War hero and longtime Arizona senator John McCain has passed away at the age of 81 after complications from brain cancer.
McCain’s death comes just a day after it was announced by his family that the Senator would forego any further medical treatment for his ailments which began nearly a year ago when he was first diagnosed with glioblastoma an extremely aggressive form of brain cancer.
A household name in American politics, McCain’s story from naval pilot to politician is a pretty incredible tale nonetheless.
Following in the footsteps of his family’s long military traditions, McCain enlisted in the naval academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He began his military career when he was commissioned as an ensign and started two and a half years of training at Pensacola to become a naval aviator. Despite being seen as reckless early on, McCain eventually refined his piloting skills and was assigned to combat duty in 1960 when he was 30-years-old. From there, McCain flew bombing runs during the Vietnam War where he was eventually shot down and imprisoned as a POW from October 26, 1967 up until his released five years later on March 14, 1973.
During his imprisonment, McCain suffered almost daily beatings, solitary confinement and torture in an effort to extract information from him. However to McCain’s credit, he didn’t break and often times used deception and quite frankly balls of steel to detour and frustrate his captors. And even when it became known to the North Vietnamese that McCain was the son of a high-ranking U.S. Military official and his freedom was offered, he refused his release unless those imprisoned before him were also let go with him.
Less than a decade after his return to the United States, McCain was elected to the House of Representatives and eventually earned a seat in the U.S. Senate where he would go on to serve until the day he passed.
And it was during his time in politics that McCain brought that same stubbornness which I’m sure was a thorn in the side of the North Vietnamese to Capital Hill.
While in Congress, McCain often times broke with party lines and wasn’t afraid to go across the aisle to try to work out agreements. In fact one of the last memories many will have of him on the Senate floor is casting his dramatic thumbs down vote in the early morning hours last Summer which essentially saved Obamacare from being repealed.
No matter which side of the political spectrum you may lie there’s a heathy dose of respect you probably should have for a guy like Senator McCain. I myself probably didn’t agree with most of his politics however his brand of statesmanship, especially within the Republican Party is something to be desired in today’s political climate.