After receiving his J.D. from Boston College Law School, Kerry worked in Massachusetts as an Assistant District Attorney. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts under Michael Dukakis from 1983 to 1985 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and was sworn in the following January. On the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he led a series of hearings from 1987 to 1989 which were a precursor to the Iran–Contra affair. Kerry was re-elected to additional terms in 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2008. In 2002, Kerry voted to authorize the President "to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein", but warned that the administration should exhaust its diplomatic avenues before launching war.