83 Facts About Cindy McCain

Cindy Lou McCain is an American diplomat, businesswoman, and humanitarian who is the executive director of the World Food Programme.

Cindy McCain is the widow of US Senator John McCain from Arizona, who was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee.

Cindy McCain was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and is a daughter of wealthy beer distributor Jim Hensley.

Cindy McCain married John McCain in 1980, and the couple moved to Arizona in 1981, where her husband was elected to the United States Congress the following year and reelected five more times.

Cindy McCain participated in both of her husband's presidential campaigns and, in 2008, drew both positive and negative scrutiny for her appearance, demeanor, wealth, spending habits, and financial obligations.

Cindy McCain continued to be an active philanthropist and served on the boards of Operation Smile, Eastern Congo Initiative, CARE, and HALO Trust, frequently making overseas trips in conjunction with their activities.

Cindy McCain was nominated to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture ambassadorship by Joe Biden in June 2021 and confirmed by the Senate in October 2021.

Cindy McCain has described her mother as being very much from Southern culture, while her father reflected the Western lifestyle.

Cindy McCain was raised as the only child of her parents' second marriages and grew up on Phoenix's North Central Avenue in affluent circumstances.

Cindy McCain Hensley was named Junior Rodeo Queen of Arizona in 1968.

Cindy McCain went to Central High School in Phoenix, where she was named Best Dressed as a senior and graduated in 1972.

Cindy McCain joined Kappa Alpha Theta sorority as a freshman, and had many leadership roles in the house during her four years there.

Cindy McCain continued on at USC, and received a Master of Arts degree in special education in 1978.

Cindy McCain was the US Navy liaison officer to the United States Senate, and was accompanying a group of senators heading for China.

Cindy McCain was in Hawaii on a family vacation with her parents.

Cindy McCain had been married to Carol McCain for 14 years and they had three children.

John Cindy McCain then pushed to end his marriage and the couple stopped cohabiting in January 1980, Carol Cindy McCain consented to a divorce in February 1980, it was finalized in April 1980.

Hensley and Cindy McCain were married on May 17,1980, at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.

Cindy McCain campaigned with her husband door to door during his successful first bid for US Congress in 1982, and was heavily involved in campaign strategy.

Cindy McCain spent two months in late 1983 writing handwritten notes on over 4,000 Christmas cards to be sent to constituents and others.

Cindy McCain was considered an outsider who was snubbed by the Washington congressional social scene, in part because Carol McCain was a popular figure in town, and she grew homesick for Arizona.

Cindy McCain moved back to Arizona in early 1984 and gave birth to the couple's daughter Meghan later that year.

Cindy McCain subsequently gave birth to sons John Sidney IV in 1986 and James in 1988.

Cindy McCain's parents lived across the street and helped her raise the children; her husband was frequently in Washington and she typically only saw him on weekends and holidays.

In 1988, inspired by a vacation that she took four years earlier to substandard medical facilities on Truk Lagoon, Cindy McCain founded the American Voluntary Medical Team.

Cindy McCain led 55 of these missions over the next seven years, each of which were at least two weeks in duration.

Cindy McCain decided to adopt one of the girls, later named Bridget, with her husband readily agreeing; the adoption became final in 1993.

Cindy McCain helped coordinate the adoption of the other little girl for family friend Wes Gullett.

In 1989, Cindy McCain developed an addiction to Percocet and Vicodin.

Cindy McCain initially took the opioid painkillers to alleviate pain after two spinal surgeries for ruptured discs.

Cindy McCain used the drugs to ease emotional stress during the Keating Five scandal.

That year, Cindy McCain founded a new organization, the Hensley Family Foundation, which donates funds to children's programs nationally as well as in Arizona.

Cindy McCain was largely a stay-at-home mom during the balance of the 1990s.

Cindy McCain's attacks were caused by many different migraine triggers and she tried many different treatments.

Cindy McCain mostly provided good cheer, without discussing her opinions about national policy.

Cindy McCain impressed Republican voters with her elegance at coffee shops and other small campaign settings, where she frequently referred to her children, carpooling and charity work.

Cindy McCain was upset by the notorious smear tactics against her husband in the South Carolina primary that year.

Cindy McCain was chosen as the chair of the Arizona delegation to the 2000 Republican National Convention.

Cindy McCain owned at least $2.7 million worth of shares of Anheuser-Busch stock.

Cindy McCain became actively involved with Operation Smile in 2001, taking parts in its medical missions to Morocco, Vietnam and India.

Cindy McCain was honored by the organization in 2005 and sits on its board of directors.

Cindy McCain joined the board of directors of CARE in 2005.

Cindy McCain is on the board of the HALO Trust, and has visited operations to remove landmines in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Mozambique, and Angola.

Cindy McCain makes financial contributions to these organizations via her family trust and views her role as watching them in the field to ensure they are frugal and their money is being spent effectively.

Cindy McCain owns a home in Coronado, California, next to the Hotel del Coronado; her family had vacationed in Coronado growing up, and she has gone there for recuperation and family get-togethers.

Cindy McCain is an amateur pilot and race car driver.

Cindy McCain was active and visible in her husband's second presidential campaign during 2007 and 2008, despite not wanting her husband to run initially due to bad memories of their 2000 experience and worries the effect on her children, especially son Jimmy who was headed to serve in the Iraq War.

Cindy McCain eventually supported her husband in his goals, but defined her own campaign roles; she frequently returned to Arizona to attend to domestic duties or interrupted campaigning for her overseas charitable work.

Cindy McCain preferred to travel with her husband and introduce him rather than act as a campaign surrogate with a separate schedule.

Cindy McCain wore her hair in a fashionable but severe style and was sometimes seen with an unsmiling countenance in her appearances.

Cindy McCain stated that the American public wanted a First Lady of the United States who would tend toward a traditional role in that position.

Cindy McCain envisioned herself as a possible figurehead for humanitarian work, along the lines of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Cindy McCain continued to expand her roles in such organizations, joining in April 2008 the board of Grateful Nation Montana, which provides scholarships and services to the children of Montana service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cindy McCain made statements critical of the Bush administration for not deploying enough troops during the Iraq War.

Cindy McCain faced media scrutiny about her wealth, spending habits, and financial obligations.

Cindy McCain initially declined to release her separate income tax returns, saying that it was a privacy issue and she would not release the returns even if she became First Lady Cindy McCain later released the first two pages of her 2006 return, which showed $6 million in income for that year.

Cindy McCain was compared to former first lady Nancy Reagan, due to both her style and wardrobe as well as her demeanor.

Early in the campaign, some recipes attributed to Cindy McCain turned out to be copied from other sources; the campaign attributed the problem to an error by an intern.

Cindy McCain spoke on both the opening and final nights of the early September 2008 Republican National Convention.

On November 4,2008, she fought back tears in an appearance as the Cindy McCain campaign reached its final day and subsequent loss to Obama.

Cindy McCain seriously considered participating, but according to her husband, was concerned that her surgically replaced knee would not be able to withstand the rigors of the competition.

Cindy McCain expressed support for LGBT rights by appearing alongside her daughter Meghan at an April 2009 convention of the Log Cabin Republicans, and posing for the NOH8 Campaign, a gay rights project opposed to California Proposition 8, a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage.

Cindy McCain appeared in March 2011 alongside Eastern Congo Initiative founder Ben Affleck to testify before a panel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on behalf of continued monetary assistance to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in an environment where the Republican-controlled House was looking to make significant cuts to foreign aid.

Cindy McCain campaigned for legislation to address the problem at both the federal and state levels.

Nonetheless, following the change in administration in Washington, in May 2017 it was reported that Cindy McCain was under consideration for a prominent role at the US Department of State, possibly focusing on issues related to human trafficking.

Cindy McCain is my hero and I love him with all my heart.

Cindy McCain was present at, and later expressed gratitude for, the elaborate services for her husband, which involved lying in state in the rotunda at the Arizona State Capitol, a service at the North Phoenix Baptist Church, lying in state in the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, a service at the Washington National Cathedral, and finally burial at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery.

Once it became time, Cindy McCain reportedly indicated that she was not interested in being appointed to her husband's Senate seat, as personal participation in electoral politics did not appeal to her.

Cindy McCain became chair of the McCain Institute's board of trustees.

Cindy McCain later apologized in a tweet and praised police officers.

Cindy McCain continued to be critical of the state of American politics.

Cindy McCain was a member of the advisory board of the Biden-Harris Transition Team, which was helping to plan for the presidential transition of Joe Biden, providing counsel on women's and children's issues.

Cindy McCain was named to the board in September 2020, when the campaign was still underway.

Cindy McCain was seen by the Biden administration as a likely, or even a "must do", for an ambassadorship nomination.

Cindy McCain responded to the notion of any potential nomination by saying, "In whatever way he sees fit, I would be proud and honored to serve".

In late May 2021, it was reported that President Biden would nominate Cindy McCain to serve as the Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.

Cindy McCain was sworn in as ambassador on November 5,2021.

Cindy McCain presented her credentials to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on January 18,2022, to the International Fund for Agricultural Development on January 25,2022, and to the UN World Food Programme on January 28,2022.

Cindy McCain succeeded David Beasley, who had served six years as executive director when his term ended on April 4,2023.

On October 22,2023, Cindy McCain warned that the 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip could cause a humanitarian catastrophe.

Nonetheless, Cindy McCain said that other areas of the world were focal points of her attention, especially acute food insecurities in Sudan as well as in other parts of Africa and in Haiti.

Cindy McCain was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame in 2019.

Cindy McCain received the 2020 Heritage Award from the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.