McCain John

American politician, a Republican Senator from Arizona from 1987 to 2018, the unsuccessful rival of George W. Bush for the GOP nomination for President in 2000, and the Republican nominee for President in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama. With a conservative voting record, he made his name in part by pounding his head against the wall of campaign-finance reform and by showing his disdain of "pork barrel spending." McCain was seen as an expert on foreign and military affairs. His campaigns were often about character, an old-fashioned belief in honor that made him trustworthy, even to those who disagreed with some of his policies. McCain had always been a staunch conservative - pro-life, pro-gun, anti-tax, anti-regulation. By age 40 he had already served as a naval aviator in the Vietnam war and had spent 5 1/2 years of hell as a POW. On 26 October 1967 he had been shot down on a mission over Hanoi, breaking both arms and legs. After solitary confinement, he was transferred to a cell with 50 other prisoners. As the son of Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet during the war, he had turned down paternal sponsorship, resisting pressure from his North Vietnamese captors to go free because his preferential treatment would demoralize the troops. On 17 March 1973, he was turned over to American authorities. In 1977 McCain was promoted to Captain and reassigned to the Dept of Navys Office of Legislative affairs. He retired from the Navy in 1981 and entered politics, winning the first of two terms in the House of Representatives in 1982. In 1986 he was elected to the Senate to succeed Goldwater. In September 1999, he launched a book tour promoting Faith of my Fathers, a three-generational bio of his, his dads and grand-dads, both admirals, with the lessons of honor and patriotism that theyd taught him. On 3 July 1965 he married Carol, adopting her two sons, Douglas and Andrew; they had a daughter together, Sidney Ann. After their 1980 divorce, he married former medical missionary, 18-year-younger Cindy Hensley, who would become a wealthy heiress. Together they had three children, Meghan, Jack, and Jimmy and adopted Bridget, a Bangladeshi chlld from Mother Teresas orphanage. With a capacity for enthusiasm and his care for the underdog, McCains belief that character trumps ideology and that hard work is a winning tactic proved accurate when he swept the New Hampshire primaries on 8 February 2000. Nonetheless, his opponent, George W. Bush, was nominated the Republican candidate for the presidential race. In mid-August 2000, McCain was found to have two skin cancers, diagnosed as melanoma. On 19 August 2000 he had a biopsy on the lesion near his temple along with tests of his lymph nodes to determine whether the cancer has spread. He had a similar lesion removed from his shoulder in 1993. On 30 August 2001, he underwent the surgical procedure for an enlarged prostate. On 2 February 2003, at a fund-raiser in Phoenix, he announced his intention to run for a fourth Senate term in 2004. The move ruled out a presidential run for the 2004 election. In early spring 2004, political pundits proposed that John Kerry choose Senator McCain as his running mate. In an appearance on Meet the Press, which aired on 11 April 2004, McCain emphatically answered "No, no, no," to the question about the possibility of his being John Kerry’s Vice President, adding jokingly, "What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?" McCain maintained that he Read less