John McCain's Kevo

In 1999, John McCain, a Republican Senator from Arizona, joined the race to become the Republican Party's presidential candidate. His circuitous route to Washington, DC began in the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; took him to a prisoner of war camp in Hanoi, North Vietnam; and ended in Arizona. After the people of Arizona elected him to represent them in the US Senate, his stops along the way proved integral in making him one of America's most prominent politicians. McCain and his supporters are hoping his unique road through the realm of politics will take him all the way to the White House.

Although from a family of naval officers, McCain underachieved at the Naval Academy, where he seemed more interested in having a good time. Still, after he graduated in 1958, he was accepted to flight school. After avoiding a catastrophe aboard a carrier in the Mediterranean, McCain went on to serve in Vietnam where, while flying a bombing mission over Hanoi in 1967, he was shot down and taken prisoner. The fact that his father was an admiral in the Navy eventually earned him medical attention for his extensive injuries, and release after “just” seven months. But McCain maintained allegiance to a code of honor that stated prisoners would be released in the order captured. His refusal was met with severe punishment. Until his release on March 17, 1973, McCain suffered prolonged mental and physical torture. Despite the pain he had to endure and the continued promises of freedom, he insists that, upon landing in the Philippines, he left the horrific events behind him.

McCain returned to a hero’s welcome in America and continued to serve in the Navy, eventually being promoted to captain. After retiring in 1981, he moved to Arizona and, the very next year, ran to represent Arizona’s First Congressional District in the House of Representatives. In Congress, McCain proved himself a staunch Reagan Republican – supporting school prayer, the pro-life movement, and the tobacco industry – while being strong enough to make his own decisions. He supported sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa and opposed American involvement in Central America, the latter reflecting war experience and his commitment to oppose sending any Americans to battles that the nation is not 100% committed to winning.

With the retirement of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, to whom he has been compared, McCain ran for the seat in 1986 and won. McCain was implicated in the Charles Keating scandal in 1989 (in which Keating attempted to protect his failed savings and loans institutions from federal bank regulators by contributing to five senators), but was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Senate Ethics Committee. Throughout his time in Washington, he has remained a man of integrity. He has recently taken up the fight for campaign finance reform and an almost one-man fight against government pork barrel spending. McCain has also taken up the fight against tobacco companies.

In February 1999, Senator McCain declared his candidacy for president. As a decorated war hero and a man with a lifetime of strength and integrity, he has proved a strong candidate considered by most to be a dark horse for the Republican nomination. He touts himself as a Reagan Republican in favor of tax cuts, smaller government, the pro-life movement, and protection of Social Security. If he wins he has promised to restore honor to the presidency.
Climb to Fame
Arizona senator and presidential candidate who survived torture in a Viet Cong prisoner camp.
Work History
(1986-present) US senator, Arizona.

(1982-1986) US representative for Arizona's First Congressional District.

(1981) Worked for his father-in-law's beer distribution company, Phoenix, Arizona.

(1977-1981) Director of Navy Senate Liaison office.

(1958-1981) United States Navy;became captain, 1977; prisoner of war in Vietnam, 1967-73

(1999) Declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president in 2000; Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee threw his support behind him after Lamar Alexander dropped out of the running for the 2000 GOP presidential race; Thompson has been named co-chair of McCain's campaign effort

(08/18/1999) Addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars 100th anniversary convention in Kansas City, Missouri

(1986-present) Chair of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; serves on Armed Services and Indian Affairs committee, and subcommittees on readiness, personnel, and seapower; chair of the International Republican Institute; teamed up with Democrat Russell Feingold to reform campaign financing; co-sponsored the measure in the US Senate to ban Partial Birth Abortions and has taken a leading role in the fight to overturn President Clinton's veto of that legislation; as a member of the Senate Select Committee on POW-MIA Affairs, was asked in 1992 by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the chairman of the committee, to travel to Hanoi - the trip had resulted in an agreement with the Vietnamese government giving US investigators access to photographs and documents that had never before been available; implicated in 1989 with senators John Glenn, Donald Riegle, Dennis DeConcini, and Alan Cranston in a scandal to protect Charles Keating, the owner of Lincoln Savings and Loan. The Senate Ethics Committee cleared him of any wrongdoing.

(1986) Runs unopposed in the Republican primary for the US Senate seat vacated when Arizona's Barry Goldwater retires.

(1982) Elected to the US House of Representatives for Arizona's First Congressional District, after having moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1981; reelected 1984.

(1977) Promoted to captain in the US Navy.

(1973) Released from prisoner of war camp in Hanoi; welcomed back to America by President Richard Nixon and California Governor Ronald Reagan.

(1967) Shot down over Hanoi while flying a bombing mission in an A-4E from the carrier Oriskany; his father's high rank prompted officials to offer his release after 7 months of captivity, but McCain refused, insisting that prisoners be released in order of their capture; severe beatings followed, and McCain regretfully signed a confession of a war criminal;after repeated mental and physical torture and transfers to ever more oppressive prisons, he and the other prisoners in Hanoi were released on 17 March 1973."
Awards
John McCain has also won numerous Awards