Early Life and Military Career of John McCain

Early life and military career of John
McCain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The early life and military career of John Sidney McCain III spans the first forty-five years
of his life (19361981). McCain's father and grandfather were admiralsin the United
States Navy. McCain was born on August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone, and
attended many schools growing up as his family moved among naval facilities. McCain
graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1958. He married the former Carol
Shepp in 1965; he adopted two children from her previous marriage and they had another
child together.
As a naval aviator, McCain flew attack aircraft from carriers. During the Vietnam War, he
narrowly escaped death in the 1967 Forrestal fire. On his twenty-third bombing mission in
October 1967, he was shot down over Hanoi and badly injured. He subsequently endured
five and a half years as a prisoner of war, including periods of torture. In 1968, he refused
a North Vietnamese offer of early release, because it would have meant leaving before
other prisoners who had been held longer. He was released in 1973 after the Paris Peace
Accords.
Upon his return, McCain studied at the National War College, commanded a large
training squadron in Florida, and was appointed the Navy liaison to the U.S. Senate. He
divorced his wife Carol in 1980 and married the former Cindy Hensley shortly thereafter.
He retired from the Navy in 1981 as a captain.
Thisarticleispartof
aseriesabout
JohnMcCain
2008presidentialcampaign
2000presidentialcampaign
U.S.SenatorfromArizona
EarlyCongressionalcareer(19832000)
Senatecareerduring20012014
Politicalpositions
Earlylifeandmilitarycareer
Culturalandpoliticalimage
Electoralhistory
Contents
[hide]
1Early years and education

o
1.1Family heritage
1.2Early life
1.3Naval Academy
2Military career
o
2.1Naval training, early assignments, first marriage, and

children
2.2Vietnam operations
2.3Prisoner of war
2.3.1Arrival
2.3.2Solitary
2.3.3Release
2.4Return to United States
2.5Commanding officer
2.6Senate liaison, divorce, and second marriage
3Awards and decorations
4Bibliography
5References
6External links
Early years and education

Family heritage
McCain's grandfather "Slew" (left) and father "Jack" on board a U.S. Navy ship in Tokyo Bay, c.
September 2, 1945
John Sidney McCain III was born on August 29, 1936,[1] at a United States Navy hospital[2]
[3][4]
at Coco Solo Naval Air Station[5][6] in the Panama Canal Zone, which at that time was
considered to be among the unincorporated territories of the United States.[7] His parents
were Navy officer John S. "Jack" McCain, Jr. (19111981) and Roberta (Wright)
McCain (born 1912). McCain is of Scots-Irish and English ancestry.[8]
John McCain's grandparents were natives of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas, and much
of his ancestry was Southernon both his mother's side and father's side.[8] The McCain
family's patrilineal ancestral home is in Mississippi's Carroll County;[9][10] they owned and
ran a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) plantation in Teoc from 1848 until 1952.[9][11] The plantation
had slaves before the American Civil War some of whose descendants share the
surname and call themselves the "black McCains"[12] and sharecroppers afterward;
influential blues guitarist Mississippi John Hurt was born on the plantation to one of the
latter.[9]
The McCain family tree has a long heritage of American military service, with ancestors
fighting as soldiers in the Indian Wars,[5] American Revolutionary War[13] (due to which
McCain maintains a membership with the Sons of the American Revolution),[14] War of
1812,[15] for the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War,[9] and in World
War I.[5] The tree also includes roguish behavior and economic success. John McCain's
maternal grandfather, Archibald Wright (18751971),[16] was a Mississippi native who
migrated to Muskogee, Oklahoma, in his twenties, ran afoul of the law with several
gambling and bootlegging charges,[16] then became a strong-willed wildcatter who
prospered on land deals during the early statehood years and struck oil in the Southwest.
[16][17]
Rich by age forty, he never worked again and became a stay-at-home father.[5]
[17]
Raising a family in Oklahoma and Southern California, he instilled in Roberta and her
twin sister Rowena a lifelong habit of travel and adventure.[18]There is also independent-
minded behavior in the family tree: Jack McCain and Roberta Wright eloped and married
in a bar in Tijuana, Mexico, when Archibald Wright's wife Myrtle objected to Roberta's
association with a sailor.[19]
McCain's father and paternal grandfather eventually became Navy admirals, and were
the first fatherson pair to achieve four-star admiral rank.[20] His grandfather, Admiral John
S. "Slew" McCain, Sr. (18841945), was a pioneer of aircraft carrier operations[5] who in
1942 commanded all land-based air operations in support of the Guadalcanal Campaign,
and who ultimately in 19441945 aggressively led the Fast Carrier Task Force in
the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. His operations off the Philippines and Okinawa,
and air strikes against Formosa and the Japanese home islands, caused tremendous
destruction of Japanese naval and air forces in the closing period of the war.[21] His death
four days after the Japanese surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay was front page news.
[5]
Jack McCain was a submarine commander in several theaters of operation in World
War II and was decorated with both the Silver Star andBronze Star.[21]
Early life
Left-to-right: McCain in 1951 with his motherRoberta, his brother Joe, and his father John S.
McCain Jr.
For his first ten years, "Johnny" McCain (the family nickname he was given) [2] was
frequently uprooted as his family, including older sister Sandy (born 1934) and younger
brother Joe (born 1942),[5][19] followed his father to New London, Connecticut, Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, and other stations in the Pacific Ocean.[22] Summer vacations were
sometimes spent at the family's Teoc plantation,[11] but McCain always felt his heritage
was military, not Southern.[9] McCain attended whatever naval base school was available,
[22]
often to the detriment of his education, as schools were sometimes substandard and
their curricula often erratic.[22] After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, his father was absent
for long stretches.[5] His formal education was supplemented by the efforts of his mother,
who took advantage of the family's many long-distance travels to expose him to historical
and cultural sites.[18][23] He later wrote, "She taught me to find so much pleasure in life that
misfortune could not rob me of the joy of living."[23] A Republican, she also made sure that
he followed current events, although his parents avoided outward partisan affiliations due
to his father's military career.[24]
After World War II ended, his father stayed in the Navy, sometimes working political
liaison posts.[5] The family settled in Northern Virginia, and McCain attended the
educationally stronger St. Stephen's School in Alexandria from 1946 to 1949.[25] To his
family, McCain had long been quiet, dependable, and courteous,[5] while at St. Stephen's
he began to develop an unruly, defiant streak.[26] Another two years were then spent
following his father to naval stations;[27]altogether he attended about twenty schools during
his youth.[28] He was frequently disciplined in school for fighting.[29] He later wrote, "The
repeated farewells to friends rank among the saddest regrets of a childhood constantly
disrupted by the demands of my father's career... At each new school I arrived eager to
make, by means of my insolent attitude, new friends to compensate for the loss of others.
At each new school I grew more determined to assert my crude individualism. At each
new school I became a more unrepentant pain in the neck." [30]
In 1951, McCain enrolled at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, an academically
superior, all-male private boarding school with a rigorous honor code, tradition of hazing,
and spartan living environment.[31][32] Most of the children there were sons of wealthy
Southerners, from whom McCain got a glimpse of life and career aspirations outside the
Navy culture.[33] Nicknamed "Punk" and "McNasty" due to his combative, fiery disposition,
McCain enjoyed and cultivated that tough guy image; he also made a few friends. [5][26][34]
[35]
McCain earned two varsity letters in wrestling, excelling in the lighter weight classes.
[36]
He also played on the junior varsity football team and the tennis team, and participated
in the student newspaper, yearbook, and drama club.[37] English teacher William Bee
Ravenel III, who was also his football coach, became a great influence towards his sense
of learning, honor, and self-image.[38] With what he later termed an "undistinguished, but
acceptable" academic record,[39] McCain graduated from high school in 1954.[26]
Naval Academy
John McCain at theU.S. Naval Academy, mid-1950s
Having done well on its entrance exams,[5] McCain entered the United States Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in June 1954, following in the footsteps of his father
and grandfather.[40] He had neither been ordered to go there by his parents nor discussed
alternatives; as he later wrote, "I remember simply recognizing my eventual enrollment at
the Academy as an immutable fact of life, and accepting it without comment."[41]
Ambivalent about his presence there,[40] McCain chose not to conform to the Academy's
rules and some of its traditions.[42] Each year he was given over a hundred demerits
earning him membership in the "Century Club"[20] for offenses such as shoes not being
shined, formation faults, room in disorder, and talking out of place.[40] His father came to
the Academy to reprimand him on his behavior a number of times.[32] He hated "plebe
year", the trial by ordeal and hazing of entering midshipmen that would eventually weed
out one quarter of the class.[43] He did not take well to those of higher rank arbitrarily
wielding power over him "It was bullshit, and I resented the hell out of it"[40] and
occasionally intervened when he saw it being done to others. [20][32] At 5-foot 7 inches[13] and
127 pounds[44] (1.70 m and 58 kg), he competed as a lightweight boxer for three years,
where he lacked skills but was fearless and "didn't have a reverse gear". [44] In his final
year, he managed the battalion boxing team to a brigade championship. [45]
Possessed of a strong intelligence,[46] McCain did well in a few subjects that interested
him, such as English literature, history, and government.[20][40] There was a fixed Bachelor
of Science curriculum taken by all midshipmen;[47][48][49] McCain's classmates were
impressed by his cramming abilities on mathematics, science, and engineering
courses[50] and thought his low grades were by inclination and not ability, [20] while McCain
would later acknowledge that those courses were a struggle for him. [51] His class rank was
further lowered by poor grades for conduct and leadership, which reflected his sloppy
appearance, rebellious attitude, and poor relations with his company officer.[50][52] Despite
his low standing, he was popular and a leader among his fellow midshipmen, in what
biographer Robert Timberg called a "manic, intuitive, highly idiosyncratic way". [40] Good at
attracting women,[20] he was famed for organizing off-Yard activities with a group who
called themselves "the Bad Bunch";[32] one classmate said that "being on liberty with John
McCain was like being in a train wreck."[40] Other midshipmen were annoyed by his
behavior.[32] A June 1957 training cruise aboard the destroyer USS Hunt[53] found McCain
showing good skills at the conn,[54] and the destination stop in Rio de Janeiro led to a
dream-like romance with Brazilian fashion model and ballerina Maria Gracinda that
persisted through a Christmastime reunion.[55][56]
McCain graduated from the Naval Academy in June 1958; he was fifth from the bottom
in class rank, 894th out of 899.[40] Despite his difficulties, McCain later wrote that he never
defamed the more compelling traditions of the Academy courage, resilience, honor, and
sacrifice for one's country and he never wavered in his desire to show his father and
family that he was of the same mettle as his naval forebears.[57] Indeed, Slew and Jack
McCain had not had sterling records at the Academy themselves, finishing in the bottom
third and bottom twentieth respectively.[58] McCain realized later that the Academy had
taught him that "to sustain my self-respect for a lifetime it would be necessary for me to
have the honor of serving something greater than my self-interest", a lesson that he
would need to carry him through a "desperate and uncertain" time a decade later. [57]
Military career
Naval training, early assignments, first marriage, and children
JohnSidneyMcCainIII
Born
August29,1936(age79)
Allegiance
UnitedStatesofAmerica
Service/branch
UnitedStatesNavy(Navalaviation)
Yearsofservice
19581981
Captain
Rank
Unit
USSIntrepid(CV11)VA65
USSEnterprise(CVN65)VA65
USSForrestal(CV59)VA46
USSOriskany(CV34)VA163
OfficeofLegislativeAffairs
Commandsheld
VA174
Battles/wars
VietnamWar
Awards
OperationRollingThunder
SilverStar
LegionofMerit
DistinguishedFlyingCross
BronzeStar
PurpleHeart
others
Otherwork
UnitedStatesSenatorfromArizona
U.S.presidentialcandidate
McCain was commissioned an ensign.[59] He spent two years as a naval aviator in training,
first at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida through September 1959, and then at Naval
Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, during which time he was promoted to lieutenant,
junior grade.[59][60] He earned a reputation as a party man, as he drove a Corvette, dated
an exotic dancer named "Marie the Flame of Florida", spent all his free time on the beach
or in a Bachelor Officer Quarters room turned bar and friendly gambling den, and, as he
later said, "generally misused my good health and youth". [28][61] He began as a sub-par flier:
he had limited patience for studying aviation manuals, and spent study time reading
history books instead.[32][61] He was not assigned to the elite units flying fighter aircraft, and
instead became a pilot ofattack aircraft.[32] During a March 1960 practice run in Texas, he
lost track of his altitude and speed, and his single-seat, single-pistoned-engine AD-6
Skyraider crashed into Corpus Christi Bay and sank to the bottom.[62] Although
momentarily knocked unconscious by the impact, he squeezed out of the cockpit and
swam ten feet to the surface, escaping without major injuries. [60][62] He graduated from flight
school at Corpus Christi[60] in May 1960.[59] He joined squadron VA-42 at Naval Air Station
Oceana in Virginia for five months of further training on the Skyraider. [59]
Starting in November 1960, McCain flew Skyraiders with the VA-65 "World Famous
Fighting Tigers"squadron[59][63] on the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise.
[64]
The carriers were based atNaval Station Norfolk[63] and cruised in the Caribbean and in
several deployments to the Mediterranean.[61]His aviation skills improved,[61][62] but around
December 1961 he collided with power lines while recklessly flying too low over southern
Spain.[62] The area suffered a power outage, but McCain was able to return his damaged
Skyraider to Intrepid.[62]
On board for Enterprise's maiden voyage in January 1962, McCain gained visibility with
the captain and shipboard publicity that fellow sailors and aviators attributed to his
famous last name.[62] McCain was made a lieutenant in June 1962,[59] and was on alert
duty on Enterprise when it helped enforce the naval quarantine of Cuba during the
October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.[65] In November 1963, he was rotated back to shore
duty, serving nine months on the staff of the Naval Air Basic Training Command at
Pensacola.[59][64] In September 1964, he became a flight instructor with the VT-7 training
squadron at Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi,[59][66] where McCain Field had been
named for his grandfather.[67]
During the 1964 stint at Pensacola, McCain began a relationship with Carol Shepp, a
successful swimwear and runway model[68][69] originally from Philadelphia,Pennsylvania.[60]
[61]
They had known each other at the Naval Academy and she had married and then
divorced one of his classmates.[60][64] McCain told her he wanted to do something important
with his life, so he would be recorded in history.[70] On July 3, 1965, McCain married
Shepp in Philadelphia.[71] She already had two children, Douglas and Andrew, born in
1959 and 1962 respectively;[72] he adopted them in 1966.[73] Carol and he then had a
daughter named Sidney in September 1966.[74]
In July 1965, McCain appeared as a contestant on the quiz show Jeopardy! (during
the Art Fleming era), winning one game and losing the next.[75][76]
McCain (front right) with his squadron and T-2 Buckeye trainer, in 1965
In November 1965, he had his third accident when apparent engine failure in his T-2
Buckeye trainer jet over theEastern Shore of Virginia led to his ejecting safely before his
plane crashed.[62] While at Meridian, McCain requested a combat assignment.[77] In
October 1966, he was slated for upcoming Vietnam War duty, and so reported to the VA44Replacement Air Group squadron at Naval Air Station Cecil Field in Florida for training
on the A-4 Skyhawk, a single-seat jet attack aircraft.[59][77][78] There McCain was seen as a
good pilot, albeit one who tended to "push the envelope" in his flying.[62] Promoted
to lieutenant commander in January 1967,[59] McCain joined the aircraft
carrier USS Forrestalby May 1967,[59] flying Skyhawks with the VA-46
"Clansmen" squadron.[79] Forrestal conducted training exercises in the Atlantic throughout
the spring, then set sail for the Pacific in June.[80] By this time, Jack McCain had risen in
the ranks, making rear admiral in 1958 and vice admiral in 1963;[81] in May 1967, he was
promoted to four-star admiral, and became Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces,
Europe, stationed in London.[5]
Vietnam operations
On July 25, 1967, Forrestal reached Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin[80] and
joined Operation Rolling Thunder, the 19651968 air interdiction and strategic
bombing campaign against North Vietnam.[82][83] The alpha strikes flown
from Forrestal were against specific, pre-selected targets such as arms depots, factories,
and bridges.[82] They were quite dangerous, due to the strength of the North Vietnamese
air defenses, which used Soviet-designed and -suppliedsurface-to-air missiles, antiaircraft artillery, and MiG jet interceptors.[82] McCain's first five attack missions over North
Vietnam went without incident,[84] and while still unconcerned with minor Navy regulations,
McCain had garnered the reputation of a serious aviator. [65] McCain and his fellow pilots
were frustrated by the micromanagement of Rolling Thunder from Washington; [82] he later
wrote, "The target list was so restricted that we had to go back and hit the same targets
over and over again... Most of our pilots flying the missions believed that our targets were
virtually worthless. In all candor, we thought our civilian commanders were complete
idiots who didn't have the least notion of what it took to win the war." [83]
Crew members fighting the 1967 USS Forrestal fire
McCain was almost killed on board Forrestal on July 29, 1967. While the air wing was
preparing to launch attacks, aZuni rocket from an F-4 Phantom accidentally fired across
the carrier's deck.[85] The rocket struck either McCain's A-4E Skyhawk or one near it.
[80]
The impact ruptured the Skyhawk's fuel tank, which ignited the fuel and knocked two
bombs loose.[86] McCain later said, "I thought my aircraft exploded. Flames were
everywhere."[80] McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, working
himself to the nose of the jet, and jumping off its refueling probe onto the burning deck.
His flight suit caught on fire as he rolled through the flames, but he was able to put it
out.[86] He went to help another pilot trying to escape the fire when the first bomb
exploded; McCain was thrown backwards ten feet (three meters)[87] and suffered minor
wounds when struck in the legs and chest by fragments.[62][80][88] McCain helped crewmen
throw unexploded bombs overboard off the hangar deck elevator, then went
to Forrestal's ready room and with other pilots watched the ensuing fire and the firefighting efforts on the room's closed-circuit television.[89] The fire killed 134 sailors, injured
scores of others, destroyed at least 20 aircraft, and took 24 hours to control.[80][90]
[91]
InSaigon a day after the conflagration, McCain praised the heroism of enlisted men
who gave their lives trying to save the pilots on deck,[87] and told New York
Times reporter R. W. Apple, Jr., "It's a difficult thing to say. But now that I've seen what
the bombs and the napalm did to the people on our ship, I'm not so sure that I want to
drop any more of that stuff on North Vietnam."[92] But such a change of course was
unlikely; as McCain added, "I always wanted to be in the Navy. I was born into it and I
never really considered another profession. But I always had trouble with the
regimentation."[92]
[86]
An A-4E Skyhawk, similar to the one McCain flew (from a differentOriskany squadron) in 1967
As Forrestal headed to port for repairs, McCain volunteered to join the undermanned VA163 "Saints" squadron on board the USS Oriskany.[93] This carrier had earlier endured its
own deck fire disaster[94] and its squadrons had suffered some of the heaviest losses
during Rolling Thunder. The Saints had a reputation for aggressive, daring attacks, but
paid the price:[95] in 1967, one-third of their pilots were killed or captured, and all of their
original fifteen A-4s had been destroyed.[95] After taking some leave in Europe and back
home in Orange Park, Florida,[96] McCain joinedOriskany on September 30, 1967,[95] for a
tour he expected would finish early the next summer.[97] He volunteered to fly the
squadron's most dangerous missions right away, rather than work his way up to them.
[98]
During October 1967, the pilots operated in constant twelve-hour on, twelve-hour off
shifts.[99] McCain would be awarded a Navy Commendation Medal for leading his air
section through heavy enemy fire during an October 18 raid on the Lac Trai shipyard
inHaiphong.[100] On October 25, McCain successfully attacked the Phc Yn Air
Base north of Hanoi through a barrage of anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile
fire; credited with destroying one aircraft on the ground and damaging two, the raid would
garner him the Bronze Star.[100] Air defenses around Hanoi were at this point the strongest
they would be during the entire war.[101]
Prisoner of war
Arrival
Externalvideo
"VietnamRevisitedwithSenator
JohnMcCain",CSPAN,September1,
1992[102]
The A-4E (BuNo 149959) six days before McCain was shot down with it, landed by another pilot
aboardOriskany
On October 26, 1967, McCain was flying his twenty-third mission, part of a twenty-plane
strike force against the Yen Phuthermal power plant in central Hanoi[103][104] that previously
had almost always been off-limits to U.S. raids due to the possibility of collateral damage.
[101]
Arriving just before noon, McCain dove from 9,000 to 4,000 feet on his approach; [105] as
he neared the target, warning systems in McCain's A-4E Skyhawk alerted him that he
was being tracked by enemy fire-control radar.[106] Like other U.S. pilots in similar
situations, he did not break off the bombing run,[62] and he held his dive until he released
his bombs at about 3,500 feet (1,000 m).[107] As he started to pull up, the Skyhawk's wing
was blown off by a Soviet-made SA-2 anti-aircraft missile fired by the North Vietnamese
Air Defense Command's 61st Battalion,[101][105] commanded by Captain Nguyen Lan[105] and
with fire control officer Lieutenant Nguyen Xuan Dai.[101][105] (McCain was later awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross for this day,[100] while Nguyen Xuan Dai was awarded the
title Hero of the People's Armed Forces.[101] Decades later, Soviet Army Lieutenant Yuri
Trushechkin claimed that he had been the missile guidance officer who had shot McCain
down.[108][109] In any case, the raid was a failure, as the power plant was not damaged and
three of the Navy planes were shot down.[105])
McCain being pulled out of Trc Bch Lake in Hanoi and about to become a prisoner of war,[110] on
October 26, 1967.
McCain's plane went into a vertical inverted spin.[111] Bailing out upside down at high
speed,[112] the force of the ejection fractured McCain's right arm in three places, his left
arm, and his right leg at the knee, and knocked him unconscious.[112][113] McCain nearly
drowned after parachuting into Trc Bch Lake in Hanoi; the weight of his equipment was
pulling him down, and as he regained consciousness, he could not use his arms.
[106]
Eventually, he was able to inflate his life vest using his teeth.[106] Several Vietnamese,
possibly led by Department of Industry clerk Mai Van On, pulled him ashore. [114] A mob
gathered around, spat on him, kicked him, and stripped him of his clothes; his left
shoulder was crushed with the butt of a rifle and he was bayoneted in his left foot and
abdominal area.[106][112][113] He was then transported to Hanoi's mainHa L Prison,
nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American POWs.[115]
McCain reached Ha L in as bad a physical condition as any prisoner during the war.
[115]
His captors refused to give him medical care unless he gave them military information;
they beat and interrogated him, but McCain only offered his name, rank, serial number,
and date of birth[116][117] (the only information he was required to provide under the Geneva
Conventions and permitted to give under the U.S. Code of Conduct).[105] Soon thinking he
was near death, McCain said he would give them more information if taken to the
hospital,[116] hoping he could then put his interrogators off once he was treated. [118] A prison
doctor came and said it was too late, as McCain was about to die anyway. [116] Only when
the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral did they give him
medical care,[116] calling him "the crown prince".[115] Two days after McCain's plane went
down, that event and his status as a POW made the front pages of The New York
Times[92] and The Washington Post.[119] Interrogation and beatings resumed in the hospital;
McCain gave the North Vietnamese his ship's name, squadron's name, and the attack's
intended target.[120] This information, along with personal details of McCain's life and
purported statements by McCain about the war's progress, would appear over the next
two weeks in the North Vietnamese official newspaper Nhn Dn[105] as well as in
dispatches from outlets such as the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina.[121] Disclosing the
military information was in violation of the Code of Conduct, which McCain later wrote he
regretted, although he saw the information as being of no practical use to the North
Vietnamese.[122] Further coerced to give future targets, he named cities that had already
been bombed, and responding to demands for the names of his squadron's members, he
supplied instead the names of the Green Bay Packers' offensive line.[120][123]
Decades later, McCain's flight suit and gear were put on display at a museum in the remaining
portion of Ha L Prison.
McCain spent six weeks in the hospital,[103] receiving marginal care in a dirty, wet
environment.[124] A prolonged attempt to set the fractures on his right arm, done without
anesthetic, was unsuccessful;[125] he received an operation on his broken leg but no
treatment for his broken left arm.[126] He was temporarily taken to a clean room and
interviewed by a French journalist, Franois Chalais, whose report was carried on the
French television program Panorama in January 1968[127] and later in the U.S. on theCBS
Evening News.[128] The film footage of McCain lying in the bed, in a cast, smoking
cigarettes and speaking haltingly,[129]would become one of the most widely distributed
images of McCain's imprisonment.[127] McCain was observed by a variety of North
Vietnamese, including renowned Vietnamese writer Nguyn Tun and Defense Minister
and Army commander-in-chief General V Nguyn Gip.[105][130] Many of the North
Vietnamese observers assumed that McCain must be part of America's political-militaryeconomic elite.[131] Now having lost fifty pounds (twenty-three kilograms), in a chest cast,
covered in grime and eyes full of fever, and with his hair turned white, [103] in early
December 1967 McCain was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp on the outskirts of Hanoi
nicknamed "the Plantation".[105][132] He was placed in a cell with George "Bud" Day, a badly
injured and torturedAir Force pilot (later awarded the Medal of Honor) and Norris Overly,
another Air Force pilot; they did not expect McCain to live another week.[133][134] Overly, and
subsequently Day, nursed McCain and kept him alive;[134] Day later remembered that
McCain had "a fantastic will to live".[135]
Solitary
In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he remained for two
years.[136] Unknown to the POWs, in April 1968, Jack McCain was namedCommander-inChief, Pacific Command (CINCPAC) effective in July, stationed in Honolulu and
commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater.[137][138] In mid-June, Major Bai,
commander of the North Vietnamese prison camp system,[139] offered McCain a chance to
return home early.[137] The North Vietnamese wanted to score a worldwide propaganda
coup by appearing merciful,[135] and also wanted to show other POWs that members of the
elite like McCain were willing to be treated preferentially.[137] McCain turned down the offer
of release, due to the POWs' "first in, first out" interpretation of the U.S. Code of Conduct:
[140]
he would only accept the offer if every man captured before him was released as well.
[103][141]
McCain's refusal to be released was remarked upon by North Vietnamese senior
negotiator L c Th to U.S. envoy Averell Harriman, during the ongoing Paris Peace
Talks.[142] Enraged by his declining of the offer, Bai and his assistant told McCain that
things would get very bad for him.[141]
In late August 1968, a program of vigorous torture methods began on McCain. [143] The
North Vietnamese used rope bindings to put him into prolonged, painful positions and
severely beat him every two hours, all while he was suffering from dysentery. [143] His right
leg was reinjured, his ribs were cracked, some teeth were broken at the gumline, and his
left arm was re-fractured.[34][143] Lying in his own waste, his spirit was broken;[143] the
beginnings of a suicide attempt were stopped by guards.[103] After four days of this,
McCain signed and taped[144] an anti-American propaganda "confession" that said, in part,
"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."[103][143] He used stilted
Communist jargon and ungrammatical language to signal that the statement was forced.
[123]
McCain was haunted then and since with the belief that he had dishonored his
country, his family, his comrades and himself by his statement, [145][146] but as he later wrote,
"I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had
reached mine."[111] Two weeks later his captors tried to force him to sign a second
statement; his will to resist restored, he refused.[143] He sometimes received two to three
beatings per week because of his continued resistance;[147] the sustained mistreatment
went on for over a year.[135] His refusals to cooperate, laced with loud obscenities directed
towards his guards, were often heard by other POWs.[134] His boxing experience from his
Naval Academy days helped him withstand the battering,[44] and the North Vietnamese did
not break him again.[143]
A map drawn by an American POW after the war shows the location of "the Plantation" and the
"Hanoi Hilton", two of the camps where McCain spent his captivity.
Other American POWs were similarly tortured and maltreated in order to extract
"confessions" and propaganda statements.[148][149] Many, especially among those who had
been captured earlier and imprisoned longer such as those in the "Alcatraz Gang"
endured even worse treatment than McCain.[150] Under extreme duress, virtually all the
POWs eventually yielded something to their captors.[148][151] There were momentary
exceptions: on one occasion, a guard surreptitiously loosened McCain's painful rope

bindings for a night; when, months later, the guard later saw McCain on Christmas Day,
he stood next to McCain and silently drew a cross in the dirt with his foot.[152] In October
1968, McCain's isolation was partly relieved when Ernest C. Brace was placed in the cell
next to him;[153] he taught Brace the tap code the prisoners used to communicate.[154] On
Christmas Eve 1968, a church service for the POWs was staged for photographers and
film cameras; McCain defied North Vietnamese instructions to be quiet, speaking out
details of his treatment then shouting "Fu-u-u-u-ck you, you son of a bitch!" and giving the
finger whenever a camera was pointed at him.[155] McCain refused to meet with
various anti-Vietnam War peace groups coming to Hanoi,[156]such as those led by David
Dellinger, Tom Hayden, and Rennie Davis, not wanting to give either them or the North
Vietnamese a propaganda victory based on his connection to his father. [111] McCain was
still badly hobbled by his injuries, earning the nickname "Crip" among the other POWs, [157]
[158]
but despite his physical condition, continued beatings and isolation, he was one of the
key players in the Plantation's resistance efforts.[159]
In May 1969, U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird began publicly questioning North
Vietnamese treatment of U.S. prisoners.[160] On June 5, 1969, a United Press
International report described a Radio Hanoi broadcast that denied any such
mistreatment.[160] The broadcast used excerpts from McCain's forced "confession" of a
year before, including a statement where he said he had bombed "cities, towns and
villages" and had received "very good medical treatment" as a prisoner. [160][161] In late 1969,
treatment of McCain and the other POWs suddenly improved.[162][163] North Vietnamese
leader Ho Chi Minh had died the previous month, possibly causing a change in policy
towards POWs.[162][162] Also, a badly beaten and weakened POW who had been released
that summer disclosed to the world press the conditions to which they were being
subjected,[111] and the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in
Southeast Asia, which included McCain's brother Joe, heightened awareness of the
POWs' plight.[164] In December 1969, McCain was transferred back to the Hoa Lo "Hanoi
Hilton";[165] his solitary confinement ended in March 1970.[166] When the prisoners talked
about what they wanted to do once they got out, McCain said he wanted to become
President.[70] McCain consented to a January 1970 interview outside Hoa Lo with
Spanish-born, Cuban psychologist Fernando Barral, that was published in the official
Cuban newspaper Granma.[167] McCain talked about his life and expressed no remorse for
his bombing North Vietnam,[167] and Barral proclaimed him "an insensitive individual
without human depth."[168] The POWs issued an edict forbidding any further such
interviews,[167] and despite pressure from his captors, McCain subsequently refused to see
any anti-war groups or journalists sympathetic to the North Vietnamese regime. [168]
Release
John McCain during his release as a POW in March 1973
McCain and other prisoners were moved around to different camps at times, but
conditions over the next several years were generally more tolerable than they had been
before.[111] Unbeknownst to them, each year that Jack McCain was CINCPAC, he paid a
Christmastime visit to the American troops in South Vietnam serving closest to the DMZ;
he would stand alone and look north, to be as close to his son as he could get. [169] By
1971, some 3050 percent of the POWs had become disillusioned about the war, both
because of the apparent lack of military progress and what they heard of the growing
anti-war movement in the U.S., and some of them were less reluctant to make
propaganda statements for the North Vietnamese.[151] McCain was not among them: he
participated in a defiant church service[170] and led an effort to write letters home that only
portrayed the camp in a negative light,[171] and as a result spent much of the year in a
camp reserved for "bad attitude" cases.[151]
Back at the "Hanoi Hilton" from November 1971 onward,[172] McCain and the other POWs
cheered the resumed bombing of the north starting in April 1972, whose targets included
the Hanoi area and whose daily orders were issued by Jack McCain, knowing his son
was in the vicinity.[173] Jack McCain's tour as CINCPAC ended in September 1972,
[174]
despite his desire to have it extended so he could see the war to its conclusion. [169] The
old-time POWs cheered even more during the intense "Christmas Bombing" campaign of
December 1972,[173][175] when Hanoi was subjected for the first time to repeated B-52
Stratofortress raids. Although its explosions lit the night sky and shook the walls of the
camp, scaring some of the newer POWs,[175] most saw it as a forceful measure to compel
North Vietnam to finally come to terms.[173]
The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 27, 1973, ending direct U.S.
involvement in the war, but the Operation Homecoming arrangements for the
591 American POWs took longer.[176] McCain was finally released from captivity on March
14, 1973, being taken by bus to Gia Lam Airport, transferred to U.S. custody, and flown
by C-141 to Clark Air Base in the Philippines.[177][178]
Altogether, McCain was held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half
years, nearly five of them after his refusal to accept the out-of-sequence repatriation offer.
[179]
His wartime injuries left him permanently incapable of raising either arm more than
80 degrees.[34][113] For his actions as a POW, McCain was awarded the Silver Star,
the Legion of Merit, three more instances of the Bronze Star, another instance of
the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Purple Heart.[59][100] He also gained an
appreciation, from experiencing the mutual help and organized resistance of the POWs,
that his earlier individualism needed to be tempered by a belief in causes greater than
self-interest.[146]
Return to United States
McCain giving an interview to the press on April 24, 1973, after his return from Vietnam. Photo
by US News and World Report.
Upon his return to the United States a few days later, McCain was reunited with his wife
Carol and his family.[180] She had suffered her own crippling, near-death ordeal during his
captivity, due to an automobile accident in December 1969 that left her hospitalized for
six months and facing twenty-three operations and ongoing physical therapy.
[181]
Businessman and POW advocate Ross Perot had paid for her medical care.[70] By the
time McCain saw her, she was four inches (ten centimeters) shorter, on crutches, and
substantially heavier.[70] As a returned POW, McCain became a celebrity of sorts: The
New York Times ran a story and front-page photo of him getting off the plane at Clark Air
Base in the Philippines;[177][182] he authored a thirteen-page cover story describing his
ordeal and his support for the Nixon administration's handling of the war in U.S. News &
World Report;[111] he participated in parades in Orange Park and elsewhere and made
personal appearances before groups, where he showed strong speaking skills; [180][183] he
was given the key to the city of Jacksonville, Florida;[180] and a photograph of him on
crutches shaking the hand of PresidentRichard Nixon at a White House reception for
returning POWs became iconic.[184][185] The McCains became frequent guests of honor at
dinners hosted by Governor of California Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan,
[186]
and John McCain made a strong impression speaking at a large prayer breakfast
hosted by the governor.[187] McCain had admired Ronald Reagan while in captivity and
afterwards, believing him a man who saw honor in Vietnam service and a potential leader
would not lead the nation into a war it was unwilling to win.[188]
McCain underwent three operations and other treatment for his injuries,[189] spending three
months at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Jacksonville. [59][190]Psychological tests,
given to all the returning POWs, showed that McCain had "adjusted exceptionally well to
repatriation" and had "an ambitious, striving, successful pattern of adjustment". [191] McCain
told examiners that he withstood his ordeal by having "Faith in country, United States
Navy, family, and God".[192]Unlike many veterans, McCain did not experience flashbacks or
nightmares of his Vietnam experience,[193] although due to the association with prison
guards, the sound of keys rattling would cause him to "tense up". [113]
McCain was promoted to commander effective July 1973[59] and attended the National
War College in Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. during the 19731974 academic year.[194]
[195]
There he intensively studied the history of Vietnam and the French and American wars
there,[196] and wrote "The Code of Conduct and the Vietnam Prisoners of War", a long
paper on the Vietnam POW experience as a test of the U.S. Code of Conduct.[197] By the
time he graduated,[198] he concluded that mistakes by American political and military
leaders had doomed the war effort.[196] He accepted the right of the anti-war movement in
the U.S. to have exercised their freedom to protest, and he adopted a live-and-let-live
attitude towards those who had evaded the draft.[196] Nor did the vast changes in American
social mores that had taken place during his absence bother him, as it did many other
former POWs.[185] McCain returned to Saigon in November 1974;[199] he and a couple of
other former POWs received the National Order of Vietnam, that country's highest honor.
[193]
He also spoke at the South Vietnamese war college, five months before Saigon fell.
[199]
McCain resolved not to become a "professional POW" but to move forward and rebuild
his life.[196]Few thought McCain could fly again, but he was determined to try, and during
this time he engaged in nine months of grueling, painful physical therapy, especially to
get his knees to bend again.[70]
Commanding officer
McCain recuperated just enough to pass his flight physical and have his flight status
reinstated.[70] In August 1974, he was assigned to the Replacement Air Group VA-174
"Hellrazors".[59] This was an A-7 Corsair II training squadron located at Naval Air Station
Cecil Field in Jacksonville[200] and the largest aviation squadron in the Navy.[201] He became
its executive officer in 1975,[201] and on July 1, 1976, he was made VA-174's commanding
officer.[200][202] This last assignment was controversial, as he did not have the required
experience of having commanded a smaller squadron first[199] (something that he now had
too high a rank to do).[203] While some senior officers resented McCain's presence as
favoritism due to his father, junior officers rallied to him and helped him qualify for A-7
carrier landings.[70]
As commanding officer, McCain relied upon a relatively unorthodox leadership style
based upon the force of his personality.[204] He removed personnel he thought ineffective,
and sought to improve morale and productivity by establishing an informal rapport with
enlisted men.[70][202][204] Dealing with limited post-Vietnam defense budgets and parts
shortages,[70][202] he was forceful in demanding that respect be given the female officers just
beginning to arrive into the unit.[204] McCain's leadership abilities were credited with
improving the unit's aircraft readiness; for the first time, all fifty of its aircraft were able to
fly.[70][202]Although some operational metrics declined during the period,[201][204] the pilot safety
improved to the point of having zero accidents.[201][202] The squadron was awarded its firstever Meritorious Unit Commendation,[200] while McCain received a Meritorious Service
Medal.[100] McCain later stated that being commanding officer of VA-174 was the most
rewarding assignment of his naval career.[205] When his stint ended in July 1977,[200] the
change of command ceremony was attended by his father and the rest of his family, as
well as some of his fellow POWs; speaker Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, Jr. said that John had
joined Jack and Slew McCain in a place of honor in Navy tradition, a tribute that deeply
moved McCain.[199]
During their time in Jacksonville, the McCains' marriage began to falter. [206] McCain had
extramarital affairs;[206] he was seen with other women in social settings and developed a
reputation among his colleagues for womanizing.[204][207] Some of McCain's activity with
other women occurred when he was off-duty after routine flights to Marine Corps Air
Station Yuma and Naval Air Facility El Centro.[206] McCain later said, "My marriage's
collapse was attributable to my own selfishness and immaturity more than it was to
Vietnam, and I cannot escape blame by pointing a finger at the war. The blame was
entirely mine."[208] His wife Carol later stated that the failure was not due to her accident or
Vietnam and that "I attribute [the breakup of our marriage] more to John turning 40 and
wanting to be 25 again than I do to anything else."[209] John McCain's biographer, Robert
Timberg, believes that "Vietnam did play a part, perhaps not the major part, but more
than a walk-on."[209] According to John McCain, "I had changed, she had changed. People
who have been apart that much change."[209]
Senate liaison, divorce, and second marriage

McCain had thought about entering politics since his return from Vietnam,[24] although
1964 had been the only time in his life he had ever voted. [24] In 1976, he briefly thought of
running for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida;[210] he had the support of
some local figures in Jacksonville, but was convinced by other Republican Party leaders
that he did not have sufficient political experience, funding, or popular support to defeat
longtime Democratic incumbent Charles E. Bennett.[24][187][211] He worked so hard for Ronald
Reagan's 1976 Republican primary campaign that his base commander reprimanded him
for being too politically active for his naval position.[204]
As his tenure with VA-174 was ending, McCain was assigned to a low-profile desk job
within the Naval Air Systems Command.[204][212] Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James L.
Holloway III thought this assignment a waste of McCain's social talents,[212] and instead in
July 1977 McCain was appointed to the Senate Liaison Office within the Navy's Office of
Legislative Affairs[59] (an assignment Jack McCain had once held).[210] The office's role
mostly consisted of providing constituent service and acting as a facilitator among
legislators, the Department of Defense, and lobbyists.[212] McCain later said the liaison job
represented "[my] real entry into the world of politics and the beginning of my second
career as a public servant".[184] McCain's lively personality and knowledge of military
matters made his post in the Russell Senate Office Building a popular gathering spot for
senators and staff.[212] He also frequently escorted congressional delegations on overseas
trips, where he arranged entertaining side escapades.[213] McCain was influenced by
senators of both parties, and formed an especially strong bond with John Tower of Texas,
the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.[213] During 1978 and 1979,
McCain played a key behind-the-scenes role in gaining congressional funding for a
new supercarrier against the wishes of the Carter administration and Navy SecretaryW.
Graham Claytor Jr.[70][214] In August 1979, McCain was promoted to captain,[59] and became
Director of the Senate Liaison Office.[100][212] During McCain's time there, the Senate Liaison
Office enjoyed one of its few periods of high influence. [211]
McCain and his wife Carol had been briefly separated soon after returning to Washington,
but then reunited and remained married.[70] In April 1979,[70] while attending a military
reception for senators in Hawaii, McCain met Cindy Lou Hensley, eighteen years his
junior,[215] a teacher from Phoenix, Arizona and the daughter of James Willis Hensley, a
wealthy Anheuser-Busch beer distributor, and Marguerite "Smitty" Hensley.[208] They began
dating, travelling between Arizona and Washington to see each other,[216] and John
McCain urged his wife Carol to accept a divorce.[70] The McCains stopped cohabiting in
January 1980,[217] and John McCain filed for divorce in February,[217] which Carol McCain
accepted at that time.[70] After she did not respond to court summonses,[69]the uncontested
divorce became official in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, on April 2, 1980.[217] McCain gave
Carol a settlement that included full custody of their children, alimony, child support
including college tuition, houses in Virginia and Florida, and lifelong financial support for
her ongoing medical treatments resulting from the 1969 automobile accident; [68][69] they
would remain on good terms.[208] McCain and Hensley were married on May 17, 1980[71] in
Phoenix, with Senators William Cohen and Gary Hart as best man and groomsman.
[208]
McCain's children were upset with him and did not attend the wedding, [69][70] but after
several years they reconciled with him and Cindy.[70][74] Carol McCain became a personal
assistant to Nancy Reagan and later Director of the White House Visitors Office.[218] The
Reagans were stunned by the divorce;[217] Nancy Reagan's relationship with John McCain
turned cold for a while following it, but eventually the two renewed their friendship. [217]
[219]
The same happened with most of McCain's other friends, who were eventually won
over by the force of his personality and his frequent expressions of guilt over what had
happened.[70]
Around the end of 1980, McCain decided to retire from the Navy. [220] He had not been
given a major sea command,[221] and his physical condition had deteriorated, causing him
to fail the flight physical required for any carrier command position[187][222] (in addition to his
limited arm movement, certain weather would always cause him to walk with a limp).
[113]
McCain thought he might make rear admiral, but probably not vice admiral, and never
become a four-star admiral as his grandfather and father had been.[221] McCain later wrote
that he did not anguish over his decision,[220] although it pained his mother, who thought
congressional careers paled in comparison to top naval ones. [187] He was excited by the
idea of being a member of Congress[213] and was soon recruiting a campaign manager
that Cohen knew, for a planned run at a House seat from Arizona. [70] In early
1981, Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman, who did not want to see McCain leave the
liaison post, told McCain that he was still on the path to be selected for one-star rear
admiral.[187] McCain told Lehman that he was leaving the Navy[187] and that he could "do
more good" in Congress.[213]
McCain retired with an effective date of April 1, 1981,[59] the rank of captain,[59] and
a disability pension due to his wartime injuries.[223] For his service in the Senate liaison
office, McCain was awarded a second instance of the Legion of Merit.[100] Jack McCain
died on March 22, 1981.[224] On March 27, 1981, McCain attended his father's funeral
at Arlington National Cemetery, wearing his uniform for the last time before signing his
discharge papers, and later that day flew to Phoenix with his wife Cindy to begin his new
life.[19][224]
Awards and decorations

John McCain received the following medals and decorations:[59]
NavalAviatorbadge
SilverStar
LegionofMeritwithCombat
DistinguishingDeviceandonestar
DistinguishedFlyingCross
BronzeStar
withCombat
DistinguishingDevice
andtwostars
PurpleHeart
withonestar
MeritoriousServiceMedal
AirMedal
NavyCommendationMedal
withonestar
andStrike/Flightnumeral"2"
withCombat
DistinguishingDevice
andonestar
CombatActionRibbon
PrisonerofWarMedal
NavyExpeditionaryMedal
NationalDefenseServiceMedal
withonestar
ArmedForces
ExpeditionaryMedal
VietnamServiceMedal
withtwostars
Commanderofthe
NationalOrderofVietnam[193][225]
RepublicofVietnam
MeritoriousUnitCitation
VietnamCampaignMedal
Bibliography
References
Alexander, Paul (2002). Man of the People: The Life of

John McCain. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley &
Sons. ISBN 0-471-22829-X.
Hubbell, John G. (1976). P.O.W.: A Definitive History of

the American Prisoner-Of-War Experience in Vietnam,
19641973. New York: Reader's Digest Press. ISBN 088349-091-9.
McCain, John; Salter, Mark (1999). Faith of My Fathers.

New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50191-6.
McCain, John; Salter, Mark (2002). Worth the Fighting

For. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50542-3.
Rochester, Stuart I.; Kiley, Frederick (1999). Honor

Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia,
19611973. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute
Press. ISBN 1-55750-694-9.
Timberg, Robert (1996). The Nightingale's Song. New

York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-80301-1. A portion
of Chapter 1 is available online.
Timberg, Robert (1999). John McCain: An American

Odyssey. New York: Touchstone Books. ISBN 0-68486794-X. Chapter 1 is available online.
1.
Jump up^ "McCain, John Sidney, III, (1936

- )". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
United States Congress. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
2.
^ Jump up to:a b Alexander, Man of the People, p. 12.
3.
Jump up^ "Atlantic Side: Society Notes" (PDF). Panama

American. 1936-08-31.
4.
Jump up^ Dobbs, Michael (2008-05-20). "The Fact

Checker: John McCain's Birthplace". The Washington
Post. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
5.
^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m Timberg, An American

Odyssey, pp. 1734.
6.
Jump up^ Dobbs, Michael (2008-05-02). "The Fact

Checker: Citizen McCain". The Washington Post.
Archived from the original on 2008-07-06. Retrieved200812-26.
7.
Jump up^ Liptak, Adam (2008-07-11). "A Hint of New

Life to a McCain Birth Issue".The New York Times.
Retrieved 2016-01-30.
8.
^ Jump up to:a b Roberts, Gary Boyd. "On the Ancestry,

Royal Descent, and English and American Notable Kin of
Senator John Sidney McCain IV". New England Historic
Genealogical Society. Archived from the original on 200809-15. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
9.
^ Jump up to:a b c d e Parker, Suzi and Tapper, Jake (200002-15). "McCain's ancestors owned slaves". Salon.
10. Jump up^ "McCain tells his story to voters". CNN. 200803-31. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
11. ^ Jump up to:a b McCain, Faith of My Fathers, p. 21. Used
to supply details about the Teoc plantation, which was
formally named Waverly.
12. Jump up^ Chideya, Farai (2008-10-21). "Black McCains
Share Family's Struggles, Triumphs". NPR.
13. ^ Jump up to:a b "McCain trivia". The Arizona Republic.
2007-03-02. Retrieved2008-04-05.
14. Jump up^ Perera, Srianthi (2010-02-28). "Sons of the

American Revolution aims to grow in Arizona". The
Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
15. Jump up^ McCain, Faith of My Fathers, p. 20. Used to
support ancestor in War of 1812, not given by any other
source.
16. ^ Jump up to:a b c Weisman, Jonathan (2008-0722). "McCain's Maverick Side: Grandpa Would Be
Proud". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
17. ^ Jump up to:a b Alexander, Man of the People, p. 11
18. ^ Jump up to:a b Orth, Maureen (2007-12-14). "The Road
Trip of 2 Lifetimes, and Still Going". The New York Times.
19. ^ Jump up to:a b c Meacham, Jon (2008-08-30). "Hidden
Depths". Newsweek. Retrieved2008-09-04.
20. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Nowicki, Dan & Muller, Bill (2007-0301). "John McCain Report: At the Naval Academy". The
Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2007-11-10. Part of multichapter biographical profile of John McCain. Originally
published by The Arizona Republic as "McCain: The life
story of Arizona's maverick senator", written by reporter
Bill Muller, 1999-10-03. Reporter Dan Nowicki updated
and revised the biography with additional material in
January 2007. See "How the biography was put
together" for background and bibliographic sources.
21. ^ Jump up to:a b Alexander, Man of the People, pp. 1314.
22. ^ Jump up to:a b c Alexander, Man of the People, p. 19.
23. ^ Jump up to:a b McCain, Faith of My Fathers, pp. 101
103. Used to give role of mother in upbringing not fully
detailed by any other source, and for direct quotation.
24. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Romano, Lois (2000-03-02). "Out of the
Fire, Politics Calls; Ex-POW Turns Washington
Insider". The Washington Post.
25. Jump up^ Alexander, Man of the People, p. 20.
26. ^ Jump up to:a b c Arundel, John (2007-12-06). "Episcopal
fetes a favorite son".Alexandria Times. Archived from the
original on December 22, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
28. ^ Jump up to:a b Woodward, Calvin (2007-1104). "McCain's WMD Is A Mouth That Won't Quit". USA
Today. Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
29. Jump up^ McCain, Faith of My Fathers, p. 100. "Many of
the base schools I attended were substandard institutions.
Sometimes the school building was nothing more than a
converted aircraft hangar. The classes mixed children of
varying ages. We might have one teacher on Monday and
a different one on Tuesday. On other days, we lacked the
services of any teacher at all. My first purpose during my
brief stay in these schools was to impress upon my
classmates that I was not a person to suffer slights lightly.
My second purpose was to prove myself as an athlete.
When I was disciplined by my teachers, which happened
regularly, it was often for fighting."
30. Jump up^ McCain, Faith of My Fathers, pp. 107108.
Used for direct quotation.
32. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Leahy, Michael (2008-08-31). "A
Turbulent Youth Under a Strong Father's Shadow". The
Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
Used to support McCain view of others at school.
Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 2324, illustrates the
well-to-do Southerners part by sampling their names.
34. ^ Jump up to:a b c Purdum, Todd S. (February
2007). "Prisoner of Conscience". Vanity Fair. Archived
from the original on 2015-01-20. Retrieved 2015-01-20.
36. Jump up^ Alexander, Man of the People, pp. 25, 26.
38. Jump up^ Ed O'Keefe (2008-04-01). "McCain the 'Punk'
Goes Back to School". ABC News. Retrieved 2008-0402. Ravenel was the only person outside McCain's family
whom he sought out to talk with upon his return from
being a POW in Vietnam, but Ravenel had died two years
earlier.
support brief quotation of McCain self-assessment.
40. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h Timberg, The Nightingale's

Song, pp. 3135.
Used to support McCain state of mind and direct
quotation. Timberg, An American Odyssey, p. 34, gives
this formulation: "And so, ... John McCain journeyed to
Annapolis, raised his right hand, and marched joylessly
into his future."
42. Jump up^ McCain, Faith of My Fathers, pp. 120124. "In
this well-ordered and timeless world, with its lofty
aspirations and grim determination to make leaders and
gentlemen of schoolboys, plebes who possessed minor
eccentricities might be tolerated somewhat, but arrogant
nonconformists encountered open hostility. Recognized as
belonging in the latter category, I soon found myself in
conflict with the Academy's authorities and traditions.
Instead of beginning a crash course in self-improvement
so that I could find a respectable place in the ranks, I
reverted to form and embarked on a four-year course of
insubordination and rebellion."
43. Jump up^ Timberg, The Nightingale's Song, pp. 2429.
44. ^ Jump up to:a b c Bailey, Holly (2007-05-14). "John
McCain: 'I Learned How to Take Hard Blows'". Newsweek.
support accomplishment not supplied by any other
source.
46. Jump up^ Carney, James (1999-12-13). "The Diagnosis:
"Stable"". Time. Retrieved2008-09-25. His IQ is given as
133, based on a test taken in 1984. See also
Alexander, Man of the People, p. 207: McCain took IQ
tests twice his life, getting 128 the first time and 133 the
second.
47. Jump up^ "A Brief History of the United States Naval
Academy". United States Naval Academy. Archived
48. Jump up^ Blum, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph J. (May
June 1977). "Changing Educational Goals at the United
States Naval Academy". Air University Review 28 (4): 72
82.
49. Jump up^ Traub, James (2008-09-19). "What a Naval

Officer Now Knows". The New York Times Magazine.
50. ^ Jump up to:a b Timberg, The Nightingale's Song, pp. 41
42.
supply McCain's own assessment of his aptitude in those
subjects.
52. Jump up^ McCain, Faith of My Fathers, pp. 130131,
141142.
53. Jump up^ "Hunt". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting
Ships. 2005-04-18. Archived from the original on 200810-22. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
Used to supply McCain self-assessment of cruise, not
found in any other source.
Timberg writes: "Even though he lived it, or something like
it, McCain recounts his romance with Elena [not her real
name, which was not publicly known until 2008] these
days as if it were a dream. In some ways it was. But it
wasn't just his dream. With minor variations, it was the
dream of all but the most inert midshipmen. Duty, honor,
country, sure, those things were important ... [but] the
chance of someday being swept away and ravished by a
beautiful woman in some exotic locale has always been
an unspoken part of the deal.... McCain's fling with Elena,
though rare, was not all that rare. Things like that
happened often enough to keep that goofy dream alive."
56. Jump up^ Emert, Harold and Sullivan, Patrick (2008-0921). "Brazilian beauty recalls hot Rio affair with young
John McCain". New York Daily News. Retrieved2008-0922. In 2008, Maria Gracinda Teixeira de Jesus would
remember the 50-year-old affair fondly and said that she
never forgot McCain.
152. Used to support McCain overall perspectives and
direct quotations on Naval Academy experience and value
it gave him.
58. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 18, 28.
59. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "John McCain's

Navy Records: Biographical Data" (PDF). United States
Navy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-11-01.
Retrieved 2008-05-23. As indicated by Kuhnhenn, Jim
(2008-05-07)."Navy releases McCain's military
record". The Boston Globe. Associated Press. Archived
60. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Alexander, Man of the People, p. 32.
61. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp.
6668.
62. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j Vartabedian, Ralph and Serrano,
Richard A. (2008-10-06)."Mishaps mark John McCain's
record as naval aviator". Los Angeles Times.
63. ^ Jump up to:a b McCain, Faith of My Fathers, p. 156. Used
to supply aircraft type he was flying and his home base,
not given by any other source.
64. ^ Jump up to:a b c Feinberg, Barbara Silberdick
(2000). John McCain: Serving His Country. Millbrook
Press. ISBN 0-7613-1974-3. pp. 16, 18.
65. ^ Jump up to:a b Freeman, Gregory A. (2002). Sailors to
the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the
Heroes Who Fought It. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-0936908. p. 25.
67. Jump up^ "About Naval Air Station Meridian - Part of
Commander Navy Region Southeast". United States
Navy. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
68. ^ Jump up to:a b Churcher, Sharon (2008-06-08). "The wife
U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind".
London: The Mail on Sunday. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
69. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Farhi, Paul (2008-10-06). "The
Separate Peace of John And Carol".The Washington
Post. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
70. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Kristof,
Nicholas (2000-02-27). "P.O.W. to Power Broker, A
Chapter Most Telling". The New York Times.
Retrieved2007-04-22.
71. ^ Jump up to:a b "Obama Inauguration: John McCain". The

Arizona Republic. Retrieved2016-02-09.
72. Jump up^ "The John McCain Story: Timeline". McCain
2000, Inc. Archived from the original on 2001-03-01. Used
to supply years of birth of two adopted sons.
73. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, p. 70.
74. ^ Jump up to:a b Steinhauer, Jennifer (2007-1227). "Bridging 4 Decades, a Large, Close-Knit
Brood". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-27.
75. Jump up^ Fouhy, Beth (2008-06-30). "Political Play:
McCain recalls loss on "Jeopardy"". USA
Today. Associated Press. Retrieved 2008-09-26. Riding
aboard his Straight Talk Express campaign bus, McCain,
well-read and a trivia buff, recalled his two-day
appearance on the popular program in 1965. He won the
game the first day, and lost the next day in the final round.
76. Jump up^ "John McCainJeopardy! champion
(Update)". boards.sonypictures.com. Archived from the
original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-09-26. [McCain]
defeated 1-time champion Peggy Fisher in Fleming #355,
taped in Studio 6A 1965-07-20, aired Friday, 1965-08-06.
In his next game, Fleming #356, taped in Studio 6A 196507-20, aired Monday, 1965-08-09, he was defeated by
challenger Bob Bovard.
77. ^ Jump up to:a b Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 70
71.
Used to supply training detail not given by other sources.
79. Jump up^ "VA-46 Photograph Album". The Skyhawk
Association. Retrieved2008-02-09. See "Greenie Board"
image for chronology.
80. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f "USS Forrestal (CV-59)". Dictionary
of American Naval Fighting Ships. 2007-08-02. Archived
from the original on 2008-03-20. Retrieved2008-0405. Regarding use (c), states either Aircraft No. 405
piloted by LCDR Fred D. White or No. 416 piloted by
LCDR John McCain was struck by the Zuni. See
also Stewart, Henry P. The Impact of the USS Forrestal's
1967 Fire on United States Navy Shipboard Damage
Control. Fort Leavenworth: Army Command and General
Staff College. Which states that Aircraft No. 405 piloted by
LCDR Fred D. White was hit and does not mention
McCain. Freeman'sSailors to the End states that McCain's

plane was hit and does not mention White.
82. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Karaagac, John (2000). John McCain:
An Essay in Military and Political History. Lexington
Books. pp. 8082. ISBN 0-7391-0171-4.
186.
84. Jump up^ McCain, Faith of My Fathers, p. 177.
85. Jump up^ Freeman, Sailors to the End, pp. 102103.
86. ^ Jump up to:a b c Freeman, Sailors to the End, p. 118.
87. ^ Jump up to:a b Weinraub, Bernard (1967-07-31). "Start of
Tragedy: Pilot Hears a Blast As He Checks
Plane" (PDF). The New York Times.
88. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 7274.
89. Jump up^ Freeman, Sailors to the End, p. 170.
90. Jump up^ Freeman, Sailors to the End, pp. 228229.
91. Jump up^ A film of the Forrestal fire called Learn or Burn,
incorporating the flight deck video of the fire, was used in
United States Navy damage control classes for many
years; see Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Forrestal. A portion of the video has been made available
by McCain's presidential campaign; see Forrestal. 200702-24. Retrieved 2008-02-28 via YouTube.
92. ^ Jump up to:a b c Apple Jr., R. W. (1967-10-28). "Adm.
McCain's son, Forrestal Survivor, Is Missing in
Raid" (PDF). The New York Times.
95. ^ Jump up to:a b c McCain, Faith of My Fathers, p. 182.
98. Jump up^ DeWitt, Robert (2008-02-10). "Support forged

in battle". The Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
100. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g "John McCain's Navy Records:
Citations" (PDF). United States Navy. Archived from the
original (PDF) on 2008-11-01. Retrieved 2008-05-23.As
indicated by Kuhnhenn, Jim (2008-05-07). "Navy releases
McCain's military record". The Boston Globe. Associated
Press. Archived from the original on 2008-05-24.
101. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Pribbenow II, Merle L. (January
2003). "The -Ology War: Technology and Ideology in the
Vietnamese Defense of Hanoi, 1967" (PDF). The Journal
of Military History 67 (1): 175
200. doi:10.1353/jmh.2003.0066.
102. Jump up^ "Vietnam Revisited with Senator John
McCain". C-SPAN. September 1, 1992.
Retrieved February 12, 2016.
103. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Nowicki, Dan & Muller, Bill (200703-01). "John McCain Report: Prisoner of War". The
Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
104. Jump up^ "In pictures, Vietnam visit, McCain
memorial". BBC News. Retrieved2008-05-31.
105. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i Dobbs, Michael (2008-1005). "In Ordeal as Captive, Character Was Shaped". The
106. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Timberg, An American Odyssey, p.
78.
107. Jump up^ McCain, Faith of My Fathers, p. 188. Used
to give bombing altitude. While a few members of the
squadron were armed with an early smart bomb,
the AGM-62 Walleye, McCain dropped conventional
bombs. See "Support forged in battle". The Tuscaloosa
News. 2008-02-10.
108. Jump up^ "I shot down McCain - Soviet
soldier". Russia Today. 2008-12-11. Retrieved2009-08-02.
109. Jump up^ Goble, Paul (2009-01-19). "Soviet Officer
Who Shot Down John McCain in Vietnam Dies". Window
on Eurasia for Moldova.org. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
110. Jump up^ "John McCain (center) being captured by

Vietnamese civilians in Truc Bach Lake near Hanoi
Vietnam.". Library of Congress. 2004-05-26.
111. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Lieut. Commander John S.
McCain III, United States Navy (1973-05-14). "How the
POW's Fought Back". U.S. News & World
Report. (reposted under title "John McCain, Prisoner of
War: A First-Person Account", 2008-01-28). Reprinted
in Library of America staff (1998). Reporting Vietnam, Part
Two: American Journalism 19691975. Library of
America. ISBN 1-883011-59-0. pp. 434463. Used to
support direct quotes from McCain, or to fill in details not
given by other sources.
112. ^ Jump up to:a b c Rochester and Kiley, Honor Bound, p.
360.
113. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Scherer, Michael; Park, Alice (200805-14). "How Healthy Is John McCain?". Time.
114. Jump up^ A number of Vietnamese have claimed to
have led the McCain rescue effort in Trc Bch Lake, but
the one most often credited, including by the Vietnamese
government in the 1990s, was Mai Van On. He and
McCain met in Hanoi in 1996, but McCain did not mention
him in his 1999 memoir and it is unclear whether he
believed On's account. On's story also does not
completely agree with the well-known photograph showing
a number of Vietnamese pulling McCain ashore.
See "McCain's Vietnam rescuer talks". Associated Press.
2000-02-24. Retrieved 2008-06-28.; Alexander, Man of
the People, pp. 4749; and Parry, Simon (2008-0627). "Wartime rescuer of John McCain dies a forgotten
hero". Thaindian News. Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Retrieved2008-06-28. See also the October 5, 2008
Dobbs Washington Post story, which credits paper factory
worker Tran Lua.
115. ^ Jump up to:a b c Hubbell, P.O.W., p. 363.
116. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Hubbell, P.O.W., p. 364.
119. Jump up^ "Admiral's Son Captured in Hanoi

Raid". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 1967-1028.
194.
121. Jump up^ "FOIA: Search Results (McCain)" (barely
readable scans). Central Intelligence Agency.
Retrieved 2016-02-08. Various documents captured by
the Foreign Broadcast Information Service that describe
North Vietnamese or allied dispatches concerning
McCain's captivity. Later released by the CIA under
theFreedom of Information Act.
to express McCain's retrospective view on his early
statements.
123. ^ Jump up to:a b Shane, Scott (2005-12-15). "McCain
Pays a Tribute at Funeral of Ex-P.O.W.". The New York
Times. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
124. Jump up^ Hubbell, P.O.W., pp. 364365.
125. Jump up^ Hubbell, P.O.W., p. 365.
126. Jump up^ Hubbell, P.O.W., p. 367.
127. ^ Jump up to:a b "French TV archive releases McCain
POW video". NBC News.Associated Press. 2008-10-22.
129. Jump up^ John McCain prisonnier au
Vietnam. Panorama (Television production) (Institut
national de l'audiovisuel). 1968-01-12. Retrieved 2008-1024.
130. Jump up^ Rochester and Kiley, Honor Bound, p. 361.
132. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, p. 83. "The
Plantation" was a Potemkin village-style camp run by the
North Vietnamese as a propaganda showplace for foreign
visitors to see and as a preparation camp for prisoners
about to be released. Brute physical mistreatment of
prisoners was rarer than in other camps, but did occur to
some Plantation prisoners; McCain received probably the

worst of any. See Rochester and Kiley, Honor Bound, pp.
340, 363, 364, 487.
133. Jump up^ Alexander, Man of the People, pp. 5354.
134. ^ Jump up to:a b c Coram, Robert (2007). American
Patriot: The Life and Wars Of Colonel Bud Day. Little,
Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-75847-7. pp. 186189.
135. ^ Jump up to:a b c Rochester and Kiley, Honor Bound, p.
363.
137. ^ Jump up to:a b c Hubbell, P.O.W., pp. 450451.
138. Jump up^ Frankel, Max (1968-04-11). "Gen. Abrams
Gets Top Vietnam Post; Deputy Is Named" (PDF). The
New York Times.
139. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, p. 91. Bai
was called "Cat" by the POWs, who assigned often
derogatory nicknames to all of the prison officials and
guards.
140. Jump up^ The Code of Conduct itself only forbade
prisoners from accepting parole or special favors from the
enemy. The POWs decided this meant that they could
only accept release in the order they had been captured.
They made an exception for those seriously sick or badly
injured. One fellow prisoner told McCain he qualified
under that exception, but after deliberation McCain
refused nonetheless. See Timberg, An American
Odyssey, p. 92.
141. ^ Jump up to:a b Hubbell, P.O.W., p. 452.
Harriman's September 13, 1968 cable said: "At tea break
Le Duc Tho mentioned that DRV had intended to release
Admiral McCain's son as one of the three pilots freed
recently, but he had refused."
143. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Hubbell, P.O.W., pp. 452454.
to indicate "confession" was recorded in addition to being
written, not made clear by other sources.
145. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 95,

118.
146. ^ Jump up to:a b Farrell, John Aloysius (2000-01-23). "'A
refining experience'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 200806-22.
148. ^ Jump up to:a b Frisbee, John L. (February
1989). "Valor en Masse". Air Force Magazine. Archived
149. Jump up^ Cronin, Michael; Day, Bud; Gaither, Ralph;
Galanti, Paul; Schierman, Wesley;Swindle, Orson (200710-26). "A Trip Downtown". National Review Online.
151. ^ Jump up to:a b c Hubbell, P.O.W., pp. 548549.
152. Jump up^ McCain, Faith of My Fathers, pp. 227228. It
is not clear from McCain's account in which year the cross
episode took place. Fellow POW Orson Swindlevaguely
recalls McCain telling it to him in 1971. See York,
Byron (2008-08-18)."Fellow POW: I Remember McCain
Telling the "Cross in the Dirt" Story".National Review
Online. Retrieved 2008-08-18. Decades later, McCain
related this Good Samaritan story during his presidential
campaigns, as a testament to faith and humanity.
See "Excerpt From McCain's Speech on Religious
Conservatives". The New York Times. 2000-02-29.
Retrieved 2007-12-26.and "New TV Ad: 'My Christmas
Story'". John McCain 2008. 2007-12-20. Archived
153. Jump up^ Brace, Ernest C. (1988). A Code to Keep:
The true story of America's longest held civilian prisoner
of war in Vietnam. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 07090-3560-8. pp. ixx, 170.
154. Jump up^ Brace, A Code to Keep, pp. 170171.
156. Jump up^ Brace, A Code to Keep, pp. 175, 179.
158. Jump up^ Brace, A Code to Keep, p. 183.

159. Jump up^ Rochester and Kiley, Honor Bound, pp. 363
364, 371, 487.
160. ^ Jump up to:a b c "U.S. Fliers Well Treated, Hanoi
Says". The Washington Post. United Press International.
1969-06-06. McCain's statement, as broadcast by Radio
Hanoi and reported by UPI, was: "I have bombed the
cities, towns and villages and caused injuries and even
death for the people of North Vietnam. After I was
captured, I was taken to a hospital in Hanoi where I
received very good medical treatment. I was given an
operation on my leg which enabled me to walk again and
a cast on my right arm, which was badly broken in three
places. The doctors are very good and they knew a great
deal about medicine."
Used to confirm that this was McCain's August 1968
"confession", heavily edited; a U.S. military voice analysis
verified that it was McCain's voice.
162. ^ Jump up to:a b c Hubbell, P.O.W., p. 519.
163. Jump up^ Rochester and Kiley, Honor Bound, pp. 489
491.
Used to illustrate McCain family role while he was a POW.
165. Jump up^ Brace, A Code to Keep, pp. 187188.
167. ^ Jump up to:a b c Roig-Franzia, Manuel (2008-0311). "In Havana, A Page From McCain's Past". The
168. ^ Jump up to:a b Adams, David (2008-03-08). "A
revolutionary meets the foe: John McCain". St. Petersburg
288. McCain states that he has received dozens of
reports over the years of his father doing this.

173. ^ Jump up to:a b c Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp.
106107.
174. Jump up^ Frankum, Ronald Bruce (2005). Like Rolling
Thunder: The Air War In Vietnam 1964-1975. Rowman &
Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-4302-1. p. 161.
175. ^ Jump up to:a b Roberts, Steven V. (1973-0304). "Unshakable Will to Survive Sustained P. O. W.'s
Over the Years". The New York Times.
176. Jump up^ Stephens, Andy (2007-02-12). "Operation
Homecoming marks end of Vietnam War". United States
Air Force. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
177. ^ Jump up to:a b Sterba, James P. (1973-03-15). "P.O.W.
Commander Among 108 Freed" (PDF). The New York
Times.
178. Jump up^ "Unik McCain-film i SVT:s arkiv" (in
Swedish). Sveriges Television. 2008-09-11.
179. Jump up^ "John McCain Biography". John McCain,
Military Leader, U.S. Representative. A&E Television
Networks. February 22, 2016. RetrievedFebruary
22, 2016.
180. ^ Jump up to:a b c Kerr, Jessie Lynne (2008-10-25). "The
McCain Connection: His family moved to Orange Park in
1966; The following years profoundly shaped the
presidential candidate's future". The Florida Times-Union.
181. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 100
101.
183. Jump up^ Leary, Alex (2008-07-20). "John McCain:
From Orange Park to White House?". St. Petersburg
184. ^ Jump up to:a b Nowicki, Dan and Muller, Bill (2007-0301). "John McCain Report: Back in the USA". The Arizona
Republic. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
185. ^ Jump up to:a b Timberg, An American Odyssey, p. 113.

122.
187. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Leahy, Michael (2008-1013). "Seeing White House From a Cell in Hanoi". The
188. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 12, 88,
121122.
191. Jump up^ Altman, Lawrence K. (1999-1206). "Release of McCain's Medical Records Provides
Unusually Broad Psychological Profile". The New York
Times.
192. Jump up^ Alexander, Man of the People, pp. 207208.
193. ^ Jump up to:a b c Philpott, Tom (2001). Glory Denied:
The Saga of Jim Thompson, America's Longest-held
Prisoner. W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-02012-6. pp. 322
323.
195. Jump up^ Former POWs were given latitude in
choosing their next assignment. Navy officials objected to
McCain's choice of the National War College, as he was
not yet a commander, the minimum rank needed to
qualify. McCain had earned the rank but it had not yet
become official. McCain appealed to Secretary of the
Navy John Warner, a friend of his father's, and gained
admission. See Nowicki, Dan and Muller, Bill (2007-0301). "John McCain Report: Back in the USA".The Arizona
Republic.
196. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp.
116118.
197. Jump up^ Kirkpatrick, David D. (2008-06-15). "In 74
Thesis, the Seeds of McCain's War Views". The New York
198. Jump up^ Kirkpatrick, David D. "John McCain". The
New York Times. Retrieved2008-03-28.
199. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp.

122123.
200. ^ Jump up to:a b c d "Dictionary of American Naval
Aviation Squadrons Volume 1"(PDF). Naval Historical
Center. Retrieved 2008-03-01. pp. 248251.
201. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Vartabedian, Ralph (2008-0414). "McCain has long relied on his grit". Los Angeles
202. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Alexander, Man of the People, pp.
8486.
203. Jump up^ McCain, Worth the Fighting For, p. 12. Used
to give McCain confirmation about assignment, and
explanation for why a lesser assignment was not possible.
204. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Helman, Scott (2008-0831). "Taking command The McCain way". The Boston
Globe. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
205. Jump up^ McCain, Worth the Fighting For, p. 13. Used
to support McCain assessment of this part of his career.
206. ^ Jump up to:a b c Timberg, The Nightingale's Song, p.
239.
207. Jump up^ One VA-174 legal officer and her colleague
approached the base chaplain about McCain's behavior.
See "Taking command The McCain way". There were
also widespread rumors at the time that some of the
affairs were with women who were subordinates under his
command, which McCain later flatly denied. See The
Nightingale's Song, p. 239.
208. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Nowicki, Dan and Muller, Bill (200703-01). "John McCain Report: Arizona, the early
years". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
209. ^ Jump up to:a b c Timberg, The Nightingale's Song, p.
240. Timberg also observed that, "McCain was no
different from most veterans of the war. As he went
through life, Vietnam kept scrambling onstage and
chewing up the scenery no matter how often he thought
he had written it out of the script."
210. ^ Jump up to:a b Frantz, Douglas (2000-02-21). "The
Arizona Ties: A Beer Baron and a Powerful Publisher Put
McCain on a Political Path". The New York Times.
211. ^ Jump up to:a b Scheiber, Noam (2008-08-20). "Made

Man". The New Republic. Archived from the original on
2008-08-22. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
212. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp.
126128.
213. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Kirkpatrick, David D. (2008-0529). "Senate's Power and Allure Drew McCain From
Military". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
134.
215. Jump up^ Collins, Nancy (July 2007). "Cindy McCain:
Myth vs. Reality". Harper's Bazaar. Archived from the
original on 2008-01-31. Retrieved 2008-01-11.
216. Jump up^ Bailey, Holly (2008-06-30). "In Search of
Cindy McCain". Newsweek. Archived from the original on
June 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
217. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Serrano, Richard A.; Vartabedian,
Ralph (2008-07-11). "McCain's broken marriage and
fractured Reagan friendship". Los Angeles Times.
218. Jump up^ Gamarekian, Barbara (1981-08-30). "White
House Tour Leader Courted and Criticized". The New
York Times.
219. Jump up^ McCain, Worth the Fighting For, pp. 8586.
[After describing social friendship with Reagans following
POW return] "My divorce from Carol, whom the Reagans
loved, caused a change in our relationship. Nancy, for
whom Carol now worked in the White House, was
particularly upset with me and treated me on the few
occasions we encountered each other after I came to
Congress with a cool correctness that made her
displeasure clear... [Ronald Reagan was more friendly to
him] Nevertheless, we weren't social friends any longer... I
had, of course, deserved the change in our relationship,
and I knew it... From her kindness and my good luck,
Nancy and I recovered our friendship long ago and remain
friends to this day [2002]." No detailed account of Nancy
Reagan's side of this is known, although she stated in
March 2008: "John McCain has been a good friend for
over thirty years." See Phillips, Kate (2008-03-25). "Nancy
Reagan Endorses McCain". The New York Times.
220. ^ Jump up to:a b Worth the Fighting For, pp. 910. Used
to give chronology point not supplied by any other source.
222. Jump up^ Sanger-Katz, Margot (2007-12-31). "After
war, a personal renewal".Concord Monitor.
223. Jump up^ Vartabedian, Ralph (2008-04-22). "John
McCain gets tax-free disability pension". Los Angeles
External links
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Early Life and Military Career of John McCain

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Early Life and Military Career of John McCain

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Early Life and Military Career of John McCain

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Early life and military career of John

1Early years and education

2.1Naval training, early assignments, first marriage, and

2.4Return to United States

2.6Senate liaison, divorce, and second marriage

3Awards and decorations

Early years and education

John McCain at theU.S. Naval Academy, mid-1950s

Crew members fighting the 1967 USS Forrestal fire

exceptions: on one occasion, a guard surreptitiously loosened McCain's painful rope

John McCain during his release as a POW in March 1973

Return to United States

Senate liaison, divorce, and second marriage

Awards and decorations

Alexander, Paul (2002). Man of the People: The Life of

Hubbell, John G. (1976). P.O.W.: A Definitive History of

McCain, John; Salter, Mark (1999). Faith of My Fathers.

McCain, John; Salter, Mark (2002). Worth the Fighting

Rochester, Stuart I.; Kiley, Frederick (1999). Honor

Timberg, Robert (1996). The Nightingale's Song. New

Timberg, Robert (1999). John McCain: An American

Jump up^ "McCain, John Sidney, III, (1936

^ Jump up to:a b Alexander, Man of the People, p. 12.

Jump up^ "Atlantic Side: Society Notes" (PDF). Panama

Jump up^ Dobbs, Michael (2008-05-20). "The Fact

^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m Timberg, An American

Jump up^ Dobbs, Michael (2008-05-02). "The Fact

Jump up^ Liptak, Adam (2008-07-11). "A Hint of New

^ Jump up to:a b Roberts, Gary Boyd. "On the Ancestry,

14. Jump up^ Perera, Srianthi (2010-02-28). "Sons of the

40. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h Timberg, The Nightingale's

49. Jump up^ Traub, James (2008-09-19). "What a Naval

59. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "John McCain's

71. ^ Jump up to:a b "Obama Inauguration: John McCain". The

McCain. Freeman'sSailors to the End states that McCain's

98. Jump up^ DeWitt, Robert (2008-02-10). "Support forged

110. Jump up^ "John McCain (center) being captured by

119. Jump up^ "Admiral's Son Captured in Hanoi

some Plantation prisoners; McCain received probably the

145. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 95,

158. Jump up^ Brace, A Code to Keep, p. 183.

172. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, p. 105.

186. Jump up^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 119

199. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp.

211. ^ Jump up to:a b Scheiber, Noam (2008-08-20). "Made

Geobiography of John McCain's early years and military

Early lives by individual

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