John Kerry came to Mandel Hall yesterday

He was so charming

John Kerry came to speak at Mandel Hall yesterday at an event organized by the IOP.

The event was free but required pre-registering for a ticket beforehand, and was completely sold out.

The Secretary of State took the stage to a standing ovation from the student body, and sat down for an interview-style address followed by about forty-five minutes of questions from the audience.

John Kerry first told some anecdotes about his upbringing, talking about when his family was stationed in Berlin. He told a story about how he once took his bicycle and his diplomatic passport, and crossed over into East Berlin to have a look around, much to the chagrin of his father, who was worried about the kind of trouble he could have gotten in to.

He advised the student body that we are in a “much more complicated world than he grew up in” and expanded on the technological and diplomatically interconnected world we live in.

He was remarkably positive about this world however, and said that we as Americans “need to be more engaged” in the political process and international diplomacy because “there’s no ‘over there’ anymore.”

He went on to talk about American conflicts, armed and otherwise with Russia, Syria, Iran and Iraq, acknowledging that these were complicated issues, but generally putting a positive spin on America’s role.

He said: “I believe the United States is more engaged in more places on more big issues than in any other time in our history” and went on to present successes in disease prevention, negotiation of maritime waters in the South China Sea and negotiations regarding weapons of mass destruction.

He promoted American exceptionalism, but cautioned against “beating our chests.”

He said “we are exceptional when we do exceptional things,” in his concluding remarks promoting continued American diplomatic efforts.

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