John McCain

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John McCain : biography

29 August 1936 –

From the late 1990s until 2008, McCain was a board member of Project Vote Smart which was set up by Richard Kimball, his 1986 Senate opponent.Kimball, Richard. , Project Vote Smart. Retrieved May 20, 2008. Also see Nintzel, Jim. , Tucson Weekly (April 17, 2008). Retrieved May 21, 2008. Also see Stein, Jonathan. , Mother Jones (April 7, 2008). Retrieved May 21, 2008. The project provides non-partisan information about the political positions of McCain, Project Vote Smart. Retrieved May 20, 2008. Non-partisan information about McCain’s issue positions is also provided online by other sources. See, e.g., , OnTheIssues. Retrieved May 18, 2008. and other candidates for political office. Additionally, McCain uses his Senate web site to describe his political positions., McCain’s official Senate web site. Retrieved May 21, 2008.

Writings by McCain

Books

  • Faith of My Fathers by John McCain, Mark Salter (Random House, August 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, April 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, October 2005) ISBN 1-4000-6412-0
  • Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them by John McCain, Mark Salter (Hachette, August 2007) ISBN 978-0-446-58040-3

Articles and forewords

  • , 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 ()
  • 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
  • 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, June 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, November 2002) ISBN 0-7432-1156-1
  • 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, August 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
  • Foreign Affairs, November/December 2007

Early life and military career, 1936–1981

Formative years and education

John McCain was born on August 29, 1936, at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, to naval officer John S. McCain, Jr. (1911–1981) and Roberta (Wright) McCain (b. 1912).Timberg, American Odyssey, (subscription only link). At that time, the Panama Canal was under U.S. control.Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War (Naval Institute Press 2007), 119.

McCain’s family tree includes Scots-Irish and English ancestors.Roberts, Gary. , New England Historic Genealogical Society (April 1, 2008). Retrieved May 19, 2008. Archived from on September 15, 2008. His father and his paternal grandfather, John S. McCain, Sr., both became four-star United States Navy admirals.Nowicki, Dan & Muller, Bill. , The Arizona Republic (March 1, 2007). Retrieved November 10, 2007. According to The Arizona Republic, "’McCain: The life story of Arizona’s maverick senator’ as written by reporter Bill Muller originally appeared in The Arizona Republic and on azcentral.com on October 3, 1999. Reporter Dan Nowicki updated and revised the biography with additional material in January 2007." See , The Arizona Republic (March 1, 2007). Retrieved June 18, 2008. Regarding McCain’s time at the Naval Academy, "McCain’s grades were good in the subjects he enjoyed, such as literature and history. Gamboa said McCain would rather read a history book than do his math homework. He did just enough to pass the classes he didn’t find stimulating. ‘He stood low in his class,’ Gamboa said. ‘But that was by choice, not design.’" His family, including his older sister Sandy and younger brother Joe, followed his father to various naval postings in the United States and the Pacific.Alexander, Man of the People, 19. Altogether, he attended about 20 schools.