this clown to get out of the race and the Globe is carrying the water to put pressure on him to do so...
Ketchup Boy has more Kerry-on baggage than Delta Airlines!!!

Bottom line: Kerry should have been indicted and probably convicted for his treasonous actions and words.
Semper Fi, Kelly

Viet Nam Veterans Against John Kerry
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com

[kellynla]

"I do applaud the Boston Globe for finally picking up this story."

Thank you "Hon" for the work you have done and continue to do in revealing this issue to us all.

However, I do not applaud the Boston Globe. The Globe should have been on top of this issue 35 years ago. I suspect that the only reason the Globe is on it now is for ulterior motives...maybe the 'Rat party wants this clown to get out of the race and the Globe is carrying the water to put pressure on him to do so...
Ketchup Boy has more Kerry-on baggage than Delta Airlines!!!

Bottom line: Kerry should have been indicted and probably convicted for his treasonous actions and words.
Semper Fi, Kelly

Viet Nam Veterans Against John Kerry
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com

[kellynla]

"I do applaud the Boston Globe for finally picking up this story."

Thank you "Hon" for the work you have done and continue to do in revealing this issue to us all.

However, I do not applaud the Boston Globe. The Globe should have been on top of this issue 35 years ago. I suspect that the only reason the Globe is on it now is for ulterior motives...maybe the 'Rat party wants this clown to get out of the race and the Globe is carrying the water to put pressure on him to do so...
Ketchup Boy has more Kerry-on baggage than Delta Airlines!!!

Bottom line: Kerry should have been indicted and probably convicted for his treasonous actions and words.
Semper Fi, Kelly

Viet Nam Veterans Against John Kerry
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com

[kellynla]

"I do applaud the Boston Globe for finally picking up this story."

Thank you "Hon" for the work you have done and continue to do in revealing this issue to us all.

However, I do not applaud the Boston Globe. The Globe should have been on top of this issue 35 years ago. I suspect that the only reason the Globe is on it now is for ulterior motives...maybe the 'Rat party wants this clown to get out of the race and the Globe is carrying the water to put pressure on him to do so...
Ketchup Boy has more Kerry-on baggage than Delta Airlines!!!

Bottom line: Kerry should have been indicted and probably convicted for his treasonous actions and words.
Semper Fi, Kelly

Viet Nam Veterans Against John Kerry
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com

[kellynla]

I apologize for the triple post. FR appears to be having problems today posting... hiccupping on my end. LOL

[ravingnutter]

One minor clarification...the Paris trip was not a honeymoon, they had their honeymoon in Jamaica according to ABC News Notes

Ya gotta scroll down the page some to find it, it is under a heading called "Kerry".

[Sabertooth]

After their May 1970 marriage, Kerry traveled to Paris with his wife, Julia Thorne, on a private trip, Meehan said. Kerry did not go to Paris with the intention of meeting with participants in the peace talks or involving himself in the negotiations, Meehan added, saying that while there Kerry had his brief meeting with Binh, which included members of both delegations to the peace talks.

This is an inartful construction by the Globe, which implies the Kerry-Thorne Paris trip took place in 1970, presumably on their honeymoon. However, "honeymoon" doesn't actually appear in the Globe article.

Moreover, the Globe had this to say about the Kerry-Thorne honeymoon last year:

Out of the Navy and with a political failure behind him, Kerry refocused on his personal life. In May 1970, he married the woman he had been dating for more than six years, Julia Thorne, the sister of his best friend, David Thorne. Kerry, whose upper-class image was already well established due to his Forbes and Winthrop roots, had a glittering wedding.

The New York Times described it this way: "Miss Julia Stimson Thorne, whose ancestors helped to shape the American republic in its early days, and John Forbes Kerry, who wants to help steer it back from what he considers a wayward course, were married this afternoon at the 200-acre Thorne family estate" on Long Island.

The article noted that Miss Thorne's cream-colored dress had been worn by her ancestor, Catherine Peartree-Smith, who married Elias Boudinot IV, who served as president of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation. "Alexander Hamilton was best man at that wedding and among those present was George Washington," the story noted.

"Whether today's wedding becomes a similar footnote to history may depend on the bridegroom, a graduate of Yale and a veteran of the Vietnam war, who is considering running for Congress from his native Massachusetts." (The article left unsaid that Kerry had just failed in that bid.)

For his honeymoon, Kerry chose a telling location: the Pershing family's Jamaica home. Richard Pershing, a close friend of Kerry's and a fellow member of Yale's Skull and Bones society, had been killed in Vietnam. Pershing's grandfather, General John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, had commanded US forces in Europe during World War I.
With antiwar role, high visibility
Michael Kranish | Boston Globe | June 17th, 2003

Suggest a title change.

[kabar]

This begs my question. When did Kerry go to Paris and why did his adviser, Meehan, make it sound like he went to Paris right after his wedding?

[Hon]

This got taken out of "breaking news" so as to make room for stories like:

U.S. Will Give Cold Fusion Second Look, After 15 Years

Amber Alert Florida

President Bush Live at Correspondents Dinner (MSNBC)

LOL!

[Hon]

"This begs my question. When did Kerry go to Paris and why did his adviser, Meehan, make it sound like he went to Paris right after his wedding?"

Yeah, I've been having a hard time posting, like most others, but I agree with you that this date needs to be nailed down.

I'm perfectly willing to believe that the Boston Globe reporters got it right--they've been very good on Kerry--I just wish they had given some corroboration or citation re where they got their info.

[Hon]

"One minor clarification...the Paris trip was not a honeymoon, they had their honeymoon in Jamaica according to ABC News Notes"

You're right, but the BG reporter, Michael Kranish, must have known this, since he has written about Kerry's honeymoon before:

"For his honeymoon, Kerry chose a telling location: the Pershing family's Jamaica home. Richard Pershing, a close friend of Kerry's and a fellow member of Yale's Skull and Bones society, had been killed in Vietnam."

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061703.shtml

What I suspect happened was that they went to Paris right after their honeymoon--so that Kerry could sharpen his anti-war chops ASAP.

So now the idea is to say he was just in Paris on his honeymoon and just happened to run into the Vietcong and NVN delegations. LOL!