Washington, DC – Massachusetts Senator John Forbes Kerry was sworn in on February 1, 2013, at 4:04 p.m. EST as the 68th Secretary of State of the United States. He will address members of his staff upon his arrival at the State Department on Monday, February 4 at 9:00 a.m.
With the change of guard at the helm of affairs of US diplomacy, the news was welcomed by Indian Americans and Islamabad, while some political pundits in Delhi raised concerns about his soft corner for Pakistan.
Congratulating incoming Secretary of State Kerry, M.R. Rangaswani, a well-known and politically active Indian American businessman, said in a statement, “The Indian American community looks forward to meeting him and we encourage him to make an early visit to India.”
Rangaswami, whose brain child the Indiaspora Inaugural Balll to celebrate the second term of President Obama brought the Indian American community together on the Washington, DC stage this January, further noted, “Kerry has been intimately familiar with India during his distinguished Senate career. I am sure that he will want a strategic engagement between the world’s oldest and largest democracies.”
Kerry has been referred to as a friend of Pakistan, as the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009, sometimes referred to as the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill, authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to “promote an enhanced strategic partnership with Pakistan and its people, and for other purposes.”
Kerry’s strong support for strengthening the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill authorizing a five year $7.5 billion financial aid package to Pakistan are cited as examples of Kerry’s pro-Pakistan worldview.
Kerry made his endorsement of India’s claim to a permanent seat on the US Security Council conditional, saying, “While I think that in may ways India would be a good candidate, there is one notable problem, India is not a party to the NPT.”
His rationale was that all five permanent members of the council — the US, UK, Russia, France and China — are nuclear powers and parties to the NPT.
While campaigning for the Democratic nomination for the November 2004 US Presidential race, Kerry said, “All the nuclear powers on the Council not only directly shape the NPT but are parties that abide by it. This may be the most serious issue with respect to India’s candidacy for Council membership and one that must be addressed by India.”
Kerry is otherwise positive on Indo-US ties, saying at the confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s nominee for US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell, “There are fewer relationships that will be as vital in the 21st century as our growing ties with India and its people.”
Kerry is firmly supported by President Obama, who stated today, “I am pleased that the Senate has confirmed John Kerry as our next Secretary of State with overwhelming bipartisan support.” The President continued that he will “look forward to his counsel and partnership in the years ahead as we ensure American leadership in the world and advance the interests and values that keep our nation strong.”
Kerry’s decades of work on diplomacy support President Obama’s decision that Kerry will keep US interests as his guiding principles, and with his years of experience, he comes on board with a balanced perspective on global and South Asian affairs.
Kerry was born in Denver in 1943, spent most of his childhood overseas. After graduating from Yale University in 1966, Kerry was deployed to Vietnam as a lieutenant in the US Navy.
Upon his return home in the early 1970s, Kerry made several unsuccessful attempts to run for political office. He eventually entered politics in 1982 as lieutenant governor under Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Two years later, Kerry won the US Senate seat he has held ever since.