Case file · Folklore / legend
John Kerry in Antarctica on election week
Leaving Washington as Americans voted on 8 November 2016, John Kerry became the first US secretary of state to visit Antarctica, at McMurdo Station on 11–12 November.
2016 CE · -77.85, 166.68 · status: official
The account
He met climate scientists and, when weather cancelled a South Pole leg, toured the Dry Valleys by helicopter before the Marrakesh climate conference. Because he was out of reach on the night Donald Trump won, the trip became a staple of 'what are they hiding in Antarctica' posts, alongside the visits of Patriarch Kirill and Buzz Aldrin.
The sceptical view
The trip was announced beforehand and centred on climate research; it also made him the first secretary of state to have visited all seven continents.
Connections in the atlas
- Chapel of the Snows, McMurdo
- Patriarch Kirill among the penguins
- Buzz Aldrin's evacuation and the fake 'evil' tweet
- The Antarctic Treaty and 'why is it closed?'