John Mccain Biography

From his military to his political career, John McCain III’s biography is interesting and exciting. He was born in 1936 at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in Panama. His father was a four-star admiral in the US Navy like his father before him. McCain III, his brother, Joe, and sister, Sandy, all decided to make the Navy their career.

John McCain graduated high school in 1954 and enrolled at the US Naval Academy. He excelled and graduated in 1958 and became a naval pilot of a ground-attack aircraft. In 1965 he married Carol Shepp, a model, and became the step-father to her two children. Later, they had their own daughter. After years of training and simulated war, he decided in 1966 to request an assignment on an aircraft carrier. He flew an A-4 Skyhawk and finally became part of a bombing campaign in the Vietnam War in 1967. His plane went down and he almost died. Later, he got struck in the legs and cheek from a bomb explosion.

When McCain healed, he volunteered for another bombing mission. This time his plane was shot down by a missile. He ended up half-drowned after parachuting into Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi. This time he fractured both his arms and a leg. When he came to, he was captured and taken as a prison of war. His captors refused to treat his injuries and tortured him trying to get information. When they learned his father was a senior admiral in the US Vietnam campaign and their own POWs could be mistreated, they agreed to let him get treatment. He spent six weeks in the hospital and was put in solitary confinement in March 1968 for two years. Because of his father’s status, he was offered early release by the North Vietnamese, but he refused it stating that if his fellow prisoners were not freed, he did not want his freedom.

Insulted by McCain’s refusal to be released, his captors began torturing him. Four days later he reached his breaking point and gave an anti-American “confession.” In 1973 he was finally released after five and a half years of being imprisoned. In the 1990s he dedicated himself to the cause of repairing relations with Vietnam.

During his imprisonment, his wife had a bad car accident that left her crippled. In spite of that, McCain returned to duty in 1976 in Florida at a training squadron. He began seeing other women and by 1979 his affair with Cindy Lou Hensley, a Phoenix teacher, was ful- blown. He divorced Carol in 1980 and quickly married Cindy in May 1980. He left the Navy in 1981 and developed an interest in running for Congress. While working at his father-in-law’s beer distributorship, he began to get political support locally and won his first primary election, then the general election.

In 1983 John McCain led the Republican representatives and in 1987 he began his career in the Senate. He was well -nown for going against the establishment. During this time he and Cindy had a daughter and two sons. In 1999 he began his run for president but withdrew in 2000 when Bush’s lead was too great. He sat back for the next election and in 2008 he declared his run for presidency again. He campaigned on his military service and his prior experience from the 2000 election. The 2008 election was difficult facing Hillary Clinton, the first female candidate, and Barack Obama, the first black candidate, and his ratings went down.

Initially, when McCain announced his choice for vice presidential candidate as Sarah Palin, his ratings went up, but it wasn’t long before they dropped and people were questioning her experience and abilities. When he lost the election, he returned to the Senate where he engaged in leading the opposition to President Obama’s healthcare bill and the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” bill, both of which passed. He continues to fight for the people of Arizona in his fifth term as US senator and is the senior member of the Senate Armed Forces Committee. With his hot temper and maverick persona, it is not likely that we will forget this exciting political figure any time soon.