Washington ? Two former presidents, a panoply of party stalwarts and rising stars, and Sen. John Kerry’s fellow Vietnam War veterans will be among those saluting the presumed Democratic presidential nominee at the party’s national convention in Boston later this month.

Speakers during the gathering’s opening night July 26 will include former President Carter and former Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic standard-bearer in 2000. The pair will help set the stage for a prime-time address by former President Clinton, according to the schedule announced Tuesday by the Kerry campaign.

Other first-day speakers will call attention to the party’s diversity on Capitol Hill: Reps. Stephanie Tubbs, a black woman from Ohio, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, the only openly lesbian member of Congress, and Robert Menendez, a Cuban American from New Jersey.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York also will appear onstage that night with a group of female senators, a party official said.

The convention’s themes are designed to highlight Kerry’s life story, especially his military service in Vietnam, and present him as a leader who can be trusted to guide the nation’s war on terrorism. The themes include “A Lifetime of Service and Strength,” “A Stronger, More Secure America” and “Stronger at Home, Respected in the World.”

Television networks ABC, NBC and CBS plan an hour of live coverage of the convention every night except July 27. The featured speaker that night is Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, perhaps the party’s best-known proponent of liberal causes.

Ron Reagan, son of the late Republican President Ronald Reagan, also is expected to address the convention that night to promote federal funding of stem-cell research, although officials cautioned that the timing of his appearance was not yet final.

On July 28, the convention is expected to nominate Kerry and his pick for the ticket’s vice presidential slot, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. Edwards is then scheduled to give his acceptance speech. He is to be introduced by his wife, Elizabeth Edwards.

Also speaking that night will be Gov. Bill Richardson on New Mexico, the convention’s chairman.

Kerry’s acceptance speech will cap the convention’s final day, July 29. Speakers preceding him will include his two daughters, Vanessa and Alexandra Kerry, and stepsons Chris and Andre Heinz.