Hard Call

John Sidney McCain III was born in the Panama Canal Zone at Coco Solo Naval Air Station on August 29, 1936. In 1954, he entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He fought in the Vietnam War as a naval aviator and was a prisoner of war (POW) beginning on October 26, 1967. In March 1968, he was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years. He was a POW for five and a half years before being released on March 14, 1973. He retired from the Navy as a Captain in 1981.

He moved to Arizona and began a career in politics. He won two terms in the U. S. House of Representatives, from 1983 to 1987, followed by six terms in the U. S. Senate. He was the Republican presidential nominee in the 2008 United States presidential election. In 2015, he became chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

He wrote numerous books with his aide Mark Salter including Worth the Fighting For; Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life; Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember; Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them; 13 Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War; Faith of My Fathers; and The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights and Other Appreciations. He died from brain cancer on August 25, 2018 at the age of 81.

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