Professional and Political Career:McCain volunteer...

2008-10-06T23:38:00.000-07:00

Professional and Political Career:
McCain volunteered for combat duty during the Vietnam War and began flying carrier-based attack planes on low-
altitude bombing runs against the North Vietnamese. He escaped serious injury on July 29, 1967, when his A-4
Skyhawk plane was accidentally shot by a missile on board the USS Forestal.
On October 26, 1967, McCain´s plane was shot down during a bombing run over the North Vietnamese capital of
Hanoi. He broke both arms and one leg during the crash. McCain was moved to Hoa Loa prison, nicknamed the
“Hanoi Hilton,” on December 9, 1969.
His captors soon learned he was the son of a high-ranking officer in the U.S. Navy. McCain eventually spent 5 1/2
years in prison camps, 3 1/2 of those in solitary confinement, and was repeatedly beaten and tortured before he was
finally released, along with other American POWs, on March 14, 1973, less than two months after the Vietnam cease
fire went into effect. McCain earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
John's introduction to politics came in 1976, when he was assigned as the Navy´s liaison to the U.S. Senate. In 1981,
McCain retired from the Navy.
McCain was first elected to political office on November 2, 1982, easily winning a seat in the House of Representatives
after his well-known war record helped overcome doubts about his “carpetbagger” status. He was re-elected in 1984.
In 1986, after the retirement of the longtime Arizona senator and prominent Republican Barry Goldwater, McCain won
election to the U.S. Senate. Both in the House and the Senate, McCain earned a reputation as a conservative politician
who was not afraid to question the ruling Republican orthodoxy. In 1983, he called for the withdrawal of U.S. Marines
from Lebanon, and he also publicly criticized the administration´s handling of the Iran-Contra affair.
From 1987 to 1989, McCain underwent a federal investigation as a member of the “Keating Five,” a group of senators
who were accused of improperly intervening with federal regulators on behalf of Charles H. Keating Jr., a bank
chairman whose Lincoln Savings & Loan Association eventually became one of the biggest failures in the savings and
loan disasters of the late 1980s. He was eventually cleared of the charges, although investigators declared that he had
exercised “poor judgment” by meeting with the regulators. McCain weathered the scandal and won re-election to the
Senate three times, each time with a solid majority.
For more of this story, read : http://www.biography.com/featured-biography/john-mccain/index.jsp

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Professional and Political Career:McCain volunteer...