John Kerry talks about his new book

In his new biography, “Every Day Is Extra,” John Kerry tells his story of an American life filled with experience and driven by dedication to a country he has served and continues to serve. The book details his service in Vietnam, his terms as Massachusetts lieutenant governor, U.S. senator, and secretary of state, as well as his 2004 presidential candidacy. While there is plenty of history in the book, Kerry concludes with a vision going forward, looking at bipartisan leadership and solutions to climate change issues.

The book’s title comes from a philosophy Kerry has carried with him since his service in Vietnam. “‘Every Day IIs Extra’ is not just a statement of fact; it’s an attitude about life,” Kerry writes in the author’s note. “It is an expression that summarizes how a bunch of the guys I served with in Vietnam felt about coming home alive … It is a philosophy lived by people who could have died on any given day but didn’t, when far too many good men did … Finally, ‘every day is extra’ means living with the liberating truth of knowing there are worse things than losing an argument or even an election — the worst thing of all would be to waste the gift of an extra day by sitting on the sidelines, indifferent to a problem. This book is the story of my journey to keep the faith with the gift of my extra days.”

The Times spoke with Kerry by phone about his new book, life on the Vineyard, and what he’s up to now.

Your book begins with a quote from your father, and goes on to talk about your mother and grandparents. How did you decide where to start?

I thought the introduction through my father, and sort of those moments, was the best way to get into his family and the movement of time. It explained to some degree my upbringing, so I thought it was a good place to start.

How political do you think you made your biography? Is it intentional or just inevitable?

I think it’s not. I don’t think it’s political at all, as a matter of fact. It’s counterintuitive, in a sense that it goes into things directly. It’s very honest. The reviews of it by various people basically said it’s honest, frank, and surprisingly in-depth and alive. The question has been asked, but no one has said, ‘This is political.’ I think most people view it as surprisingly refreshing.

Did you find it difficult to write any parts of the book?

There were lots of parts that were difficult to write. First of all, you never know how much is too much. How in-depth you want to go into one thing versus another. That’s why you need an editor who can say to you, “I don’t think people will be interested in this, but they’re going to be more interested in this; you need to write more about it.” So I have to always put this to the test whether or not someone is really going to be interested, and knowing more about this and less about that. It was fun. Writing about early family stuff was interesting for me because I learned things I didn’t know, looking back and doing research. It also put it in sequence because I had to get the dates correct, you know, when did I go to Europe, what was the exact time, was it this year I was at this school or that year, so going back into all of that was sort of fun, and pinned it down for me. Things I’d sort of forgotten, like when I went to Europe for the first time on the SS America, and that kind of thing.

Writing about Iran and the Middle East were harder. You want to get it right. You don’t want to be somehow sour grapes about something where you’re not, and you don’t want to sound flippant about something that should be taken seriously. So I found that harder, to make sure I was balanced correctly.

The last six months of the book were very intensive, very hard. I did a lot of it on Martha’s Vineyard. I was in Chilmark. I wrote a lot right there because I could get disentangled from the outer world, and I just kind of focused on the manuscript. I had a bunch of early mornings and late nights.

You felt compelled to serve in Vietnam, but later on you became very involved in anti-Vietnam activism. How do you resolve the seemingly conflicting feelings of wanting to serve your country, but also feeling disappointed with the foreign activities of the country you love?

They were both serving my country. I was serving my country by going and doing my duty, and I believed I was serving my country by telling the truth about what was happening. I never viewed them as two separate tracks. I viewed them as part of a whole. If you really care about your country and want to make people dying in fact meaningful and understandable, you’ve got to define it correctly. I think that I viewed pulling America back from a really bad place and ending American complicity in what was happening in Vietnam, became a critical mission, and it wasn’t one I shared alone. Ultimately Gene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy ran for president and tried to end the war. Lyndon Johnson decided he couldn’t run again. Subsequent things happened because we were involved, because we went out there and said, This has got to change. It was difficult back then. Nixon had an enemies list, and he was using the Justice Department, spying on people, and doing bad things. It wasn’t easy to take on the power of the presidency and an administration that was pretty ruthless.

Many people have regrets, but not many of those regrets have political and geopolitical consequences. How do you deal with having regrets on decisions that impact the world?

I think I’m pretty candid in the book about regretting some kind of youthful, exuberant decisions I made that were not as thought through. Deciding to run in a district that I wasn’t viewed as being a hometown boy or something. I think things like that I write pretty clearly that were kind of self-assumed baggage. I don’t sit around regretting, I’m just honest about it, “that’s what it was,” and you learn lessons from that. That’s what life’s about. I’m very comfortable with the major decisions that I’ve made. I’m proud I ran for president, I’m sorry I lost, but I never cried in my teacup, so to speak, I went back to work in the Senate, became chairman of the foreign relations committee, then went on to work with Obama as his secretary of state, to negotiate the Iran deal and the Paris agreement, get chemical weapons out of Syria, and do a lot of things around the world that I think made a difference. I’ve never made a tally in regrets. I’m grateful for a very full life, and a lot of very exciting chapters that I look back on and feel proud of, good about.

Your final chapter is on climate change and the planet. Are you working on anything now in that discipline?

I am, I work every day on that. There’s not a day that goes by I don’t mention climate change to some person or some group, and talk about what we need to be doing. I’m going to Bali to speak at the Our Oceans Conference that I started when I was secretary of state, which is linked to climate. I’ll be in Poland at the conference of the parties in December, where I’m wearing my hat from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where I’m a fellow, and wearing my hat from Yale University. I’m deeply involved in trying to motivate and activate enough action. I was just out in San Francisco at the climate summit with Governor Brown and Mayor Bloomberg. I’m working extremely hard to pony up and do what’s necessary to respond to the challenge of climate change. It’s existential, period.

What are some of your favorite things, places to eat, and activities to do on the Vineyard?

I love the variance of the communities on the Vineyard. I love North Road; it’s one of the most beautiful roads I’ve ever seen, with the trees and the canopy and the stone walls. I love the active farms and the beautiful fields. I love buying fish at Larsen’s. I like fishing, going on the water at Cape Poge. I like eating at Net Result, State Road, Beach Road, Alchemy, the Atlantic, there’s a lot of good places around. I love Red Cat and Ben DeForest, the chef there. I like to get doughnuts at Back Door. I love just staying home and eating and getting fish or catching fish.

Are you doing a lot of sailing when you’re here?

I haven’t been doing as much as I normally have. I have a beautiful old Herreshoff, which is on the water in Vineyard Haven. I just haven’t gotten out enough to brag about. This summer was interrupted a lot by writing the book. I missed a lot of the summer, which drives me crazy.

Many people are looking toward you and other popular Democrats ahead of the midterms and the presidential election in 2020. If Democrats can take a majority in Congress and even the presidency, how can they heal a deeply divided country? If not, what is the responsibility of the Republicans?

I think everybody has to work to heal the country. It can’t be one side only; you’ve got to be met halfway or somewhere, because it needs compromise. People have got to be willing to come together and look to the needs of the country, not the needs of the party. Certainly not the needs of the president’s party or power. There’s been too much caving in to bad instincts. It requires individuals to stand up and fight for change. I hope that the course correction can be put in place by the midterm election, which is why I’m working on it. Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve talked about the need to vote. I don’t think anybody should be thinking about or talking about 2020 right now. The focus has to be on [the midterm election].

I believe very deeply part of the reason we are where we are today is that too many Americans did not think it was valuable voting in 2016. So we had a very low turnout, 54.2 percent. When Barack Obama won, it was 62.3 percent, so you see the gap. That’s just not acceptable.

“Every Day Is Extra” is available at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, 23 Main St., Vineyard Haven, and online.