John McCain

This “updated” edition of the Biography entry on former prisoner of war and three-time senator John McCain offers a chronological profile of McCain's life and career, concluding with his 2008 presidential campaign bid. The son of a four-star U.S. Navy admiral father, McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936, but spent his childhood bouncing around Connecticut and Hawaii. McCain sowed his wild oats throughout high school and at the Annapolis naval academy, where he barely graduated. After entering flight school and marrying his first wife, Carol, McCain survived a horrific fire on board the USS Forrestal only to be shot down over Hanoi in 1967 during the Vietnam War. For five grueling years, McCain was a POW in the Hanoi Hilton. Offered an early release, McCain refused—insisting that other prisoners held longer should go before him—though he later signed a document admitting he was a war criminal (which he now considers a personal failure, even though most POWs did the same thing). McCain returned stateside as a war hero with a growing interest in politics. After a divorce and remarriage (to Phoenix heiress Cynthia Hensley), McCain moved from Congress to the Senate (during which time, he was labeled a “carpetbagger,” just like future opponent Hillary Clinton). Mixing archival material with interviews of McCain, his wives, his brother, classmates, reporters, and Henry Kissinger, this profile also covers the Charles Keating fraud scandal during the 1980s (McCain was exonerated), the senator's bipartisan efforts on behalf of campaign finance reform, and the writing of his bestselling memoir Faith of My Fathers. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (K. Fennessy)