Teresa Heinz Kerry

Edgar Knowlton writes: "Re Teresa Heinz Kerry, she mentioned living under a dictator in Mozambique--I was not even sure who the dictator was, didn't Salazar stay pretty much in Portugal?--but gave more attention to her experience as a student in South Africa where she saw, and marched against apartheid. I met Maria Pia, illegitimate daughter of King Carlos, on a train in southern France and rode with her in a train compartment to Lisbon--she was bitter against Salazar who had even tried to destroy evidence of her birth. Like Mrs. Kerry, she was a proficient linguist. Both women seem(ed) to me to be able and likeable. Speaking of First Ladies, didn't Lou Hoover also have merit (as a LatIn scholar) and courage (inviting a woman of color socially to the White House before the impressive days of Eleanor Roosevelt)?"

RH: Here is what the Kerry/Edwards campaign says about Teresa Kelly: "Born in Mozambique, fluent in several languages, she has combined compassion and common sense to become a force for innovation and social progress as leader of one of the nation's large private foundations. After studying at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and the University of Geneva, she moved to the United States and got a job working for the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations. In 1966, she married Senator John Heinz whom she met when they were graduate                    students and with whom she had three sons. Shortly after celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in 1991, she lost her husband in a plane crash. Turning down offers to seek election to her husband's Senate seat to take care of her sons, family and professional responsibilities, she became chairman of The Howard Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies. Under her leadership, the Heinz foundations are widely known for developing innovative strategies to protect the environment, improve education and the lives of young children, reduce the                   cost of prescription drugs, promote the arts and help women achieve financial economic security. She established the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement in 1996 to educate women about pensions, savings, and retirement security.

Their mutual interest in environmental issues brought Teresa and John together. She was first introduced to John Kerry by Senator Heinz at an Earth Day rally in 1990. In 1992, she met Kerry again at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro when President George H. W. Bush appointed her as part of a State Department Delegation  representing U.S. non-governmental organizations. She and Senator.Kerry were married in the presence of her three sons and his two daughters on Memorial Day weekend in 1995. Teresa has received numerous awards and 10 honorary degrees for her many works. In September of last year, she was presented with the Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal for Humanitarianism, for her work protecting the environment, promoting health care and education and uplifting women and children throughout the world.  She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and  Sciences in 2001.

RH: I am glad to have this information about her. The media had mentioned only her abusive dismissal of an abusive right wing journalist. Another source said she met Senator Heinz when she went with him as an interpreter toan earlier Rio summit.  I have seen no explanation as to who her father was. Perhaps he was exiled to Mozambique as an enemy of the Portuguese dictatorship.  Portugal was ruled from 1928 tp 1968 by Salazar, who treated the Portuguese African colonies as integral parts of Portugal.  I attended a session of the Portuguese legislature at which they were represented. In Mozambique his regime was viewed as an imperial dictatorship.

As for Maria Pia, King Carlos of Portugal was murdered  in 1908.  His successor Manoel II abdicated in 1910, and Portugal became a republic. The upper classes still favored the monarchy.  I remember in 1935 at a diplomatic luncheon in Madrid, the Portuguese ambassador kept saying that everyone in Portugal wanted a monarchy, which was patently untrue. I know nothing about the claims of Maria Pia.

Lou Henry Hoover was indeed a remarkable woman. She translated from the Latin Agricola's De Re Metallica (1556). Herbert Hoover, a mining engineer, provided technical advice.  The translation was attributed to both of them. Georgius Agricola was the Latin pseudonym of Georg Bauer (1495-1555), the German  founder of modern mineralogy. De Re Metallica appeared posthumously.