Richard French (June 20, 1792 – May 1, 1854) was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky.

Born near Boonesborough, Kentucky, French attended private schools. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1820 and commenced practice in Winchester, Kentucky. He served as member of the State house of representatives 1820–1826. He served as judge of the circuit court in 1829.

French was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor of Kentucky in 1840.

French was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1845).

French was again elected to the Thirtieth Congress (March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1849). He resumed the practice of law. He died in Covington, Kentucky, on May 1, 1854. He was interred in the family burial ground near Mount Sterling, Kentucky.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior United States Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to then President George W. Bush.

The son of an Army Air Corps serviceman, Kerry was born in Aurora, Colorado. He attended boarding school in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and went on to graduate from Yale University class of 1966, where he majored in political science. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1966 and, during 1968-1969, served a four-month tour of duty in South Vietnam as officer-in-charge (OIC) of a Swift Boat. For that service he was awarded several combat medals that include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. After returning to the United States, Kerry joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in which he served as a nationally recognized spokesperson and as an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam war. During that period, he appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs where he deemed United States war policy in Vietnam to be the cause of "war crimes".