Name: John McCain
Presidential nominee of the Republican Party in the 2008 presidential election
- McCain introduced the "Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform of 2000," which he introduced with Richard Bryan of Nevada.
- First led Congress to enact the self-explanatory "Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996".
- Senior United States Senator from Arizona.
- Graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958.
- Became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he nearly lost his life in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire.
- In October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, badly injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese.
- Was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture, and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. His war wounds left him with lifelong physical limitations.
- Retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981.
- Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982.
- Served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily in 1992, 1998, and 2004.
- Boxed in the Navy.
- http://tinyurl.com/6azj44
Favorite Book: "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon
"In captivity, McCain used to act out scenes from books and movies to keep his mind sharp. In addition to Hemingway, he loves the stories of W. Somerset Maugham, "The Great Gatsby," All Quiet on the Western Front" and James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales", especially "The Last of the Mohicans" (he remembers the N.C. Wyeth illustrations). He likes William Faulkner in small doses...he has read--twice--Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (NYT Book Review, 11/2/08, p.27). |
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