A prisoner of war who chose honor over early release—and spent the rest of his life fighting for the American ideals that had cost him most.
John Sidney McCain III was born on August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone, into a Navy family. He graduated from the Naval Academy, became a naval aviator, and was shot down over Hanoi in 1967. Captured and badly injured, he was offered early release when captors learned his father commanded U.S. Pacific forces. He refused, unwilling to give the North Vietnamese a propaganda victory. He endured five and a half years of imprisonment, including solitary confinement and torture. He returned home a hero, entered politics, and served six terms as U.S. Senator from Arizona. He ran for president twice, winning the Republican nomination in 2008. Known for crossing the aisle and defying party orthodoxy, he cast the deciding vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act in 2017. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017 and died on August 25, 2018, at 81, still a sitting senator.
“Nothing in life is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself.”
“I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's.”
Embodied the principle that personal honor and national service transcend political loyalty, and used a life shaped by captivity to defend democratic institutions under pressure.
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