John McCain, Revered Arizona Senator, Dies at 81
Megan McCain, Senator McCain’s daughter, tweeting out about her father shortly after his death.
August 27, 2018
Washington, D.C. – The office of Senator John McCain released the following statement on August 25th, 2018, announcing the death of Senator John McCain only a few short days after McCain ended his cancer treatment:
“Senator John Sidney McCain III died at 4:28 pm on August 25, 2018. With the Senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family. At his death, he had served the United States of America faithfully for sixty years.”
McCain graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1958. As a naval aviator, McCain flew attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he escaped death in the 1967 Forrestal fire. On his twenty-third bombing mission in October 1967, he was shot down over Hanoi and badly injured, was captured by the Northern Vietnamese, and had to live five and a half years as a prisoner of war, and several periods of torture. Later, 1968, he bravely refused a North Vietnamese proffer of early release, because it would have meant leaving before other prisoners who had been held longer. He was finally released in 1973, after the Paris Peace Accords.
Photograph: McCain waiting for the rest of the group to leave the bus at airport after being released as POW
Record Group 428
General Records of the Department of the Navy, 1947-2004
Citation: 428-GX Box 262 N 11556665
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In his 36 years in Congress, McCain became one of the country’s most respected and influential politicians, continuously challenging lawmaker colleagues to be bipartisan in decisions for the good of the country. In 2000 and 2008 he ran for the Presidency, winning the Republican Nomination in 2008.
McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain, tweeted: “My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years. He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved.” She said he died in “the place he loved best.”
In response to the death of the Senator, President Trump tweeted, “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator McCain. Our Hearts and Prayers are with you!”
McCain died of a incurable brain cancer called Glioblastoma, the most aggressive brain cancer. Life expectancy for Glioblastoma is only 14 months, with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and seizures.
