| John McCain  AKA John Sidney McCain III
Born: 29-Aug-1936
Birthplace: Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, Panama
Gender: Male
Religion: Anglican/Episcopalian
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Politician, Military
Party Affiliation: Republican Nationality: United States
Executive summary: US Senator from Arizona Military service: US Navy (1958-81, Capt.) John McCain III attended a private boarding school, where he was nicknamed "McNasty" for his willingness to fight. Later, at the US Naval Academy, he gained a reputation as a ladies' man, complained that he was picked on by his commanding officer, and graduated 894th out of 899 in his class.
His father was a four-star admiral in the US Navy, as was his grandfather. The first Admiral McCain was commander of all US carriers in the Pacific during World War II, stood at attention on the USS Missouri when the Japanese surrendered, and died of a heart attack four days later. The second Admiral McCain was CINCPAC (Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command) of all US forces in Vietnam. A McCain ancestor served on George Washington's staff during the Revolutionary War, and after the family had relocated to Mississippi several McCains fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. His mother, a wealthy oil heiress, has been described as "the Auntie Mame of Navy wives." The family still chuckles about the day she went on an errand to buy a new dress, and came home with a new Mercedes instead.
After flight training, young McCain flew A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft in the Vietnam war. On his 23rd mission, an October 1967 attack on a Hanoi power plant, his plane was shot down, and McCain, with three broken bones, was imprisoned in the famous "Hanoi Hilton". Under duress, he was interviewed by French reporters, and told them he was treated well. In an interview broadcast as propaganda in Hanoi, McCain said he had bombed civilian targets. He was offered early release because of his father's high rank, and McCain says he considered it but declined. After that, he was tortured for four days, until he signed a confession: "I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate. I almost died and the Vietnamese people saved my life, thanks to the doctors." Of his more than five years in prisoner-of-war camps, about two of those years were spent in solitary confinement.
After the war McCain needed extensive surgery to repair the clumsy, cruel medical treatment he had received from his captors, and he underwent years of physical therapy to be able to walk normally. He remains unable to lift his arms over his head. Political opponents have spread rumors that his imprisonment left McCain emotionally damaged as well, but that is apparently a lie. His military medical records show that military doctors were impressed by his quick psychological recovery.
Nobody sane questions that McCain went through hell in Vietnam, or belittles his torture and abuse. For his military service, McCain won the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. But other American prisoners of war who cooperated with their Vietnamese captors to a lesser degree than McCain faced prosecution for violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and were given less than honorable discharges.
Before his tour of duty in Vietnam, McCain had married a model from Philadelphia, Carol Shepp. While he was imprisoned, she was in an auto wreck, thrown through her car's windshield and left seriously injured. After his return to America, McCain had an extramarital affair with Cindy Lou Hensley, whose father owned Hensley & Co., a Phoenix-based liquor company that is the nation's second largest Anheuser-Busch distributor. McCain and Shepp were divorced in 1980, and he married his millionaire mistress the following month. In 1981 McCain left the Navy, signing his discharge papers the same day he buried his father at Arlington National cemetery, and the newlywed McCains settled in her home state of Arizona, where he went to work for his father-in-law at Hensley & Co. Months later, when Congressman John J. Rhodes announced his retirement, McCain quit the brewery business and ran for Congress. After two terms in the House, he ran for Senate in 1986.
He is often described as a "political maverick" willing to take positions at odds with his party leadership. Calling it "the biggest rip-off since the Teapot Dome Scandal", he was the only Republican Senator to vote against the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and he was the only Republican Senator to oppose the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, which ended many farm subsidies. Unlike many Republicans, he expresses concerns over global warming and other environmental issues, and he voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment.
He was cozy with savings and loan swindler Charles Keating, taking more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from Keating. What Keating received in return from McCain was never specifically nailed down, but McCain was admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for showing "poor judgment." McCain used his own ethical problems to recreate his image by calling for campaign finance reform, co-sponsoring the popular if somewhat toothless McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
McCain ran for President in 2000, losing the Republican nomination to George W. Bush, and he is running again in 2008. In 2000, McCain was sharply critical of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, but he has grown much more cordial with such leaders of the religious right, and even delivered the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University in 2006.
He has been a solid supporter of most of the Bush-Cheney agenda, from the PATRIOT Act to the war in Iraq to his opposition of gay marriage and legal abortion. He briefly questioned whether the nation could afford Bush-Cheney tax cuts for the wealthy, but has since said that in retrospect he thinks it stimulated the economy. He opposed the Bush administration's relaxation of rules against torture, even pushing through legislation reiterating that America would not torture prisoners, but McCain did not complain when Bush added a signing statement noting that the new law would not apply to his administration or his orders. Father: John Sidney McCain, Jr. (Admiral in US Navy, b. 17-Jan-1911, d. 24-Mar-1981)
Mother: Roberta Wright McCain (oil heiress)
Sister: Sandy McCain Morgan
Brother: Joe McCain (stage actor, b. circa 1942)
Wife: Carol Shepp (model, dated 1963-65, m. Jul-1965, div. 2-Apr-1980)
Son: Doug McCain (stepson, commercial airline pilot, b. 4-Oct-1959)
Son: Andy McCain (stepson, vice president at Hensley & Co., b. 12-May-1962)
Daughter: Sidney McCain (works in music industry, b. 2-Sep-1966)
Wife: Cindy Hensley McCain (liquor heiress, m. May-1980, two daughters, two sons)
Daughter: Meghan McCain (journalist, b. 23-Oct-1984)
Son: John Sidney McCain IV ("Jack", serving in US Navy, b. 2-May-1986)
Son: James McCain ("Jimmy", serving in USMC, b. 21-May-1988)
Daughter: Bridget McCain (adopted in Bangladesh from Mother Teresa's orphanage, b. 21-Jul-1991)
High School: Episcopal High School, Alexandria, VA (1954)
University: BS, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD (1958)
University: National War College, Washington, DC (1974)
Administrator: Board of Trustees, Gallaudet University (1995-2006)
US Senator, Arizona (1987-)
US Congressman, Arizona (1983-87)
Keating Five received $112,000 in campaign contributions and 3 free trips to the Bahamas
Afghanistan World Foundation National Committee
Alfalfa Club 1996, President (2004-05)
Council on Foreign Relations
Close Up Foundation Board of Advisors
Committee for the Liberation of Iraq Honorary Co-Chair
International Republican Institute Board of Directors
Jamestown Foundation Advisory Board
John McCain 2008 Candidate
National Student Leadership Conference Honorary Board of Advisors
Navy League
Nixon Center Board of Directors
World Technology Network
Pacific Aviation Museum Advisory Board
Pacific Council on International Policy
Partnership for Public Service Board of Governors
Rebuilding Together National Advisory Council
The Reform Institute Founder
Republican Main Street Partnership
Special Operations Warrior Foundation Board of Advisors
Spirit of America Board of Advisors
Straight Talk America
Terror Free Tomorrow Advisory Board
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Alfalfa Party candidate for US President
Bronze Star
Distinguished Flying Cross
Legion of Merit
Purple Heart
Silver Star
Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service
Taken Prisoner of War
Tortured Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi, Vietnam
Suicide Attempt Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi, Vietnam
Funeral: Katharine Graham (2001)
Dubya Ranch Hand Aug-2004
Irish Ancestry
Scottish Ancestry
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Darfur Now (9-Sep-2007) Himself
Why We Fight (2005) Himself
Return with Honor (3-Oct-1998)
Official Website:
http://mccain.senate.gov/
Is the subject of books:
John McCain: An American Odyssey, 1999, BY: Robert Timberg, DETAILS: Simon & Schuster
Citizen McCain, 2002, BY: Elizabeth Drew, DETAILS: Simon & Schuster
Man of the People: The Life of John McCain, 2002, BY: Paul Alexander, DETAILS: John Wiley & Sons
Requires Flash 7 or above and Javascript.
Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile
Copyright ©2008 Soylent Communications
|
