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---
aliases:
- Bob Kerrey
- J. Robert Kerrey
- Joseph Robert Kerrey
- Robert Kerrey
- Joseph R. Kerry
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Politician
- Senator
- Governor
- NavySeal
- ThanhPhong
- NationalReconnaissanceOffice
- NROCommission
- NineElevenCommission
- NewSchool
- IraqWar
- FulbrightUniversityVietnam
summary: "Former Navy SEAL, Nebraska governor and senator, co-chair of the 2000 National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office, 9/11 Commission member and New School president, linked to the 1969 Thanh Phong killings."
location: "Lincoln, Nebraska"
created: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-09
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
role: "seventh president"
start: 2001-01
end: 2010-12-31
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[Tenet Healthcare]]"
start: 2001-03
end: 2012-03
fn: 4
- type: director_of
with: "[[Tenet Healthcare]]"
role: "independent director, audit and compensation committees"
start: 2012-11-30
fn: 20
- type: director_of
with: "[[Genworth Financial]]"
start: 2004
end: 2012-03-14
fn: 19
- type: director_of
with: "[[Jones Apparel Group]]"
start: 2002
end: 2005
fn: 4
- type: director_of
with: "[[The Aerospace Corporation]]"
role: "trustee"
start: 2001-08
end: 2002-08
fn: 4
- type: director_of
with: "[[Fulbright University Vietnam]]"
role: "chairman of the board of trustees"
start: 2016-05-16
fn: 53
- type: member_of
with: "[[United States Senate]]"
start: 1989
end: 2001
fn: 20
- type: member_of
with: "[[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]]"
role: "vice chairman, 105th Congress"
start: 1997
end: 1998
fn: 21
- type: member_of
with: "[[National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office]]"
role: "co-chair"
start: 2000-02-01
end: 2000-11
fn: 22
- type: member_of
with: "[[National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States]]"
start: 2003-12-10
end: 2004-08-21
fn: 23
- type: member_of
with: "[[Committee for the Liberation of Iraq]]"
start: 2002-11
fn: 28
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Thanh Phong]]"
start: 1969-02-25
fn: 6
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Carmen Group]]"
start: 2013-04
fn: 51
---
Joseph Robert "Bob" Kerrey (J. Robert Kerrey, born August 27, 1943[^1]) is a former [[United States Navy]] SEAL officer who served as [[Governor of Nebraska]] and as a [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] from Nebraska, and who was president of the [[New School for Social Research]] from January 2001 to December 2010.[^1][^2] He was vice chairman of the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] in the 105th Congress (1997 to 1998), co-chaired the [[National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office]] in 2000, and sat on the [[National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States]] from 2003 to 2004.[^3] He sat on the boards of [[Tenet Healthcare]], [[Genworth Financial]], [[Jones Apparel Group]] and, according to Tenet's 2001 proxy statement, the board of trustees of [[The Aerospace Corporation]].[^4]
### Navy service and the Thanh Phong raid
Kerrey graduated from the [[University of Nebraska]] in 1966, attended [[Officer Candidate School]] at [[Naval Station Newport]], and was deployed to [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] as a Navy SEAL officer in 1969.[^5] On the night of February 25, 1969, as a 25-year-old lieutenant, he led a seven-man commando team into [[Thanh Phong]], a hamlet in the [[Mekong Delta]]. [[Gregory L. Vistica]] wrote in [[The New York Times Magazine]] in April 2001 that "around midnight on Feb. 25, 1969, Kerrey and his men killed at least 13 unarmed women and children," and that "witnesses and official records give varying accounts of exactly what happened."[^6]
[[Amy Waldman]] of [[The New York Times]] reported on April 25, 2001 that Vistica, a former [[Newsweek]] reporter, had begun the story for Newsweek, which decided not to publish it after Kerrey decided not to run for president in 2000, and that Vistica did more than a year of further reporting before the Magazine published it. Kerrey first spoke publicly about the raid in an April 18, 2001 speech at the [[Virginia Military Institute]]: "I have been haunted by it for 32 years." The Magazine article was posted on the Times website on April 25 as the cover story of that Sunday's issue, and [[60 Minutes II]] was to broadcast its report the following Tuesday.[^7] CBS carries Part I of its transcript under the date May 1, 2001.[^8]
Kerrey's account. Kerrey told Vistica in a 1998 interview that "we took fire from the target." Vistica reported that an after-action report says the team "received several rounds from about 100 yards," and that in April 2001 Kerrey said he "couldn't be absolutely certain that shots were fired."[^9] Kerrey told Vistica in 1998: "The thing that I will remember until the day I die is walking in and finding, I don't know, 14 or so, I don't even know what the number was, women and children who were dead."[^9] Vistica wrote that Kerrey read six pages of after-action reports in late 1998.[^9] CBS reported that Kerrey agreed to talk to the Times Magazine and 60 Minutes II only after Vistica discovered previously classified military documents that suggested women and children had been killed.[^8] In his 2001 interview with [[Dan Rather]], Kerrey said the squad "just emptied everything we could into this place and we were taking fire." He added: "There was a cluster of women and children, they were all dead. So that's the outcome." Of the first hooch, CBS reported that Kerrey said the squad used knives on five men, and Kerrey said: "in my mind, I personally killed all of them."[^8] Asked about a battle report reading "two hooches destroyed, 14 VC KIA," Kerrey said "We considered everybody in that area to be VC and that's how we would report it."[^8] In the same program Kerrey said of Klann's version that "It is neither possible nor probable. It's not impossible that some version of what Gerhard is talking about happened. But it's not my memory."[^10] Kerrey and the five other SEALs on the operation, other than Klann, issued a statement in April 2001 that read: "At the village we received fire and we returned fire," and that the memory "that we rounded up women and children and shot them at point blank range, is simply not true."[^10][^11]
Klann's account. [[Gerhard Klann]], a member of Kerrey's squad, gave a different account to Vistica and to 60 Minutes II. Klann said the first hooch held a mixture of people, three of them children, and that his own job was to kill the old man there. He named Kerrey as the man who helped him: "Bob Kerrey. I think he kneeled on his chest and so I put his head back and cut this [sic] throat." CBS reported that Klann said the unit knew there were women and children before it opened fire at the second set of hooches, and Klann described the result: "It was carnage."[^8][^10] In 2001 Klann was a steel worker in Pennsylvania, and he stood by his story.[^10] Vistica wrote that Klann was reluctant to speak to him, ignoring two letters and numerous telephone calls over about six months, and relented after Vistica drove to his home in western Pennsylvania.[^9] Michael Ambrose, another member of the squad, told CBS that Kerrey helped Klann kill the old man at the first hooch, and disagreed with Klann that the villagers were rounded up and shot, while saying that they were shot at 20 to 50 feet, closer than Kerrey contends.[^10]
Pham Tri Lanh's account. [[Pham Tri Lanh]] was 62 years old when 60 Minutes II interviewed her at Thanh Phong. She said she hid behind a banana tree and watched the Americans kill an old woman, an old man, two girls and a boy in the first hooch, the old man having been dragged to a water pump and his throat cut, and that the Americans then ordered villagers out of a bunker, lined them up and shot them from behind. CBS noted that she had been a Communist revolutionary during the war, and later reported that journalists who went to the village afterward said she now stated she had heard some of the killings rather than seen them.[^12] The [[Los Angeles Times]] reported on April 29, 2001 that Lanh, interviewed on April 28, said she had actually seen only the first two killings, having earlier claimed to have witnessed all of them.[^13] Dan Kennedy of the Providence Phoenix reported that [[Time]] magazine wrote of Lanh that "then she changed it, saying she hadn't actually seen the killings, but had only heard the screams and later seen the bodies," and that after telling Vistica and 60 Minutes II producer Tom Anderson that her husband had been a member of the Viet Cong, she denied it to Time. Kennedy quoted Time as asking whether she was "an honest witness, a propagandist or just an old woman with a hazy memory."[^11]
Bui Thi Luom's account. [[Bui Thi Luom]] was twelve at the time. She told journalists on April 28, 2001, according to the Los Angeles Times, that the commandos woke the occupants of an earthen shelter, ordered them to sit on the ground outside, and "then opened fire at close range"; she said 15 members of her family were killed and that she escaped with a knee wound.[^13] The [[Vietnam News Agency]], quoting the [[Washington Post]], reported that Luom said: "Nobody fired on the Americans before they initiated the fatal barrage."[^14]
The Vietnamese government's account. The Vietnam News Agency, the Vietnamese state news agency, reported on May 10, 2001: "The massacre of innocent civilians at Thanh Phong hamlet on a February night 32 years ago, as admitted by former U.S. senator, Bob Kerrey, has been exposed by Vietnamese witnesses during their interviews with a group of foreign journalists who visited the hamlet on April 28."[^14] The Los Angeles Times reported that the Vietnamese government allowed the journalists to visit Thanh Phong that Saturday, and that the government the previous week had welcomed Kerrey's show of remorse and suggested that he and other troubled veterans take "concrete and realistic actions" to help heal wounds left by the war.[^13]
Kerrey on Lanh and Klann. Asked by Rather about the eyewitness who described an elderly man, an elderly woman and three children at the first hooch, Kerrey said that "Gerhard I will not contradict," and that "as to the eyewitness is at the very least, sympathetic to the Viet Cong. At the absolute very least." Asked what the most might be, he said: "Might be Viet Cong themselves."[^10] Kerrey rejected Klann's claim that he had tried to get Klann to change his story: "That is not true. God bless Gerhard, that is not, if I was gonna change Gerhard's story, I would have contacted him three years ago."[^15]
Hoffmann. Kerrey described his commanding officer, [[Roy Hoffmann]], to Vistica: "He wanted hooches destroyed and people killed." Vistica reported that Hoffmann agrees but says he never intended for his men to kill innocent women or children. Kerrey told Vistica in April 2001: "We were instructed not to take prisoners."[^16] Waldman reported that in television interviews on April 25 Kerrey was "more emphatic in denying that his unit knowingly killed women and children" than in his interviews with the Times over the previous two years, and in one broadcast interview described the incident as "a firefight."[^7]
The Bronze Star. For Thanh Phong Kerrey received a [[Bronze Star]]. The 60 Minutes II narration stated that the citation "credits Kerrey and his men with killing 21 Viet Cong." The Los Angeles Times wrote that Kerrey received the award "after his squad falsely reported that it had killed 21 Viet Cong in the attack." Asked by Rather whether the award was inappropriate, Kerrey said: "I think it's inappropriately awarded, yeah." He also said: "I didn't send it back. But I've never worn it."[^13][^15]
The Medal of Honor. Two weeks after Thanh Phong, according to CBS, Kerrey led a SEAL team up cliffs it described as 300 feet high against Viet Cong on an island off [[Nha Trang]]; CBS reported that he split the team, there was crossfire, he was wounded and he lost a leg, and that Kerrey said he wanted to take the enemy soldiers prisoner on that mission. [[Richard Nixon]] later presented him the [[Medal of Honor]].[^15] The Navy's citation, as published by the Military Times Hall of Valor, gives March 14, 1969 as the action date and presents the award "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a SEAL Team Leader for Seal Team ONE during action against enemy aggressor (Viet Cong) forces in Nha Trang Bay, Republic of Vietnam, on 14 March 1969." The citation states that he and his team "scaled a 350-foot sheer cliff," that a grenade "exploded at his feet and threw him backward onto the jagged rocks," and that "The enemy soldiers who were captured provided critical intelligence to the allied effort." The Hall of Valor describes Kerrey as the first U.S. Navy SEAL to receive the Medal of Honor.[^1]
### Governor, senator and the National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office
The [[National Governors Association]] lists Kerrey's term as governor as January 6, 1983 to January 9, 1987.[^17] The commission's biography of him says "Upon taking office as Governor in 1982" and records his leaving office in 1987; Tenet's proxy statements of 2001 and 2002 give his governorship as "from 1982 to 1987"; Genworth's 2005 proxy statement says "From January 1982 to December 1987"; and Tenet's 2012 release and the Hall of Valor give 1983 to 1987.[^1][^4][^18][^19][^20] He was elected to the United States Senate in 1988, took office in 1989, and was re-elected in 1994.[^18] The commission's report described him as having "recently finished serving as Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI)."[^18] The committee's special report on its activities from January 7, 1997 to October 21, 1998 lists Richard C. Shelby as Chairman and J. Robert Kerrey as Vice Chairman; the roster of a committee hearing in June 2000 lists Richard H. Bryan as Vice Chairman.[^21] Kerrey wrote in 2003 that he was "a member and later as the Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence."[^22] The [[Democracy Now]] program reported in December 2003 that as a senator he had been the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee.[^23] He signed the November 1999 conference report on the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 as one of the Senate managers, alongside [[Richard Shelby]] and [[Wayne Allard]].[^24]
The commission was created by Title VII of the [[Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000]], approved December 3, 1999, as [[Public Law 106-120]].[^25] The conference report's joint explanatory statement says that neither the House bill nor the Senate amendment contained a similar provision, that "the managers determined that an independent review of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)" was needed before the conferees met, and that they included the provision. [[Porter Goss]] filed the conference report for the House.[^24] Section 702 set the membership at eleven: the [[Deputy Director of Central Intelligence for Community Management]], three members appointed by the Senate majority leader (one senator and two private citizens), two by the Senate minority leader, three by the Speaker of the House and two by the House minority leader. The director of the [[National Reconnaissance Office]] sat as an ex officio member.[^25] The statute required two co-chairs, one from each party, jointly agreed by the President and the congressional leaders, and set November 1, 2000 as the deadline for the final report.[^25]
The co-chairs were Kerrey and Goss, the Republican [[United States House of Representatives|Representative]] from Florida who chaired the [[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]].[^26] In an August 11, 2003 letter to NRO director [[Peter B. Teets]], written in response to an article in [[U.S. News & World Report]] titled "Lack of Intelligence," Kerrey wrote: "believing that organizational change was needed, I wrote the 1999 Congressional Act that authorized the creation of the National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office. After President Clinton signed this into law, I asked Congressman Porter Goss to co-chair this effort with me." The letter says the commission met first on February 1, 2000 and released its report on November 15, 2000.[^22] The report's appendix lists Wayne Allard, [[Anthony C. Beilenson]], [[Larry D. Cox]], [[Joan Avalyn Dempsey]] (Deputy Director of Central Intelligence for Community Management), [[Norm Dicks]], [[Martin C. Faga]], [[Keith R. Hall]] (NRO director, ex officio), [[Patrick M. Hughes]], [[Eli S. Jacobs]] and [[William Schneider Jr.]] as members.[^26] The report, titled [[The NRO at the Crossroads]], is dated November 1, 2000 on its cover. Its executive summary recommended that a new office, to be called the Office of Space Reconnaissance, be established, and states that "The NRO has become a publicly acknowledged organization that openly announces many of its new program initiatives."[^27] Its biography of Kerrey states that he "earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, America's highest military honor, and is currently the only member of Congress who has received this honor."[^18] Kerrey's 2003 letter quotes the report's unanimous findings, including "Over time, the NRO has gained a well-deserved reputation as the preeminent research, development, and acquisition organization in the Intelligence Community and DoD."[^22]
### The 9/11 Commission
On December 10, 2003, Democracy Now reported that Kerrey had been named to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, replacing [[Max Cleland]], who had stepped down to serve on the [[Export-Import Bank of the United States]].[^23] The commission's biography of him says that he "chose not to run for re-election a third time because of the offer to be President of New School University." The commission closed on August 21, 2004.[^3]
### Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and the 2002 protests
In November 2002 [[Salon]] reported that Kerrey was part of the newly formed [[Committee for the Liberation of Iraq]], with former Secretary of State [[George P. Shultz]] and Senator [[John McCain]], a group meant to shore up support for regime change in Iraq.[^28] In December 2002 New School students confronted him over the committee. Democracy Now headlined the confrontation as students who "Demand Resignation."[^29] The same program reported in December 2003 that thousands of New School students had protested his decision to join the committee the previous year.[^23]
### New School presidency, 2001 to 2010
On February 17, 2000, the [[Associated Press]] reported, in the [[Orlando Sentinel]], that Kerrey had announced the previous month that he would not seek a third term. He said he would start working for the university "next January, after he officially has left office."[^30] The [[New York Post]] headlined its item "New School taps Kerrey" and described him as a 56-year-old Vietnam veteran.[^31] The Times reported that Kerrey said he had been planning to run for a third Senate term until the school approached him, that his predecessor [[Jonathan F. Fanton]], appointed in 1984, had left the $250,000 post with its official Greenwich Village residence the previous September for the [[MacArthur Foundation]], and that Kerrey did not yet have a formal contract. It quoted [[Philip Scaturro]], the school's chancellor.[^32]
A New School fact sheet captured by the [[Internet Archive]] on December 11, 2000 names [[John L. Tishman]] as chairman of the board of trustees. [[Arnold H. Aronson]], [[Michael E. Gellert]] and [[Nancy B. Peretsman]] are listed as vice chairs, and Scaturro as treasurer. The same page names Scaturro as chancellor and chief officer, [[Elizabeth Dickey]] as acting provost, and [[James Murtha]] as executive vice president.[^33] The university installed Kerrey as its seventh president at [[Carnegie Hall]] on February 20, 2001. Tishman gave introductory remarks, and [[Joseph Lieberman]], then a senator from Connecticut, spoke.[^34] The Tenet proxy statement of August 2001 gives Kerrey as "President of New School University in New York City since January 2001."[^4]
The New School Archives' biographical note states that Kerrey "was an unpopular choice with faculty members, although his political connections made him very popular with the board of trustees," and that he renamed New School University as The New School in 2005. The same note dates his presidency "from 2001 through 2010" and states that he was "succeeded in 2011 by David Van Zandt."[^5] The New School's press release of August 26, 2010 announcing Van Zandt as eighth president states that Kerrey "will remain as New School president until the end of 2010," that Van Zandt would assume the post on January 1, 2011, and that Kerrey "was appointed in 2001," and the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote in 2012 that Van Zandt "succeeded Mr. Kerrey as New School's president in January 2011."[^2][^35]
In March 2002 [[Kenneth Prewitt]], recruited as dean of the [[Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science]], resigned on March 6 after less than a year. He told The American Prospect: "Given the prevailing priorities in the administration," he said, "I could not do what I had been recruited to do." The Prospect reported that the trustees, after Vistica's article appeared, had stood by Kerrey, reminding the public in a statement that "war is hell" and giving him their "unqualified support."[^36] At a faculty and student meeting on March 15, 2002, in [[Tishman Auditorium]], Prewitt described a provost's proposal for "private bonuses" to deans who raised enrollment, and Kerrey took the microphone and asked: "You know whose idea the 'private bonuses' were?" He answered "Mine," and added: "I concede now that it was a bad idea."[^36]
On January 4, 2004, the trustees extended Kerrey's term to June 2011, from an original expiry in June 2006. Scaturro, then chairperson of the board, said: "In just four years as president, Bob Kerrey has confidently charted an ambitious course that has given the university far greater national visibility and recognition."[^37]
On December 10, 2008, the Faculty Senate met in an emergency closed-door session and approved a motion of no confidence in Kerrey. A summary released by faculty senate co-chair Jim Miller recorded 74 votes in favor, two against and one abstention, and the [[Chronicle of Higher Education]] described the vote as "nearly unanimous."[^38] [[NBC New York]] reported the same tally on December 11, with the faculty members described as senior and tenured.[^39] The trustees met the same day at a regularly scheduled meeting and, according to a university statement, unanimously expressed confidence in Kerrey's leadership.[^38][^39] The faculty vote followed Kerrey's announcement that he would serve as provost temporarily after the departure of the fifth provost in seven years.[^39] [[amNewYork]] reported on December 23 that after a Faculty Senate meeting a week before the student occupation, a majority of senior faculty members approved a no-confidence measure against Kerrey "by a vote of 269 to 18."[^40]
On Wednesday, December 17, 2008, several dozen students occupied the ground-floor cafeteria of the New School's graduate faculty building on Fifth Avenue.[^40][^41] The students' demands included the resignation of Kerrey, of Murtha and of [[Robert Millard]], the treasurer of the board of trustees, along with transparency in investments and a socially responsible investment committee.[^40] amNewYork reported that the occupation ended peacefully early on Friday morning, December 19. The six-point document that Kerrey signed did not include the resignations. It granted total amnesty to those involved, provided for student participation in establishing a committee for socially responsible investing, and gave a student senate representative access to board meetings.[^40] The New School Archives' biographical note states that the New York City police "were brought in to expel" students from the building.[^5]
In May 2009 Kerrey announced that he would step down once a successor was named. The Chronicle reported that the trustees then awarded him a $1.2 million "retention" bonus, according to the university's Form 990, and that with a deferred compensation payout of more than $620,000 his total earnings from the school for 2010 to 2011 came to $3,047,703; it gave his base earnings for 2010 to 2011 as $602,593. Board chairman [[Michael J. Johnston]] said the bonus was meant "to ensure a smooth transition to his successor's presidency."[^35] Financial disclosures from Kerrey's 2012 campaign office estimated that he would earn between $400,000 and $600,000 a year as president emeritus.[^35] [[David E. Van Zandt]] succeeded him in January 2011 and was installed as university president on September 15, 2011.[^35][^42]
### Jeffrey Epstein
Kerrey appears in [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s 2013 scheduling records released by the Department of Justice. An April 15, 2013 calendar alert reads "NEED to start coordinating dinner w/woody,soon yi, bob Kerrey for April 23" (a dinner with [[Woody Allen]], [[Soon-Yi Previn]] and Kerrey).[^43] On May 28, 2013 Epstein's scheduler [[Lesley Groff]] wrote to household staff under the heading "Lunch w/Barak and Bob Kerrey": "Heads up! We have scheduled Barak and Bob Kerrey for lunch at noon on Tues. June 4th!"[^44] The "Barak" of that email is [[Ehud Barak]], named in full in the office's next schedule. Groff's schedule email of June 2, 2013 lists the day in full: "10:00am-12:00pm Appt w/Eileen Alexanderson, Miriam, Peggy, etc. at [[Leon Black]]'s office", then "12:00pm Lunch w/Ehud Barak & Bob Kerrey", then a tentative appointment with [[Reid Weingarten]].[^45] The same office's schedules list "Appt w/Ehud Barak" at 4:00 pm the previous day, with [[Mort Zuckerman]] at 6:00 pm, and the final schedule for June 4 lists "Appt w Ehud Barak" at 1:00 pm followed by "Lunch to be served", without Kerrey's name.[^46] On August 22, 2013 a calendar alert asked "can bob Kerrey join for dinner tonight."[^47]
### Later career
Kerrey served on the board of Tenet Healthcare from March 2001 to March 2012. Tenet's proxy statement of August 2001 lists him as a director on its ethics, quality and compliance and nominating committees and states that he sat on the boards of [[infoUSA]], class.com and the [[Concord Coalition]], and on the board of trustees of The Aerospace Corporation; the 2002 proxy adds Jones Apparel Group.[^4] Tenet announced his return on November 30, 2012, as an independent director on its audit and compensation committees. Its chief executive [[Trevor Fetter]] said: "His wisdom and insight have been invaluable to Tenet's board through the years."[^20]
Genworth Financial's 2005 proxy statement lists Kerrey as a director since 2004 and a member of its audit committee, and gives his Jones Apparel and Tenet directorships. He resigned from the Genworth board effective March 14, 2012, "in order to pursue his campaign for the United States Senate representing the state of Nebraska," according to the company's filing.[^19][^48]
Kerrey ran for the Senate seat in 2012 against the Republican state senator [[Deb Fischer]]. As early returns came in on November 6, 2012, Fischer's lead grew "to a 58 to 42 percent margin as the evening wore on."[^49] The Federal Election Commission's candidate totals for Kerrey's 2012 Senate committee show receipts of $5,798,058 and disbursements of $5,662,682.[^50]
In April 2013 Kerrey joined the government affairs firm [[Carmen Group]]. [[The Hill]] reported on April 22, 2013 that the firm had earned $7.3 million in lobbying fees the previous year, according to the [[Center for Responsive Politics]], that many of its clients were state and local entities or governments, and quoted the firm's founder, [[David Carmen]], as saying Kerrey "has a wealth of experience in business, education and public service at the state and federal level." Kerrey said in a statement: "I have known David Carmen for more than ten years."[^51]
Kerrey was under contract to serve as president emeritus of the New School through 2016. He resigned that post in February 2013, calling the decision "largely mutual."[^52]
In May 2016 Kerrey was named chairman of the board of trustees of [[Fulbright University Vietnam]], a university promoted by the [[Trust for University Innovation in Vietnam]]. [[Thomas J. Vallely]], the trust's chairman, called him "the ideal candidate for the job." Asia Times reported that the appointment was reportedly made on May 16, and that it angered some people in Vietnam after the online news outlet [[Zing]] published a story on Kerrey's role at Thanh Phong on May 30. [[Barack Obama]], speaking in Ho Chi Minh City on May 25, called Kerrey "one of the key people to help lead" the project. In a piece published by Zing on June 1, the former Vietnamese ambassador to the European Union and Belgium, [[Ton Nu Thi Ninh]], wrote that she was "extremely stunned" by the decision.[^53]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Military Times, Hall of Valor, "Joseph Robert Kerrey," Medal of Honor citation, action date March 14, 1969. https://valor.militarytimes.com/?p=29692
[^2]: New School press release, "The New School Names David E. Van Zandt New President," August 26, 2010 (Internet Archive capture of January 24, 2021): Van Zandt "will assume his new position as president of The New School on January 1, 2011. He succeeds the university's current president, Bob Kerrey, who will remain as New School president until the end of 2010." https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2010/NewPresidentAppointment.htm
[^3]: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, biography of Bob Kerrey, archived copy of the commission site, which records the commission's closing on August 21, 2004. https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/about/bio_kerrey.htm
[^4]: Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Schedule 14A proxy statements filed August 21, 2001 and August 14, 2002 (Kerrey: "director since March 2001," committees, outside boards, governor "from 1982 to 1987"). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/70318/000091205701529713/a2056401zdef14a.htm and https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/70318/000089710102000565/tenet023987_def14a.htm
[^5]: The New School Archives and Special Collections, "Video statement by Bob Kerrey, 2014 January 28," file NS-03-02-08, biographical note. https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/58008
[^6]: Gregory L. Vistica, "One Awful Night in Thanh Phong," The New York Times Magazine, April 25, 2001. Reposted text: https://muckrakerfarm.com/2001/04/one-awful-night-in-than-phong/
[^7]: Amy Waldman, "Bob Kerrey Reveals His Role in Deaths of Vietnam Civilians," The New York Times, April 25, 2001, as reproduced in a compilation at holtz.org. https://holtz.org/Library/Social%20Science/History/Atomic%20Age/Kerrey%20Vietnam%20atrocity.htm
[^8]: CBS News, "Memories of a Massacre," 60 Minutes II, Part I, transcript. Includes Kerrey's 2001 interview with Dan Rather and the account of how Vistica obtained the documents. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/memories-of-a-massacre-part-i
[^9]: Vistica, "One Awful Night in Thanh Phong," The New York Times Magazine, April 25, 2001 (excerpt as in note 4). Kerrey's 1998 interview with Vistica, the after-action report quoted by Vistica, and Kerrey's 2001 comments on whether shots were fired are all from this text. https://muckrakerfarm.com/2001/04/one-awful-night-in-than-phong/
[^10]: CBS News, "Memories of a Massacre," 60 Minutes II, Part II, transcript, including Gerhard Klann's interview and his description of the first hooch. Sole source for the passages so cited. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/memories-of-a-massacre-part-ii
[^11]: Dan Kennedy, "Bob Kerrey's war," Providence Phoenix, May 3 to 10, 2001 (quoting Time magazine on Pham Tri Lanh and the statement of Kerrey and five other SEALs). https://www.providencephoenix.com/archive/features/01/05/03/KERREY.html
[^12]: CBS News, "Memories of a Massacre," 60 Minutes II, Part I, transcript, including the interview with Pham Tri Lanh, 62 years old, and the broadcast's note on her wartime role. Sole source for the passages so cited. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/memories-of-a-massacre-part-i
[^13]: Richard C. Paddock, "Two Survivors Say U.S. Unit Killed Villagers 'in Cold Blood,'" Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2001, as reproduced on the World Systems Network list archive. https://wsarch.ucr.edu/wsnmail/2001/msg00754.html
[^14]: Vietnam News Agency, "US squad's killing of civilians exposed by witnesses," May 10, 2001, reproduced by the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States. The agency quotes the Washington Post, which the drafter did not open. Sole source for the passages so cited. https://vietnamembassy-usa.org/relations/us-squads-killing-civilians-exposed-witnesses
[^15]: CBS News, "Memories of a Massacre," 60 Minutes II, Part III, transcript, including Kerrey's responses on Klann, the Bronze Star, the Medal of Honor and the Nha Trang operation. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/memories-of-a-massacre-part-iii
[^16]: Vistica, "One Awful Night in Thanh Phong," The New York Times Magazine, April 25, 2001 (excerpt as in note 4), on Captain Roy Hoffmann and Kerrey's statement that the squad was instructed not to take prisoners. https://muckrakerfarm.com/2001/04/one-awful-night-in-than-phong/
[^17]: National Governors Association, "Joseph Robert (Bob) Kerrey," former governors listing. https://www.nga.org/governor/joseph-robert-bob-kerrey/
[^18]: National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office, The NRO at the Crossroads, November 1, 2000, Appendix G, "Commission Member Biographies," pp. 135 to 136 (Kerrey's biography). Archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://irp.fas.org/nro/commission/nro.pdf
[^19]: Genworth Financial, Inc., Schedule 14A proxy statement for the annual meeting of May 19, 2005 (Kerrey: director since 2004, audit committee, "From January 1982 to December 1987" as governor). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1276520/000119312505073486/ddef14a.htm
[^20]: Tenet Healthcare Corporation, "Tenet Names Bob Kerrey to Board of Directors," press release, November 30, 2012, which gives his age as 69, his service as governor as 1983 to 1987, and his Senate service as 1989 to 2001. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000070318/000110465912081033/a12-28321_1ex99d1.htm
[^21]: Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, Committee Activities, Special Report, January 7, 1997 to October 21, 1998, S. Rpt. 106-3 (February 3, 1999), committee roster and letter of transmittal, https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/1999/02/03/publications-committee-activities-special-report-select-committee-intelligence-january-7-1997/ ; Select Committee on Intelligence, hearing on the Report of the National Commission on Terrorism, June 2000, committee roster.
[^22]: Bob Kerrey, letter to Peter B. Teets, Director, National Reconnaissance Office, August 11, 2003, posted by the NRO as "Former Senator and Co-Chair of SSCI Bob Kerrey Expresses His Support of the NRO" (NRO press release 2003-03). Sole source for Kerrey's statements about drafting the 1999 Act and recruiting Goss. https://web.archive.org/web/2id_/https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/news/press/2003/2003-03.pdf
[^23]: Democracy Now!, "Bob Kerrey Tapped For 9/11 Independent Panel," headline item, December 10, 2003. https://democracynow.org/2003/12/10/headlines/bob_kerrey_tapped_for_9_11_independent_panel
[^24]: U.S. House of Representatives, Conference Report 106-457 on H.R. 1555 (Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000), November 5, 1999, joint explanatory statement on Title VII and list of managers. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-106hrpt457/html/CRPT-106hrpt457.htm
[^25]: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, Public Law 106-120, approved December 3, 1999, Title VII, secs. 701 to 709. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-106publ120/pdf/PLAW-106publ120.pdf
[^26]: National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office, The NRO at the Crossroads, November 1, 2000, cover and Appendix G (members and co-chairs). Archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://irp.fas.org/nro/commission/nro.pdf
[^27]: National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office, The NRO at the Crossroads, November 1, 2000, Executive Summary, pp. 7 to 8 ("Office of Space Reconnaissance"). Archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://irp.fas.org/nro/commission/nro.pdf
[^28]: Salon, interview with Bob Kerrey on the Iraq war, November 11, 2002, which describes the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. https://www.salon.com/2002/11/11/kerrey_3/
[^29]: Democracy Now!, "Students Confront New School University President Bob Kerrey Over His Role in the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and Demand Resignation," headline item, December 5, 2002. https://www.democracynow.org/2002/12/5/students_confront_new_school_university_president
[^30]: Associated Press, report on Kerrey's appointment, Orlando Sentinel, February 17, 2000. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2000/02/17/kerrey-to-be-president-of-new-school-university-2/
[^31]: "New School taps Kerrey," New York Post, February 17, 2000. https://nypost.com/2000/02/17/new-school-taps-kerrey/
[^32]: Neil MacFarquhar, "Senator Kerrey Accepts Presidency of New School," The New York Times, February 17, 2000. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/021700kerry-pres-edu.html (Kerrey said he had been planning to run for a third Senate term until the school approached him; Fanton, "appointed in 1984," left the "$250,000 post with its official Greenwich Village residence" the previous September to become president of the MacArthur Foundation; "The senator does not yet have a formal contract with the school"; Philip Scaturro identified as the school's chancellor)
[^33]: New School University, fact sheet on the university, Internet Archive capture of December 11, 2000. https://web.archive.org/web/20001211161500/http://www.newschool.edu:80/aboutnsu/an_ata.html
[^34]: New School University, press release, "Bob Kerrey Installed as President of New School University," February 20, 2001 (Internet Archive copy). https://web.archive.org/web/2id_/https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2001/022001_install.html
[^35]: Jack Stripling, "Lucrative Payments to Bob Kerrey by the New School Irk Critics in a Time of Austerity," Chronicle of Higher Education, May 31, 2012 (Internet Archive copy). https://web.archive.org/web/2id_/https://www.chronicle.com/article/Bob-Kerreys-Pay-From-the-New/132063/
[^36]: "Kerrey's Quagmire," The American Prospect, April 26, 2002. https://prospect.org/2002/04/26/kerrey-s-quagmire/
[^37]: Lincoln Anderson, "New School extends Kerrey's contract six more years," amNY (The Villager), January 4, 2004. https://www.amny.com/news/new-school-extends-kerreys-contract-six-more-years
[^38]: Chronicle of Higher Education, "New School Faculty Senate Votes No Confidence in President Bob Kerrey," December 10, 2008 (Internet Archive copy). https://web.archive.org/web/2id_/https://www.chronicle.com/article/new-school-faculty-senate-votes-no-confidence-in-president-bob-kerrey/
[^39]: NBC New York, "New School Votes No Confidence in Kerrey," December 11, 2008. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/local/kerry-gets-no-confidence-vote-at-new-school/1856735
[^40]: amNY, "New School in turmoil; Students occupy building, tell Kerrey, 'Quit!'," December 23, 2008. https://www.amny.com/news/new-school-in-turmoil-students-occupy-building-tell-kerrey-quit
[^41]: Democracy Now!, "New School Students Protest Kerrey with Sit-In," headline item, December 18, 2008. https://democracynow.org/2008/12/18/headlines/new_school_students_protest_kerrey_with_sit_in
[^42]: New School Archives and Special Collections, New School Office of the President, Board of Trustees records (NS-01-01-04), finding aid, including the Series 2 "Presidential searches" listing with the folder for the David E. Van Zandt installation on September 15, 2011. https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/244
[^43]: Calendar alert, April 15, 2013, EFTA02141689, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 10. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02141689.pdf
[^44]: Lesley Groff email to household staff including Richard Barnett, "Lunch w/Barak and Bob Kerrey," May 28, 2013, EFTA00365259 (full header copy EFTA02100188), U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 9. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00365259.pdf
[^45]: Lesley Groff, schedule email "10-12 meeting on Tues. June 4th at Leon Black's office," June 2, 2013, EFTA00389623, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library (duplicates EFTA01756762, EFTA00389634).
[^46]: Epstein office schedules for June 3 and 4, 2013, EFTA00284774; calendar alerts EFTA02137359, EFTA02137042, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library.
[^47]: Calendar alert, August 22, 2013, EFTA02130566, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, Data Set 10. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02130566.pdf
[^48]: Genworth Financial, Form 8-K, March 2012, reporting that J. Robert Kerrey resigned from the board effective March 14, 2012. https://investor.genworth.com/sec-filings/all-sec-filings/content/0001193125-12-119695/d308983d8k.htm
[^49]: Fred Knapp, "Fischer defeats Kerrey for Nebraska U.S. Senate seat," Nebraska Public Media, November 7, 2012. https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/fischer-defeats-kerrey-for-nebraska-us-senate-seat/
[^50]: Federal Election Commission, candidate totals for Kerrey's 2012 Senate committee (candidate ID S8NE00067), 2012 cycle, via the FEC open data API. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/candidate/S8NE00067/totals/?cycle=2012
[^51]: Megan R. Wilson, "Former Sen. Bob Kerrey joins government affairs firm," The Hill, April 22, 2013. https://digital-release.thehill.com/?p=148312
[^52]: "Bob Kerrey resigns from controversial president emeritus post at New School," Higher Ed Dive, February 4, 2013. https://www.highereddive.com/news/bob-kerrey-resigns-from-controversial-president-emeritus-post-at-new-school/96160/
[^53]: "Vietnam's Kerrey dilemma: Fulbright U appointment is lightning rod for US ties," Asia Times, June 2016. https://asiatimes.com/2016/06/vietnams-kerrey-dilemma-fulbright-u-appointment-is-lightning-rod-for-us-ties/