WASHINGTON, August 26, 2018 (News Wires) -- US Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam and a self-styled maverick Republican, died on Saturday, his office said. McCain was the proud naval aviator who climbed from depths of despair as a prisoner of war in Vietnam to pinnacles of power as a Republican congressman and senator from Arizona and a two-time contender for the presidency. According to a statement from his office, McCain died at 4:28 p.m. local time. He had suffered from a malignant brain tumour, called a glioblastoma, for which he had been treated periodically with radiation and chemotherapy since its discovery in 2017. Despite his grave condition, he soon made a dramatic appearance in the Senate to cast a thumbs-down vote against his party's drive to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But while he was unable to be in the Senate for a vote on the Republican tax bill in December, his endorsement was crucial, though not decisive, in the Trump administration's lone legislative triumph of the year. A son and grandson of four-star admirals who were his larger-than-life heroes, McCain carried his renowned name into battle and into political fights for more than a half-century. It was an odyssey driven by raw ambition, the conservative instincts of a shrewd military man, a rebelliousness evident since childhood and a temper that sometimes bordered on explosiveness. Nowhere were those traits more manifest than in Vietnam, where he was stripped of all but his character. He boiled over in foul curses at his captors. Because his father was the commander of all-American forces in the Pacific during most of his-five-and-a-half years of captivity, McCain, a Navy lieutenant commander, became the most famous prisoner of the war, a victim of horrendous torture and a tool of enemy propagandists. Shot down over Hanoi, suffering broken arms and a shattered leg, he was subjected to solitary confinement for two years and beaten frequently. Often he was suspended by ropes lashing his arms behind him. He attempted suicide twice. His weight fell to 105 pounds. He rejected early release to keep his honor and to avoid an enemy propaganda coup or risk demoralizing his fellow prisoners. He finally cracked under torture and signed a "confession." No one believed it, although he felt the burden of betraying his country. To millions of Americans, McCain was the embodiment of courage: a war hero who came home on crutches, psychologically scarred and broken in body, but not in spirit. He underwent long medical treatments and rehabilitation, but was left permanently disabled, unable to raise his arms over his head. Someone had to comb his hair. His mother, Roberta McCain, Navy all the way, inspired his political career. After retiring from the Navy and settling in Arizona, he won two terms in the House of Representatives, from 1983 to 1987, and six in the Senate. He was a Reagan Republican to start with, but later moved right or left, a maverick who defied his party's leaders and compromised with Democrats. He was edged out by George W. Bush for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, but became his party's White House candidate eight years later. After gambling on political neophyte Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, McCain lost in 2008 to Democrat Barack Obama, who became the first black U.S. president. McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was a frequent critic as well as a target of his fellow Republican, Trump, who was elected president in November 2016. McCain denounced Trump for among other things his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin. McCain in July had castigated Trump for his summit with Putin, issuing a statement that called their joint news conference in Helsinki "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory." He said Trump was "not only unable but unwilling to stand up to Putin." Sources close to McCain have said Trump would not be invited to the funeral. Shortly after McCain's death was announced, Trump tweeted: My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain." McCain, a foreign policy hawk with a traditional Republican view of world affairs, was admired in both parties for championing civility and compromise during an era of acrid partisanship in U.S. politics. But he also had a famous temper and rarely shied away from a fight. He had several with Trump.
