Torture of Duty XI: Peddling Influence

Scenario: Young officer on active duty wants out early. This officer happens to know people in high places. He consults with them. They point out that he can pitch his request thus: "I need to be out of the service so that I can participate in the civilian political process."

Sound familiar? No, not George W. Bush!

Kerry's wife, Julia Thorne, had connections, as did Kerry himself. Brinkley says this of her family:

Many families have genealogical charts with anscestors of merit, but Julia Thorne's was chock-full of some of the most distinguished founders in America. The whole history of early New England, in fact, was populated with Thornes and Sticktons. Among her maternal grandmother's forebears was William Bradford, who served as President George Washington's attorney general and ended the Whiskey Rebellion. Julia's great-great uncle was Henry L. Stimson, President Herbert Hoover's secretary of state and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary of war... Between the two of them, John Kerry and Julia Thorne constituted a virtual storehouse of America's most productive and distinguished bloodlines.
--Tour of Duty, p49.

With those forebears and connections, one does not even have to ask for favors in the circles in which Admirals move. One just makes sure that people know who one is. Maybe this line will ring a bell: "Do you know who I am?"

But in Kerry's case "joining" [the anti-war movement] was not that simple. He was still enlisted, wearing a naval uniform, and working in Brooklyn at the behest of Admiral Schlech. He had, however, a plan. Quietly, with the help of Julia, he had evaluated the possibility of running for Congress from Massachusetts.
--p338.

He decided to petition Admiral Schlech, to tell his boss that his conscience dictated that he protest the war, that he wanted out of the Navy immediately so he could run for Congress. Admiral Schlech consented to his request and on January 3, 1970, the U.S. officially issued an honorable discharge. "It was suprisingly easy," Kerry recalled. "I went and saw the admiral and told him my conscience was bothering me, that I had to speak out against the war. He was a great man. He simply said 'I understand.'
--pp338-339.

How easy would it have been for a Lieutenant from West Podunk, Arkansas to get an early release from active duty? One wonders.

Posted by dan at September 14, 2004 06:48 PM | TrackBack