http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-kerrywar22aug22,1,5927173.story THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Focus Shifts to Kerry's Antiwar Activities in '70s
Aides say the Democrat will not back away from his Vietnam protest years, even as the Swift boat veterans group tries to use them against him.
By Maria L. La Ganga and Matea Gold
Times Staff Writers
August 22, 2004
After making his service in Vietnam the centerpiece of his presidential bid, Sen. John F. Kerry now finds himself defending his role as a protester of the war — the chapter of his biography that first gained him prominence but which he has discussed infrequently this year.
The new focus on the antiwar part of Kerry's past is the latest twist in a more than 30-year evolution of the role his actions during the Vietnam era have played in his political life.
Kerry used his leadership in the Vietnam protest movement as a springboard into politics, running as an antiwar candidate in his first campaign in Massachusetts — a race for the U.S. House that he lost. He also distanced himself from his military career at least once in his next five campaigns, all of which he won.
But his involvement in the peace movement receded as a key element of his political resume, as the nation's attitudes toward the Vietnam War changed.<snip>
But in its latest salvo against him, the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth plans to begin running a television commercial this week that features images of Kerry testifying in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971, detailing atrocities some soldiers had said they committed in Vietnam.<snip>