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John McCain
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| Birth date | August 29, 1936 |
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| Place | United State |
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| Occupation | Senator |
| Category | Senate |
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Biography :: Contributions ::
Famous quotes ::
Achievements
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Senator John McCain was born in Coco Solo in the U.S controlled Panama Canal Zone. Both his father and grandfather were prominent U.S. Navy admirals (John S. McCain, Jr. and John S. McCain, Sr.). He attended Episcopal High School and graduated in 1954. That fall, McCain, like his father and grandfather, entered the United States Naval Academy. He has admitted that he disliked the life of a midshipman. Accordingly, McCain was a lackluster student and received many demerits. He graduated in 1958, and joked that he had followed the footsteps of his father and grandfather, both of whom had graduated very low in their respective classes at Annapolis. McCain graduated 894th out of a class of 899. In 1965, McCain married Carol Shepp, a model originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The couple divorced in 1980.
After graduating from the US Naval Academy, McCain reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida to begin training as a Naval Aviator. While in training, McCain suffered a mishap during which his aircraft crashed into Corpus Christi Bay, though he escaped. McCain graduated successfully and entered the US Navy's Light Attack Community as a Naval Aviator.
Prior to becoming a Naval Aviator, McCain flew the propellor-driven A-1 Skyraider on Navy cruises to Europe. During a trip to attend the Army-Navy game, McCain suffered an engine failure and was forced to eject from his crippled aircraft. This rash of accidents was not uncommon during the era of Navy flying McCain was in. Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff explains that a career naval aviator (20 year pilot) was statistically expected to have to eject from his aircraft at least twice in the span of a career.
On October 26, 1967, McCain was shot down in his A-4 Skyhawk over Vietnam, by a Soviet-made anti-aircraft missile, and was held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi for five-and-a-half years, mostly in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. McCain had two broken arms and a broken leg after he ejected from his plane, and was further beaten by his captors. Later in life, McCain would quip, "Do not call me a 'war hero'...I am anything but! The fact that I was incompetent enough to get shot down twice in war should dissuade you from that fact." When the North Vietnamese discovered he was the son of the Pacific Command Admiral, who was in charge of the US war effort in Vietnam, he was offered a chance to go home, in an effort to embarrass the American military. Senior POWs had ordered there would be no going home unless all went home, and McCain, as did most POWs, followed orders, and refused to be repatriated back to the United States. McCain recorded an anti-American propaganda message, but did so only as a result of torture (to this day, he cannot raise his arms above his head, due to the severe beatings administered by the North Vietnamese). It is that period during his capture that he most regrets.
He was released from captivity finally in 1973. McCain was reinstated to flight status and became Commanding Officer of VA-174 Hellrazors, the East Coast A-7 Corsair II Navy training squadron. He then became the Navy's liaison to the Senate. He retired from the Navy in 1981 as a Captain. On the same 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 currently 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 memoir of his experiences as a POW, aired on Memorial Day, 2005 on A&E.
Throughout his public career, John McCain has been a leader in the most critical issues facing our country. He has waged a determined and often solitary campaign against pork barrel spending, fighting for ten years to pass a line item veto. He has been a persistent proponent of lower taxes, deregulation and free trade. He has become one of Congress' most respected voices for a strong national defense, and for sound foreign policy.
John McCain has been an outspoken advocate for the reform of government institutions, and he has fought to change campaign finance, something at which he succeeded in 2002.
John McCain was first elected to represent the state of Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982. As a long time admirer of Ronald Reagan, McCain was an early foot soldier in the "Reagan Revolution." He served two terms in the House before being elected to the Senate in 1985. He was re-elected to a third Senate term in November 1998. In that election, he received nearly 70% of the vote, a total which included 65% of the women's vote, 55% of the Hispanic vote, and even 40% of the Democrats.
Senator McCain is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and has in that capacity become a recognized leader on telecommunications and aviation issues, stressing the need to promote competition and government deregulation in the industries that are so important to the growth of the economy.
Senator McCain has received numerous awards in addition to the Paul H. Douglas Ethics in Government award, which he received with Senator Russ Feingold for his efforts at campaign finance reform. In 1997, he was named one of the "25 Most Influential People in America" by Time magazine.Photo of John McCain and Russ Feingold looking at the Douglas Ethics Award
The son and grandson of prominent Navy admirals, John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1958, McCain began a twenty-two year career as a naval aviator. In 1967, he was shot down over Vietnam and held as a prisoner-of-war in Hanoi for five and a half years (1967-1973), much of it in solitary confinement. He retired from the Navy as a Captain in 1981. McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
John McCain tells what he learned about life and honor from his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals in the U.S. Navy, in his best-selling family memoir, "Faith of My Fathers." The book, detailing McCain's early life and military career, spent 24 weeks on the New York Times "Best Sellers" list.
Senator McCain has seven children and four grandchildren. He and his wife, Cindy, reside in Phoenix.The best thing that can ever be said of anyone is that they served a cause greater than their self-interest. All the well-earned testimonials and accolades to Barry Goldwater that have filled the nation's newspapers and air waves since his death can be summed up in that one tribute: He served a cause greater than his self-interest.
Barry Goldwater put his country and our founding ideals before himself, and we never had a better champion. He believed we all have a duty to the country, a concept that once was as common to our political lexicon as "soundbite" and "spin control" are today. And he performed his duty magnificently -- tirelessly, forcefully, effectively, and with a style as honest and wide open as the state he loved so dearly.
American politics is awash in pledges today; pledges to cut taxes; to soak the rich; to create wealth; to redistribute wealth; to end welfare; to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless; to fight for the middle class, the working class, the underclass, and the entrepreneurial class.
Barry Goldwater served America, all of America, a country conceived in liberty, a country that let you pledge any damn thing you wanted as long it didn't cost someone else their liberty. He served freedom -- a cause greater than, but encompassing his self-interest, and to that cause he pledged, as a famous group of East Coast radicals once pledged, his life, his fortune and his sacred honor.
He once wrote that he was "better equipped to be a military officer than a politician. There's no greater service to this country than the defense of its freedom." But he was mistaken about that.
He was a superb military officer, but he was also an extraordinarily gifted politician. That he was an unusually open, honest and no-nonsense politician did not make him unsuited for the profession, only uncommon. In uniform and in politics, Barry's purpose was always the defense of freedom, and nobody, before or since, managed the task more ably or more colorfully than Barry Goldwater.
He held his principles close to his heart, where he held his love of country. He lived his public and his private life according to the dictates of his principles, and woe to the miscreant who ran afoul of them, whether it be a communist superpower or a colleague who trimmed his sails according to the passing whims of public opinion. Barry always rushed to defend his ground, whether the ground he defended was in fashion at the time or not.
He defended freedom in all its manifestations because he appreciated what freedom conferred on America -- the distinction of being the last, best hope of humanity; the haven and advocate for all who believed in the God-given dignity of the human being. He loved America because freedom is her honor. And, as a young man and an old one, he took risks for his country's honor.
He never shrank from the call of his conscience, from the call of duty. He gave honorable service in wartime, and never mustered out in peacetime, serving for many long years in his beloved Air Force Reserve.
In politics, a profession he loved despite his frequent frank assessments of its less admirable practitioners, he risked his career to give the country "a choice, not an echo." No one knew better than Barry that he was unlikely to win the Presidency in 1964. But he felt the Republican Party and the country needed some straight talk about old values, and he figured he was the man to give it to them the loudest. So he did, knowing the slings and arrows he would suffer, but confident that his course was honorable. And he ended that campaign, as he ended his political career twenty-two years later, his personal integrity unblemished, his honor unassailable.
Barry's outspoken defense of liberty at home was equaled by the care he took in protecting our security abroad. Perhaps his most lasting legislative achievement in a Senate career notable for many achievements was the Goldwater-Nickles Defense Reorganization Act.
Only Barry had the stature and resolve to undertake the systemic reform of the military. And, as we observed in the splendid performance of our military in the Persian Gulf War, notably free of the chain-of-command and service rivalry problems of the past, and saw the extraordinary effectiveness of their weapons, from the Patriot Missile to the M1 tank, we witnessed the great contribution to Barry Goldwater made to our defense. It is no exaggeration to say that today's American Armed Forces, which have no equal in the world, are the armed forces Barry Goldwater created.
As I've observed on several occasions, I am both blessed and burdened to have suceeded Barry Goldwater to the United States Senate. I am blessed by the honor of it, but burdened by the certain knowledge that long after I have left public office, Americans will still celebrate the contributions Barry Goldwater made to their well-being, while I and my successors will enjoy much less notable reputations.
I came to Arizona in mid-life. Barry was here before Arizona was a state. He was her favorite son, and always will be, because the people of this blessed place knew, as sure as they knew anything, that Barry Goldwater was one of them. He once broke down in an interview while describing his deep affection for Arizona. "Arizona is 113,400 square miles of heaven that God cut out," he said as he fought back tears. "I love it so much."
Barry Goldwater will always be the Senator from Arizona, the one history recalls with appreciation and delight. In all the histories of American politics, he will remain a chapter unto himself. The rest of us will have to make do as footnotes.""On September 28th, 2005, The Eisenhower Institute awarded him the Eisenhower Leadership Prize. The prize recognizes individuals whose lifetime accomplishments reflect Dwight D. Eisenhower’s legacy of integrity and leadership.""Glory is not a conceit. It is not a decoration for valor. Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely and who rely on you in rerun.
Our political differences, now matter how sharply they are debated, are really quite narrow in comparison to the remarkably durable national consensus on our founding convictions.
Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war
Remember the words of Chairman Mao: 'It's always darkest before it's totally black.
We cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves, from ourselves.
Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will.
I am a Republican. I'm loyal to the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. And I believe that my party, in some ways, has strayed from those principles, particularly on the issue of fiscal discipline.
War is wretched beyond description, and only a fool or a fraud could sentimentalize its cruel reality.
Because the people of New Hampshire take their responsibilities as citizens of the Republic seriously, they keep it interesting for candidates who, believe it or not, can get a little tired of the mannered, predictable, and unimaginative qualities that typically afflict modern political campaigns. |
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