John Kerry’s Biggest Mission

He’s relentless, strategic, kind of annoying—and might just save the planet.

On April 22, 1971—50 years ago to the day that U.S. President Joe Biden’s climate summit opened this week—a young Vietnam veteran named John Kerry first brought himself to national attention.

The 27-year-old former Navy lieutenant, his Silver Star ribbon pinned to his green fatigues, declared in Senate testimony that the Vietnam War was “an absolute horror.”