Teresa Heinz Kerry at the Choo Choo. Click to enlarge.
- photo by John Wilson

America should present a friendly face to the world - "not a face that is threatening," the wife of Democratic presidential contender Sen. John Kerry said in Chattanooga on Saturday morning.

Teresa Heinz Kerry spoke for 30 minutes from the podium of the Roosevelt Room - where another candidate, Gen. Wesley Clark, stood a couple of days earlier.

Gert Clark, wife of Gen. Clark, was set to attend the annual Kefauver Dinner of the County Democrats at the Choo Choo on Saturday evening.

Mrs. Kerry said the U.S. should present a world image "of the Peace Corps rather than weapons of mass destruction."

She hit the "cynicism of the current administration," calling it "the most legal and scary form - more so than some of their positions."

Mrs. Kerry, who said it was her second visit to Chattanooga, said, "There is a feeling that we can't do better. The American people everywhere I have been are mad about that."

There were a number of firefighters in the audience, and she said the firefighters union was the first to endorse the Kerry campaign. She said firefighters "have been treated abysmally by this administration. They are closing fire stations - even in New York City, while they are building them in Baghdad."

She said firefighters "symbolize the front lines of disaster. Truly they are daily heroes."

Mrs. Kerry said many veterans "are raging mad" at the Bush administration, which she said is cutting their benefits.

She called the Bush tax cuts "brutal and unchristian. In terms of economic policy they are ridiculous. A lot of Democrats as well as Republicans and Independents are embarrassed by what's going on."

Mrs. Kerry, who said she grew up in East Africa under a dictatorship, said the Bush administration is "ruling from the White House."

She told of taking part in civil rights marches in South Africa when she was in her 20s and of working at the U.N. when she was 25.

She said, "You have a great beautiful city in the making." She said after her last visit here, "I kept talking about Chattanooga, telling people you've got to see it."

Also at the Kefauver Dinner will be the John Edwards for President Campaign Chairman, Ed Turlington. He will join Tennessee Edwards Campaign Chairman Bob Clement.

This bio is on the Kerry campaign website:

Teresa Heinz Kerry brings an extraordinary range of experience and talent to the campaign trail for her husband. She has been deeply involved with a number of issues that are equally important to her husband, including the environment, children, women's issues, and health care and wellness. She has been an outspoken advocate for human rights, and a strong supporter of the arts.

Born in Mozambique, fluent in five 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 largest private foundations. After studying in South Africa and Switzerland, she moved to the United States to work for the United Nations. In 1966, she married Senator John Heinz, 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 run for her husband's Senate seat, she became chair 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, broaden economic opportunity, and promote the arts.

She started advocating for women early, attending the first meeting of the Women's Political Caucus in Pennsylvania in 1972. 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 ran into Kerry at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where she was representing U.S. non-governmental organizations. In 1993 they began dating, and were married in the presence of her three sons and his two daughters on Memorial Day 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 recently elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In addition to her three sons and two step-daughters, Teresa is the almost inordinately (but understandably) proud grandmother of one grandchild.

Clark signs were down and Kerry placards in place at the Roosevelt Room
- Photo2 by John Wilson