[Note what his own family said about him to the Globe]<br /><br /><br />in 1985, just 4 months into his first term as a US Senator, John Kerry and Tom Harkin traveled to Nicaragua to meet with the communist Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. Like his meeting in Paris with the North Vietnamese, Kerry violated a federal law that prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. Once again Kerry returned home to advocate the enemy's position in an attempt to end funding for the anti-communist Contras. The unauthorized visit and negotiations lead Secretary of State George P. Shultz to call their behavior at the time, "undesirable and reprehensible"<br /><br />The Boston Globe wrote:<br /><br />"Sen. John Forbes Kerry's trip to Nicaragua bears out what many relatives on the Forbes side of the family, and most politicians who know him, contend. He's a shrewd opportunist whose personal political ambitions dictate every move he makes.<br /><br />The arrogance he often displays came through in his boastful assertion last week that his conversations with the Sandinistas 'were longer than any the Secretary of State has had with the Nicaraguan government in five years.'"<br /><br />Below are the most relevant excerpts from a series of articles that appeared in the Boston Globe in 1985. <br /><br />*****************<br /><br />KERRY, HARKIN ARRIVE IN MANAGUA<br />Published on April 19, 1985<br />Author(s): Walter V<br /><br />MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Sens. John F. Kerry and Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa) arrived here last night, expressing hope that their two days of meetings with Nicaraguan leaders will provide them with enough information to sway congressional votes on the issue of aid to anti-government rebels.<br /><br />*****************<br /><br />NICARAGUA OFFERS TRUCE IF US HALTS CONTRA AID<br />Published on April 21, 1985<br />Author(s): Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff<br /><br />MANAGUA, Nicaragua - President Daniel Ortega Saavedra, after intensive talks with Sen. John F. Kerry and Sen. Thomas R. Harkin of Iowa, said yesterday that Nicaragua would agree to an immediate cease-fire and other measures to end the country's civil war if the United States ended all support for Nicaraguan rebels.<br /><br />In a document handed to the two Democratic senators as they left, Ortega also said he would immediately restore civil liberties in Nicaragua and end press censorship if the<br /><br />*****************<br /><br />GOLDWATER SUGGESTS REPRIMANDS OF KERRY, HARKIN FOR TRIP<br />Published on April 24, 1985<br />Author(s): Eileen McNamara, Globe Staff<br /><br />WASHINGTON - Sen. Barry Goldwater yesterday accused Sens. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Tom Harkin of Iowa of violating a federal law that prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments.<br /><br />Goldwater, expressing what Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) called "the repressed anger" of Senate Republicans, suggested that the freshman Democrats be formally chided for meeting last week in Managua with Nicaragua's president, Daniel Ortega Saavedra.<br /><br />****************<br /><br />LIBERAL ACTIVISTS WORRY SOME STATE DEMOCRATS<br />Published on April 30, 1985<br />Author(s): David Farrell, Globe Staff<br /><br />Sen. John Forbes Kerry's trip to Nicaragua bears out what many relatives on the Forbes side of the family, and most politicians who know him, contend. He's a shrewd opportunist whose personal political ambitions dictate every move he makes.<br /><br />The arrogance he often displays came through in his boastful assertion last week that his conversations with the Sandinistas "were longer than any the Secretary of State has had with the Nicaraguan government in five years."<br /><br />*****************<br /><br />CONGRESSMEN DISPUTE SHULTZ ON THEIR ROLE<br />Published on May 25, 1985<br />Author(s): Associated Press<br /><br />WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats say they are not about to give the Reagan Administration a free hand in Central American policy, even if Secretary of State George P. Shultz considers their behavior "undesirable and reprehensible."<br /><br />"The Congress more clearly represents the views of the American people, who overwhelmingly disapprove of the Administration's policies in Nicaragua," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who traveled to Managua last month<br /><br />*****************<br /><br />ORTEGA'S TRIP TO MOSCOW LOOMS LARGE ON CAPITOL HILL<br />Published on June 8, 1985<br />Author(s): Eileen McNamara, Globe Staff<br /><br />WASHINGTON - The major foreign policy debate of this session of Congress is turning not on issues of national security or international stability but on one man's travels.<br /><br />The April visit to Moscow by President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua is cited by enraged Republicans and embarrassed Democrats alike as cause for the most recent resuscitation of debate on Capitol Hill over aid to rebels fighting Ortega's government.<br /><br />*****************