Vanessa Kerry Brings Youthful Perspective to Campaign
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Vanessa Kerry is relaxing over
a soda on the train ride from Albuquerque to Gallup on Sunday. Unlike most of
the John Kerry campaigners, she has just boarded two hours ago and is still
upright and focused, while everybody else in the car seems tired from the
endless work of a presidential campaign.
But this doesn't do justice to the work she's done so far to support her
father. Vanessa has spent months working on his campaign, much of it without him
by her side, as she tries to rally younger voters to their cause. During the
down time between flurries of speeches and flag-waving, she is at work with a
folder lying in front of her, and a five-minute interview about growing up with
John Kerry for a dad.
"I agree with my father's stances politically enormously. I don't think I'd
be on the trail if I didn't," she says.
Which is obvious, but that doesn't mean there's no distance between the
Kerry children and their father. Vanessa has said in the past that unlike her
father, she believes in gay marriage, whereas John Kerry supports civil unions
only. This is a small thing between them, which Vanessa labels semantics. And
it's impossible to agree with your parents about everything.
Regardless of how much she tries to speak about political issues, Vanessa is
unable to escape being mostly a character witness for her father. The Kerry
campaign has stuck with this, especially since the speech Vanessa and her sister,
Alexandra, gave at the Democratic National Convention, which included the
touching anecdote about John Kerry rescuing the family's pet hamster from a fall
off a dock.
Vanessa says the two most important things her dad taught her were honesty
and fighting for what you believe in. This sounds like a canned answer, and she
says it without even needing to think about what she's saying. She is intense,
with a straight-on gaze that accompanies nonstop talking for minutes at a time.
But she can stray from the script a little and get reflective when prompted.
"If you wanted to be a little rebellious, you'd come home a half hour late
and it'd be better to tell him what you were doing than to spin some tall tale.
That would really upset him."
She says this clearly remembering, although not discussing, a time when she
made the wrong choice. Then she goes back into the political talk-trance and
continues on about her dad's values.
Vanessa, 27, is now a third-year student at Harvard Medical School, though
she's taken time off to help with her father's campaign.
Like many kids, she grew up in the midst of a divorce, but it didn't change
her economic status. She still had a wealthy family to send her to private
schools in Boston and she did volunteer work.
"I actually did go to private schools, but I was incredibly lucky to do that.
But even in that experience, my parents always made sure I knew how fortunate I
was so I was always involved in my community."
And despite the family wealth, she worked.
"The worst and best job I ever held was working at the mall taking
photographs of kids with Santa Claus. No, excuse me. Taking photographs of pets
with Santa Claus was the worst job. I had a squeaky toy and an elf hat— never
good."
She becomes more lively thinking back to the '80s.
"I lived on Madonna and Bruce Springsteen and I absolutely loved Culture
Club," she says with a straight face before cracking up with "Karma Chameleon!"
John Kerry was not a typical father, according to Vanessa's stories of him.
When she received her first bad test grade, he posted her paper on the
refrigerator, but was extremely accepting of it, she says. The grade worked as a
reminder to work harder and, she says, she realized you learn as much from your
failures as you do from your successes.
Her dad also managed to be atypical during that milestone most girls dread:
bringing home a boyfriend for the first time.
"My father's reaction to my first boyfriend was his reaction to all of my
boyfriends. I think he was surprised I had a boyfriend; I was a little bit of a
late bloomer. But beyond that, he said, 'I take my cues from you girls. When you
take someone seriously, I'll take someone seriously.' ''
As the talk turns back to the campaign— beginning with future interviews and
whether she should stand or sit— she is smiling, as she has been throughout most
of the interview. But this one isn't a political smile. It's clear she enjoys
her role, which is, in part, sharing her dad's optimism.
