James Rassmann is a former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department lieutenant who served with the U.S. Army's 5th Special Forces Group in the Vietnam War in 1968 and 1969. Now a resident of the U.S. state of Oregon, he has credited U.S. Senator John Kerry with having rescued him from the Bay Hap River on March 13, 1969.
A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of U.S. tax-exempt organization organized under Section 527 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. A 527 group is created primarily to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates to federal, state or local public office.
This is a timeline of events during the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, formerly known as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), was a political group of United States Swift boat veterans; former prisoners of war of the Vietnam War, formed during the 2004 presidential election campaign. It was done for the purpose of opposing John Kerry's candidacy for the presidency; the campaign inspired the widely used political pejorative "swiftboating", to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. The group disbanded and ceased operations on May 31, 2008.
Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry is a 2004 book about then U.S. Presidential candidate John Kerry by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi published by Regnery Publishing. The book was released at the time that ads by Swift Vets and POWs for Truth were being aired on U.S. television.
John Ellis O'Neill is a Vietnam War veteran and lawyer who was the spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Texans for Truth (TfT) was a political advocacy organization, registered under Section 527 of the United States tax code, formed to oppose George W. Bush's re-election efforts in the 2004 presidential election. In September 2004, the group began airing advertisements in various swing states that questioned Bush's National Guard record, particularly as to whether or not he fulfilled his obligations to serve.
Rear Admiral Roy F. "Latch" Hoffmann, U.S. Navy (retired) (1925–2022) was chairman of the former Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, established May 4, 2004, in opposition to John Kerry's candidacy for U.S. President, and which disbanded on May 31, 2008. As a naval officer, he patrolled the Mekong Delta on swift boats during the Vietnam War.
Stolen Honor is a 45-minute anti-John Kerry video documentary that was released during the September 2004 election season. It features interviews with a number of American men who contend they were prisoners of war in North Vietnam and suffered increased maltreatment while prisoners as a direct result of Kerry's Fulbright Hearing testimony in April 1971. The subtitle of the film is Wounds That Never Heal; on the production company's website the complete title is given instead as Stolen Honor: John Kerry's Record of Betrayal. Its name was based on the book Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley.
During John Kerry's candidacy in the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign, a political issue that gained widespread public attention was Kerry's Vietnam War record. In television advertisements and a book called Unfit for Command, co-authored by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), a 527 group later known as the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, questioned details of his military service record and circumstances relating to the awarding of his combat medals. Their campaign against Kerry's presidential bid received widespread publicity, but was later discredited and gave rise to the neologism "swiftboating", to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. Defenders of Kerry's service record, including former crewmates, stated that allegations made by SBVT were false.
Thomas Boone Pickens Jr. was an American business magnate and financier. Pickens chaired the hedge fund BP Capital Management. He was a well-known takeover operator and corporate raider during the 1980s. As of November 2016, Pickens had a net worth of $500 million.
Stop Her Now was an internet-based 527 organization created by Republican political operative Arthur J. Finkelstein with the stated goal of stopping Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions by defeating her in the 2006 New York Senate race. The group sought to raise funds primarily through its website.
Sam Fox is an American businessman in St. Louis, and the owner of Harbour Group Industries. He was the United States Ambassador to Belgium from April 11, 2007 until January 2, 2009. President George W. Bush appointed Fox to the post by a recess appointment on April 4, 2007.
The term swiftboating is a pejorative American neologism used to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. The term is derived from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), the organization responsible for a widely publicized—and later discredited—political smear campaign against 2004 U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry. Since the 2004 election, the term has been commonly applied to a political attack that is dishonest, personal, and unfair.
The military career of John Kerry occurred during the Vietnam War. Kerry served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy during the period from 1966 to 1970. His only tour in Vietnam was four months as officer in charge of a Swift boat in 1969. Kerry received several combat medals during this tour, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. Kerry's military record received considerable attention during his political career, especially during his unsuccessful 2004 bid for the presidency.
Bobby Jack Perry, known as Bob J. Perry, was a Houston, Texas homebuilder, owner of Perry Homes, and major contributor to a number of politically oriented 527 groups, such as the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth and the Economic Freedom Fund.
John Forbes Kerry is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the administration of Barack Obama. A member of the Forbes family and of the Democratic Party, he previously represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1985 to 2013 and later served as the first U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate from 2021 to 2024. Kerry was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in the 2004 election, losing to then-incumbent president George W. Bush. He remains the most recent Democrat to have lost the popular vote in a presidential election.
Christopher Joseph LaCivita is an American political consultant and former partner in FP1 Strategies, a national public affairs and campaign firm. He is known primarily for coordinating smear campaigns against military veterans running for higher office as members of the Democratic Party, including the controversial "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" negative campaign against 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry and attacks on 2024 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz. He currently serves as senior adviser to Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm is a company that creates political advertisements for Republican candidates and politicians. They were the creators of the controversial Swift Boat Veterans commercials that attacked Senator John Kerry during his 2004 presidential election bid. The company has worked for such notable Republicans as John McCain, Bill Frist and others.
Richard Gardner Reed was an American advertising agent. A member of the Republican Party, Reed was known for his attack ads against John Kerry during the 2004 United States presidential election, which led to the coining of the term swiftboating.
