John McCain official portrait

Senior Senator from Arizona

Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1987, Serving with Jon Kyl
Preceded by Barry Goldwater

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st district
In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1987
Preceded by John Jacob Rhodes Jr.
Succeeded by John Jacob Rhodes III

Born August 29, 1936 (1936-08-29) (age 72) Coco Solo Naval Air Station, Panama Canal Zone, Panama
Nationality American
Political party Republican
Spouse Carol Shepp (m. 1965, div. 1980), Cindy Lou Hensley (m. 1980)
Children Douglas (b. 1959, adopted 1966), Andrew (b. 1962, adopted 1966), Sidney (b. 1966), Meghan (b. 1984), John Sidney IV "Jack" (b. 1986), James "Jimmy" (b. 1988), Bridget (b. 1991, adopted 1993)
Alma mater United States Naval Academy
Profession Naval aviator, Politician
Religion Southern Baptist congregant (Brought up Episcopalian)
Website U.S. Senator John McCain: Arizona

John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and presidential nominee of the Republican Party in the 2008 presidential election.

McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he nearly lost his life in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. Later that year while on a bombing mission over North Vietnam, he was shot down, badly injured, and captured as a prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese. He was held from 1967 to 1973, experiencing episodes of torture and refusing an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer; his war wounds left him with lifelong physical limitations.

He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981, moved to Arizona, and entered politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily in 1992, 1998, and 2004. While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a "maverick" for disagreeing with his party on several key issues. After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the "Keating Five," he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002. He is also known for his work towards restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 1990s, and for his belief that the war in Iraq should be fought to a successful conclusion in the 2000s. McCain has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, has opposed pork barrel spending, and played a key role in alleviating a crisis over judicial nominations.

McCain lost his bid for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush. He ran again for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, and gained enough delegates to become the party's presumptive nominee in March 2008. McCain was formally nominated at the 2008 Republican National Convention in September 2008, together with his chosen running mate from Alaska, Governor Sarah Palin.

Bibliography

  • Alexander, Paul. Man of the People: The Life of John McCain (John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey 2002). ISBN 0-471-22829-X. Available online in limited preview at Google Books.
  • Brock, David and Waldman, Paul. Free Ride: John McCain and the Media (Anchor Books 2008). ISBN 0-307-27940-5.
  • Drew, Elizabeth. Citizen McCain (Simon & Schuster 2002). ISBN 0-641-57240-9.
  • Feinberg, Barbara. John McCain: Serving His Country (Millbrook Press 2000). ISBN 0-761-31974-3.
  • Hubbell, John G. P.O.W.: A Definitive History of the American Prisoner-Of-War Experience in Vietnam, 1964–1973 (Reader's Digest Press, New York 1976). ISBN 0-88349-091-9.
  • Karaagac, John. John McCain: An Essay in Military and Political History (Lexington Books 2000). ISBN 0-739-10171-4.
  • McCain, John and Salter, Mark, Faith of My Fathers (Random House, New York 1999). ISBN 0-375-50191-6.
  • McCain, John and Salter, Mark. Worth the Fighting For (Random House, New York 2002). ISBN 0-375-50542-3.
  • Rochester, Stuart I. and Kiley, Frederick. Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961–1973 (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland 1999). ISBN 1-55750-694-9.
  • Schecter, Cliff. The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him and Why Independents Shouldn't (PoliPoint Press 2008). ISBN 0-979-48229-1.
  • Timberg, Robert. John McCain: An American Odyssey (Touchstone Books, New York 1999). ISBN 0-684-86794-X. Online access to Chapter 1 is available.
  • Timberg, Robert. The Nightingale's Song (Simon & Schuster, New York 1996). ISBN 0-684-80301-1. Online access to a portion of Chapter 1 is available.
  • Welch, Matt. McCain: The Myth of a Maverick (Palgrave Macmillan 2007). ISBN 0-230-60396-3.

Links

Official sites

Navy

Senate

Site directory

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

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