McCains’ ‘Stronger’ Legacy

Review by Bill Doughty––

Afghanistan played a role in keeping Senator John McCain’s family from being together at the time of his passing, three years ago this week.

In “Stronger: Courage, Hope & Humor in My Life with John McCain” (Crown Forum, Penguin Random House, 2021) Cindy McCain recounts:

“As much as I wanted our children close, I understood the demands of their lives made that tough. Jack was on active duty in the Navy in Afghanistan and couldn’t get home much. He was deployed teaching Afghan pilots to fly helicopters. As a Navy helicopter pilot himself, he had been based on an aircraft carrier in the region before, but he was always on a ship and never on the ground. He wanted the challenge of working closely with the Afghanis and helping them succeed on their own. He spoke fluent Farsi, Dari, and some other dialects, so he was a great choice –– but the danger of the mission terrified me. His wife, Renee, an officer in the Air Force, was based at Andrews Air Force Base and later at the Pentagon. We all connected on FaceTime as much as we could to see and talk with one another from afar.”

Cindy McCain writes from the perspective of partner, mom, humanitarian, and confidante. She shares what it was like meeting John McCain in Hawaii, becoming a Navy spouse, supporting his life in politics, and eventually setting up the McCain Institute with Arizona State University.

Along the way, Cindy recovered from depression, addiction and a life-threatening stroke. She championed humanitarian causes including human trafficking. And she dealt with the disrespectful and dreadful verbal attacks on her husband from Donald Trump –– even after John’s death. “Trump flounders in a fog of bitterness and pettiness,” she writes.

In “Stronger” Cindy shines as a philosopher as she reflects, contextualizes, and prescribes a healing away from hate.

• “Bombast can never replace courage, and flailing and nastiness can never overwhelm valor.”
• “Our world has enough divisions. We create goodness for ourselves and others when we see beyond differences and celebrate the power of compassion and hope.”
• “Getting older can shave off some of the rough edges and help you see other viewpoints.”
• “If you fill each day with meaning, purpose, service, family, and love, you never have cause to mourn.”
• “Joy and sadness mix more easily than most of us realize.”
• “Whether the past is clouded with addiction, depression, or some other problem, forward is the only direction we can head.”

She says, "Yes, John was right about healthcare," recounting his historic vote to save the Affordable Care Act.

She also reflects on McCain’s runs for the presidency and his campaign’s fateful selection of Sarah Palin as vice presidential candidate. She believes Sen. Joe Lieberman should have been the choice. As regards Palin, “Do I think John might have been president if not for her? Yes I do.”

Chief Electronics Technician Victor Grandados carries a folded flag to present to family members during the USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) Memorial Service at Fleet Activities Yokosuka Fleet Theater, Oct. 4. Family, shipmates, and other Yokosuka community members attended the memorial to honor the 10 McCain Sailors who perished following the destroyer's Aug. 21 collision at sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Elijah G. Leinaar)

Deeply moving stories in “Stronger” include several related to USS John S. McCain (DDG-56), forward-deployed in Yokosuka, Japan.

“In August 2017, the ship collided with a civilian tanker near Singapore, and there were many casualties. John had just gotten his terminal cancer diagnosis, and he and I were both overwhelmed trying to understand what was ahead. It was hard to think or talk about anything else. But the night of the collision, John put aside his personal sorrows to focus on giving comfort and condolences to others. He sat at our kitchen table and called the families of the ten sailors who lost their lives on the ship. I stayed with him at the table, listening in awe. It remains one of my most poignant memories. The families were surprised to hear from John, and most expressed gratitude for his call. The conversations couldn’t have been easy, but in offering strength to other is the best way to help yourself, too.”

Cindy McCain writes about the “complete dishonor” of the Trump administration’s direction to the Navy to cover up the name of USS John S. McCain with a tarp –– and prevent JSM sailors from attending a speech by Trump –– during a visit by the then-president in May 2019, less than a year after Senator McCain’s passing.

Cindy McCain, the ship’s sponsor of USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) and wife of late Sen. John S. McCain III, is presented with a painting of her husband during the 25th anniversary of the ship’s commissioning, July 2, 2019 at Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. McCain was commissioned on July 2, 1994 in Bath, Maine and was originally named in honor of Admirals John S. McCain Sr. and Jr. In a rededication ceremony on July 12, 2018 the late Sen. John S. McCain III was officially added to the namesake. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Torrey W. Lee)

But she also writes of a healing visit she made to Yokosuka and to USS John S. McCain that same summer, one year after the ship was rededicated to include Senator McCain as a namesake along with his father and grandfather –– both four-star admirals who served in World War II.

Cindy McCain addresses grief, overcoming fear, and the power of forgiveness. About women, she observes, “When we stop being scared, when we care more about being powerful than being nice, there is so much we can do.”

Of her late husband, who survived as a POW in Vietnam, she writes, “My husband, John McCain, never viewed himself as larger than life –– but he was. He believed in fighting for the good and never quitting, and he had more tenacity and resolve than anybody I ever knew.”

John McCain’s love for and service to the Navy and his country are constant themes in this book. So are the ideals of honor, resilience, and courage.

Cindy describes the support she received from Marine General Jim Mattis and Marine General John Kelly at McCain’s funeral.

“I was impressed all over again by the way people like Generals Kelly and Mattis, who have been imbued with a military code, invariably display admirable honor when needed. I have learned to rely on such decency and rectitude. Both generals believe in service to higher principles, so I wasn’t surprised when they soon left the Trump White House.

“John is buried in the Naval Academy right next to his best friend, U.S. Navy admiral Chuck Larson, in a wonderful spot overlooking the Severn River. There’s a field at the edge of the river where midshipmen play sports most afternoons and on the weekends. John must be so happy with all the laughter and cheering in the air. Crowds of people regularly swarm up the hill to visit him –– so he is forever surrounded by the energy and spirit and pride of the Navy. I feel great comfort knowing that he is in a place filled with joy and purpose. Because, for John, that’s heaven.”

“Stronger” is one of two books in the past year about McCain’s life, death, and legacy, written as warm and personal remembrances. Mark Salter’s fulsome memoir, “The Luckiest Man: Life with John McCain” dives even deeper into McCain’s political battles, philosophy, and legacy.

John McCain: The Bell Tolls

Review by Bill Doughty

The bell tolls for John McCain.

He says so in "The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations" (Simon & Schuster, 2018), a book mentioned last May in "The Found Haiku of John McCain."

Senator McCain, a Navy veteran and former POW, calls for civility, humility and compassion in this heartfelt memoir. He opens the book with "accumulated memories" while attending the Pearl Harbor Remembrance ceremony on December 7, 1991 on the 50th anniversary of the attack; he attended with fellow senators Bob Dole and Dan Inouye. President George H. W. Bush delivered remarks.

Among Bush's remarks were these words: "World War II also taught us that isolationism is a bankrupt notion. The world does not stop at our water's edge. And perhaps above all, that real peace, real peace, the peace that lasts, means the triumph of freedom, not merely the absence of war."

Vice Adm. John S. McCain Sr., the senator's grandfather.

"That day, we watched two thousand Pearl Harbor survivors march to honor their fallen," McCain writes. In recent years only a relative handful of survivors are able to attend the ceremony in Pearl Harbor.

Among his accumulated memories: the service and sacrifices of his grandfather, father, mother (matriarch of a military family) and other family members and friends. Many of his closest friends were fellow prisoners of war and other Vietnam veterans.

"I feel the weight of memories even more now, of course," he writes in "The Restless Wave."

John Donne

Written with long-time collaborator Mark Salter, McCain cites several times both Hemingway's war novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and the lines of prose by John Donne that inspired Hemingway's title:

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were... Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."

Hemingway received the Nobel Prize in 1954 for "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

John McCain will turn 82 this August 29. Now, as he reflects on a life well-lived in "The Restless Wave," he calls for greater concern for the civil rights of those he considers less fortunate than himself.

"I believe the United States has a special responsibility to champion human rights in all places, for all peoples, and at all times. I've believed that all my life. I was raised to believe it, to see it in the examples of gallantry put before me, in the histories and novels and poems I was encouraged to read, in the conduct of the heroes I admired, those to whom I was related or knew personally, and those who were commended to me. I am a democratic internationalist, a proud one, and have been all my public life. I could have been nothing else given my role models and influences. I took from Hemingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' that defending the dignity of others is never a lost cause whether you succeed or not. And I thrill to the exhortation in the poem that inspired the novel, to be 'part of the main,' to be 'involved in mankind.'"

McCain reflects on his experience in the Senate – as the Navy's liaison while still on active duty – to his fights "with and against" Ted Kennedy. He recounts his stand against torture,  experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, position on Putin and pivotal vote to save the Affordable Care Act.

Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy.

Defending dignity is at the core of Americans' national identity, McCain writes. "The right to life and liberty, to be governed by consent and ruled by laws, to have equal justice and protection of property ... and it is fidelity to them – not ethnicity or religion, culture or class – that makes one an American." Our creed "gave us a purpose in the world greater than self-interest."

Consider that perspective this weekend on the first anniversary of the murder of a civil rights activist by a white supremacist in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"Humility," McCain writes, "is the self-knowledge that you possess as much inherent dignity as anyone else, and not one bit more." He approaches the issue of immigration with humility, offering practical and compassionate solutions as he acknowledges the problems of illegal immigration and the challenges of border control but balanced with an understanding of the causes and a humane response.

Common themes throughout "Wave" are reasoned humility and a principled tough stand for human rights.

"Human rights are not our invention. They don't represent standards from which particular cultures or religions can be exempted. They are universal. They exist above the state and beyond history. They cannot be rescinded by one government any more than they can be granted by another ... Human rights advocacy isn't naive idealism. It's the truest kind of realism. Statesmen who think that all that really matters in international relations is how governments treat each other are wrong. The character of states can't be separated from their conduct in the world. Governments that protect the rights of their citizens are more likely to play a peaceful, constructive role in world affairs. Governments that are unjust, that cheat, lie, steal, and use violence against their own people are more likely to do the same to other nations."

McCain talks tough about the dangers posed by authoritarian leaders, including Russia's Putin, who he met and spoke with several times over the years. McCain warns specifically of "Russia's nostalgia for empire" after the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union.

"Resentment and humiliation spread in Russia in the chaos, dislocation, and corruption of the erratic Yeltsin years, and eased the way for that striving, resentful KGB colonel, who seems to feel those emotions sharply and, to borrow an observation from 'Game of Thrones,' used chaos as a ladder," he writes.

McCain describes a fascinating interaction with Putin at the Munich Security Conference in 2007. While still on active duty, McCain first attended the conference in 1970 when he was Navy liaison to the Senate. In 2007, in the face of a fiery rhetorical attack on the United States, McCain responded with quiet resolve: "The United States did not singlehandedly win the Cold War in some unilateral victory," he told Putin and the European conference attendees. "The transatlantic alliance won the Cold War."

In "Wave" McCain recounts his interaction with Bill Browder, whose Russian lawyer, Sergei Manitsky, 37-year-old father of two, was arrested under Putin's orders and beaten to death by eight prison guards and orderlies. McCain, along with Representative Jim McGovern, Senator Ben Cardin and "a long list of co-sponsors," introduced what would become the Global Magnitsky Act calling for sanctions against Russian oligarchs, among others.

Profiles in Courage: Sen. John McCain meets with Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Putin's reaction to the Magnitsky Act likely contributed directly to Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

McCain reflects on human rights in his discussion of Ukrainian independence and threats to Balkan states by Putin's Russia.

He invokes Martin Luther King's "'the fierce urgency of now,' the transformational moment when aspirations for freedom must be realized, when the voice of a movement can't be stilled, when the heart's demands will not stand further delay."  Human rights is at the forefront in his interactions with leaders and dissidents in dozens of countries:

"I have done what little I can to stand in solidarity with forces of change in countries aligned with us and opposed to us, in Russia, in Ukraine, in Georgia and Moldova, in China, in Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, in Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, in Cuba, Nicaragua, in Zimbabwe and South Africa, [in Burma (Myanmar)], and wherever else people fighting for their human rights wanted our help. I've protested killings, torture, and imprisonments. I worked to sanction oppressive regimes. I've encouraged international pressure on the worst offenders. I've helped secure support for people building the framework of an open society. I've monitored elections, consoled the families of political prisoners, worried about the risk-takers and mourned their deaths. I've gotten more from them than they've gotten from me. I've gotten their hope, their faith, and their friendship."

He devotes one of his ten chapters to the Arab Spring and laments the situation in Syria:

"As of today, as the Syrian war continues, more than 400,000 people have been killed, many of them civilians. More than five million have fled the country and more than six million have been displaced internally. A hundred years from now, Syria will likely be remembered as one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the twenty-first century, and an example of human savagery at its most extreme. But it will be remembered, too, for the invincibility of human decency and the longing for freedom and justice evident in the courage and selflessness of the White Helmets and the soldiers fighting for their country's freedom from tyranny and terrorists. In that noblest of human conditions is the eternal promise of the Arab Spring, which was engulfed in flames and drowned in blood, but will, like all springs come again."

One of the best parts of this memoir is the final chapter, where McCain reflects with humble poetic insight about family, home, friendship, service and true patriotism as the bell tolls:

"'The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it,' spoke my hero, Robert Jordan, in 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' And I do, too. I hate to leave it. But I don't have a complaint. Not one. It's been a great ride," McCain writes.

John S. McCain Controversy, Legacy

Review by Bill Doughty

Midshipman John S. McCain, 1906

He earned demerits but the respect of his peers at the Naval Academy. He was a risk-taker, known for making controversial decisions and for his courage under fire. And, he knew how to work closely with Congress in support of the military.

In William F. Trimble's new biography, "Admiral John S. McCain: And the Triumph of Naval Air Power" (Naval Institute Press, 2019), we get a fascinating history of the rise of carrier-based aviation during World War II through the life of the McCain patriarch, warts and all.

Among the blemishes, "Slew" McCain's "inexplicable and inexcusable administrative and judgmental oversight" and lack of attention to detail and communication" in the aftermath of the Battle of Savo Island, according to Trimble.

Also, McCain – but more-so Halsey – was tarnished by his apparent indecision in the face of Typhoon Cobra. "Survival was the priority for many that afternoon as the wind and waves hammered the fleet, and radios crackled with one emergency call after another," Trimble writes. "McCain blundered badly."

Nevertheless, McCain's triumphs as a warfighter and innovator make his failures small by comparison.

He was considered "an airman's admiral," Trimble says. "In his typical manner, McCain boosted morale by talking to as many airmen and ground crews as he could, assuring them that he would do all he could to back them up..." He was loved by officers and enlisted Marines who admired his fighting spirit.

As Commander, Aircraft, South Pacific (ComAirSoPac) Forces, McCain was recognized for his "innovative thinking, initiative, resourcefulness and commitment, all of which are vital to operational command."

McCain practiced balanced and empowering leadership, surrounding himself with good people – never "yes-men" – and delegating responsibility to them. Key among his team was Jimmie Thach, hero of the Battle of Midway and naval aviation strategist in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

Ed Valigursky's depiction of the Battle of Philippine Sea, 20 June 1944. (Courtesy of "Popular Mechanics" Magazine, NHHC)

Trimble offers this controversial assessment comparing those big battles of WWII:

"One cannot overstate the significance of the Battle of the Philippine Sea. It was a decisive victory, the great fleet engagement in the western Pacific that both adversaries had planned to fight for almost fifty years. This battle, and not Midway two years before, was the pivotal battle of the Pacific War. Neither McCain nor anyone else at the time knew that they had been part of the greatest carrier battle of all time and that there would never be another encounter of this type or scale. Nor were they aware that Japan's carriers had been effectively eliminated as a fighting force."

A third huge air battle came as U.S. forces moved north from the Philippines. Trimble writes: "A savage spectacle of naval air power, the ferocious engagement over Okinawa and Formosa was comparable to the climactic moments of the Battle of Britain and the epic Battle of the Philippine Sea."

Halsey and McCain share a lighter moment and respite in 1944.

While Halsey's decisions in the battles of Leyte and off Formosa were called into question by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Ernest J. King, "McCain, on the other hand, received nothing but praise for his actions." 

McCain's task group, TG-38.1, was a major factor in virtually wiping out Japanese air power on Formosa and Luzon before the landings at Leyte." He received praise from Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Chester Nimitz, even as Nimitz became concerned with the physical and mental health of his senior leaders under the stress of war.

In the western Pacific, McCain and Thach developed successful strategies to counter the effects of devastating kamikaze attacks by Imperial Japan during the closing months of the war. McCain was recognized for his aggressive willingness to take risks and "brilliant tactical control of fast carrier forces."

Understandably, most of this meticulously researched book (60 pages of notes and bibliography) focuses on McCain's role during the war in key leadership positions, including as part of Halsey's 3rd Fleet as Task Force 38 commander. "McCain's Task Force 38 was the principal offensive component of Adm. W. F. Halsey's mighty Third Fleet."

Three generations of John S. McCain

But we get some important insights into the development of naval aviation culture, including the hurdles McCain had to overcome as a "Johnny Come Lately," as an older flag officer who had been a latecomer to the aviation community. McCain helped bring about a new age of warfare, in which "the airplane, naval aviation, and more specifically the aircraft carrier transformed from a tactical into a strategic weapon."

This book presents several other controversies as well as surprises, such as McCain's advocacy for recruiting women in support roles, his embrace of joint operations, his enthusiastic support for Navy public affairs, and his relationship with Adm. Marc A. Mitscher, Adm. Lockwood and other colleagues.


As Navy readers know, McCain died just days after Imperial Japan's surrender. Trimble describes the end with poignancy but barely mentions the patriarch's personal legacy as father of another Navy admiral and grandfather of a heroic POW and U.S. senator.

Adm. John S. "Slew" McCain is remembered as "a fighting admiral and a man who in the end made the ultimate sacrifice for his Navy and his country."

Headstone of U.S. Navy Adm. John Sidney “Slew” McCain Sr. in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, August 30, 2018. Born August 9, 1884, McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1906. He served as the engineering officer on San Diego (ACR-6) during World War I until May 1918. He went on to command Aircraft, South Pacific and South Pacific Force, during the 1942 Solomon Islands Campaign. Later, he commanded TF-38 during the drive into the Philippines, the capture of Okinawa, and the surrender of Japan. For this command, he received the Navy Cross. McCain died September 6, 1945 as a vice admiral but was posthumously promoted to admiral the same year by a joint resolution of Congress. He is buried in Section 3 in grave 4356, the same section as his son, U.S. Navy Adm. John Sidney “Jack” McCain Jr., who is in grave 4001-A. (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)

How John McCain Sees Character, Destiny

Review by Bill Doughty

Complex and complicated, Senator John McCain -- son and grandson of admirals, former U.S. Navy pilot and Vietnam Prisoner of War -- thanks his mother with helping develop his character and credits his father with giving him the gift of conscience.  "I don't think there is anything greater a parent can do for you," he writes.

"Character is Destiny" John McCain and Mark Salter is subtitled, "Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember."  Random House published the book in 2005 as one of three bestsellers by the authors that "may be their most influential and enduring book yet."

McCain introduces his mother, Roberta McCain, "raised to be a strong, determined woman who thoroughly enjoyed life, and always tried to make the most of of her opportunities."  He praises her curiosity, courtesy and humility.

McCain's grandfather and father in World War II.

He writes of the integrity and "demands of his conscience" of his father, John S. McCain Jr., former Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command (CINCPAC), in the face of difficult choices.

"He fought in three wars [including WWII and Korea], and in his last war, Vietnam, he commanded all our country's forces in the Pacific, including those who fought in Vietnam.  I am his oldest son and namesake, and I fought under his command.  For several years I was held as a prisoner of war in the enemy's capital, the city of Hanoi.  When the president of the United States [Richard Nixon] and his advisors decided to try to shorten the war by bombing Hanoi, it was my father's duty to order it done.

President Nixon meets McCain.

"The planes that flew to Hanoi on his orders were B-52s.  They were the largest bombers in the air force.  They could carry the largest and the most bombs.  They flew at high altitudes, but unlike those aircraft used by our air force today, they did not have the technology to be very accurate in their targeting.  The pilots knew Americans were being held captive near their targets.  So did the man who commanded them, my father.  he knew where I was, and he loved me.  He prayed on his knees every day for my safe return.  Whenever he visited his soldiers in Vietnam, he would end his day by walking to the northern end of the base and standing quietly alone, looking toward the place where his son was held.  But his conscience required him to do his duty, and his duty required him to risk his son's life.  And so he did."

McCain meets with President Barack Obama to discuss Syria.

"Character is Destiny" is filled with short biographies arranged in seven parts -- Honor, Purpose, Strength, Understanding, Judgment, Creativity and Love.  Each profile is preceded by a quality of character.  For example: Respect - Gandhi, Self-Contol - George Washington, Dignity - Viktor Frankl, Resilience - Abraham Lincoln, Discernment - Leonardo da Vinci, Enthusiasm - Theodore Roosevelt, and Selflessness and Contentment - Mother Teresa.

In Part Five, Judgment, McCain chooses a diverse group to illustrate qualities of fairness, humility, gratitude, humor and courtesy:  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dwight D. Eisenhower, Tecumseh, Mark Twain and Aung San Suu Kyi.

McCain showcases the citizenship of Pat Tillman, former Arizona State and NFL Arizona Cardinals football player, who, along with his brother Kevin, was moved to join the Army Rangers in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.  About the brothers, McCain writes:

"They intentionally refused to talk about their decision.  They shunned all publicity.  They refused all requests for interviews ... They were special, but no more special than the Americans they served with.  But their modesty, as much as their sacrifice, taught us the first lesson of patriotism.  Patriotism is a lot more than flag waving or singing the anthem at ball games.  Patriotism is the recognition that each of us is just one small part of a cause that is greater than ourselves, one small part, but a part we are honor bound to play.  America is dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, and have an equal right to freedom and justice. That is our cause: to prove the truth of that proposition.  And that cause is far more important than the ambitions and desires of any individual."

Pat Tillman, in a photo illustration on Reddit.

Tragically, Pat Tillman was killed on a mountainside in Afghanistan, and the murky circumstances of how he was killed -- and how his death was reported -- compound the tragedy.  The full story can be read in the 2010 bestseller by Jon Krakauer, "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman."  Krakauer, a favorite author of Tillman, brings out the essence of Tillman's character and intelligence.  

Tillman's honor, courage and commitment mirror that of Navy SEAL Michael Murphy, whose heroism is portrayed in "Lone Survivor" and chronicled in Gary Williams's "SEAL of Honor: Operation Red Wings and the Life of Michael P. Murphy, USN."

McCain's book about "remarkable people who chose well" implies how important it is to make good choices and to have the freedom to make those choices.

Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning" is "considered by many to be one of the most important books of our time."  Even in the face of death under Nazi persecution Frankl had the power of choice -- to be good or bad.

McCain calls William Shakespeare "the greatest writer in the English language" and quotes several passages, including a father-to-son quote in "Hamlet":  "This above all: to thine ownself be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou cannot then be false to any man."

McCain writes, "In other words, being true to our conscience, being honest with ourselves, will determine the character of our relations with others.  That is the concise definition of integrity."

Another Shakespeare quote shared, this one from "Henry V": "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.  For he today that sheds his blood for me shall be my brother."

In "Tolerance: The Four Chaplains," McCain writes of the sinking of U.S. Army troop transport ship USAT Dorchester in World War II and the four Christian and Jewish chaplains who helped others escape before going down with the ship.

McCain writes about the brilliance of da Vinci, an artist "without any equal"; of Twain: "The Great American Novel was published in 1885 ... 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'"; and of Darwin, who explained "the theory of natural selection, the key to the mystery of mysteries."  Darwin's "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection" is listed as a source.

"Character is Destiny" lacks an index.  Its glossary of sources is slim and includes references such as Wikipedia and numerous .com and .org sites, "readily recommended."

The authors also highly recommend books for children and parents alike. 

Lt. j.g. John McCain and his parents in 1961.

"Happily, reading books remains among the most satisfying of experiences.  As a means of transporting us into other lives and times, they still have no equal," McCain and Salter write.

Reporter Mark Leibovich, New York Times magazine’s chief national correspondent and the author of “This Town,” wrote a recent in-depth piece, "How John McCain turned his cliche's into meaning," with cooperation of McCain and including an interview with daughter Meghan McCain and friend Senator Lindsey Graham.  Leibovich's story touches on some of the points and principles raised by McCain and Salter in "Character is Destiny."

20 Years or McCain’s forever Afghanistan?

 

By Bill Doughty––

In 2008, while running for President, Senator John McCain was asked if he could envision the United States staying in Iraq for 100 years. "Maybe 100," McCain responded. "As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, it's fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al Qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day.”

As for Afghanistan, when challenged in 2015 on National Public Radio if he believed the United States was headed to a permanent presence there, McCain replied, “Oh, I think we are, just as we have a permanent presence in South Korea and in Japan and in Germany and other places where we've fought conflicts.”

Of course, South Korea, Japan, and Germany are nations with democratically elected governments that, unlike Afghanistan and many other Middle East countries, don’t defer to a fundamentalist religious ideology. They are self-governing nations, not a collection of despotic tribes rife with corruption.

Nevertheless, McCain believed, “You can have a certain level of involvement and engagement which, frankly, does not include a lot of American casualties because of the roles that they would play –– advise, train special forces, others and have plans that will stabilize the situation.”

Clearly, the service, sacrifice, and commitment by U.S. military servicemembers in Afghanistan over 20 years contributed to a safer United States. Now our military continues heroic service under challenging and often heartbreaking conditions in Kabul.

A U.S. Marine assigned to 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) comforts an infant while they wait for the mother during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 21. U.S. service members are assisting the Department of State with a Non-combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) in Afghanistan. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Nicholas Guevara)

Questions

What would McCain think about the strategic decisions by the Trump and Biden administrations to leave Afghanistan this year? What would he say about the tactical operation that was rushed to evacuate Americans and Afghan citizens who helped Americans?

Would McCain be appalled? Would he be shocked at how quickly Afghanistan’s government crumbled and most of its military failed to effectively fight the Taliban, despite our 20-year investment –– and perhaps because of the sudden pullout of the U.S. military and in-country air support?

Should former President Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have arranged the Doha agreement with the Taliban to leave Afghanistan by May 2021? Could we be sure the civil war in Afghanistan wouldn’t escalate if President Biden had abrogated the Trump administration’s treaty with the Taliban instead of delaying its implementation till the end of this month?

Fundamentally, should we tolerate the deaths of more American sons and daughters as the Taliban continued to gain ascendance? Should we have remained there for continued nation-building permanently in a forever war? Finally, can we prevent another 9/11-like terrorist attack on our homeland without a forever presence in Afghanistan?

Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command (SPMAGTF-CR-CC) guide evacuees on to a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 21. U.S. service members are assisting the Department of State with an orderly drawdown of designated personnel in Afghanistan. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Samuel Ruiz).

Ethos

As to how McCain might feel at this moment in history, we have an insight from his strategic communicator, speechwriter, and collaborator, Mark Salter, whose latest book is “The Luckiest Man: Life with John McCain” (Simon & Schuster, 2020).

While Salter says he does not speak for McCain, he offers a deep insight into McCain’s ethos: “He was drawn to the idea of national-greatness” conservatism articulated by Bill Kristol and David Brooks,” a break from Reagan’s “anti-government ideology.”

Salter notes, “National-greatness conservatism took its inspiration from one of McCain’s favorite historical figures, Teddy Roosevelt.” McCain thought, “restoring the public’s faith in the credibility and capabilities of government … a ‘new patriotic challenge.’”

“The international corollary of national greatness was a muscular foreign policy that championed American values as purposefully as it defended American interests … McCain’s empathy with oppressed people moved him to publicly champion their cause, and to urge whichever administration was in office to use diplomacy and economic influence to do likewise. Sometimes, in situations of extreme inhumanity, as in Srebrenica, he would support military intervention to stop or prevent slaughter.

“McCain’s rogue-state-rollback proposal was not an argument for the use of force to ‘liberate’ subject populations from regimes that threatened the world’s peace and stability and were the world’s worst human rights offenders. Rather, it was a call for the U.S. to use soft power, public diplomacy, and economic sanctions to support popular resistance to ‘odious regimes’ and, where possible, by supplying them with arms and material support. McCain cited North Korea and Iraq as examples, but he had other regimes in mind as well, including Iran, Libya, and Afghanistan. It was a reformation of the Reagan Doctrine … McCain warned against using military force as a substitute for diplomacy.”

Salter explains further that McCain’s view about government and public service was more a “guiding principle” not a “governing philosophy,” per se:

“It was more of an ethos, a commitment to probity in government from a man who was raised to obey a code of conduct. To the extent that it was some kind of philosophy, it could be summarized this: America isn’t merely a tribe or collection of tribes or a geographic entity. It is an idea that forms the greatest cause in human history, the idea that self-government is the only moral government, and that all people everywhere possess equal dignity and a natural right to their freedom and to equal justice under the law. The American people distrusted their government because they had less influence on its behavior than did wealthy special interests. The public’s cynicism about government was hardening into alienation, which threatened America’s cause at home and abroad. To address that threat, patriots should act to improve government, ethically and operationally, to restore the public’s faith in America’s system of government and the cause of freedom.”

Salter notes that McCain’s sense of honor, courage, and commitment was rooted in his experience at the U.S. Naval Academy. “Annapolis … included him in the traditions of honor it represented and that he respected, just as he respected famous men the school had produced. Navy and Marine Corps legends Dewey, Nimitz, Halsey, Spruance, Lejeune, Burke, his commanding officer in prison, Jim Stockdale, his father and grandfather.”

Like most of those great naval leaders, McCain had the will to fight when necessary, and he was clearly in favor of diplomacy, self-determination, and defending the Constitution as well as the homeland.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Zalmay Khalilzad meet with Taliban delegates Abdul Ghani Baradar, Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, and Suhail Shaheen in Doha, Qatar, September 12, 2020. (State Department)

Top photo:

Arizona Sen. John McCain addresses members of the U.S. military in the Clamshell gym on Bagram Air Field, July 4, 2012. McCain spent the afternoon on the airfield meeting with constituents, conducting a promotion and re-enlistment ceremony, and visiting the Craig Joint Theater Hospital. (Sgt. Ken Scar)

The Found Haiku of John McCain

By Bill Doughty

In recent years Navy Reads  posted blogs on the found haiku of Abraham Lincoln, Mike Krzyzewski, Marshawn Lynch and other leaders, coaches and philosophers. "Found haiku" are discovered in the writings or utterances of others and fit the three-line 5/7/5-syllable rule and goal of communicating deeply but in few words.

Sen. John S. McCain III reenlists Sailor of the Year ET2 Michael Papapietro in Cam Ranh, Vietnam
aboard destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) June 2, 2017. (Photo by MC3 Joshua Mortensen).

Senator and former U.S. Navy aviator John S. McCain III, who was held as a Prisoner of War during the peak of the Vietnam War, has written a number of memoirs and endorsements of others' books, which provide the source for the found haiku that follow.

Like all humans, he is not perfect, and he is the first to admit so. In fact, his self-awareness and self-assessment provide a treasure-trove of words from which to find these found haiku gems.

Most of these words reflect McCain's thoughts about war, service, sacrifice, captivity, character, resilience and reflection. The Vietnam War understandably casts a long shadow in his life as it does for our nation.

Leading with honor

is about putting service

to others ahead

Immortality ...

the aspiration of my

youth has slipped away

Time to examine

what I have done and failed to

do with my career

All people, even

captured enemies, possess

basic human rights

For two centuries

men of my family were

raised to go to war

Freedom: America's

honor, and the honor comes

with obligations

A few stories from

my misspent youth that I had

managed to bury

If you valued them,

and held them strongly, love and

honor would endure

In Vietnam I (came)

to understand how brief a

moment a life is

Defying death's call

in ... (the) bamboo cages of

South Vietnam haunt

There are some stories

of the soul that extend far

beyond prison walls

We paced the open

compound at Plantation Camp

together, waiting

communicating...

affirmed our humanity.

It kept us alive

communicating

was the indispensable

key to resistance

It was best to take

the long view (that) we would get

home when we got home

Glory belongs to

the act of being constant

to something greater

To a cause, to your

principles, to the people

on whom you rely

Before Vietnam

the truth of honor ... courage ...

obscure to many

I learned the truth in

war: there are greater pursuits

than (just) self-seeking.

I have managed to

prevent bad memories of

war from intruding

(I regretted)

I hadn't read more

books so I could keep my mind

better occupied

The headstones bear the

names of people of every

ethnic origin

The final resting

places of professional

soldiers and conscripts

Rich and poor, Christian,

Jew, and muslim; believer

and non-believer

The last three found haiku come from McCain's "13 Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War" (Simon and Schuster, 2014, written with Mark Salter). Salter has served on McCain's staff for more than two decades.

John McCain reassesses in 1973.

Other haiku are from McCain's "Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir" (Random House, 1999), "Worth the Fighting For: A Memoir" (Random House, 2002), the foreword of "Glory Denied" (by Tom Philpott, W.W. Norton, 2001), the foreword of "Leading with Honor" (by Lee Ellis, FreedomStar Media, 2012) and the Senate Floor statement published in "The Official Senate Report on CIA Torture: Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program" (Skyhorse Publishing, 2015).

McCain, with collaborator Mark Salter, just published another memoir, "The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights and Other Appreciations," to be published May 22 and to be featured in a future Navy Reads post.

NPR published an excerpt that brings forth more John McCain found haiku, and in the classic form – bringing forth nature themes:

I'd like to go back

to our valley ... see the creek

run after the rain

cottonwoods whisper

in the wind ... smell rose scented

breeze and feel the sun

I want to watch the

hawks hunt from the sycamore

and then take my leave

Hear the truth, passion and peace in McCain's words and voice. 

McCain's memoirs show how much he revered his grandfather, respected his father and loves his mother, Roberta. He feels especially close to his mom. 

Happy Mother's Day 2018.

John McCain and his mother, Roberta, on NBC's Meet the Press in 2007.