WASHINGTON, August 26 - RIA Novosti. US Senator John McCain has died at the age of 81.
McCain, one of the most influential politicians in the United States, went from a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War to the Republican Party candidate for US President. He suffered from an aggressive form of brain cancer for a year and spent the last months socializing with family and friends at his home in Arizona.
The senator is known for his hardline stances in foreign policy and the reputation of a "freethinker" who was ready to deviate from the generally accepted positions of his party when he considered it right from a moral point of view.
military pilot
McCain, the son and grandson of famous US admirals, was born in Panama at a military base on August 29, 1936. He spent his childhood on military bases in the United States and beyond, and then, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, he entered the Annapolis Naval Academy. He also graduated from the school of military pilots and with the outbreak of the Vietnam War, he volunteered to fight.
In July 1967, McCain's plane, which was on the deck of the USS Forrestal, was hit by a rocket and the ensuing fire killed more than 130 people, but McCain was not injured. Already in October of the same year, Makein's plane was shot down over Hanoi. The pilot, who had both arms and a leg broken, ended up in a POW prison. In prison, he was tortured and beaten. In total, he spent 5.5 years in captivity and was released in 1973, shortly after the armistice.
After his release and nine months of hard rehabilitation, he tried to return to the work of a military pilot, but it turned out that his health no longer allowed him to.
Politics
After serving in Congress for a number of years as a Navy adviser, McCain was easily elected to the House of Representatives from Arizona in 1982. After two two-year terms, he took advantage of the retirement of former presidential candidate and Senator Barry Goldwater by running for his seat in the Senate. McCain was destined to serve in the upper house of the US Congress for more than three decades. McCain's influence steadily grew until, in 2015, he became head of the Armed Services Committee, which handles the Pentagon's budget.
In 2000, McCain fought for the Republican Party presidential nomination. He beat George W. Bush in the first New Hampshire primary by a wide margin, but Bush subsequently seized the initiative. After losing the primaries in important "Super Tuesday" states, McCain stopped the campaign, and two months later he officially supported Bush. He also supported Bush's re-election in 2004, although he defended his Democratic opponent John Kerry against attacks on Kerry's service in Vietnam.
Elections 2008 and the Senate
In 2007, McCain announced his intention to re-claim the presidency of the United States. Positioning himself as a moderate politician, McCain won the landmark first primaries in New Hampshire, which caused irreparable damage to his main rival, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Further, ex-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney remained the strongest opponent of McCain, but Romney won only 11 states against McCain's 31 and dropped out of the race.
As the official Republican nominee, McCain faced off against a much less experienced Democrat, Barack Obama, who had also been weakened by a massive Democratic nomination battle with Hillary Clinton. McCain emphasized his military experience and sophistication in public affairs, Obama's trump cards were youth and oratory.
The general conjuncture developed against McCain. The unpopularity of Bush and the war in Iraq was superimposed on a severe financial crisis, as a result of which the stock exchange collapsed, millions of people lost their jobs, and the federal government had to "rescue" the largest banks and companies from bankruptcy. In the presidential election, Obama confidently won, gaining almost 70 million votes and 365 electoral votes against 60 million and 173 electoral votes for McCain.
In later years, McCain focused on serving in the Senate, where in 2015 he chaired the powerful Armed Services Committee. In this capacity, McCain largely controlled the US military budget. In the Senate, he liked to demonstrate attention to detail and thorough knowledge of the subject. McCain took particular pleasure in "trolling" political appointees to ambassadorships, who often could not match McCain's knowledge of foreign policy.
Freethinker
Although McCain remained a conservative, he was never afraid to question the party's policies. An ardent supporter of President Ronald Reagan, McCain nonetheless criticized the administration for the Iran-Contra affair and called for the withdrawal of US troops from Lebanon after the bloody October 1983 terrorist attack.
McCain supported the unpopular war in Iraq, although he said he did not trust Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to conduct the war.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, McCain was a harsh critic of Donald Trump, accusing him of "inflating crazy trends." Trump was not indebted to mocking McCain's military service. Trump claimed McCain was made a hero because he was captured in Vietnam. Trump said that he likes those who are not captured.
After formally supporting Trump after his nomination, McCain went to the extreme and withdrew support after a tape of Trump's vulgar remarks about women was released. After the election, McCain turned into a principled opponent of Trump, accusing the president of having a good attitude towards Russia (both the Kremlin and the White House deny that there are any links between Moscow and Trump).
McCain played an important role in July 2017 when discussing Obama's medical reform, which the Republicans wanted to cancel. Just two weeks after his brain surgery, McCain returned to the Senate and, in a dramatic gesture, voted against his own party, preserving medical benefits for millions of Americans.
"Hawk" against Russia
McCain had a reputation as a foreign policy hawk, supporting US military intervention around the world and deterring perceived adversaries. He was one of the early advocates of containing Russia. During the 2008 election campaign, McCain advocated active assistance to Georgia in the aggression against South Ossetia, in 2014 - for helping Kiev in military operations against the militias in eastern Ukraine, including the supply of weapons.
When the Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia, McCain invariably declared that they were insufficient. He initiated, drafted, or supported every sanctions bill in Congress, including the infamous Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. It was McCain who chaired the January 2017 Senate committee meeting at which U.S. intelligence chiefs accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 election (a claim Moscow denies).
McCain has also consistently advocated a military containment of Russia through further increases in military spending and a buildup of NATO forces in Europe.
Fighting disease
In 2000, McCain was diagnosed with skin cancer. After the operation, he fully recovered. In 2001, he underwent prostate surgery.
In July 2017, he underwent surgery to remove a blood clot above his eye, at which time it was announced that the senator was suffering from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. McCain was undergoing active treatment, including chemotherapy.
In the last months of his life, McCain received many friends and colleagues at his home in Arizona, whom he wanted to say goodbye.
"Progressive disease and inexorable aging have rendered their verdict. With his usual willpower, he decided to stop treatment," the statement said.
Personal life
McCain has been married twice. The first marriage to fashion model Carol Shepp lasted from 1965 to 1980, in this marriage McCain adopted his wife's two children from a previous marriage.
The second time McCain married in 1980 to Cinley Hensley, a teacher from a wealthy family in Arizona. Thanks to his second marriage, McCain became a wealthy man - his wife's fortune was estimated at no less than $ 200 million, and McCain once got into trouble during the election campaign when he could not name the exact number of houses he owned (there were 10 of them). In this marriage, he had four children, including a daughter adopted in Bangladesh.
McCain was respected for his intelligence and wit, was friends with many political opponents, and was considered a man of even temper and not prone to conflict.
SHARES
“Last summer, Senator John McCain shared with the Americans news that our family already knew: he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, and the prognosis was disappointing. During the year, John struggled, and his condition exceeded all expectations. But the progress of the disease and inexorable aging delivered their terrible verdict, ”the family said in a statement.
John McCain positioned himself as a defender of Georgia's interests even before Vladimir Putin became president of Russia. Thus, in November 1999, he stated: "Numerous crimes are committed by the Russian military, who are trying to regain control over the countries of the former Soviet Union, primarily over Georgia, which is headed by one of the greatest men in the history of the world, Mr. Shevardnadze."
On July 14, 2017, McCain underwent minimally invasive surgery (craniotomy) at Mayo Hospital (Phoenix, Arizona branch) to remove a blood clot from his left eye. His absence prompted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay a vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act.
Five days later, Mayo Clinic doctors announced that McCain's laboratory results showed the presence of glioblastoma, an aggressive malignant brain tumor. McCain underwent standard treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation. Before that, he had cancer, but recovered. In 2000, McCain underwent surgery to remove melanoma, leaving a scar on his left cheek.
The official statement on the activist's website says that this happened on August 25 at 16:28 in the presence of relatives. McCain's daughter Meghan stressed she was with him in his final moments, just like he was with Meghan for the first time.
US Republican Senator John McCain has died at the age of 81. It is reported by The New York Times.
A supporter of the Iraq War, McCain, however, came up with a legislative initiative in 2005 that prohibited the inhumane treatment of prisoners, including those who are in a prison in Guantanamo Bay. McCain's own experience as a prisoner of war played a role in this position. The "McCain Amendment" was passed by the Senate, and President Bush, initially not excluding the possibility of using a veto, in December 2005 he nevertheless signed the relevant law.
What was wrong with John McCain? Top news.
Glioblastoma often causes the death of famous people and politicians. Recently, Zhanna Friske and Mikhail Zadornov died from her in Russia. In the United States - Senator Edward Kennedy and the son of US Vice President Joseph "Bo" Biden.
Today we see Russia led by a cabal of former spies. They are trying to intimidate their democratic neighbors like Georgia, trying to play on Europe's dependence on Russian oil and gas. We need to reconsider the Western view of a revanchist Russia. The first step is to expand the G8 to include the leading market democracies, Brazil and India, and to exclude Russia.
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The politician died of brain cancer - doctors diagnosed him with glioblastoma. The patient was treated for a year, after which he refused the help of specialists.
“The main problem is that with this type of tumor tumor is the whole brain, not a separate part of it, because genetic damage is everywhere. From tumors such as neurinoma or meningioma or even cancer metastases, which have a border, the difference is that these tumors do not have a border both on the pictures and during the operation. Therefore, in fact, it is impossible to completely remove this tumor. More often it occurs in the brain, sometimes in the spinal cord. This is the most common primary brain tumor, ”a neurosurgeon, candidate of medical sciences, told Gazeta.Ru earlier. Alexei Kashcheev.
It is curious that US President Donald Trump in 2015 said that he did not at all consider John McCain a hero, who served as a carrier-based pilot during the Vietnam War and spent more than five years in captivity. The billionaire believes that the one who was captured by the Vietnamese cannot be a hero.
According to Wikipedia, the first air raid in Vietnam as part of the Rolling Thunder program was carried out on March 2, 1965. Throughout the year, the US Air Force bombed the railways and highways of the DRV, civilian objects, and deliberately destroyed crops on which chemicals were dropped.
McCain's grandfather and father were admirals in the United States Navy. John McCain followed in their footsteps and graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1958 as a carrier-based pilot. Veteran of the Vietnam War. He was shot down by a Soviet missile over Hanoi in 1967, spent five and a half years in Vietnamese captivity and was released in 1973 under the terms of the Paris Agreement.
John McCain is dead. Recent events.
McCain was diagnosed on July 14, 2017. He underwent a course of combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy, suffered complications in the form of pneumonia and diverticulitis, but at the same time remained at his post.
John's father - John Sydney ("Jack") McCain Jr. (1911-1981) was a participant in World War II (fought as a submarine officer). He completed his service with the rank of four-star admiral.
Since 1960, he served on the aircraft carriers Intrepid and Enterprise in the Caribbean. He served on the Enterprise during the Caribbean Crisis and the naval blockade of Cuba in October 1962. While serving in Spain, he inadvertently caught power lines in flight, and this incident caused him to be transferred to Meridian Naval Base in Mississippi, where he became an instructor.
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