According to officials, President Barrack Obama will nominate Senator John Kerry as Secretary of State on Friday. The president is made the formal announcement in the afternoon. Watch the announcement here.
Kerry will replace Hilary Clinton, who earlier announced that she was stepping down from the position. Clinton leaves office with a high approval rating and tremendous media speculation as to her next professional venture.
Kerry, who recently turned 69, is in his fifth term in the senate. In 2004, the senator from Massachusetts ran for presidency against the incumbent George Bush. Later during the 2008 presidential elections, Kerry endorsed then senator Obama at New Hampshire primaries where he was falling short of support for the Democratic nominee against Senator Clinton.
Kerry served in the Vietnam war and was elected at the Massachusetts' lieutenant governor in 1982. According to reports, Kerry is well versed in matters of foreign affairs and relations.
According to the USA Today, he has been involved in diplomatic talks with with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, and has also been involved in diplomatic dialogue with Pakistan leaders after the 2011 raid in which al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed on Pakistani territory. He is also the current chair of the Foreign Relations Committee.
According to reports, Kerry was selected as the Secretary of State, after U.S. United Nations' Ambassador Susan Rice announced that she was not interested in position.
In order for Kerry to serve as the Secretary of State in President Obama's second term in office, he will have to receive approval from senators.
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