John Sidney McCain III was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018.
167 Facts About John McCain
2.
John McCain previously served two terms in the United States House of Representatives and was the Republican nominee for president of the United States in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama.
3.
John McCain became a naval aviator and flew ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers.
4.
John McCain experienced episodes of torture and refused an out-of-sequence early release.
5.
John McCain retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona.
6.
In 1982, John McCain was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served two terms.
7.
John McCain was elected to the US Senate in 1986, succeeding the 1964 Republican presidential nominee and conservative icon Barry Goldwater upon his retirement.
8.
John McCain was known for his work in the 1990s to restore diplomatic relations with Vietnam.
9.
John McCain chaired the Senate Commerce Committee from 1997 to 2001 and 2003 to 2005, where he opposed pork barrel spending and earmarks.
10.
John McCain belonged to the bipartisan "Gang of 14", which played a key role in alleviating a crisis over judicial nominations.
11.
John McCain secured the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, beating fellow candidates Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, though he lost the general election to Barack Obama.
12.
John McCain subsequently adopted more orthodox conservative stances and attitudes and largely opposed actions of the Obama administration, especially with regard to foreign policy matters.
13.
John McCain refused to support then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in 2016; McCain won re-election to a sixth and final term that same year.
14.
John McCain's funeral was televised from the Washington National Cathedral, with the former presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama giving eulogies; Trump was not invited to the funeral.
15.
John McCain had an older sister, Sandy, and a younger brother, Joe.
16.
John McCain's great-great-great-grandparents owned High Rock Farm, a plantation in Rockingham County, North Carolina.
17.
The John McCain family moved with their father as he took various naval postings in the United States and in the Pacific.
18.
In 1951, the family settled in Northern Virginia, and John McCain attended Episcopal High School, a private preparatory boarding school in Alexandria.
19.
John McCain referred to himself as an Episcopalian as recently as June 2007, after which date he said he came to identify as a Baptist.
20.
John McCain came into conflict with higher-ranking personnel and did not always obey the rules.
21.
John McCain began his early military career when he was commissioned as an ensign, and started two and a half years of training at Pensacola to become a naval aviator.
22.
John McCain began as a sub-par flier who was at times careless and reckless; during the early to mid-1960s, two of his flight missions crashed, and a third mission collided with power lines, but he received no major injuries.
23.
On July 3,1965, John McCain was 28 when he married Carol Shepp, who had worked as a runway model and secretary.
24.
On July 29,1967, John McCain was a lieutenant commander when he was near the center of the USS Forrestal fire.
25.
John McCain escaped from his burning jet and was trying to help another pilot escape when a bomb exploded; McCain was struck in the legs and chest by fragments.
26.
John McCain was taken prisoner of war on October 26,1967.
27.
John McCain was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi.
28.
John McCain was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton".
29.
John McCain spent six weeks in the hospital, where he received marginal care.
30.
John McCain had lost 50 pounds, he was in a chest cast, and his gray hair had turned white.
31.
John McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi.
32.
In December 1967, John McCain was placed in a cell with two other Americans, who did not expect him to live more than a week.
33.
In March 1968, John McCain was placed into solitary confinement, where he remained for two years.
34.
John McCain refused repatriation unless every man taken in before him was released.
35.
John McCain was bound and beaten every two hours; this punishment occurred at the same time that he was suffering from heat exhaustion and dysentery.
36.
John McCain received two to three beatings weekly because of his continued refusal to sign additional statements.
37.
John McCain refused to meet various anti-war groups seeking peace in Hanoi, wanting to give neither them nor the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory.
38.
John McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years, until his release on March 14,1973, along with 108 other prisoners of war.
39.
John McCain was reunited with his family when he returned to the United States.
40.
John McCain was then four inches shorter, in a wheelchair or on crutches, and substantially heavier than when he had last seen her.
41.
John McCain underwent treatment for his injuries that included months of physical therapy.
42.
John McCain was rehabilitated by late 1974, and his flight status was reinstated.
43.
John McCain improved the unit's flight readiness and safety records, and won the squadron its first-ever Meritorious Unit Commendation.
44.
John McCain served as the Navy's liaison to the US Senate beginning in 1977.
45.
John McCain's children did not attend, and several years passed before they reconciled.
46.
John and Cindy McCain entered into a prenuptial agreement that kept most of her family's assets under her name; they kept their finances apart, and filed separate income tax returns.
47.
John McCain retired from the Navy as a captain on April 1,1981.
48.
John McCain was designated as disabled and awarded a disability pension.
49.
John McCain set his sights on becoming a representative because he was interested in current events, was ready for a new challenge, and had developed political ambitions during his time as Senate liaison.
50.
John McCain responded to a voter making that charge with what a Phoenix Gazette columnist later described as "the most devastating response to a potentially troublesome political issue I've ever heard":.
51.
John McCain won a highly contested primary election with the assistance of local political endorsements, his Washington connections, and money that his wife lent to his campaign.
52.
In 1983, John McCain was elected to lead the incoming group of Republican representatives, and was assigned to the House Committee on Interior Affairs.
53.
At this point, John McCain's politics were mainly in line with those of President Ronald Reagan; this included support for Reaganomics, and he was active on Indian Affairs bills.
54.
John McCain supported most aspects of the foreign policy of the Reagan administration, including its hardline stance against the Soviet Union and policy towards Central American conflicts, such as backing the Contras in Nicaragua.
55.
John McCain opposed keeping US Marines deployed in Lebanon, citing unattainable objectives, and subsequently criticized President Reagan for pulling out the troops too late; in the interim, the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing killed hundreds.
56.
John McCain won re-election to the House easily in 1984, and gained a spot on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
57.
John McCain succeeded Arizona native, conservative icon, and the 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater upon Goldwater's retirement as US senator from Arizona for 30 years.
58.
In January 1988, John McCain voted in favor of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, and voted to override President Reagan's veto of that legislation the following March.
59.
Senator John McCain became a member of the Armed Services Committee, with which he had formerly done his Navy liaison work; he joined the Commerce Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee.
60.
John McCain was a strong supporter of the Gramm-Rudman legislation that enforced automatic spending cuts in the case of budget deficits.
61.
John McCain became embroiled in a scandal during the 1980s, as one of five United States senators comprising the so-called Keating Five.
62.
Between 1982 and 1987, John McCain had received $112,000 in lawful political contributions from Charles Keating Jr.
63.
In 1987, John McCain was one of the five senators whom Keating contacted in order to prevent the government's seizure of Lincoln, and John McCain met twice with federal regulators to discuss the government's investigation of Lincoln.
64.
John McCain took pride in challenging party leadership and establishment forces, becoming difficult to categorize politically.
65.
From January 1993 until his death, John McCain was Chairman of the International Republican Institute, an organization partly funded by the US government that supports the emergence of political democracy worldwide.
66.
In 1993 and 1994, John McCain voted to confirm President Clinton's nominees Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg whom he considered to be qualified for the US Supreme Court.
67.
In 1997, John McCain became chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee; he was criticized for accepting funds from corporations and businesses under the committee's purview, but in response said the small contributions he received were not part of the big-money nature of the campaign finance problem.
68.
John McCain took on the tobacco industry in 1998, proposing legislation that would increase cigarette taxes in order to fund anti-smoking campaigns, discourage teenage smokers, increase money for health research studies, and help states pay for smoking-related health care costs.
69.
In November 1998, John McCain won re-election to a third Senate term; he prevailed in a landslide over his Democratic opponent, environmental lawyer Ed Ranger.
70.
In March 1999, John McCain voted to approve the NATO bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, saying that the ongoing genocide of the Kosovo War must be stopped and criticizing past Clinton administration inaction.
71.
Later in 1999, John McCain shared the Profile in Courage Award with Feingold for their work in trying to enact their campaign finance reform, although the bill was still failing repeated attempts to gain cloture.
72.
John McCain announced his candidacy for president on September 27,1999, in Nashua, New Hampshire, saying he was staging "a fight to take our government back from the power brokers and special interests, and return it to the people and the noble cause of freedom it was created to serve".
73.
The frontrunner for the Republican nomination was Texas Governor George W Bush, who had the political and financial support of most of the party establishment, whereas McCain was supported by many moderate Republicans and some conservative Republicans.
74.
John McCain focused on the New Hampshire primary, where his message appealed to independents.
75.
John McCain traveled on a campaign bus called the Straight Talk Express.
76.
John McCain held many town hall meetings, answering every question voters asked, in a successful example of "retail politics", and he used free media to compensate for his lack of funds.
77.
Incensed, John McCain ran ads accusing Bush of lying and comparing the governor to Bill Clinton, which Bush said was "about as low a blow as you can give in a Republican primary".
78.
An anonymous smear campaign began against John McCain, delivered by push polls, faxes, e-mails, flyers, and audience plants.
79.
The smears claimed that John McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock, that his wife Cindy was a drug addict, that he was a homosexual, and that he was a "Manchurian Candidate" who was either a traitor or mentally unstable from his North Vietnam POW days.
80.
John McCain endorsed Bush two months later, and made occasional appearances with the Texas governor during the general election campaign.
81.
In May 2001, John McCain was one of only two Senate Republicans to vote against the Bush tax cuts.
82.
Later, when a Republican senator, Jim Jeffords, became an Independent, thereby throwing control of the Senate to the Democrats, John McCain defended Jeffords against "self-appointed enforcers of party loyalty".
83.
Indeed, there was speculation at the time, and in years since, about John McCain himself leaving the Republican Party, but John McCain had always adamantly denied that he ever considered doing so.
84.
Meanwhile, in discussions over proposed US action against Iraq, John McCain was a strong supporter of the Bush administration's position.
85.
John McCain stated that Iraq was "a clear and present danger to the United States of America", and voted accordingly for the Iraq War Resolution in October 2002.
86.
John McCain predicted that US forces would be treated as liberators by a large number of the Iraqi people.
87.
In May 2003, John McCain voted against the second round of Bush tax cuts, saying it was unwise at a time of war.
88.
John McCain said that Kerry had never formally offered him the position and that he would not have accepted it if he had.
89.
At the 2004 Republican National Convention, John McCain supported Bush for re-election, praising Bush's management of the War on Terror since the September 11 attacks.
90.
In May 2005, John McCain led the so-called Gang of 14 in the Senate, which established a compromise that preserved the ability of senators to filibuster judicial nominees, but only in "extraordinary circumstances".
91.
John McCain voted in February 2008 against a bill containing a ban on waterboarding, which provision was later narrowly passed and vetoed by Bush.
92.
Meanwhile, John McCain continued questioning the progress of the war in Iraq.
93.
John McCain formally announced his intention to run for President of the United States on April 25,2007, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
94.
John McCain's oft-cited strengths as a presidential candidate for 2008 included national name recognition, sponsorship of major lobbying and campaign finance reform initiatives, his ability to reach across the aisle, his well-known military service and experience as a POW, his experience from the 2000 presidential campaign, and an expectation that he would capture Bush's top fundraisers.
95.
John McCain became more willing to ask business and industry for campaign contributions, while maintaining that such contributions would not affect any official decisions he would make.
96.
John McCain had fundraising problems in the first half of 2007, due in part to his support for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which was unpopular among the Republican base electorate.
97.
John McCain decided not to campaign significantly in the January 3,2008, Iowa caucuses, which saw a win by former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee.
98.
John McCain addressed concerns about his age and past health issues, stating in 2005 that his health was "excellent".
99.
John McCain had been treated for melanoma and an operation in 2000 for that condition left a noticeable mark on the left side of his face.
100.
John McCain's prognosis appeared favorable, according to independent experts, especially because he had already survived without a recurrence for more than seven years.
101.
John McCain clinched enough delegates for the nomination and his focus shifted toward the general election, while Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fought a prolonged battle for the Democratic nomination.
102.
John McCain introduced various policy proposals, and sought to improve his fundraising.
103.
John McCain reprised his familiar underdog role, which was due at least in part to the overall challenges Republicans faced in the election year.
104.
John McCain accepted public financing for the general election campaign, and the restrictions that go with it, while criticizing his Democratic opponent for becoming the first major party candidate to opt out of such financing for the general election since the system was implemented in 1976.
105.
John McCain was only the second US major-party presidential nominee to select a woman as his running mate and the first Republican to do so.
106.
John McCain surged ahead of Obama in national polls following the convention, as the Palin pick energized core Republican voters who had previously been wary of him.
107.
John McCain's intervention helped to give dissatisfied House Republicans an opportunity to propose changes to the plan that was otherwise close to agreement.
108.
Down the stretch, John McCain was outspent by Obama by a four-to-one margin.
109.
John McCain barred using the Jeremiah Wright controversy in ads against Obama, but the campaign did frequently criticize Obama regarding his purported relationship with Bill Ayers.
110.
John McCain's rallies became increasingly vitriolic, with attendees denigrating Obama and displaying a growing anti-Muslim and anti-African-American sentiment.
111.
Around the same time, John McCain indicated that he intended to run for re-election to his Senate seat in 2010.
112.
Nevertheless, John McCain emerged as a leader of the Republican opposition to the Obama economic stimulus package of 2009, saying it incorporated federal policy changes that had nothing to do with near-term job creation and would expand the growing federal budget deficit.
113.
John McCain reasserted that the War in Afghanistan was winnable and criticized Obama for a slow process in deciding whether to send additional US troops there.
114.
John McCain harshly criticized Obama for scrapping construction of the US missile defense complex in Poland, declined to enter negotiations over climate change legislation similar to what he had proposed in the past, and strongly opposed the Obama health care plan.
115.
John McCain led a successful filibuster of a measure that would allow repeal of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy towards gays.
116.
John McCain proceeded to easily defeat Democratic Tucson city councilman Rodney Glassman in the general election.
117.
John McCain was an especially vocal supporter of the 2011 military intervention in Libya.
118.
John McCain took the lead in opposing the defense spending sequestrations brought on by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and gained attention for defending State Department aide Huma Abedin against charges brought by a few House Republicans that she had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
119.
John McCain continued to be one of the most frequently appearing guests on the Sunday morning news talk shows.
120.
John McCain became one of the most vocal critics of the Obama administration's handling of the September 11,2012, attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, saying it was a "debacle" that featured either "a massive cover-up or incompetence that is not acceptable" and that it was worse than the Watergate scandal.
121.
John McCain staged a visit to rebel forces inside Syria in May 2013, the first senator to do so, and called for arming the Free Syrian Army with heavy weapons and for the establishment of a no-fly zone over the country.
122.
John McCain took the lead in criticizing a growing non-interventionist movement within the Republican Party, exemplified by his March 2013 comment that Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Representative Justin Amash were "wacko birds".
123.
In July 2013, John McCain was at the forefront of an agreement among senators to drop filibusters against Obama administration executive nominees without Democrats resorting to the "nuclear option" that would disallow such filibusters altogether.
124.
John McCain remained stridently opposed to many aspects of Obama's foreign policy and in June 2014, following major gains by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, decried what he saw as a US failure to protect its past gains in Iraq and called on the president's entire national security team to resign.
125.
John McCain was a supporter of the Euromaidan protests against Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and his government, and appeared in Independence Square in Kyiv in December 2013.
126.
In 2014, John McCain led the opposition to the appointments of Colleen Bell, Noah Mamet, and George Tsunis to the ambassadorships in Hungary, Argentina, and Norway, respectively, arguing they were unqualified appointees being rewarded for their political fundraising.
127.
The 114th United States Congress assembled in January 2015 with Republicans in control of the Senate, and John McCain achieved one of his longtime goals when he became chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
128.
However, following Mitt Romney's 2016 anti-Trump speech, John McCain endorsed the sentiments expressed in that speech, saying he had serious concerns about Trump's "uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues".
129.
John McCain vocally opposed a federal loan guarantee for a development project Trump was contemplating on the West Side of Manhattan in 1996.
130.
John McCain himself faced a primary challenge from Kelli Ward, a fervent Trump supporter, and then was expected to face a potentially strong challenge from Democratic Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick in the general election.
131.
In November 2016, John McCain learned of the existence of a dossier regarding the Trump presidential campaign's links to Russia compiled by Christopher Steele.
132.
John McCain sent a representative to gather more information, who obtained a copy of the dossier.
133.
In December 2016, John McCain passed on the dossier to FBI Director James Comey in a 1-on-1 meeting.
134.
John McCain later wrote that he felt the dossier's "allegations were disturbing" but unverifiable by himself, so he let the FBI investigate.
135.
On December 31,2016, in Tbilisi, Georgia, John McCain stated that the United States should strengthen its sanctions against Russia.
136.
In June 2017, John McCain voted to support President Trump's controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
137.
In September 2017, as the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar became ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority, John McCain announced moves to scrap planned future military cooperation with Myanmar.
138.
On July 14,2017, John McCain underwent a minimally invasive craniotomy at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, in order to remove a blood clot above his left eye.
139.
John McCain's absence prompted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay a vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act.
140.
John McCain is in good spirits as he continues to recover at home with his family in Arizona.
141.
John McCain cast a deciding vote allowing the Senate to begin consideration of bills to replace the Affordable Care Act.
142.
John McCain supported the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
143.
John McCain did not vote in the Senate after December 2017, remaining instead in Arizona to undergo cancer treatment.
144.
John McCain was a "lifelong Episcopalian" who attended, but did not join, a Southern Baptist church for at least 17 years; memorial services were scheduled in both denominations.
145.
John McCain himself planned the funeral arrangements and selected his pallbearers for the service in Washington; the pallbearers included former vice president Joe Biden, former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, actor Warren Beatty, and Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza.
146.
At the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards, John McCain was recognized in the "In Memoriam" segment, right before Aretha Franklin.
147.
John McCain had appeared in various television projects, including hosting and several cameo appearances on Saturday Night Live.
148.
John McCain made appearances on Parks and Recreation and 24.
149.
Trump reportedly felt that media coverage of John McCain's death was excessive given that John McCain was never president.
150.
Additionally, John McCain used his Senate website to describe his political positions.
151.
John McCain's personal character was a dominant feature of his public image.
152.
John McCain's comments were seen as a continuation of a long history of anti-Asian sentiment in America.
153.
John McCain carried physical vestiges of his war wounds, as well as his melanoma surgery.
154.
John McCain did not shy away from addressing his shortcomings, and he apologized for them.
155.
John McCain was known for sometimes being prickly and hot-tempered with Senate colleagues, but his relations with his own Senate staff were more cordial, and inspired loyalty towards him.
156.
John McCain formed a strong bond with two senators, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, over hawkish foreign policy and overseas travel, and they became dubbed the "Three Amigos".
157.
John McCain acknowledged having said intemperate things in years past, though he said that many stories have been exaggerated.
158.
One psychoanalytic comparison suggested that John McCain was not the first presidential candidate to have a temper, and cultural critic Julia Keller argued that voters want leaders who are passionate, engaged, fiery, and feisty.
159.
John McCain employed both profanity and shouting on occasion, although such incidents became less frequent over the years.
160.
John McCain's family's military tradition extends to the latest generation: son John Sidney IV graduated from the US Naval Academy in 2009, becoming the fourth generation John S McCain to do so, and is a helicopter pilot; son James served two tours with the Marines in the Iraq War; and son Doug flew jets in the navy.
161.
Senator John McCain himself appeared as a guest on the program.
162.
John McCain appeared in several television shows and films while he was a sitting senator.
163.
John McCain made uncredited cameo appearances in Wedding Crashers and 24 and had two uncredited cameos in Parks and Recreation.
164.
John McCain hosted Saturday Night Live in 2002 and appeared in two episodes in 2008.
165.
In 1999, John McCain shared the Profile in Courage Award with Senator Russ Feingold for their work towards campaign finance reform.
166.
John McCain received several honorary degrees from colleges and universities in the United States and internationally.
167.
John McCain was made an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society at Trinity College Dublin in 2005.