The loss of a personal hero: John McCain, 1936-2018

I have absolutely no right to try to memorialize John McCain. However, I will try, every day, to work to honor McCain’s legacy – particularly in my political life.

It’s 2 a.m. when I’ve started writing this, and I can’t sleep. Today I learned that Senator John McCain died, and I have been unsettled ever since.
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This isn’t just the death of a hero, my personal inspiration and an exemplary public servant, but it’s also the death of an era. I firmly believe that what has kept me hopeful in the past year or so – despite the chaos, incivility, foreign relations crises and much more – have been the ideals personified in Senator John McCain and the knowledge that he still had a strong voice in our republic. It feels like the last remnant of American values is gone.

McCain hasn’t been the only maverick in the Trump-era. Notably Senators Corker and Flake (a close friend of McCain’s) have done their fair share of dissenting from the Republican establishment, but they too are leaving the U.S. Senate in the next term. McCain didn’t wait until he announced retirement to stand up for his values, and his three decades in office and presidential nomination show that it might even be more politically viable to unapologetically practice what you preach consistently.

From the very beginning, McCain, son and grandson of four-star Navy admirals, defied authority and stood up for what he thought was right. From the beginning, McCain was seen as a leader, despite his lack of an official capacity as such. He stood up to victims of bullies while being quite the party animal at the Naval Academy. He graduated at the bottom of his class and carried a flippant attitude toward authority. He had gotten away with mischief due to his father’s reputation and influence and carried that sense of invincibility with him through his young life. That would quickly change.

After his plane was downed by the North Vietnamese in 1967, McCain was taken prisoner and horribly mistreated until it was discovered that he was the son of the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander. The North Vietnamese wanted to politicize an early release and good medical treatment of McCain, who refused to be released until all prisoners of war were released. McCain knew he could be saved by that privilege of being a McCain that he had always enjoyed, but he refused to save himself at the expense of others. Until his death, McCain always reflected on his time held prisoner in terms of the relationships he made there. The camaraderie between POWs that he described must have had a defining impact on the young rebel that entered the “Hanoi Hilton” in 1967. McCain held to his moral code at a time of extreme suffering and vulnerability in his life. He later signed a false confession letter to escape more torture, an action which McCain said he regretted for the rest of his life.

Upon his return from Vietnam, McCain was given command of a Naval aviation squadron in Florida. During that time, his marriage began to crumble. Around the time he became Navy liaison to the Senate, McCain began an affair with the woman he would later remain married to until his death, Cindy Hensley. McCain has publicly taken complete responsibility for his failed marriage, including admitting to his extramarital affair.

During his first campaign for Congress in Cindy’s home district, the Arizona first, McCain profoundly remarked that the place he had lived the longest was where he had been kept prisoner in Hanoi, Vietnam, a good reminder that even before his time in the Navy, McCain was making sacrifices for his country as the son of a Naval officer.

As a Senator, McCain worked tirelessly with President Clinton for peace and normalization of relations with Vietnam. It would have been so easy and understandable for McCain to seek vengeance for his treatment by the North Vietnamese; however, this man who had suffered the great pains of war graciously worked for peace. McCain also remembered his fellow POWs and soldiers missing in action whose whereabouts were still unknown, taking up the banner of that cause with his political clout. McCain broke from the GOP – the Republican party – on judicial nominations and campaign finance reform. Always one for advancing American ideals in the world and championing human rights for all, McCain advocated for more military intervention than many were comfortable with on multiple occasions, most notably the Iraq War.

McCain was in favor of the war, but he was also weary of the potential pitfalls it faced. Upon his return from Vietnam, McCain had been fascinated with the anti-war movement and the advocacy of John Kerry. He learned about the mishandling of the war and the lack of a winning strategy for it. Once the U.S. was involved in Iraq, McCain was determined to win on American terms and end it the right way, honorably.

To me, the actions and words of John McCain that say the most about the man and our times are those surrounding his two failed presidential runs.

In 2000, McCain came from behind to win the New Hampshire primary and set off on a wild ride around the country in a bus aptly named the Straight Talk Express. Press were welcomed for vibrant and candid discussion on the bus, where McCain would continue his ever-candid style with the press. It was a haven for civil political discourse, and the nation loved the principled war hero. His lack of concern for political expediency actually helped him greatly politically, and a decision wherein he compromised his beliefs for political benefit would end his candidacy.

It all came down to the South Carolina primary: George W. Bush v. McCain for the GOP nomination. The campaign got nasty, and McCain later expressed his regret for that, stating that he would rather lose a campaign his children could be proud of than win a dirty one. Both candidates were asked for their positions on the flying of the Confederate battle flag on South Carolina statehouse grounds. McCain explained his mistake back in Columbia months after the primary. “I feared that if I answered honestly, I could not win the South Carolina primary,'' McCain said. ''So I chose to compromise my principles. I broke my promise to always tell the truth.''

During the primary, he said that the flag could be seen a symbol of oppression and as a symbol of heritage and stated that it was an issue best left to the people of South Carolina. Later, McCain stated that he still agreed with what he said during the primary but added that his personal opinion was based on his ancestors’ service for the Confederacy.

''I don't believe their service, however distinguished, needs to be commemorated in a way that offends, that deeply hurts, people whose ancestors were once denied their freedom by my ancestors,'' he said.

Imagine for a moment if every politician apologized every time he or she said something unprincipled for political expediency. That would be all any politician had time for. McCain wasn’t perfect, but he knew that and freely admitted it. He made mistakes, but he knew that and apologized for them.

In 2008, when McCain was the GOP presidential nominee running against then-Senator Barack Obama, his supporters often had harsh words for the Democratic nominee, some of which were downright racist. At a campaign speech during that cycle, one McCain supporter insisted that Obama was “an Arab.” McCain took the microphone from the woman and said “No, ma’am. He’s a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what the campaign’s all about. He’s not [an Arab].”

McCain had also come close to choosing then-Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate, showing McCain’s great support for bipartisanship.

In conceding the election to Obama, McCain highlighted his and Obama’s shared love for the country and his respect for the peaceful transfer of power and the will of the American people.
The next season of McCain’s political activism involved his continuing to fearlessly speak out for America and her ideals. The rise of Donald Trump introduced an interesting set of challenges for McCain that led him to initially endorse a GOP candidate that could not have differed more in character, style, and policy with McCain. McCain eventually rescinded the endorsement, which was meant as a unification attempt for his party.

Donald Trump said McCain was not a war hero, saying that he “[likes] people who weren’t captured.” After McCain’s death, Trump sent off one tweet that made no mention of McCain’s accomplishments or character. Following immense pressure to release a statement on McCain’s death, Trump agreed to do the bare minimum to honor the American hero. His lack of admiration for McCain was apparent in the statement which said nothing complimentary of McCain.

McCain often disagreed publicly with the President’s policy but didn’t resort to the base vitriol of Trump himself, refraining from the direct attacks and name-calling that have come to characterize President Trump.

Returning to D.C. just one day after brain surgery and receiving his cancer diagnosis, McCain voted against the GOP healthcare bill. McCain supported getting rid of Obamacare, but he felt the alternative constructed by the GOP was not bipartisan enough and voted against it.

That day on the Senate floor, McCain scolded his fellow Senators for the lack of action they had achieved as of late due to lack of compromise and partisanship being elevated above country.

In his last months, McCain remained active, something his family saw vital to his keeping in good spirits and willingness to fight. He even asked that his former rivals, Presidents Obama and Bush would eulogize him. McCain faced death as he had faced life, square on and at peace. He chose to be grateful for the full life he lived and his contribution to the country he loved more than anything. He didn’t concede to death; he still had a will to live. But John McCain shows us the honorable way to die: grateful, humble, peaceful, and reflective. He made the most of every day of his life so that the end was not a mad rush to beat the clock but the peaceful conclusion to a life of service well lived.

John McCain belongs to the ages and lives on in the hearts and minds of many. He has inspired current and future leaders. There will never be another John McCain, but, just as he was pleased with his “small role” in the history of America, we can all aspire to be a small emulation of McCain himself, living life not for ourselves but in service of something bigger, constantly striving to create civility and peace and standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. We must hold fast to our principles, varied as they may be, never sacrificing them but employing them to find the best solution for all of us in the beautiful union of compromise that can arise from honesty and civil discourse. Let us not be boastful or proud, vengeful or conceited. Let us live and die by the virtues of McCain, grateful, humble, and principled.

Finally, when the bell tolls for us too, let us hope, like John McCain did, that it can be said of us: “[She] served [her] country.”
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In the coming days and in these uncertain times, I will be taking solace in McCain’s own words:​

“I call on all Americans … to not despair of our present difficulties but to believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.
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Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history. Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America.” ​

I have selected and linked below a few speeches McCain gave in his career that I found particularly inspiring so that you can hear from him in his own words.

2008 Concession Speech
​McCain's last address on the Senate floor 
​McCain on the Confederate Flag