Sen. John McCain, who faced down his captors in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp with jut-jawed defiance and later turned his rebellious streak into a 35-year political career that took him to Congress and the Republican presidential nomination, has died. He was 81.
John S. McCain III is escorted by Lt. Cmdr. Jay Coupe Jr., public relations officer, March 14, 1973, to Hanoi’s Gia Lam Airport after the POW was released.
(AP Photo/Horst Faas)
AP Photo/Horst Faas
Navy Cmdr. John S. McCain III, a released POW, is greeted by Air Force officers as he deplanes at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama on March 17, 1973.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
Lt. Commander John S. McCain III, a POW for over five years, waves to well wishers March 18, 1973 after arriving at Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida. At left is his wife, and son Doug, who is on crutches after breaking his leg in a soccer game. McCain is the son of Adm. John S. McCain Jr, who commanded the U.S. Forces in the Pacific until his retirement.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
U.S. Navy Commander John S. McCain 3rd, a guest of the South Vietnamese government, visits the Holt orphanage in Saigon, Vietnam, on Oct. 30, 1974. The institution cares for many youngsters fathered by American G.I.s. McCain, son of the admiral who commanded U.S. forces in the Pacific at the height of the Vietnam War, was shot down over Hanoi and spent several years as a POW.
(AP Photo/Dang Van Phuoc)
AP Photo/Dang Van Phuoc
U.S. Rep. John McCain III, R-Ariz., holds a photo of a marker in Hanoi at Truc Bach Lake where he parachuted after being shot down as a Navy pilot in the Vietnam War. McCain, who was a POW for five and one half years in Hanoi, is in Bangkok, Thailand, on Feb. 18, 1985 en route to Hanoi to visit this site.
(AP Photo/Jim Bourdier)
AP Photo/Jim Bourdier
U.S. Sen John McCain shown in 1986.
(AP Photo)
AP Photo
Sen. John McCain of Arizona makes a point during his address to the Republican National Convention Monday, Aug. 16, 1988 in New Orleans. Monday was the opening day of the convention at the Superdome.
(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
AP Photo/Ron Edmonds
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW-MIA Affairs, left, gives Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a member of the committee, his pilot’s helmet on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 2, 1992. Kerry gave the helmet to McCain after retrieving it from the Vietnamese on a recent trip to Hanoi to investigate the POW/MIA issue. McCain was held prisoner in Vietnam during the war.
(AP Photo/U.S. Senate)
AP Photo/U.S. Senate
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., left, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., meet reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Jan. 27, 1994, after the Senate voted to urge the Clinton administration to lift the 19-year-old trade embargo against Vietnam.
(AP Photo/John Duricka)
AP Photo/John Duricka
Sen. John McCain speakes a Presidential Candidates Youth Forum on Jan. 9, 2000 at Saint Anslem College in Manchester, New Hampshire ahead of the 2000 Republican primary in New Hampshire.
(Joseph Sohm/Getty)
Joseph Sohm/Getty
Senate Armed Services committee member Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., listens to testimony Tuesday, May 11, 2004, in Washington, dealing with abuses to prisoners at Abu Ghraib, a U.S.-run prison complex near Baghdad, Iraq
(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
AP Photo/Ron Edmonds
After his loss in the 2000 Republican primary, Sen. McCain ran again in 2008 and this time won the Republican nomination. In this photo McCain accompanied by his daughter Meghan McCain, waves to supporters as he enters a campaign rally at Defiance Junior High School in Defiance, Ohio., Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008.
(AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
AP Photo/Stephan Savoia
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., right, joined by wife Cindy McCain, reacts to the crowd following his presidential debate against Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks during a rally in Henderson, Nev. Monday, Nov. 3, 2008.
(AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)
AP Photo/Isaac Brekken
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 05: Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) delivers an opening statement before hearing testimony from U.S. Cyber Command head and NSA Director Navy Adm. Michael Rogers in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill April 5, 2016 in Washington, DC. When asked by McCain if Russia has the capability to inflict harm on the United States’ cyber infrastructure, Rogers replied, “Yes.”
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, March 26, 2015, on the situation in Yemen.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 04: U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (L) and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) (R) speak to members of the media during a news conference November 4, 2015 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The senators held the news conference to release and discuss a new government oversight report “detailing widespread evidence of the Department of Defense paying professional sports teams and leagues such as the NFL, MLB and NHL to honor American soldiers at sporting events.”
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Following his defeat in the 2008 presidential election, McCain returned to the Senate and won re-election in 2010 and 2016. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and the committee’s ranking member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. listen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, during the committee’s hearing: “Foreign Cyber Threats to the United States.”
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
In this image from video provided by C-SPAN2, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. is is applauded as he arrives of the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 25, 2017 after announcing his cancer diagnosis.
(C-SPAN2 via AP)
C-SPAN2 via AP
In this image from video provided by C-SPAN2, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. speaks the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 25, 2017. McCain returned to Congress for the first time since being diagnosed with brain cancer. In his speech, he appealed to Democrats and Republicans to return to “normal order” in the Senate ahead of a vote on repealing the Affordable Care Act.
(C-SPAN2 via AP)
C-SPAN2 via AP
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 27: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) holds a news conference with fellow GOP senators to say they would not support a ‘Skinny Repeal’ of health care at the U.S. Capitol July 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. The Republican senators said they would not support any legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare unless it was guaranteed to go to conference with the House of Representatives.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
In this photo from July 28, 2017, Sen. John McCain, R-Az., front left, is is followed by reporters after casting a ‘no’ vote on a a measure to repeal parts of former President Barack Obama’s health care law, on Capitol Hill in Washington. His vote was the deciding vote in the Senate. Longtime friends and advisers of Sen. John McCain said they were not surprised by his decision. McCain again announced his opposition to a last-ditch Republican effort to overhaul the national health care law in September 2017. McCain objected to the legislation in part because Senate GOP leaders wanted a vote without holding hearings or debate.
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., shakes hands with chair of the National Constitution Center’s Board of Trustees, former Vice President Joe Biden after receiving the Liberty Medal in Philadelphia, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. The honor is given annually to an individual who displays courage and conviction while striving to secure liberty for people worldwide.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., receives the Liberty Medal from Chair of the National Constitution Center’s Board of Trustees, former Vice President Joe Biden in Philadelphia, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. The honor is given annually to an individual who displays courage and conviction while striving to secure liberty for people worldwide.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks after he received the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. His speech was considered by many to be a strong rebuke to President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
In this Oct. 31, 2017, file photo, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks to reporters following the weekly Republican policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File
U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley (R) presents Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (L) with the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal during a special Twilight Tattoo performance Nov. 14, 2017 at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia. Sen. McCain was honored for over 63 years of dedicated service to the nation and the U.S. Navy.
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., arrives for votes on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday evening, Nov. 27, 2017.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Sen. John McCain leaving a closed-door session with Republican senators on Dec. 1, 2017. McCain was hospitalized for side effects from his brain cancer treatment in December and announced he would miss the Senate vote on the Republican tax bill to spend the holidays at home in Arizona with his family.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain, who faced down his captors in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp with jut-jawed defiance and later turned his rebellious streak into a 35-year political career that took him to Congress and the Republican presidential nomination, died Saturday after battling brain cancer for more than a year. He was 81.
McCain was elected to the Senate from Arizona six times but twice thwarted in seeking the presidency. McCain returned to the Senate in 2009, determined not to let that defeat define him.
In his valedictory memoir, “The Restless Wave,” McCain wrote of the world he inhabited: “I hate to leave it. But I don’t have a complaint. Not one.”
He continued: “I’ve known great passions, seen amazing wonders, fought in a war and helped make a peace … I made a small place for myself in the story of America and the history of my times.”
But former Vice President Joe Biden put it this way: “I think John’s legacy is that he never quits.”
Ultimately, McCain did not fear much, including the wrath of President Donald Trump and his Republican colleagues. Notably just last year, McCain was the decisive “no” on legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
That made him the unlikely savior of the signature legislative achievement of Barack Obama, the man who beat him for president in 2008. He also ran in 2000, losing the GOP nomination to George W. Bush.
Also notable were the times McCain held his tongue in service of a party or political gain.
For a time, he stuck by the party’s 2016 presidential nominee, Trump, even when Trump questioned his status as a war hero by saying: “I like people who weren’t captured.” McCain declared the comment offensive to veterans.
His breaking point with Trump was the release a month before the election of a lewd audio in which Trump said he could kiss and grab women. McCain said he’d rather write in the name of a conservative Republican “who’s qualified to be president.” When Trump blamed him for the survival of the Affordable Care Act, McCain sniffed, “I’ve faced tougher adversaries.”
John Sidney McCain III was born in 1936 in the Panama Canal zone, where his father was stationed in the military. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and in October 1967, McCain was on his 23rd bombing run over North Vietnam when he was shot out of the sky and taken prisoner. He refused an early release offered by his captors as a propaganda ploy. Later, his will broken by beatings, McCain signed a confession. That was his darkest hour in captivity. But his recovery from that episode taught him to trust himself, he later wrote.
Trump’s fellow POWs appointed him camp entertainment officer, chaplain and communications chief. To them, he imparted comic relief, literary tutorials, news of the day — and even religious sustenance.
McCain returned home from his years as a POW on crutches and never regained full mobility in his arms and leg. In 1981, he married Cindy Hensley, the daughter of a wealthy beer distributor in Arizona. By 1982, he’d been elected to the House and four years later to an open Senate seat. He and Cindy had four children, to add to three from his first marriage. Their youngest was adopted from Bangladesh.
McCain cultivated a conservative voting record and a reputation as a tightwad with taxpayer dollars. But just months into his Senate career, he made what he called “the worst mistake” of his life, participating in two meetings with bank regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, a friend, campaign contributor and savings and loan financier later convicted of securities fraud. As one of the “Keating Five,” McCain was cited by the Senate Ethics Committee for “poor judgment.” To have his honor questioned, he said, was in some ways worse than the torture he endured in Vietnam.
In the 1990s, McCain shouldered the long effort to account for American soldiers still missing from the war and to normalize relations with Vietnam. He also took on conservatives in his party over the federal debt and Democrats over foreign policy. During his final years in the Senate, McCain was perhaps the loudest advocate for U.S. military involvement in Iraq, Syria, Libya and more. That often made him a critic of first Obama and then Trump, and moved him further away from the growing isolationism within the GOP.
In October 2017, McCain blistered Trump’s “America first” foreign policy approach as a “half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems.”
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Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.
