Secretary of State Essay

      Secretary of State Essay

                    By

Sierra Bagwell

Government/Economics 1CP

Woodward Academy

October 31, 2016

        Executive branch of our government is in charge of all the laws that the United States citizens must abide by. The head of the executive branch is the president of the United States whose powers include being able to veto, reject, or propose a law. The cabinet is a group of members that act as the presidents official advisory group and head of departments. The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with input from the Senate, is the President’s closet circle of department heads that he can bounce ideas off of. According to the U.S. Department of State, the main duties of the Secretary of State are to serve as the president's adviser on foreign policy and to conduct negotiations related to foreign affairs. The office of the Secretary of State was created by Congress in 1789, and the first Secretary of State was Thomas Jefferson.

        John Kerry, American diplomat and democratic politician, is our current Secretary of sate of the United States of America. Born in Aurora, Colorado in 1943, and is currently 72 years old. Kerry attended Yale University in 1962 and Boston College Law School in 1973. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and was re-elected in 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008. While in office as senate he supported free trade, expansive U.S. foreign and foreign military policy, investment in education and environmental protection. In 2004, John Kerry ran for president and lost to George W. Bush. He became the United States secretary of state under President Barrack Obama in 2013.

        One of Kerry's great challenges as secretary of state has been the conflict in Syria between rebels and the government led by Bashar al-Assad. In late August 2013, he confirmed that chemical weapons had been used on civilians by al-Assad's forces. The use of these weapons "defies any code of morality," Kerry said in a press conference. "The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity."(Biography.com) Kerry said that President Barack Obama believed that the Syrian government must be held accountable for this cruel and unruly act.

        Kerry is chairman of the very powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which approves the State Department’s budget each year. Secretary of State John Kerry’s daughter, CEO of Seed Global Health, introduced a non-profit program that teaches and trains doctors or nurses in Africa. She happened to fund this organization more than eight million dollars provided by American taxpayers over seven years. Two million for three years from the State department, through Peace Corps in 2012 in a non bidding award. 

        July 14, 2015, the nuclear deal with Iran is finalized after multiple extensions. Discussing the deal in Vienna. Kerry says that the agreement was long because the United States and its allies made tough commands. "Believe me, had we been willing to settle for a lesser deal, we would have finished this negotiation a long time ago," Kerry tells the media at a news conference.  Kerry also confirmed that he had met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, critic of the deal, in Davos. He said he respects Israel's perspective of the Iranian threat to its existence, and while the Obama administration acknowledges that threat, it differs on how to best manage it. On October 20, 2015 Foreign Policy magazine awarded John Kerry Diplomat of the year, mainly for the nuclear deal with Iran.