John McCain Biography

John McCain	John Sidney McCain III Born: 1936-08-29 Birthplace: Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, Panama Race: White Religion: Anglican/Episcopalian Political Party: Republican Field: Politician, Military Famous for: US Senator from Arizona John McCain Offical Website: http://mccain.senate.gov/
Field: Politician

John Sidney McCain III is an American politician. Considered a maverick Republican, McCain has been a U.S. Senator from Arizona since 1987, winning re-election in 1992, 1998, and 2004. He was a presidential candidate in the 2000 election, but was defeated in the Republican primaries by then-Texas Governor and now President George W. Bush.

Prior to entering Federal politics, McCain was a Captain in the United States Navy and a Vietnamese prisoner of war. He was honorably discharged upon his retirement from the Navy in 1981.

McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, the son and grandson of prominent U.S. Navy admirals (John S. McCain, Jr. and John S. McCain, Sr.). He attended Episcopal High School and graduated in 1954. McCain then followed in his fathers' footsteps to the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1958. In 1965, McCain married Carol Shepp, a model originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The couple would divorce in 1980.

A naval aviator, John McCain was stationed aboard the USS Forrestal where, on July 29, 1967, he escaped death when a missile accidentally launched across the ship, striking his A-4 Skyhawk. The impact ruptured the fuel tank on his aircraft, the leaking fuel instantly ignited, and knocked a bomb into the fire. McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, walking down to the nose of the plane, and jumping off the nose boom. A minute and a half after the impact, the bomb exploded underneath the plane, starting a major fire which killed 134 sailors and nearly threatened to destroy the ship.

Video tape shot aboard the Forrestal shows McCain narrowly escaping the explosion.

Later in 1967, he was shot down over Vietnam, and was held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi for five-and-a-half years. When the North Vietnamese discovered he was the son and grandson of admirals, he was offered a chance to go home, but he refused to break the military code that POWs be released in the order that they are captured.

He was finally released from captivity in 1973, having survived the injuries he received when he was shot down, the beatings from an angry crowd and his captors, a year of torture, and two years of solitary confinement. Once released, his POW injuries prevented him from receiving a sea command, so in 1977, he became a Navy's liaison to the Senate. He was discharged from the Navy in 1981 as a Captain, on the day he watched his father buried next to his grandfather, in Arlington National Cemetery. During his military career he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, and a Distinguished Flying Cross.

McCain is one of only three Vietnam Veterans serving in the US Senate, the others being fellow Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, and Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts.

A TV movie entitled "Faith Of My Fathers", based on McCain's experiences as a POW, aired on Memorial Day 2005 on A&E.

McCain has been treated for recurrent skin cancer, including melanoma. Some media sources have suggested that this may be linked to his heavy sun exposure in Vietnam.

When John Jacob Rhodes, the longtime congressman from Arizona's First Congressional district, announced his retirement, McCain ran for the seat in 1982 and won it. In 1986, upon Senator Barry Goldwater's retirement, McCain was elected to succeed him. His campaign was partially financed by Charles Keating, who had also contributed to his House campaigns. McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal may have led to his later support of campaign finance reform.

In 1997, TIME magazine named him as one of the "25 Most Influential People in America." His best-selling book, Faith of my Fathers (1999, ISBN 0375501916), helped propel his presidential run. McCain ran in the 2000 presidential Republican primary, winning in New Hampshire, Michigan, Massachusetts, Arizona, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont. He also gave a strong showing in Washington State, where he lost by 2,730 votes statewide, as well as in South Carolina and Maine.

The primary in South Carolina was especially important, as a McCain victory probably would have put him on the track to nomination. His loss has been attributed to a combination of a saturation campaign by George W. Bush to mobilise the state's religious vote and the general reluctance of the American people to elect a senator to an executive position. The primary was remembered as particularly intense even relative to the political polarization of the electorate at that time.

Despite his earlier rivalry with Bush, McCain was one of the President's most vocal supporters in the 2004 US Presidential Election. He often praised Bush's leadership and continuing zeal after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, and in that light less important issues could be pushed aside. McCain's reputation as a moderate appealed to many voters who found Bush too hard-line conservative.

There was some speculation that McCain's long time friend and colleague, and also the Democratic Presidential nominee, John F. Kerry of Massachusetts would ask McCain to be his running mate to help Kerry shake his "liberal from the northeast" label, but McCain rejected Kerry's initial overtures, and so Kerry never officially asked him. This prompted Bush to run an ad called "The First Choice" showing clips of McCain praising Bush. Furthermore, the GOP used this information to ridicule Kerry's eventual running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

At the 2004 Republican National Convention, he referred to Michael Moore as a disingenuous filmmaker without actually naming him. This was met with thunderous applause from the audience, after which he repeated the phrase. Unbeknownst to McCain, Moore was in the press corps, and he responded to the line and subsequent jeers of the audience by waving to the crowd.

Many current polls have him as one of the leading candidates in the 2008 Republican Primary, but McCain has not given a definitive answer as to whether or not he will pursue the nomination in 2008.

In an interview in the June 2005 edition of Men's Journal magazine, McCain said that he "absolutely" would like to be President of the United States, but has not yet decided whether or not he will run again in 2008. He indicated that he would probably not make a firm decision until 2007 about another run at the White House citing family and Senate responsibilities. He will be 72 by the time the elections roll around in 2008, making him 2 years older than the oldest elected president Ronald Reagan but has dismissed concerns about his age and past health concerns stating that his condition was "excellent."

Though popular both within the mainstream of the Republican Party and the nation as a whole, McCain has drawn criticism from the far-right of the Party. Despite his strong pro-life stance, his compromise with the Democrats on judicial nominations as well as his willingness to break with Party leadership and the Bush White House have led several far-right groups to strongly oppose his candidacy for the Republican nomination.

One of McCain's main passions in his national political career has been the topic of campaign finance reform. In spite of voting against such measures initially, since 1992, McCain has repeatedly tried to pass legislation regulating campaign financing, finally achieving a major victory in 2002. That year, Congress passed a key campaign finance reform bill, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, co-sponsored by Senator Russ Feingold and hence also known as the McCain-Feingold bill. It was immediately challenged on constitutional grounds, but was narrowly upheld by the Supreme Court on December 10, 2003, in an expedited hearing and ruling.

McCain doesn't fit neatly into any one political wing. He is conservative on many military and social issues, but more liberal on fiscal issues. Some Republicans (generally on the far-right) have called him a Republican In Name Only. He once fought against funding the construction of a new aircraft carrier, saying the money should be spent on the 12,000 families of the enlisted who were on food stamps. He is strongly pro-life and equally strong against tobacco. He was also one of the strongest supporters of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and his speech at the 2004 Republican National Convention centered around that theme. His appeal during the 2000 presidential campaign was based on honesty, style and personal image rather than any label of liberal or conservative. Because of this, some of his supporters have encouraged him to seek higher office, including the presidency, and he has been suggested as a Republican Presidential possibility in the 2008 election.

Because of his quick temper and independence in the Senate, he is sometimes called a "maverick senator." He fights against pork barrel spending and supports expanded legislation on health care and education. McCain was principally responsible for forcing a re-evaluation of the USAF KC-767 leasing contract. He criticized the Pentagon several times, also about troop strength in Iraq [1], which remains a strong position of his--that troop numbers be increased in Iraq. He has also been noted for opposition to President Bush's tax cuts.

McCain has also generally supported moves to expand immigration to the US[2]-including expansion of the H-1b visa program. In 2005, he co-sponsored a bill [3] with Ted Kennedy that would expand use of guest worker visas.

McCain hasn't been afraid to criticize the Bush Administration. After a controversial meeting in Kuwait, he demanded the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. However, he has been a very strong supporter of the Bush White House's decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power and their foreign policy in general.

McCain lives with his second wife Cindy Hensley McCain, chair of the large Anheuser-Busch beer and liquor distributor Hensley Distributing founded by her father, [4] in Phoenix. He has seven children; John adopted first wife Carol's sons (Doug and Andy), and he and Carol had a daughter, (Sydney). John has four children by Cindy (Meghan, Jack, Jimmy, and James), plus he and Cindy adopted their youngest daughter (Bridget) after discovering her in a Bangladeshi orphanage run by Mother Teresa. He has at least four grandchildren.

On May 23, 2005, McCain was one of fourteen moderate senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", the Republicans involved agreed to vote against the nuclear option if implemented, and three of the most contested Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate. See Gang of 14.

Recently, McCain was the center of controversy concerning his cameo appearance in 2005 summer movie "Wedding Crashers." While his cameo was short, he has been criticized for appearing in an R-rated movie with several scenes of brief nudity. Matt Drudge of Drudge Report, while commenting on McCain's appearance, referred to the film as a "boob raunch fest." McCain, during an appearance on the Jay Leno show, joked about "working with boobs all the time in Washington."