MAVERICK
John McCain 1936-2018 War hero and outspoken GOP senator served nation he loved with class & dignity
Tough-talking John McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, a maverick senator from Arizona and the Republican nominee for President of the United States, lost his brave battle with brain cancer Saturday night, his family said. He was 81.
“My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years,” his wife, Cindy McCain, tweeted from the family’s home in Arizona. “He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved, in the place he loved best.”
McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a rare brain cancer, more than a year ago. He had been receiving treatment in Arizona since December, largely staying out of Washington and the public eye except for a few policy statements.
Days after ending his arduous treatment, and acknowledging that his survival had exceeded expectations, McCain drew his last breath at his Arizona home surrounded by family and friends, and mourned by a grateful nation inspired by his drive.
Nicknamed “The Maverick” because of his gunsblazing style and his nonconformist political approach to politics, McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was a fighter to the end, sparring even with President Trump, a fellow Republican, over heath care and sanctions against Russia.
Their clash dated back to Trump’s 2016 campaign, when Trump attacked McCain’s war record, and needled the war hero for getting captured by the enemy during the Vietnam War.
“He’s a war hero because he was captured,” Trump told a campaign crowd. “I like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump’s last insult came just weeks ago, with McCain nearing his end, when Trump came to New York’s upstate Fort Drum to sign the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act, a defense spending bill, without bothering to mention McCain.
“I’m proud the NDAA is now law & humbled Congress chose to designate it in my name,” McCain tweeted from the high road. “As Chairman of the Armed Services Cmte, I’ve found high purpose in service of a cause greater than self—the cause of our troops who defend America & all that she stands for.”
Unlike Trump, McCain, a third-generation Navy man, followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who were both four-star admirals.
John Sidney McCain III was born on Aug. 29, 1936, at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, which was then a U.S. terriand tory. He spent his childhood adolescent years moving between naval bases in America and abroad. He attended Episcopal High School, a private preparatory boarding school in Alexandria, Va., until he graduated in 1954. McCain went on to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he graduated fifth from the bottom of his class in 1958. He graduated from flight school in 1960.
McCain volunteered for combat duty as the Vietnam War broke out, and became a naval aviator, flying ground attack planes from aircraft carriers. The pilot was nearly killed in 1967 when an aircraft carrier, the Forrestal, caught fire after a series of accidental explosions.
The explosions killed 134 sailors and injured 161.
Later that year, during his 23rd air mission, a bombing run over Hanoi, McCain’s aircraft was shot down, and he was seriously injured, breaking both arms and one leg during the crash.
He was captured by the North Vietnamese, and moved to Hoa Loa prison, nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton,” on Dec. 9, 1969.
It did not take long for his captors to learn that he was the son of a high-ranking Navy officer. They offered him early release, but McCain refused.
For five long years, he was a prisoner of war, bounced around in various prison camps, where he was repeatedly tortured. For three of those years, McCain was held in solitary confinement.
I’ve found high purpose in service of a cause greater than self—the cause of our troops who defend America & all that she stands for. JOHN McCAIN
“In prison, I fell in love with my country,” McCain wrote in his book “Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir.”
“I had loved her before then, but like most young people, my affection was little more than a simple appreciation for the comforts and privileges most Americans enjoyed and took for granted. It wasn’t until I had lost America for a time that I realized how much I loved her. ”
He was finally released, along with other American POWs, on March 14, 1973, less than two months after the Vietnam ceasefire went into effect. McCain earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
After nine months of physical rehabilitation, McCain tried to resume his Navy career, but his injuries were too much to overcome.
So he found another way to serve his country.
McCain’s introduction to politics came in 1976, when he was assigned as the Navy’s liaison to the U.S. Senate. In 1981, after marrying his second wife, Cindy Hensley, McCain, retired from the Navy and moved to Phoenix. While working in public relations for his father-in-law’s beer distribution business, he began establishing political connections. In 1982, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1986 won a seat in the U.S. Senate after longtime Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater retired.
But his political future was threatened in 1989 when he became the subject of investigations by the FBI and the Senate Ethics Committee. As one of the “Keating Five,” McCain was accused of improperly intervening with federal regulators on behalf of Charles H. Keating Jr., a prominent donor and chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings & Loan Association, who was jailed on bank fraud charges. McCain was cleared of any wrongdoing, although investigators declared that he had exercised “poor judgment” by meeting with the regulators.
McCain weathered the scandal, and rebuilt his reputation with his push for campaign finance reform, and was highly regarded enough to to emerge as a solid challenger in 2000 to Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination.
Bush went on to win, but when his two terms were up, McCain led the pack, and went on to become the Republican nominee for President in 2008. McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a decision he recently said was a “mistake.”
Despite reviving the success of his “Straight Talk Express” campaign bus, McCain lost the presidential race to Barack Obama.
McCain grudgingly endorsed Trump when Trump won the nomination in 2016. Less than a year later, already under treatment for the cancer that would end his life, the Maverick delivered the crushing blow vote that defeated Trump’s attempts to repeal Obamacare.
Sidelined, but not silenced, McCain mused on his own mortality in an April excerpt from from his upcoming memoir, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations.”
“The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it,” he wrote.. “I hate to leave it. But I don’t have a complaint. Not one. It’s been quite a ride. I’ve known great passions, seen amazing wonders, fought in a war, and helped make a peace. I made a small place for myself in the story of American and the history of my times.”