Left, Courtesy of John Kerry, via Associated Press; right, Library of Congress, via Associated Press
John Kerry, left, in 1969 and Chuck Hagel in 1968 during their service in the Vietnam War. Mr. Kerry is President Obama's choice to lead the State Department, and Mr. Hagel the Pentagon.
Between them, Senator John Kerry and Chuck Hagel have five Purple Hearts for wounds suffered in Vietnam, shared a harrowing combat experience in the Mekong Delta and responded in different ways to the conflict that tore their generation apart. But in nominating one as secretary of state and the other as defense secretary, President Obama hopes to bring to his administration two veterans with the same sensibility about the futilities of war.
Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who is the president's choice for the State Department, came home from commanding a Swift boat in Vietnam to throw away his military decorations in a protest at the Capitol, accuse American troops of systematic atrocities and tell the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
Mr. Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska who is the nominee for the Pentagon, returned home thinking of the war as justified and did his best to put it behind him. "I wanted a life," he later said. Mr. Hagel eventually turned against the leadership of the war — "I can't fathom that this country would allow something like that to happen, 16,000 young men killed in one year," he told Vietnam magazine, a history publication, in October — but not its warriors. Today he is the chairman of the Pentagon's advisory group for commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.
Supporters of Mr. Kerry and Mr. Hagel say that despite their different responses, their combat experience has had the same effect, making them question the price of American involvement overseas.
"I have some pretty strong feelings that those who have been to war are the best to keep us out of it," said Max Cleland, a former Democratic senator from Georgia who lost three of his limbs fighting in Vietnam. "They have felt the wounds of war, physically, mentally and emotionally. They bring to the table all that they need to bring, and that is that wars are disastrous."
To Mr. Obama, the lessons Mr. Kerry and Mr. Hagel took from combat were crucial in his decision to name them.
"Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction," the president said on Monday as he announced his selection of Mr. Hagel. "He understands that sending young Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, that's something we only do when it's absolutely necessary."
In announcing his nomination of Mr. Kerry last month, Mr. Obama said that "having served with valor in Vietnam, he understands that we have a responsibility to use American power wisely, especially our military power."
If confirmed, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Hagel would be among the very few Vietnam veterans to reach the top of the national security hierarchy. (Colin L. Powell, a former secretary of state and national security adviser, served two tours in Vietnam.) Mr. Hagel would be the first person who was an enlisted soldier to run the Pentagon, which Mr. Obama called "historic."
The views of Mr. Hagel and Mr. Kerry make them highly compatible with a White House that is almost certain to push for a more rapid withdrawal of the remaining 66,000 American troops in Afghanistan than the military command would like. "The reason we are losing Afghanistan is that it wasn't ours to win or lose," Mr. Hagel told Vietnam magazine. "After 10 years in Afghanistan, what are we going to have when we get out? What have we done here?"
Like Mr. Kerry, Mr. Hagel voted for the resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq but became an early opponent of the Bush administration's execution of the war.
Friends say it is fitting that Mr. Hagel, who was awarded two Purple Hearts, is in line to run the Pentagon, while Mr. Kerry, who was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts, is headed for the State Department. "They sort of ended up where you'd think they'd end up," said Jan C. Scruggs, the founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, who knows both men.
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