John Sidney McCain, III

United States Republican Senator John S. McCain III (born 1936) truly came to the public's attention with his failed bid for the presidential primary nomination against George W. Bush in 2000. Once in the spotlight, many found the blunt and feisty Vietnam War veteran's candor refreshing. Known for his bipartisan collaborative efforts in the Senate, McCain was equally bipartisan in his criticism.

To the Navy Born

McCain was born on August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone. He was one of three children born to John S. McCain Jr. and his wife, Roberta. McCain's father and grandfather were both admirals in the United States Navy, the first father and son serving at that rank in naval history. Quick to anger even as a toddler, McCain used to hold his breath until he passed out when thwarted. After bouncing from school to school in the tradition of a child of a military family, McCain was sent to high school at the elite Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. There, his temper remained short and repeated discipline appeared wasted on him. "I thank God every day there weren't drugs around when I was growing up," he told Jonathan Alter of Newsweek. Despite his best efforts, McCain graduated from Episcopal High in 1954.

After graduation McCain went off to follow the family trade at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. However, the storied disciplinary effect of military school had little effect on the rambunctious young man. He continued to push the buttons and limits of his superiors, accumulating an impressive number of demerits for small infractions and barely squeaking by academically to graduate in the bottom five of his class in 1958. Even after being accepted to train as a naval aviator, McCain was irrepressible and irresponsible, ditching one airplane into Corpus Christi Bay and flying another so low in Spain that he managed to cut power lines and deprive part of the country of electricity for a time. For all his wild behavior, though, McCain also displayed a strength of character beyond his years. He refused to participate in hazing rituals at Annapolis, for instance, later explaining to Alter, "I just thought it had become too demeaning." Instead, he did not suffer bullies gladly, defending underclassmen and other victims alike in his typical bellicose fashion.

As a young navy pilot, McCain was in his element. "I enjoyed shooting rockets and dropping bombs and shooting off guns," he recalled to Esquire's Charles P. Pierce. "Nobody in their right mind wouldn't enjoy that. . . . You're a young, single guy, and you go out and you fly for a couple of weeks, then you come in for a week and carouse. . . . Nobody deserves to get paid for that." He gave up the single part of the equation in 1965, when he married Carol Shepp and adopted her two children (the couple later had a child of their own, too), but the lure of adventure was more difficult to abandon. So McCain volunteered for service in Vietnam.

Vietnam

In June of 1967, McCain (by then a lieutenant commander) set out for Vietnam from Norfolk, Virginia aboard the USS Forrestal. The carrier was in the Gulf of Tonkin on July 29, its crew preparing for the second launch of the fifth day of striking enemy targets in North Vietnam, when one of its own bombs detonated on deck. McCain narrowly escaped the resulting conflagration that killed 132 crewmen, with two others missing and presumed dead, and injured 62 more. It was one of the worst military accidents of the war.

A little less than three months later, on October 26, McCain was making his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam when his plane was hit by an antiaircraft missile. Forced to eject, breaking both arms and a leg in the process, he landed in a lake near Hanoi and was captured. He spent the next five and a half years as a prisoner of war (POW) at the sarcastically nicknamed "Hanoi Hilton."

Injured and ill, McCain was denied medical assistance until his captors learned that he was an admiral's son, and even then treatment was rudimentary. His father's position also prompted the North Vietnamese to offer him early release in June of 1968. McCain refused, as the U.S. Military Code of Conduct required that prisoners accept release on a first in/first out basis, and there were more than 100 POWs ahead of him. His refusal resulted in a round of torture that included knocking his teeth out, hanging him by his broken arms, and beating him almost around the clock for a week. Although the abuse never succeeded in convincing McCain to accept early release, he did break down and sign a confession that he was a "black criminal" and an "air pirate." The shame of the confession led McCain to contemplate suicide at the time, and stayed with him years after the fact. "The only thing I can say is that the code says you will resist to the best of your ability," he told Pierce in 1998. "But I failed myself. I failed my fellow prisoners. I failed my family, and I failed my country. Is there anybody else?" Most did not judge McCain as harshly as he judged himself; many, indeed, found his ongoing determination to remain in prison heroic. He was finally released on March 14, 1973, and returned home with a Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Began Anew

The seven years following McCain's homecoming were uneven. He advanced professionally, attending the National War College in Washington, D.C. and receiving a promotion to captain in 1977. 1977 also saw his appointment as the Navy's liaison to the U.S. Senate, a position that laid the groundwork for his political ambitions. His personal life, however, was less than stellar. Carousing, womanizing, and a poor choice of companions led to some unsavory episodes, and ultimately resulted in a divorce from his first wife in 1980. Candid about this period in his life, McCain explained to Pierce, "One of the reasons I've been reluctant to judge other people is that I've had so many failures of my own. I failed when I was in prison. I failed in my [first] marriage. I think that if there are any benefits from my failure, it's to realize that other people fail, too."

McCain's life began to get back on the right track after his 1980 marriage to Cindy Lou Hensley, daughter of a prosperous Arizona beer distributor. He retired from the Navy the following year, and the newlyweds moved to Arizona to embark on McCain's new career. In 1982, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican. A longtime admirer of then–President Ronald Reagan, McCain generally embraced the party line for his two terms in the House. In 1985, he was elected to the Senate seat vacated by retiring elder statesman Barry Goldwater. And before too long, McCain began to make waves.

Maverick Politician

The freshman senator was appointed to various committees, including the Armed Services Committee and the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee (which he went on to chair). Among the early issues he embraced were veterans' rights and the push to normalize relations with Vietnam (on which he joined forces with Democratic Senator and fellow war hero John Kerry, and which was finally realized in July of 1995). McCain suffered an early embarrassing setback in 1989 when he was investigated, along with four other senators, regarding political contribution improprieties involving Charles Keating, who ended up in jail over one of the biggest savings and loans scandals ever. McCain was the only one of the five to be absolved of any wrongdoing except "poor judgment," and the experience engendered his championing the issue of campaign finance reform (also eventually attained, with Democratic support, in 2002).

McCain was reelected to the Senate for two more terms in the 1990s. During those years, his blunt approach, sharp temper, and unwillingness to toe the party line caused consternation among fellow Republicans. Then in 1999, he threw his hat into the ring for the 2000 Republican presidential primary and his singular style gained a much broader audience. Though McCain failed in his bid for the nomination against George W. Bush, many people from both political parties found his straight talk and disarming candor (complete with gaffes) refreshing. Indeed, McCain's popularity was such that he became one of the few senators that gained a national constituency.

After his loss, the newly high–profile senator from Arizona went on ruffling feathers. Former Democratic state representative Tom Vallely told Pierce, " . . . it's [McCain's] instincts. John's not a chess player, I don't think. He's more intuitive, because he has no political fear." McCain mastered the art of bipartisan politics in order to get things accomplished (as with the campaign financial reform bill) and dismissed those who criticized him for it. "Much to my surprise, me stating that John Kerry and I are friends upsets some people very much. That you can't even be friends with a politician in an opposing party really shows how much things have changed," he told David Kronke of the Los Angeles Daily News. "Somehow, even to praise someone of another party is an anathema and an act of betrayal." Such critics as conservative activist and president of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist remained unappeased. He told Mark Leibovich of the Washington Post, "[McCain] ought to not be allowed near sharp objects or legislation."

Future Goals

The 2004 presidential election and its aftermath did little to change the minds of McCain's detractors or supporters. While he supported Bush's reelection and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, McCain once again did not keep within the Republican tenets. For instance, he defended Bush opponent John Kerry's Vietnam War record when it came under attack during the campaign, and strongly disagreed with the president's backing of a constitutional amendment barring same–sex marriage. He also maintained his determined opposition to pork barrel spending. Nor was McCain reticent about his misgivings about Secretary Defense Donald Rumsfeld's handling of the war in Iraq, telling the Associated Press, as quoted by the Newark Star–Ledger, that he had "no confidence" in Rumsfeld's leadership. In short, McCain remained McCain.

McCain was reelected to a fourth term in the Senate in 2004. There was, once again, talk of another run for the presidency in 2008. But at 68, the senator was non-committal. He told Leibovich "I want to keep a reputation which makes young people come up to me and say, 'I admire you, Senator McCain,' rather than being some old political hack who keeps running for president." By 2005, McCain had also written three books, including 2004's Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life. But that was not to say that he intended to alter his forthright style or slow down in any particular way. "This is all so transient," he told Leibovich. "It could all end tomorrow. My philosophy is just to go, go like hell. Like Teddy Roosevelt did it. Full–bore." McCain summed himself up even more succinctly to Kronke: "I'll keep fighting."

Books

Newsmakers 1998, Issue 4. Gale Group, 1998.

Periodicals

Daily News (Los Angeles, CA), August 25, 2004.

Esquire, May 1998.

Independent (London, England), January 1, 2000.

Newsweek, November 15, 1999; February 14, 2000.

New York Times, October 20, 2002.

Star–Ledger (Newark, NJ), December 13, 2004; December 14, 2004.

Online

"McCain, John Sidney, III," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M00303 (January 5, 2005).

"McCain: Same–sex Marriage Ban is Un–Republican," CNN,http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/14/mccain.marriage (July 14, 2004).

"Pedal to the Metal," Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp–dyn/A19085-2004May11?language=printer (May 12, 2004).

"Senator John S. McCain (AZ)," Project Vote Smart, http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can–id=S0061103 (January 5, 2005).

"Senator John S. McCain III Biography," Vietnam War,http://www.vietnamwar.com/JohnMcCainBio.htm (January 5, 2005).

"USS Forrestal (CVA 59)," United States Navy, http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/histories/cv59-forrestal.html (January 6, 2005).