John McCain

John Sidney McCain III was born on August 29, 1936, at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, to naval officer John S. McCain Jr. and Roberta (Wright) McCain. He had an older sister, Sandy, and a younger brother, Joe.[2] At that time, the Panama Canal was under U.S. control,[3] and he was granted U.S. citizenship at the age of eleven months.[4]

McCain's family tree includes Scotch-Irish and English ancestors.[5] His great-great-great-grandparents owned High Rock Farm, a plantation in Rockingham County, North Carolina.[6] His father and his paternal grandfather, John S. McCain Sr., were also Naval Academy graduates and both became four-star admirals in the United States Navy.[7] The McCain family moved with their father as he took various naval postings in the United States and in the Pacific.[2][8]

As a result, the younger McCain attended a total of about 20 schools.[9] In 1951, the family settled in Northern Virginia, and McCain attended Episcopal High School, a private preparatory boarding school in Alexandria.[10][11] He excelled at wrestling and graduated in 1954.[12][13] He referred to himself as an Episcopalian as recently as June 2007, after which date he said he came to identify as a Baptist.[14]

McCain at the Naval Academy, 1954

Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, McCain entered the United States Naval Academy, where he was a friend and informal leader for many of his classmates[15] and sometimes stood up for targets of bullying.[7] He also fought as a lightweight boxer.[16] He earned the nickname "John Wayne" "for his attitude and popularity with the opposite sex."[17] McCain did well in academic subjects that interested him, such as literature and history, but studied only enough to pass subjects that gave him difficulty, such as mathematics.[7][18] He came into conflict with higher-ranking personnel and did not always obey the rules. "He collected demerits the way some people collect stamps."[17] His class rank (894 of 899) was not indicative of his intelligence nor his IQ.[15][19] McCain graduated in 1958.[15]

McCain began his early military career when he was commissioned as an ensign, and started two and a half years of training at Pensacola to become a naval aviator.[20] While there, he earned a reputation as a man who partied.[9] He completed flight school in 1960, and became a naval pilot of ground-attack aircraft; he was assigned to A-1 Skyraider squadrons[21] aboard the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise[22] in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas.[23] McCain began as a sub-par flier[23] who was at times careless and reckless;[24] during the early to mid-1960s, two of his flight missions crashed, and a third mission collided with power lines, but he received no major injuries.[24] His aviation skills improved over time,[23] and he was seen as a good pilot, albeit one who tended to "push the envelope" in his flying.[24]

Lieutenant McCain (front right) with his squadron and T-2 Buckeye trainer, 1965

On July 3, 1965, McCain was 28 when he married Carol Shepp, who had worked as a runway model and secretary.[25] McCain adopted her two young children, Douglas and Andrew.[22][26] He and Carol then had a daughter whom they named Sidney.[27][28] The same year, he was a one-day champion on the game show Jeopardy![29]

McCain requested a combat assignment,[30] and was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal flying A-4 Skyhawks.[31] His combat duty began when he was 30 years old in mid-1967, when Forrestal was assigned to a bombing campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder, during the Vietnam War.[25][32] Stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin, McCain and his fellow pilots became frustrated by micromanagement from Washington, and he later wrote, "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."[32][33]

On July 29, 1967, McCain was a lieutenant commander when he was near the center of the USS Forrestal fire. He escaped from his burning jet and was trying to help another pilot escape when a bomb exploded;[34] McCain was struck in the legs and chest by fragments.[35] The ensuing fire killed 134 sailors and took 24 hours to control.[36][37] With the Forrestal out of commission, McCain volunteered for assignment with the USS Oriskany, another aircraft carrier employed in Operation Rolling Thunder.[38] There, he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and the Bronze Star Medal for missions flown over North Vietnam.[39]

McCain was taken prisoner of war on October 26, 1967. He was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi.[40][41] McCain fractured both arms and a leg when he ejected from the aircraft,[42] and nearly drowned after he parachuted into Trúc Bạch Lake. Some North Vietnamese pulled him ashore, then others crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt and bayoneted him.[40] McCain was then transported to Hanoi's main Hỏa Lò Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton".[41]

Although McCain was seriously wounded and injured, his captors refused to treat him. They beat and interrogated him to get information, and he was given medical care only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was an admiral.[43] His status as a prisoner of war (POW) made the front pages of major American newspapers.[44][45]

McCain spent six weeks in the hospital, where he received marginal care. He had lost 50 pounds (23 kg), he was in a chest cast, and his gray hair had turned white.[40] McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi.[46] In December 1967, McCain was placed in a cell with two other Americans, who did not expect him to live more than a week.[47] In March 1968, McCain was placed into solitary confinement, where he remained for two years.[48]

In mid-1968, his father John S. McCain Jr. was named commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater, and the North Vietnamese offered McCain early release[49] because they wanted to appear merciful for propaganda purposes,[50] and also to show other POWs that elite prisoners were willing to be treated preferentially.[49] McCain refused repatriation unless every man taken in before him was also released. Such early release was prohibited by the POWs' interpretation of the military Code of Conduct, which states in Article III: "I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy."[51] To prevent the enemy from using prisoners for propaganda, officers were to agree to be released in the order in which they were captured.[40]

Beginning in August 1968, McCain was subjected to a program of severe torture.[52] He was bound and beaten every two hours; this punishment occurred at the same time that he was suffering from heat exhaustion and dysentery.[40][52] Further injuries brought McCain to "the point of suicide," but his preparations were interrupted by guards. Eventually, McCain made an anti-U.S. propaganda "confession."[40] He had always felt that his statement was dishonorable, but as he later wrote, "I had learned what we all learned over there: every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine."[53][54] Many U.S. POWs were tortured and maltreated to extract "confessions" and propaganda statements;[55] virtually all of them eventually yielded something to their captors.[56] McCain received two to three beatings weekly because of his continued refusal to sign additional statements.[57]

McCain refused to meet various anti-war groups seeking peace in Hanoi, wanting to give neither them nor the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory.[58] From late 1969, treatment of McCain and many of the other POWs became more tolerable,[59] while McCain continued to resist the camp authorities.[60] McCain and other prisoners cheered the U.S. "Christmas Bombing" campaign of December 1972, viewing it as a forceful measure to push North Vietnam to terms.[54][61]

McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years, until his release on March 14, 1973, along with 108 other prisoners of war.[62] His wartime injuries left him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head.[63] After the war, McCain, accompanied by his family and his second wife Cindy, returned to the site on a few occasions in efforts of trying to come to terms with what had happened to him there during his capture.[64]

McCain was reunited with his family when he returned to the United States. His wife Carol had been severely injured by an automobile accident in December 1969. She was then four inches shorter, in a wheelchair or on crutches, and substantially heavier than when he had last seen her. As a returned POW, he became a celebrity of sorts.[65]

Lieutenant Commander McCain being interviewed after his return from Vietnam, April 1973

Lieutenant Commander McCain greeting President Nixon, May 1973

McCain underwent treatment for his injuries that included months of physical therapy.[66] He attended the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., during 1973–1974.[67] He was rehabilitated by late 1974, and his flight status was reinstated. In 1976, he became Commanding Officer of a training squadron that was stationed in Florida.[65][68] He improved the unit's flight readiness and safety records,[69] and won the squadron its first-ever Meritorious Unit Commendation.[68] During this period in Florida, he had extramarital affairs, and his marriage began to falter, about which he later stated: "The blame was entirely mine".[70][71]

McCain served as the Navy's liaison to the U.S. Senate beginning in 1977.[72] In retrospect, he said that this represented his "real entry into the world of politics, and the beginning of my second career as a public servant."[65] His key behind-the-scenes role gained congressional financing for a new supercarrier against the wishes of the Carter administration.[66][73]

In April 1979,[66] McCain met Cindy Lou Hensley, a teacher from Phoenix, Arizona, whose father had founded a large beer distributorship.[71] They began dating, and he urged his wife, Carol, to grant him a divorce, which she did in February 1980; the uncontested divorce took effect in April 1980.[26][66] The settlement included two houses, and financial support for her ongoing medical treatments due to her 1969 car accident; they remained on good terms.[71] McCain and Hensley were married on May 17, 1980, with Senators William Cohen and Gary Hart attending as groomsmen.[25][71] McCain's children did not attend, and several years passed before they reconciled.[28][66] John and Cindy McCain entered into a prenuptial agreement that kept most of her family's assets under her name; they kept their finances apart, and filed separate income tax returns.[74]

The residence of John and Cindy McCain in Phoenix, Arizona

McCain decided to leave the Navy. It was doubtful whether he would ever be promoted to the rank of full admiral, as he had poor annual physicals and had not been given a major sea command.[75] His chances of being promoted to rear admiral were better, but he declined that prospect, as he had already made plans to run for Congress and said he could "do more good there."[76][77]

McCain retired from the Navy as a captain on April 1, 1981.[39][78] He was designated as disabled and awarded a disability pension.[79] Upon leaving the military, he moved to Arizona. His numerous military decorations and awards include: the Silver Star, two Legion of Merits, Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Star Medals, two Purple Hearts, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and the Prisoner of War Medal.[39]

McCain set his sights on becoming a representative because he was interested in current events, was ready for a new challenge, and had developed political ambitions during his time as Senate liaison.[71][80][81] Living in Phoenix, he went to work for Hensley & Co., his new father-in-law Jim Hensley's large Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship.[71] As vice president of public relations at the distributorship, he gained political support among the local business community, meeting powerful figures such as banker Charles Keating Jr., real estate developer Fife Symington III (later Governor of Arizona) and newspaper publisher Darrow "Duke" Tully.[72] In 1982, McCain ran as a Republican for an open seat in Arizona's 1st congressional district, which was being vacated by 30-year incumbent Republican John Jacob Rhodes.[82] A newcomer to the state, McCain was hit with charges of being a carpetbagger.[71] McCain responded to a voter making that charge with what a Phoenix Gazette columnist later described as "the most devastating response to a potentially troublesome political issue I've ever heard":[71]

Listen, pal. I spent 22 years in the Navy. My father was in the Navy. My grandfather was in the Navy. We in the military service tend to move a lot. We have to live in all parts of the country, all parts of the world. I wish I could have had the luxury, like you, of growing up and living and spending my entire life in a nice place like the First District of Arizona, but I was doing other things. As a matter of fact, when I think about it now, the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi.[71][83]

McCain won a highly contested primary election with the assistance of local political endorsements, his Washington connections, and money that his wife lent to his campaign.[71][72] He then easily won the general election in the heavily Republican district.[71]

McCain in 1983, during his first term in the House of Representatives

In 1983, McCain was elected to lead the incoming group of Republican representatives,[71] and was assigned to the House Committee on Interior Affairs. Also that year, he opposed creation of a federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but admitted in 2008: "I was wrong and eventually realized that, in time to give full support [in 1990] for a state holiday in Arizona."[84][85]

At this point, McCain's politics were mainly in line with those of President Ronald Reagan; this included support for Reaganomics, and he was active on Indian Affairs bills.[86] He supported most aspects of the foreign policy of the Reagan administration, including its hardline stance against the Soviet Union and policy towards Central American conflicts, such as backing the Contras in Nicaragua.[86] McCain opposed keeping U.S. Marines deployed in Lebanon, citing unattainable objectives, and subsequently criticized President Reagan for pulling out the troops too late; in the interim, the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing killed hundreds.[71][87] McCain won re-election to the House easily in 1984,[71] and gained a spot on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.[88] In 1985, he made his first return trip to Vietnam,[89] and also traveled to Chile where he met with its military junta ruler, General Augusto Pinochet.[90][91][92]

In 1984, McCain and Cindy had their first child, daughter Meghan, followed two years later by son John IV and in 1988 by son James.[93] In 1991, Cindy brought an abandoned three-month-old girl needing medical treatment to the U.S. from a Bangladeshi orphanage run by Mother Teresa.[94] The McCains decided to adopt her and named her Bridget.[95]

McCain's Senate career began in January 1987, after he defeated his Democratic opponent, former state legislator Richard Kimball, by 20 percentage points in the 1986 election.[72][96] McCain succeeded Arizona native, conservative icon, and the 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater upon Goldwater's retirement as U.S. senator from Arizona for 30 years.[96] In January 1988, McCain voted in favor of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987,[97] and voted to override President Reagan's veto of that legislation the following March.[98]

President Ronald Reagan greets McCain as First Lady Nancy Reagan looks on, March 1987

Senator McCain became a member of the Armed Services Committee, with which he had formerly done his Navy liaison work; he also joined the Commerce Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee.[96] He continued to support the Native American agenda.[99] As first a House member and then a senator—and as a lifelong gambler with close ties to the gambling industry[100]—McCain was one of the main authors of the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,[101][102] which codified rules regarding Native American gambling enterprises.[103] McCain was also a strong supporter of the Gramm–Rudman legislation that enforced automatic spending cuts in the case of budget deficits.[104]

McCain soon gained national visibility. He delivered a well-received speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention, was mentioned by the press as a short list vice-presidential running mate for Republican nominee George H. W. Bush, and was named chairman of Veterans for Bush.[96][105]

McCain became embroiled in a scandal during the 1980s, as one of five United States senators comprising the so-called Keating Five.[106] Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in lawful[107] political contributions from Charles Keating Jr. and his associates at Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, along with trips on Keating's jets[106] that McCain belatedly repaid, in 1989.[108] In 1987, McCain was one of the five senators whom Keating contacted to prevent the government's seizure of Lincoln, and McCain met twice with federal regulators to discuss the government's investigation of Lincoln.[106] In 1999, McCain said: "The appearance of it was wrong. It's a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators, because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do."[109] In the end, McCain was cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee of acting improperly or violating any law or Senate rule, but was mildly rebuked for exercising "poor judgment".[107][109][110]

In his 1992 re-election bid, the Keating Five affair was not a major issue,[111] and he won handily, gaining 56 percent of the vote to defeat Democratic community and civil rights activist Claire Sargent and independent former governor, Evan Mecham.[112]

President George H. W. Bush meets with McCain, 1990

McCain developed a reputation for independence during the 1990s.[113] He took pride in challenging party leadership and establishment forces, becoming difficult to categorize politically.[113]

The 1992 christening of USS John S. McCain at Bath Iron Works, with his mother Roberta, son Jack, daughter Meghan, and wife Cindy

As a member of the 1991–1993 Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, chaired by fellow Vietnam War veteran and Democrat, John Kerry, McCain investigated the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, to determine the fate of U.S. service personnel listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War.[114] The committee's unanimous report stated there was "no compelling evidence that proves that any American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia."[115] Helped by McCain's efforts, in 1995 the U.S. normalized diplomatic relations with Vietnam.[116] McCain was vilified by some POW/MIA activists who, despite the committee's unanimous report, believed large numbers of Americans were still held against their will in Southeast Asia.[116][117][118] From January 1993 until his death, McCain was Chairman of the International Republican Institute, an organization partly funded by the U.S. government that supports the emergence of political democracy worldwide.[119]

In 1993 and 1994, McCain voted to confirm President Clinton's nominees the to U.S. Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, whom he considered qualified. He later explained that "under our Constitution, it is the president's call to make."[120] McCain had also voted to confirm nominees of presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, including Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.[121]

McCain attacked what he saw as the corrupting influence of large political contributions—from corporations, labor unions, other organizations, and wealthy individuals—and he made this his signature issue.[122] Starting in 1994, he worked with Democratic Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform; their McCain–Feingold bill attempted to put limits on "soft money".[122] The efforts of McCain and Feingold were opposed by some of the moneyed interests targeted, by incumbents in both parties, by those who felt spending limits impinged on free political speech and might be unconstitutional as well, and by those who wanted to counterbalance the power of what they saw as media bias.[122][123] Despite sympathetic coverage in the media, initial versions of the McCain–Feingold Act were filibustered and never came to a vote.[124]

The term "maverick Republican" became a label frequently applied to McCain, and he also used it himself.[122][125][126] In 1993, McCain opposed military operations in Somalia.[127] Another target of his was pork barrel spending by Congress, and he actively supported the Line Item Veto Act of 1996, which gave the president power to veto individual spending items[122] but was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1998.[128]

In the 1996 presidential election, McCain was again on the short list of possible vice-presidential picks, this time for Republican nominee Bob Dole.[111][129] While Dole instead selected Jack Kemp, he chose McCain to deliver the nominating speech for him in the presidential roll call vote at the 1996 Republican National Convention.[130] The following year, Time magazine named McCain as one of the "25 Most Influential People in America".[131]

In 1997, McCain became chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee; he was criticized for accepting funds from corporations and businesses under the committee's purview, but in response said the small contributions he received were not part of the big-money nature of the campaign finance problem.[122] McCain took on the tobacco industry in 1998, proposing legislation that would increase cigarette taxes to fund anti-smoking campaigns, discourage teenage smokers, increase money for health research studies, and help states pay for smoking-related health care costs.[122][132] Supported by the Clinton administration but opposed by the industry and most Republicans, the bill failed to gain cloture.[132]

In November 1998, McCain won re-election to a third Senate term; he prevailed in a landslide over his Democratic opponent, environmental lawyer Ed Ranger.[122] In the February 1999 Senate trial following the impeachment of Bill Clinton, McCain voted to convict the president on both the perjury and obstruction of justice counts, saying Clinton had violated his sworn oath of office.[133] In March 1999, McCain voted to approve the NATO bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, saying that the ongoing genocide of the Kosovo War must be stopped and criticizing past Clinton administration inaction.[134] Later in 1999, McCain shared the Profile in Courage Award with Feingold for their work in trying to enact their campaign finance reform,[135] although the bill was still failing repeated attempts to gain cloture.[124]

McCain's grandfather and father on board a U.S. ship in Tokyo Bay, circa end of World War II in 1945

In August 1999, McCain's memoir Faith of My Fathers, co-authored with Mark Salter, was published;[136] a reviewer observed that its appearance "seems to have been timed to the unfolding Presidential campaign."[137] The most successful of his writings, it received positive reviews,[138] became a bestseller,[139] and was later made into a TV film.[140] The book traces McCain's family background and childhood, covers his time at Annapolis and his service before and during the Vietnam War, concluding with his release from captivity in 1973. According to one reviewer, it describes "the kind of challenges that most of us can barely imagine. It's a fascinating history of a remarkable military family."[141]

McCain began 2001 by breaking with the new George W. Bush administration on a number of matters, including HMO reform, climate change, and gun control legislation; McCain–Feingold was opposed by Bush as well.[124][164] In May 2001, McCain was one of only two Senate Republicans to vote against the Bush tax cuts.[164][165] Besides the differences with Bush on ideological grounds, there was considerable antagonism between the two remaining from the previous year's campaign.[166][167] Later, when a Republican senator, Jim Jeffords, became an Independent, thereby throwing control of the Senate to the Democrats, McCain defended Jeffords against "self-appointed enforcers of party loyalty".[164] Indeed, there was speculation at the time, and in years since, about McCain himself leaving the Republican Party, but McCain had always adamantly denied that he ever considered doing so.[164][168][169] Beginning in 2001, McCain used political capital gained from his presidential run, as well as improved legislative skills and relationships with other members, to become one of the Senate's most influential members.[170]

After the September 11, 2001, attacks, McCain supported Bush and the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.[164][171] He and Democratic senator Joe Lieberman wrote the legislation that created the 9/11 Commission,[172] while he and Democratic senator Fritz Hollings co-sponsored the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that federalized airport security.[173]

In March 2002, McCain–Feingold, officially known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, passed in both Houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Bush.[124][164] Seven years in the making, it was McCain's greatest legislative achievement.[164][174]

McCain's Senate website from 2003 to 2006 illustrated his concern about pork barrel spending.[122]

Meanwhile, in discussions over proposed U.S. action against Iraq, McCain was a strong supporter of the Bush administration's position.[164] He stated that Iraq was "a clear and present danger to the United States of America", and voted accordingly for the Iraq War Resolution in October 2002.[164] He predicted that U.S. forces would be treated as liberators by a large number of the Iraqi people.[175] In May 2003, McCain voted against the second round of Bush tax cuts, saying it was unwise at a time of war.[165] By November 2003, after a trip to Iraq, he was publicly questioning Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, saying that more U.S. troops were needed; the following year, McCain announced that he had lost confidence in Rumsfeld.[176][177]

In October 2003, McCain and Lieberman co-sponsored the Climate Stewardship Act that would have introduced a cap and trade system aimed at returning greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels; the bill was defeated with 55 votes to 43 in the Senate.[178] They reintroduced modified versions of the Act two additional times, for the final time in January 2007 with the co-sponsorship of Barack Obama, among others.[179]

President George W. Bush with Senator McCain, December 2004

In the 2004 U.S. presidential election campaign, McCain was once again frequently mentioned for the vice-presidential slot, only this time as part of the Democratic ticket under nominee John Kerry.[180][181][182] McCain said that Kerry had never formally offered him the position and that he would not have accepted it if he had.[181][182][183] At the 2004 Republican National Convention, McCain supported Bush for re-election, praising Bush's management of the War on Terror since the September 11 attacks.[184] At the same time, he defended Kerry's Vietnam War record.[185] By August 2004, McCain had the best favorable-to-unfavorable rating (55 percent to 19 percent) of any national politician;[184] he campaigned for Bush much more than he had four years previously, though the two remained situational allies rather than friends.[166]

McCain was also up for re-election as senator, in 2004. He defeated little-known Democratic schoolteacher Stuart Starky with his biggest margin of victory, garnering 77 percent of the vote.[186]

In May 2005, McCain led the so-called Gang of 14 in the Senate, which established a compromise that preserved the ability of senators to filibuster judicial nominees, but only in "extraordinary circumstances".[187] The compromise took the steam out of the filibuster movement, but some Republicans remained disappointed that the compromise did not eliminate filibusters of judicial nominees in all circumstances.[188] McCain subsequently cast Supreme Court confirmation votes in favor of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, calling them "two of the finest justices ever appointed to the United States Supreme Court."[121]

Breaking from his 2001 and 2003 votes, McCain supported the Bush tax cut extension in May 2006, saying not to do so would amount to a tax increase.[165] Working with Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, McCain was a strong proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, which would involve legalization, guest worker programs, and border enforcement components. The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act was never voted on in 2005, while the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 passed the Senate in May 2006 but failed in the House.[177] In June 2007, President Bush, McCain, and others made the strongest push yet for such a bill, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, but it aroused intense grassroots opposition among talk radio listeners and others, some of whom furiously characterized the proposal as an "amnesty" program,[189] and the bill twice failed to gain cloture in the Senate.[190]

By the middle of the 2000s (decade), the increased Indian gaming that McCain had helped bring about was a $23 billion industry.[102] He was twice chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, in 1995–1997 and 2005–2007, and his Committee helped expose the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal.[191][192] By 2005 and 2006, McCain was pushing for amendments to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act which would have limited creation of off-reservation casinos,[102] and also limited the movement of tribes across state lines to build casinos.[193]

General David Petraeus and McCain in Baghdad, November 2007

Owing to his time as a POW, McCain was recognized for his sensitivity to the detention and interrogation of detainees in the War on Terror. An opponent of the Bush administration's use of torture and detention without trial at Guantánamo Bay, saying: "some of these guys are terrible, terrible killers and the worst kind of scum of humanity. But, one, they deserve to have some adjudication of their cases ... even Adolf Eichmann got a trial".[194] In October 2005, McCain introduced the McCain Detainee Amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill for 2005, and the Senate voted 90–9 to support the amendment.[195] It prohibits inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at Guantánamo, by confining military interrogations to the techniques in the U.S. Army Field Manual on Interrogation. Although Bush had threatened to veto the bill if McCain's amendment was included,[196] the President announced in December 2005 that he accepted McCain's terms and would "make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture, whether it be here at home or abroad".[197] This stance, among others, led to McCain being named by Time magazine in 2006 as one of America's 10 Best Senators.[198] McCain voted in February 2008 against a bill containing a ban on waterboarding,[199] which provision was later narrowly passed and vetoed by Bush. However, the bill in question contained other provisions to which McCain objected, and his spokesman stated: "This wasn't a vote on waterboarding. This was a vote on applying the standards of the [Army] field manual to CIA personnel."[199]

Meanwhile, McCain continued questioning the progress of the war in Iraq. In September 2005, he remarked upon Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers' optimistic outlook on the war's progress: "Things have not gone as well as we had planned or expected, nor as we were told by you, General Myers."[200] In August 2006, he criticized the administration for continually understating the effectiveness of the insurgency: "We [have] not told the American people how tough and difficult this could be."[177] From the beginning, McCain strongly supported the Iraq troop surge of 2007.[201] The strategy's opponents labeled it "McCain's plan"[202] and University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said, "McCain owns Iraq just as much as Bush does now."[177] The surge and the war were unpopular during most of the year, even within the Republican Party,[203] as McCain's presidential campaign was underway; faced with the consequences, McCain frequently responded, "I would much rather lose a campaign than a war."[204] In March 2008, McCain credited the surge strategy with reducing violence in Iraq, as he made his eighth trip to that country since the war began.[205]

Following his defeat, McCain returned to the Senate amid varying views about what role he might play there.[281] In mid-November 2008 he met with President-elect Obama, and the two discussed issues they had commonality on.[282] Around the same time, McCain indicated that he intended to run for re-election to his Senate seat in 2010.[283] As the inauguration neared, Obama consulted with McCain on a variety of matters, to an extent rarely seen between a president-elect and his defeated rival,[284] and President Obama's inauguration speech contained an allusion to McCain's theme of finding a purpose greater than oneself.[285]

President Barack Obama and McCain at a press conference in March 2009

Nevertheless, McCain emerged as a leader of the Republican opposition to the Obama economic stimulus package of 2009, saying it incorporated federal policy changes that had nothing to do with near-term job creation and would expand the growing federal budget deficit.[286] McCain also voted against Obama's Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor—saying that while undeniably qualified, "I do not believe that she shares my belief in judicial restraint"[287]—and by August 2009 was siding more often with his Republican Party on closely divided votes than ever before in his senatorial career.[288] McCain reasserted that the War in Afghanistan was winnable[289] and criticized Obama for a slow process in deciding whether to send additional U.S. troops there.[290]

McCain also harshly criticized Obama for scrapping construction of the U.S. missile defense complex in Poland, declined to enter negotiations over climate change legislation similar to what he had proposed in the past, and strongly opposed the Obama health care plan.[290][291] McCain led a successful filibuster of a measure that would allow repeal of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy towards gays.[292] Factors involved in McCain's new direction included Senate staffers leaving, a renewed concern over national debt levels and the scope of federal government, a possible Republican primary challenge from conservatives in 2010, and McCain's campaign edge being slow to wear off.[290][291] As one longtime McCain advisor said, "A lot of people, including me, thought he might be the Republican building bridges to the Obama Administration. But he's been more like the guy blowing up the bridges."[290]

McCain in his Senate office, November 2010

In early 2010, a primary challenge from radio talk show host and former U.S. Congressman J. D. Hayworth materialized in the Senate election in Arizona and drew support from some but not all elements of the Tea Party movement.[293][294] With Hayworth using the campaign slogan "The Consistent Conservative", McCain said—despite his own past use of the term on a number of occasions[294][295]—"I never considered myself a maverick. I consider myself a person who serves the people of Arizona to the best of his abilities."[296] The primary challenge coincided with McCain reversing or muting his stance on some issues such as the bank bailouts, closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, campaign finance restrictions, and gays in the military.[293]

When the health care plan, now called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed Congress and became law in March 2010, McCain strongly opposed the landmark legislation not only on its merits but also on the way it had been handled in Congress. As a consequence, he warned that congressional Republicans would not work with Democrats on anything else: "There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it."[297] McCain became a vocal defender of Arizona SB 1070, the April 2010 tough anti-illegal immigration state law that aroused national controversy, saying that the state had been forced to take action given the federal government's inability to control the border.[294][298] In the August 24 primary, McCain beat Hayworth by a 56 to 32 percent margin.[299] McCain proceeded to easily defeat Democratic Tucson city councilman Rodney Glassman in the general election.[300]

In the lame duck session of the 111th Congress, McCain voted for the compromise Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010,[301] but against the DREAM Act (which he had once sponsored) and the New START Treaty.[302] Most prominently, he continued to lead the eventually losing fight against "Don't ask, don't tell" repeal.[303] In his opposition, he sometimes fell into anger or hostility on the Senate floor, and called its passage "a very sad day" that would compromise the battle effectiveness of the military.[302][303]

While control of the House of Representatives went over to the Republicans in the 112th Congress, the Senate stayed Democratic and McCain continued to be the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. As the Arab Spring took center stage, McCain urged that the embattled Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, step down and thought the U.S. should push for democratic reforms in the region despite the associated risks of religious extremists gaining power.[304] McCain was an especially vocal supporter of the 2011 military intervention in Libya. In April of that year he visited the Anti-Gaddafi forces and National Transitional Council in Benghazi, the highest-ranking American to do so, and said that the rebel forces were "my heroes".[305] In June, he joined with Senator Kerry in offering a resolution that would have authorized the military intervention, and said: "The administration's disregard for the elected representatives of the American people on this matter has been troubling and counterproductive."[306][307] In August, McCain voted for the Budget Control Act of 2011 that resolved the U.S. debt ceiling crisis.[308] In November, McCain and Senator Carl Levin were leaders in efforts to codify in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 that terrorism suspects, no matter where captured, could be detained by the U.S. military and its tribunal system; following objections by civil libertarians, some Democrats, and the White House, McCain and Levin agreed to language making it clear that the bill would not pertain to U.S. citizens.[309][310]

In the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries, McCain endorsed former 2008 rival Mitt Romney and campaigned for him, but compared the contest to a Greek tragedy due to its drawn-out nature with massive super PAC-funded attack ads damaging all the contenders.[311] He labeled the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision as "uninformed, arrogant, naïve", and, decrying its effects and the future scandals he thought it would bring, said it would become considered the court's "worst decision ... in the 21st century".[312] McCain took the lead in opposing the defense spending sequestrations brought on by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and gained attention for defending State Department aide Huma Abedin against charges brought by a few House Republicans that she had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.[313]

The "Three Amigos" walking in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan in July 2011: McCain (second from left), Lindsey Graham (second from right in front), Joe Lieberman (right in front)[314]

McCain continued to be one of the most frequently appearing guests on the Sunday morning news talk shows.[313] He became one of the most vocal critics of the Obama administration's handling of the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, saying it was a "debacle" that featured either "a massive cover-up or incompetence that is not acceptable" and that it was worse than the Watergate scandal.[315] As an outgrowth of this strong opposition, he and a few other senators were successful in blocking the planned nomination of Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as U.S. Secretary of State; McCain's friend and colleague John Kerry was nominated instead.[316]

Regarding the Syrian civil war that had begun in 2011, McCain repeatedly argued for the U.S. intervening militarily in the conflict on the side of the anti-government forces. He staged a visit to rebel forces inside Syria in May 2013, the first senator to do so, and called for arming the Free Syrian Army with heavy weapons and for the establishment of a no-fly zone over the country. Following reports that two of the people he posed for pictures with had been responsible for the kidnapping of eleven Lebanese Shiite pilgrims the year before, McCain disputed one of the identifications and said he had not met directly with the other.[317] Following the 2013 Ghouta chemical weapons attack, McCain argued again for strong American military action against the government of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and in September 2013 cast a Foreign Relations committee vote in favor of Obama's request to Congress that it authorize a military response.[318] McCain took the lead in criticizing a growing non-interventionist movement within the Republican Party, exemplified by his March 2013 comment that Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Representative Justin Amash were "wacko birds".[319]

Kerry (far left) and McCain (third from left) with members of the Saudi Royal Family after greeting the new King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, January 2015

During 2013, McCain was a member of a bi-partisan group of senators, the "Gang of Eight", which announced principles for another try at comprehensive immigration reform.[320] The resulting Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 passed the Senate by a 68–32 margin, but faced an uncertain future in the House.[321] In July 2013, McCain was at the forefront of an agreement among senators to drop filibusters against Obama administration executive nominees without Democrats resorting to the "nuclear option" that would disallow such filibusters altogether.[322][323] However, the option would be imposed later in the year anyway, to the senator's displeasure.[324] These developments and some other negotiations showed that McCain now had improved relations with the Obama administration, including the president himself, as well as with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and that he had become the leader of a power center in the Senate for cutting deals in an otherwise bitterly partisan environment.[325][326][327] They also led some observers to conclude that the "maverick" McCain had returned.[323][327]

McCain was publicly skeptical about the Republican strategy that precipitated the U.S. federal government shutdown of 2013 and U.S. debt-ceiling crisis of 2013 to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act; in October 2013 he voted in favor of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014, which resolved them and said, "Republicans have to understand we have lost this battle, as I predicted weeks ago, that we would not be able to win because we were demanding something that was not achievable."[328] Similarly, he was one of nine Republican senators who voted for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 at the end of the year.[329] By early 2014, McCain's apostasies were enough that the Arizona Republican Party formally censured him for having what they saw as a liberal record that had been "disastrous and harmful".[330] McCain remained stridently opposed to many aspects of Obama's foreign policy, however, and in June 2014, following major gains by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, decried what he saw as a U.S. failure to protect its past gains in Iraq and called on the president's entire national security team to resign. McCain said, "Could all this have been avoided? ... The answer is absolutely yes. If I sound angry it's because I am angry."[331]

McCain addresses anti-government protesters in Kyiv, Ukraine, pledging his support for their cause, December 2013

McCain was a supporter of the Euromaidan protests against Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and his government, and appeared in Independence Square in Kyiv in December 2013.[332] Following the overthrow of Yanukovych and subsequent 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, McCain became a vocal supporter of providing arms to Ukrainian military forces, saying the sanctions imposed against Russia were not enough.[333] In 2014, McCain led the opposition to the appointments of Colleen Bell, Noah Mamet, and George Tsunis to the ambassadorships in Hungary, Argentina, and Norway, respectively, arguing they were unqualified appointees being rewarded for their political fundraising.[334] Unlike many Republicans, McCain supported the release and contents of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture in December 2014, saying "The truth is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. It sometimes causes us difficulties at home and abroad. It is sometimes used by our enemies in attempts to hurt us. But the American people are entitled to it, nonetheless."[335] He added that the CIA's practices following the September 11 attacks had "stained our national honor" while doing "much harm and little practical good" and that "Our enemies act without conscience. We must not."[336] He opposed the Obama administration's December 2014 decision to normalize relations with Cuba.[337]

The 114th United States Congress assembled in January 2015 with Republicans in control of the Senate, and McCain achieved one of his longtime goals when he became chairman of the Armed Services Committee.[338] In this position, he led the writing of proposed Senate legislation that sought to modify parts of the Goldwater–Nichols Act of 1986 to return responsibility for major weapons systems acquisition back to the individual armed services and their secretaries and away from the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.[339] As chair, McCain tried to maintain a bipartisan approach and forged a good relationship with ranking member Jack Reed.[338] In April 2015, McCain announced that he would run for a sixth term in Arizona's 2016 Senate election.[340] While there was still conservative and Tea Party anger at him, it was unclear if they would mount an effective primary challenge against him.[341] During 2015, McCain strongly opposed the Obama administration's proposed comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear program (later finalized as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)), saying that Secretary of State Kerry was "delusional" and "giv[ing] away the store" in negotiations with Iran.[342] McCain supported the Saudi Arabian-led military intervention in Yemen against the Shia Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh,[343] saying: "I'm sure civilians die in war. Not nearly as many as the Houthis have executed."[344]

Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen meets with McCain, the leader of the U.S. Senate delegation, June 2016

McCain accused President Obama of being "directly responsible" for the Orlando nightclub shooting "because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, al-Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS, and ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obama's failures."[345][346]

McCain campaigning with former Governor Romney in Mesa, Arizona, during his 2016 re-election campaign

During the 2016 Republican primaries, McCain said he would support the Republican nominee even if it was Donald Trump, in spite of his personal disagreements with Trump.

However, following Mitt Romney's 2016 anti-Trump speech, McCain endorsed the sentiments expressed in that speech, saying he had serious concerns about Trump's "uninformed and indeed dangerous statements on national security issues".[347] Relations between the two had been fraught since early in Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, when McCain referred to a room full of Trump supporters as "crazies", and the real estate mogul then said of McCain: "He insulted me, and he insulted everyone in that room ... He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured ... perhaps he was a war hero, but right now he's said a lot of very bad things about a lot of people."[347][348] This was widely condemned by much of the Republican Party, with Senator Marco Rubio referring to Trump's comments as "offensive rantings", commentator Rick Santorum tweeting that "@SenJohnMcCain is an American hero, period", and Governor Scott Walker using the comments as the basis for his denunciation of Trump in a campaign event in Sioux City.[349] McCain also vocally opposed a federal loan guarantee for a development project Trump was contemplating on the West Side of Manhattan in 1996.[350] Following Trump becoming the presumptive nominee of the party on May 3, McCain said that Republican voters had spoken and he would support Trump.[351]

McCain himself faced a primary challenge from Kelli Ward, a fervent Trump supporter, and then was expected to face a potentially strong challenge from Democratic Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick in the general election.[352] The senator privately expressed worry over the effect that Trump's unpopularity among Hispanic voters might have on his own chances but also was concerned with more conservative pro-Trump voters; he thus kept his endorsement of Trump in place but tried to speak of him as little as possible given their disagreements.[353][354][355] However McCain defeated Ward in the primary by a double-digit percentage point margin and gained a similar lead over Kirkpatrick in general election polls, and when the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy broke, he felt secure enough to on October 8 withdraw his endorsement of Trump.[352] McCain stated that Trump's "demeaning comments about women and his boasts about sexual assaults" made it "impossible to continue to offer even conditional support" and added that he would not vote for Hillary Clinton, but would instead "write in the name of some good conservative Republican who is qualified to be president."[356][357] McCain, at 80 years of age, went on to defeat Kirkpatrick, securing a sixth term as United States Senator from Arizona.[358]

In November 2016, McCain learned of the existence of a dossier regarding the Trump presidential campaign's links to Russia compiled by Christopher Steele. McCain sent a representative to gather more information, who obtained a copy of the dossier.[359] In December 2016, McCain passed on the dossier to FBI Director James Comey in a 1-on-1 meeting. McCain later wrote that he felt the dossier's "allegations were disturbing" but unverifiable by himself, so he let the FBI investigate.[360]

On December 31, 2016, in Tbilisi, Georgia, McCain stated that the United States should strengthen its sanctions against Russia.[361] One year later, on December 23, 2017, the State Department announced that the United States would provide Ukraine with "enhanced defensive capabilities".[362]

The National March on the NRA in August 2018. The NRA spent $7.74 million to support John McCain.[363]

McCain chaired the January 5, 2017, hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee where Republican and Democratic senators and intelligence officers, including James R. Clapper Jr., the Director of National Intelligence, Michael S. Rogers, the head of the National Security Agency and United States Cyber Command presented a "united front" that "forcefully reaffirmed the conclusion that the Russian government used hacking and leaks to try to influence the presidential election."[364]

In June 2017, McCain voted to support President Trump's controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia.[365][366]

Repeal and replacement of Obamacare (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) was a centerpiece of McCain's 2016 re-election campaign,[367] and in July 2017, he said, "Have no doubt: Congress must replace Obamacare, which has hit Arizonans with some of the highest premium increases in the nation and left 14 of Arizona's 15 counties with only one provider option on the exchanges this year." He added that he supports affordable and quality health care, but objected that the pending Senate bill did not do enough to shield the Medicaid system in Arizona.[368]

In response to the death of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died of organ failure while in government custody, McCain said that "this is only the latest example of Communist China's assault on human rights, democracy, and freedom."[369]

In September 2017, as the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar became ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority, McCain announced moves to scrap planned future military cooperation with Myanmar.[370]

In October 2017, McCain praised President Trump's decision to decertify Iran's compliance with the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) while not yet withdrawing the U.S. from the agreement, saying that the Obama-era policy failed "to meet the multifaceted threat Iran poses. The goals President Trump presented in his speech today are a welcomed long overdue change."[371]

On July 14, 2017, McCain underwent a minimally invasive craniotomy at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, to remove a blood clot above his left eye. His absence prompted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay a vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act.[372] Five days later, Mayo Clinic doctors announced that the laboratory results from the surgery confirmed the presence of a glioblastoma, which is a very aggressive cancerous brain tumor.[373] Standard treatment options for this tumor include chemotherapy and radiation, although even with treatment, average survival time is approximately 14 months.[373] McCain was a survivor of previous cancers, including melanoma.[233][374]

President Donald Trump publicly wished Senator McCain well,[375] as did many others, including former president Obama.[376] On July 19, McCain's senatorial office issued a statement that he "appreciates the outpouring of support he has received over the last few days. He is in good spirits as he continues to recover at home with his family in Arizona. He is grateful to the doctors and staff at Mayo Clinic for their outstanding care, and is confident that any future treatment will be effective." On July 24, McCain announced via Twitter that he would return to the United States Senate the following day.[377]

McCain votes no on repealing the Affordable Care Act by giving a thumbs down.

McCain returned to the Senate on July 25, less than two weeks after brain surgery. He cast a deciding vote allowing the Senate to begin consideration of bills to replace the Affordable Care Act. Along with that vote, he delivered a speech criticizing the party-line voting process used by the Republicans, as well as by the Democrats in passing the Affordable Care Act to begin with, and McCain also urged a "return to regular order" using the usual committee hearings and deliberations.[378][379][380] On July 28, he cast the decisive vote against the Republicans' final proposal that month, the so-called "skinny repeal" option, which failed 49–51.[381] McCain supported the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

McCain did not vote in the Senate after December 2017, remaining instead in Arizona to undergo cancer treatment. On April 15, 2018, he underwent surgery for an infection relating to diverticulitis and the following day was reported to be in stable condition.[382]

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Senators Joni Ernst, Daniel Sullivan, John McCain, Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, and Cory Gardner attending the 2016 International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia Security Summit in Singapore

• Committee on Armed Services (Chair)
  • as chair of the full committee may serve as an ex-officio member of any subcommittee
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
  • Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight
• Committee on Indian Affairs
• Committee on Intelligence (ex-officio)

• International Conservation Caucus
• Senate Diabetes Caucus
• Senate National Security Caucus (Co-chair)
• Sportsmen's Caucus
• Senate Wilderness and Public Lands Caucus
• Senate Ukraine Caucus[383]
• Republican Main Street Partnership.[384]

Cindy McCain, Secretary James Mattis and Chief of Staff John F. Kelly lay a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

McCain received many tributes and condolences, including from Congressional colleagues, all living former presidents – Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama – and future president Joe Biden, Senators Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, and Jeff Flake, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and President Richard Nixon's daughters Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower.[410][411][412][413] French president Emmanuel Macron, Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and prime minister Volodymyr Groysman, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, who had just taken office the previous day, and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, British prime minister Theresa May and former prime minister David Cameron, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and former prime minister Stephen Harper, German chancellor Angela Merkel and foreign minister Heiko Maas, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Afghanistan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the 14th Dalai Lama, and former Vietnamese ambassador to Washington Nguyễn Quốc Cường also sent condolences.[414][415][416][417][418][419]

McCain's daughter Meghan mourning while he lies in state at the Arizona State Capitol

Colonel Trần Trọng Duyệt, who ran the Hỏa Lò Prison when McCain was held there, remarked, "At that time I liked him personally for his toughness and strong stance. Later on, when he became a US Senator, he and Senator John Kerry greatly contributed to promote Vietnam-US relations so I was very fond of him. When I learnt about his death early this morning, I feel very sad. I would like to send condolences to his family."[420] In a TV interview, Senator Lindsey Graham said McCain's last words to him were "I love you, I have not been cheated."[421] His daughter, Meghan McCain, shared her grief, stating that she was present at the moment he died.[422]

At the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards, McCain was recognized in the "In Memoriam" segment, right before Aretha Franklin. Many fans questioned the inclusion of McCain in the segment because he was not known for television. He had, however, appeared in various television projects, including hosting and several cameo appearances on Saturday Night Live. He also made appearances on Parks and Recreation and 24.[423]

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that he would introduce a resolution to rename the Russell Senate Office Building after McCain.[424] A quarter peal of Grandsire Caters in memory of McCain was rung by the bellringers of Washington National Cathedral the day following his death.[425] Another memorial quarter peal was rung on September 6 on the Bells of Congress at the Old Post Office in Washington.[426]

President Trump reportedly rejected the White House's plans to release a statement praising McCain's life, initially said nothing about McCain himself in a tweet that extended condolences to McCain's family.[427] In addition, the flag at the White House, which had been lowered to half-staff the day of McCain's death (August 25), was raised back to full-staff at 12:01 a.m. on August 27.[428] Trump reportedly felt that media coverage of McCain's death was excessive given that McCain was never president.[429] Following public backlash from the American Legion and AMVETS, Trump ordered the White House flag back to half-staff later on August 27. Trump issued a statement praising McCain's service to the country, and he signed a proclamation ordering flags to be flown at half-staff until McCain's interment at the Naval Academy Cemetery.[430][431]

• Faith of My Fathers by John McCain, Mark Salter (Random House, 1999) ISBN 0-375-50191-6 (later made into the 2005 television film Faith of My Fathers)
• Worth the Fighting For by John McCain, Mark Salter (Random House, September 2002) ISBN 0-375-50542-3
• Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life by John McCain, Mark Salter (Random House, 2004) ISBN 1-4000-6030-3
• Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember by John McCain, Mark Salter (Random House, 2005) ISBN 1-4000-6412-0
• Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them by John McCain, Mark Salter (Hachette, 2007) ISBN 0-446-58040-6
• Thirteen Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War by John McCain, Mark Salter (Simon & Schuster, 2014) ISBN 1-4767-5965-0
• The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations by John McCain, Mark Salter (Simon & Schuster, 2018) ISBN 978-1501178009

• "How the POW's Fought Back", by John S. McCain III, Lieut. Commander, U.S. Navy, U.S. News & World Report, May 14, 1973 (reprinted for web under different title in 2008). Reprinted in Reporting Vietnam, Part Two: American Journalism 1969–1975 (The Library of America, 1998) ISBN 1-883011-59-0
• "The Code of Conduct and the Vietnam Prisoners of War", by John S. McCain, Commander USN, National War College, April 8, 1974 (actual paper)
• Foreword by John McCain to A Code to Keep: The True Story of America's Longest-Held Civilian POW in Vietnam by Ernest C. Brace (St. Martin's Press, 1988) ISBN 0-7090-3560-8
• Speeches of John McCain, 1988–2000
• Foreword by John McCain to Glory Denied: The Saga of Jim Thompson, America's Longest-held Prisoner by Tom Philpott (W. W. Norton, 2001) ISBN 0-393-02012-6
• Foreword by John McCain to The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam (Random House, 2001 edition) ISBN 1-58836-098-9
• Foreword by John S. McCain to Unfinished Business: Afghanistan, the Middle East and Beyond – Defusing the Dangers That Threaten America's Security by Harlan Ullman (Citadel Press, 2002) ISBN 0-8065-2431-6
• Foreword by John McCain and Max Cleland to Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming by Jonathan Shay (Scribner, 2002) ISBN 0-7432-1156-1
• Foreword by John McCain to Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts by the Editors of Popular Mechanics (Hearst, 2006) ISBN 1-58816-635-X
• Introduction by John McCain to Pearl Harbor, the Day of Infamy, an Illustrated History by Dan van der Vat (Black Walnut Books, 2007) ISBN 1-897330-28-6
• "An Enduring Peace Built on Freedom: Securing America's Future" by John McCain, Foreign Affairs, November/December 2007