John McCain accepted the Republican presidential nomination on September 4, 2008 and vowed on that day to shake Washington up. He promised that change would be coming to cheering delegates during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. McCain recently chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, a woman that he regards as just the right partner to help him lead the change that he is intending for the country.
Education
When John McCain wasn't moving from naval base to naval base with his family, he was attending school at Episcopal High School, a private boarding school in Alexandria, Virginia. He graduated in 1954 and went on to attend the Naval Academy of Annapolis beginning in 1958, and went on to graduate 5th from the bottom of his class. He attended the Naval Academy of Annapolis to follow in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather, which is also why he went on to graduate from flight school in 1960.
Military Service and POW Imprisonment
When the Vietnam War began, McCain decided to volunteer himself for combat duty, which is when he began to fly carrier based attack planes on bombing runs against the North Vietnamese side. On July 29 in 1967 he managed to escape serious injury when his A-4 Skyhawk was shot down by friendly fire, when a missile was released from the USS Forestal that caused fires and explosions killing 134 people. Then during John McCain's 23rd air mission, on October 26, 1967, his plane was shot down while running a bombing run over the capital of Hanoi in North Vietnam. During the crash, both arms and one of his legs were broken, and he was captured and moved to the Hanoi Hilton, the Hoa Loa prison in Vietnam on December 9 in 1969.
When the people who captured him realized that John McCain was the son of a high ranking U.S. Navy officer, they repeatedly offered to release him early. He refused, however, because he didn't want to violate the military's code of conduct, knowing that the North Vietnamese would use his release as propaganda. He ended up spending a total of five and a half years imprisoned in various camps, with three and a half of those years being spent in solitary confinement. Before McCain was finally released along with a number of other American POWs on March 14, 1973, he had been beaten and tortured repeatedly. The release came two months after the cease fire went into effect for the Vietnam War.
As a result of his heroism, John McCain earned a Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Though a great deal of his physical flexibility and strength had been lost, he was determined to continue serving the United States as a naval aviator, and spent a painful nine months in rehabilitation before he was able to return to his flying duty. Unfortunately, it became apparent shortly thereafter that his injuries had caused a permanent impairment to his ability to advance within Naval ranks.
Politics
John McCain was assigned as the Navy's liaison to the United States Senate in 1976, which served as his introduction to politics. He retired from the navy and moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1981, and began to establish connections in politics while working for his father in law. His first foray into political office was in 1982, when he won a seat in the House of Representatives. His war record helped him win his seat by dispelling doubts about him being a carpetbagger. In 1984, he was re-elected to the House of Representatives, and in 1986 he moved up into the United States Senate. It was here that he was really able to develop a reputation for being a conservative policy without fear for questioning the ruling Republican orthodoxy.
Despite controversy regarding a federal investigation in the late 1980s for being one of the Keating Five, McCain managed to weather the scandal well and was able to win re-election to his Senate seat three separate times with a solid majority in his favor. In 1999, McCain published a book called ''Faith of My Fathers'' which detailed the story of his family's history in the military as well as his own experiences as a prisoner of war. His first attempt at running for president came as he battled Governor George W. Bush of Texas for the Republican nomination. He won numerous states with his straight talk and willingness to be brutally honest at all costs, but his electoral deficit forced his campaign to be suspended.
Presidential Candidacy
McCain supported President Bush with his bid for re-election, but now that Bush has served two terms, McCain has taken the opportunity to step up and attempt the presidency again. He officially entered the 2008 presidential race on April 25 in 2007 by giving a grand announcement in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He won the Republican nomination and is now continuing on to run against Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 United States Presidency.
