John McCain

Representative and Arizona Senator John Sidney McCain III was born in a US Navy Base in the Panama Canal Zone on August 29th, 1936.

Both his father and his paternal grandfather were four-star US Navy admirals.

The McCain family transferred to a large number of naval bases, meaning McCain attended some 20 schools, before finally graduating from high school in Alexandria, Virginia in 1954. He graduated in 894th place out of 899 students in 1958.

He served as a pilot in the US Navy from 1958 to 1981. His first combat role came in 1967 when he was assigned to the USS Forrester , which was sent on a bombing mission in Vietnam.

He was badly injured during a fire on the Forrester in July 1967 that killed 134 sailors.

McCain was captured and imprisoned in October, 1967 when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down over North Vietnam. Despite being severely wounded, he was taken to the notorious 'Hanoi Hilton', where he was tortured by his captors until the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral.

He later rejected early release due to his father's position, saying he would not allow himself to be used as a propaganda tool by the North Vietnamese.

He was moved to different prisons and subjected to repeated beatings for the next two years. He spent a total of five and a half years as a prisoner of war, including two years in solitary confinement, before being released in 1973. The injuries received during his imprisonment have left him with limited use of his right arm.

On his return to the US, he remained in the Navy, becoming commander of a training squadron in Florida.

McCain eventually retired from the Navy in 1981 to enter politics. His 17 military honours include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He was elected to Congress as a Republican for Arizona in 1982, serving until 1986, when he was elected to the United States Senate.

During his four terms as Senator, he has served on the Armed Services, Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committees, among others. He was also a member of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs.

McCain ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, losing out to George W. Bush.

Regarded as a fiscal and social conservative and a foreign policy hawk, McCain formally announced his candidacy for President of the United States in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on April 25th, 2007. His rivals, Mike Huckabee, Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney dropped out of the race as McCain�s lead became insurmountable during the nomination process..

McCain finally secured as majority of delegates after the March 4th primaries. He was officially named as the Republican candidate at the party conference in St Paul, Minnesota on September 3rd.

He named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate on August 29th.

If elected, he will be the oldest man to ever sworn in for a first term as US President.

McCain currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his second wife Cindy, with whom he has four children. He has three children from a previous marriage.

McCain's bibliography includes Faith of My Fathers , (with Mark Salter, 1999), Worth the Fighting For: A Memoir (with Mark Salter, 2002) and Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life (2004).

Campaign website: McCain-Palin 2008

Senator's website: Senator John McCain