United States House and Senate career of John McCain, until 2000
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John Sidney McCain III retired from the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
in April 1981. His last four years in the service had been spent as the Navy's liaison to the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
. He moved to
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
with his new wife and, aided by a job from his father-in-law and the contacts it gave him, soon began a new career in politics. In 1982, he was elected as a Republican to the
U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from Arizona's 1st congressional district. After serving two terms there and making an impression as a rising political figure, he was elected U.S. Senator from Arizona in 1986. He became one of the senators entangled in the Keating Five scandal of the late 1980s, but survived it and was re-elected in 1992 and 1998. While generally adhering to American conservatism, McCain established a reputation as a political maverick for his willingness to defy Republican orthodoxy on several issues. In reaction to his Keating Five experience, he made
campaign finance reform Campaign finance reform may refer to: * Reform of campaign finance Campaign finance, also known as election finance or political donations, refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referen ...
one of his signature concerns. He was also a leader in normalizing diplomatic relations with
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. His national visibility as a senator gave him the basis to begin a campaign for the 2000 Republican nomination for
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.


Entry into politics and 1982 House campaign

Having moved to Phoenix in March 1981, McCain went to work for Hensley & Co., his new father-in-law Jim Hensley's large
Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple glo ...
beer distributorship, as Vice President of Public Relations. McCain had little interest in the beer business itself, instead preferring to talk to colleagues about current events. In carrying out his job, he was able to gain political support among the local business community, meeting powerful figures such as banker
Charles Keating Jr. Charles Humphrey Keating Jr. (December 4, 1923 – March 31, 2014) was an American sportsman, lawyer, real estate developer, banker, financier, conservative activist, and convicted felon best known for his role in the savings and loan sca ...
, real estate developer Fife Symington III, newspaper publisher Darrow "Duke" Tully, and locally-well-known auto dealer Lou Grubb, all the while looking for an electoral opportunity. McCain's original plan was to run for a new U.S. House of Representatives seat from Arizona, created by
reapportionment Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionme ...
following the
1980 census The United States census of 1980, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was th ...
, but that was too distant from Phoenix.Timberg, ''An American Odyssey'', pp. 137–40. Then John Jacob Rhodes Jr., the longtime Republican congressman from Arizona's 1st congressional district, announced his retirement in January 1982 after 30 years in Congress. This seat encompassed the East Valley portion of the
Phoenix metropolitan area The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – also the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Metro Phoenix (known by most locals simply as “the Valley”) – is the largest metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States, centered on the city ...
. The district was heavily Republican. It was very close to where the McCains lived; his wife Cindy McCain bought a house in the district the same day as Rhodes' announcement. Rhodes suggested that McCain first run for the
Arizona Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...
to gain more experience, but McCain had no interest in slowly working his way up. McCain ran for the seat as a Republican, and formally announced his candidacy in late March 1982.Timberg, ''An American Odyssey'', pp. 141–42. He faced three candidates in the Republican nomination process, all of whom had entered the race before him:
State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...
Jim Mack,
State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...
Donna Carlson-West, and
veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...
and active civic figure Ray Russell. The others were all given a good chance to win the
primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
; McCain ranked at best third in early polls. During the spring and the 110 °F heat of the Phoenix summer, McCain and his wife campaigned door-to-door six hours a day, six days a week. The exhausting schedule combined with his hair color led to him being nicknamed "The White Tornado". He was assisted by George "Bud" Day, his former POW cellmate, and Day's wife, who were familiar with legal and procedural matters. p. 297. His supporters were dubbed "McCain's navy", and he stressed his familiarity with "the ways of Washington" and how his role as Navy Senate liaison had helped bring a defense contract to the district. Still, as a newcomer to the state, McCain was hit with repeated charges of being a
carpetbagger In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical term used by Southerners to describe opportunistic Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War, who were perceived to be exploiting the lo ...
. Finally, at a candidates forum, he gave a famous refutation to a voter making the charge: ''
Phoenix Gazette The ''Phoenix Gazette'' was a newspaper published in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It was founded in 1881, and was known in its early years as the ''Phoenix Evening Gazette''. In 1889, it was purchased by Samuel F. Webb, who at the time was ...
'' columnist John Kolbe would later label this "the most devastating response to a potentially troublesome political issue I've ever heard." McCain's campaign fell into early debt; his wife began loaning him tens of thousands of dollars to keep it alive. Donations also came in from Jim Hensley and other Hensley & Co. executives, but the amounts grew large enough that the Federal Election Commission forced return of some of it. By the close of the primary, McCain would outspend his opponents; more of than half of his primary expenditures were financed by the eventual $167,000 that his wife lent to the campaign. (The McCains had made a prenuptial agreement that kept most of her family's assets under her name; they would always keep their finances separate and file individual
income tax returns A tax return is the completion of documentation that calculates an entity or individual's income earned and the amount of taxes to be paid to the government or government organizations or, potentially, back to the taxpayer. Taxation is one of ...
. In the end, $93,000 of the 1982 loan was forgiven.) The spending advantage made itself felt in television advertising, including a highly effective two-minute mini-documentary that presented him as a new leader for Arizona with a record of service to the country. Rival Mack later called that ad the best political commercial he had ever seen. McCain was endorsed by Senator
John Tower John Goodwin Tower (September 29, 1925 – April 5, 1991) was an American politician, serving as a Republican United States Senator from Texas from 1961 to 1985. He was the first Republican Senator elected from Texas since Reconstruction. Tower ...
, a friend and mentor from his liaison stint who in turn got McCain the endorsement of former Arizona Governor and Senator
Paul Fannin Paul Jones Fannin (January 29, 1907January 13, 2002) was an American businessman and politician. A Republican, he served as a U.S. Senator from Arizona from 1965 to 1977. He previously served as the 11th governor of Arizona from 1959 to 1965. Ear ...
. Arizona Senator
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
, the state's most powerful political figure, was officially neutral in the race, but many of his aides were working for McCain's opponents. Goldwater himself was said to view McCain as a political opportunist, despite admiring his military service. Late in the race, Goldwater made a public statement that was thought critical of McCain, but Tower persuaded Goldwater to avoid public confirmation of it to reporters and limit any damage. McCain benefited from the support of Duke Tully's ''
The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...
'', the state's most powerful newspaper. McCain won the highly contested primary election on September 7, 1982, getting 32 percent of the vote compared to Russell's 26 percent, Mack's 22 percent, and Carlson-West's 20 percent. Two months later, he would win the general election in the heavily Republican district, defeating Democrat William E. "Bill" Hegarty by a 66 percent to 31 percent margin.


U.S. Congressman


House years

McCain made an immediate impression in Congress. His POW background, social skills, and contacts from his Navy Senate liaison job made him popular and a star among new House members. He was elected the president of the 1983 Republican freshman class of representatives. After strenuously lobbying the Republican leadership, he was assigned to the Committee on Interior Affairs. He coveted this assignment because he wanted to develop expertise on issues relevant to his state, including water rights, public land management, and Native American affairs.McCain and Salter, ''Worth the Fighting For'', pp. 68–69. Used to augment motivations and goals in committee assignments supplied by other sources. He was also assigned to the Select Committee on Aging, important due to Arizona's large retired population, and eventually to the chairmanship of the Republican Task Force on Indian Affairs.Alexander, ''Man of the People'', p. 97. He fulfilled a campaign pledge to return to his congressional district every weekend, making 47 such trips in his first year. On them, he met frequently with constituents and make many public appearances. This, combined with his wife Cindy's decision to live in Arizona rather than move to Washington, helped solidify his political base in Arizona. McCain sponsored a number of Indian affairs bills, dealing mainly with distribution of lands to reservations and tribal tax status; most of these bills were unsuccessful.Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 98–99. In August 1983, he voted against a bill making
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monda ...
a federal holiday, saying it would be too expensive and that there were already enough federal holidays. The measure, which had failed four years earlier, now passed the House 338–90 and was signed into law later that year. McCain's politics at this point were mainly in line with those of President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, whom McCain would later describe as his greatest political influence:McCain and Salter, ''Worth the Fighting For'', p. 85. "I embraced all of the core Reagan convictions: faith in the individual; skepticism of government; free trade and vigorous capitalism; anticommunism; a strong defense; robust internationalism that championed our values abroad; and most important, his eloquently stated belief in America's national greatness ..." McCain supported
Reaganomics Reaganomics (; a portmanteau of ''Reagan'' and ''economics'' attributed to Paul Harvey), or Reaganism, refers to the neoliberal economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies are commonly associat ...
. He was in favor of
school prayer School prayer, in the context of religious liberty, is state-sanctioned or mandatory prayer by students in public schools. Depending on the country and the type of school, state-sponsored prayer may be required, permitted, or prohibited. Countries ...
and opposed
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
. He subscribed to most aspects of the
foreign policy of the Reagan administration Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...
, including its hardline stance against the Soviet Union. He supported the Reagan administration's policy towards Central American conflicts,Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 99–100. including the
invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, ...
in 1983 and U.S. support for the
Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...
in
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
. During the early 1980s, he served on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, a chapter of the
World Anti-Communist League The World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups. It was founded in 1952 as the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) under the initiative of Chiang Kai-sh ...
which was an international group that, among other things, aided the rebels in
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
; McCain suspected the council of illegal activity and resigned in 1984. McCain voted against a 1983 resolution allowing President Reagan to keep
U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary warfare, exped ...
deployed as part of the Multinational Force in Lebanon, on the grounds that he " idnot foresee obtainable objectives in Lebanon." After the catastrophic
Beirut barracks bombing Early on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, two car bomb, truck bombs struck buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, housing American and French service members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), a military peacekeeping operation during the ...
a month later, this stance against his party and president gained him national media exposure and started his reputation as a political maverick. McCain sided with
Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...
's group of young conservatives in some of their battles against the House Democratic leadership, but declined to join Gingrich's Conservative Opportunity Society. McCain felt personal affection for Democratic
Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
Tip O'Neill Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as ...
, and established good relations with some Democrats in the House, such as
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and especially Mo Udall. McCain won re-election to the House easily in 1984, facing no Republican primary opposition and defeating Democratic energy analyst Harry W. Braun with 78 percent of the vote to 22 percent in the general election.Timberg, ''An American Odyssey'', pp. 151–52. In this and subsequent Arizona campaigns, McCain rarely emphasized his Vietnam and prisoner of war experiences. In the new term, McCain gained a spot on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in addition to his existing assignments. McCain got the Indian Economic Development Act of 1985 signed into law, and the following year worked on early attempts at legislation regarding
Indian gaming Indian gaming may refer to: *Native American gaming, gambling activities on indigenous tribal lands in the United States *Gambling in India, gambling activities in the country of India *Video games in India Video gaming in India is an emerging m ...
. p. 61. He took moderate stands on the environment and on social issues, and applauded
Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician and a professional football player. A member of the Republican Party from New York, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bu ...
's concerns for
African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
and other underprivileged groups. In 1985 he returned to Vietnam with Walter Cronkite for a
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special, and saw the monument put up next to where the famous downed "air pirate Ma Can" had been pulled from the Hanoi lake; it was the first of several return trips McCain would make there. In 1986, McCain voted to override Reagan's veto of the
Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 was a law enacted by the United States Congress. The law imposed sanctions against South Africa and stated five preconditions for lifting the sanctions that would essentially end the system of apart ...
that imposed sanctions against South Africa. In December 1985, McCain visited
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an dictator Augusto Pinochet and
junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by ...
member Admiral
José Toribio Merino José Toribio Merino Castro (December 14, 1915 – August 30, 1996) was an admiral of the Chilean Navy who was one of the principal leaders of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, along with General Augusto Pinochet of the Army, General Gustavo Le ...
. McCain told the U.S. Embassy in
Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
that both meetings were friendly and warm, but described Pinochet as obsessed with the dangers of communism and likened him to the
John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ideas. T ...
. Merino's statement to McCain that the junta would not support a Pinochet bid to remain president was made publicly known (but McCain's meeting with Pinochet was not declassified until 2008, upon which it was widely reported in the Latin American mainstream press). McCain did not visit opposition leaders during the 1985 trip, as the U.S. Ambassador had recently been doing. Both Pinochet and his ministers refused to meet in January 1986 with a U.S. Senator who visited opposition leaders. McCain later called upon the Chilean government to respect the upcoming Chilean national plebiscite of 1988.


More children

In 1984 McCain and his wife Cindy had their first child together, daughter Meghan. She was followed in 1986 by son John Sidney IV (known as Jack), and in 1988 by son James. In 1991, Cindy McCain brought an abandoned three-month-old girl, who badly needed medical treatment for a severe cleft palate, to the U.S. from a
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
i orphanage run by
Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was bo ...
;Alexander, ''Man of the People'', p. 147. the McCains decided to adopt her, and named her Bridget. A drawn-out adoption process began, slowed down by uncertainty over the exact fate of the girl's father,Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 163–66. but in 1993 the adoption was ruled final. McCain then stood by his wife when she disclosed in 1994 a previous addiction to
painkillers An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of Pharmaceutical drug, drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or p ...
and said that she hoped the publicity would give other drug addicts courage in their struggles. Beginning in the early 1990s, McCain began attending the 6,000-member North Phoenix Baptist Church in Arizona, part of the
Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...
, later saying " foundthe message and fundamental nature more fulfilling than I did in the Episcopal church. ... They're great believers in redemption, and so am I." Nevertheless, he still identified himself as
Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
, and while Cindy and two of their children were baptized into the Baptist church, he was not.


1986 Senate campaign

McCain decided to run for United States Senator from Arizona in 1986, when longtime senator, American conservative icon, 1964 Republican presidential nominee, and Arizona native
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
retired after 30 years in the Senate. No Republican would oppose McCain in the primary, and according to his press secretary Torie Clarke, McCain's political strength convinced his most formidable possible Democratic opponent, Governor Bruce Babbitt, not to run for the seat. Instead McCain faced a weaker opponent, former state legislator
Richard Kimball Richard Kimball is an American politician who is the founder and president emeritus of the nonprofit voter education organization Vote Smart. Early life Kimball was born in Tucson, Arizona, in 1946. Kimball attended the University of Arizona wh ...
, a young politician with an offbeat personality who slept on his office floor and whom McCain's allies in the Arizona press characterized as having "terminal weirdness." McCain's associations with Duke Tully, who by now had been disgraced for having concocted a fictitious military record, as well as revelations of father-in-law Jim Hensley's past brushes with the law, became campaign issues. In the end, McCain won the election easily with 60 percent of the vote to Kimball's 40 percent. A ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' profile at the time said that McCain seemed "poised to emerge as a significant figure in national politics". At the same time, McCain's increasing involvement in Arizona state party politics caused resentment on the part of some other Republicans. This led to McCain falling out with Congressman Bob Stump and powerful state legislator Jane Hull.


U.S. Senator


Senate career starts

Upon entering the Senate in 1987, McCain kept a low profile. p. 95. He became a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, with which he had formerly done his Navy liaison work; he was also given positions on the Commerce Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee. For his first two years in the Senate, he sat at the Candy desk. McCain was a strong supporter of the Gramm-Rudman legislation that enforced automatic spending cuts in the case of budget deficits. He voted in favor of Reagan's failed 1987 nomination of Robert Bork to the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. McCain often supported the Native American agenda, advocating economic development and self-governance, as well as sovereignty and tribe control of adoptions. "Never deceived them," McCain once said, "They have been deceived too many times in the last 200 years." p. 112. Along with Senator
Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( ; September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. Beginning in 1959, he was the first U.S. representative f ...
and Representative Mo Udall, McCain was one of the main drafters of the 1988
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (, ''et seq.'') is a 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming. There was no federal gaming structure before this act. The stated purposes of the act ...
, which codified rules regarding
Native American gambling enterprises Native American gaming comprises casinos, bingo halls, and other gambling operations on Indian reservations or other tribal lands in the United States. Because these areas have tribal sovereignty, states have limited ability to forbid gambling th ...
and established the balance between Indian tribal sovereignty and regulatory oversight by the states of such activity. After its passage, McCain stated his personal opposition to Indian gaming, but said that when communities under poverty "are faced with only one option for economic development, and that is to set up gambling on their reservations, then I cannot disapprove." The Act enabled the growth of what would become, two decades later, the $23 billion Indian gaming industry, and one scholar has referred to McCain as "one of the founding fathers of Indian gaming."
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monda ...
had become a big issue in McCain's home state, with Governor Evan Mecham making opposition to it his signature stance. McCain had continued his opposition to the holiday by supporting Mecham's rescinding of the Arizona holiday for King in 1987. In 1988, Mecham was impeached and removed from office due to felony charges. McCain told Mecham, "You should never have been elected. You're an embarrassment to the party." By 1989, McCain reiterated his opposition to the federal holiday, but reversed position on the state holiday, due to the economic boycotts and image problems Arizona was receiving as a result of it not having one. He told Republicans opposing the state holiday, "You will damn well do this. You will make this a holiday. You're making us look like fools." In 1990, a state referendum on enacting the holiday was held; McCain persuaded Ronald Reagan to support it. However, Mecham led an effort that year that defeated the referendum. During the late 1980s, McCain gained some national visibility. He delivered a speech, about a fellow Hanoi Hilton prisoner's persistence in making an American flag despite beatings, that drew audience tears and a standing ovation at the
1988 Republican National Convention The 1988 Republican National Convention was held in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, from August 15 to August 18, 1988. It was the second time that a major party held its convention in one of the five states known as the Deep S ...
.Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 115–19. He was mentioned by the press as being on the
short list A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...
for Republican nominee
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
's vice-presidential running mate, and was named chairman of Veterans for Bush. In 1989, he became a staunch defender of his friend
John Tower John Goodwin Tower (September 29, 1925 – April 5, 1991) was an American politician, serving as a Republican United States Senator from Texas from 1961 to 1985. He was the first Republican Senator elected from Texas since Reconstruction. Tower ...
's doomed nomination for
U.S. Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The se ...
; McCain butted heads with Moral Majority co-founder Paul Weyrich, who was challenging Tower regarding alleged heavy drinking and extramarital affairs. Thus began McCain's difficult relationship with the Christian right; he would later write that Weyrich was "a pompous self-serving son of a bitch." McCain supported the
United States invasion of Panama The United States invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, lasted over a month between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos– ...
in 1989. McCain partnered with Senator
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
on the 1989 Missile and Proliferation Control Act, which established sanctions on companies and nations that engaged in the trade or development of long-range missile systems, and the 1992 Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act (commonly known as the Gore-McCain Act), which established penalties for persons and companies assisting Iraq or Iran in acquiring missile technology.


Keating Five scandal

John McCain's upward political trajectory was jolted when he became enmeshed in the Keating Five scandal, a highly visible part of the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s.
Charles Keating Jr. Charles Humphrey Keating Jr. (December 4, 1923 – March 31, 2014) was an American sportsman, lawyer, real estate developer, banker, financier, conservative activist, and convicted felon best known for his role in the savings and loan sca ...
's Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, a subsidiary of his American Continental Corporation, was insolvent as a result of some bad loans. In order to overcome its debt, Lincoln violated "direct investment" rules by directing accounts by the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cred ...
into commercial real estate ventures. This caught the eye of federal regulators, who were looking to shut Lincoln down. Keating contacted five senators to whom he made contributions, looking for them to intervene with the regulators on his behalf. McCain and Keating had become personal friends following their initial contacts in 1981. Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in lawful political contributions from Keating and his associates. In addition, McCain's wife Cindy and her father Jim Hensley had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. McCain, his family, and their baby-sitter had made nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard the American Continental jet. By March 1987, Keating was asking McCain to travel to meet with regulators regarding Lincoln Savings; McCain refused.Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 108–11. Keating called McCain a "wimp" behind his back, and on March 24 the two had a heated, contentious meeting. On April 2 and April 9, 1987, McCain and the other senators met at the Capitol with regulators, first with
Edwin J. Gray Edwin J. Gray is an American politician and businessman who served as the chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in the 1980s. Early life Gray was born in 1933 or 1934. Per the resume he published in the 1980s, Gray was the valedictorian of his ...
, chairman of the
Federal Home Loan Bank Board The Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) was a board created in 1932 that governed the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLB or FHLBanks) also created by the act, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) and nationally-chartered savings ...
, and then members of the FHLBB San Francisco branch, to discuss the government's investigation of Lincoln. McCain would write in 2002 that attending the two meetings was "the worst mistake of my life". News of the meetings first appeared in '' National Thrift News'' in September 1987, but was only sporadically covered by the general media through April 1989. Towards the end of that period, after learning Keating was in trouble over Lincoln, McCain paid a total of $13,433 for his air trips. The regulators backed off Keating, and Lincoln stayed in business. Still desperate for cash, it convinced customers to replace their federally-insured certificates of deposit with higher-yielding junk bond certificates of American Continental. In April 1989, Lincoln failed; about 23,000 customers were left with worthless bonds, and many elderly investors lost their life savings. Federal regulators filed a $1.1 billion civil
racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and of ...
and
fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
suit against Keating. The five senators came under investigation for attempting to influence the regulators. In the end, none of the senators was charged with any crime. Instead, the
Senate Ethics Committee The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics is a select committee of the United States Senate charged with dealing with matters related to senatorial ethics. It is also commonly referred to as the Senate Ethics Committee. Senate rules require the ...
investigated them.
Robert S. Bennett Robert S. Bennett III (born 1939) is an American attorney and senior counsel to Bennett LoCicero & Liu LLP. He is best known for representing President Bill Clinton during the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. Early life and education Born in Brookl ...
, who was the special investigator for the committee, wanted to drop any action against McCain and Senator
John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling ...
, on the grounds of insufficient evidence, but the committee disagreed. After public hearings, McCain was mildly rebuked by the committee for exercising "poor judgment" in intervening with the federal regulators on Keating's behalf, but its 1991 report said that McCain's "actions were not improper nor attended with gross negligence and did not reach the level of requiring institutional action against him. ... Senator McCain has violated no law of the United States or specific Rule of the United States Senate." (In later years, several retrospective accounts of the controversy reiterated a contention that McCain was included in the investigation primarily so that there would be at least one Republican target.p. 51
pp. 129, 133–34.pp. 147–48
) On his Keating Five experience, McCain said: "The appearance of it was wrong. It's a wrong appearance when a group of senators appear in a meeting with a group of regulators, because it conveys the impression of undue and improper influence. And it was the wrong thing to do." The Senate Ethics Committee did not pursue, for lack of jurisdiction, any possible ethics breaches in McCain's delayed reimbursements to Keating for trips at the latter's expense, because they occurred while McCain was in the House. The
House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct The Committee on Ethics, often known simply as the Ethics Committee, is one of the committees of the United States House of Representatives. Prior to the 112th Congress it was known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The House E ...
said that it too lacked jurisdiction, because McCain was no longer in the House.McCain and Salter, ''Worth the Fighting For'', p. 188. Gives best explanation for House treatment of Keating reimbursements. It said it did not require that McCain amend his existing financial disclosure forms for his House years, on the grounds that McCain had now fully reimbursed Keating's company. McCain and his staff were suspected of having
leaked A leak is a way (usually an opening) for fluid to escape a container or fluid-containing system, such as a tank or a ship's hull, through which the contents of the container can escape or outside matter can enter the container. Leaks are usuall ...
to the press sensitive information about the investigation that came from some of the closed proceedings of the Ethics Committee. McCain denied doing so under oath, although several press reports, and later one of the investigators, concluded that McCain had been one of the main leakers during that time. McCain survived the political scandal in part by becoming friendly with the political press. He held a lengthy press conference in which he answered all questions. With his blunt manner, he became a frequent guest on television newscasts and talk-oriented news shows, especially once the 1991
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
– which he had voted in favor of – began and his military and POW experience came into demand. McCain began campaigning against lobbyist money in politics from then on. McCain's 1992 re-election campaign found his opposition split between Democratic community and civil rights activist Claire Sargent and impeached and removed former Governor Evan Mecham running as an independent. Although Mecham garnered some hard-core conservative support, Sargent's campaign never gathered momentum and the Keating Five affair did not dominate discussion. Sargent, who had a failed race for the
Arizona Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...
in her background, was slow getting her campaign underway and, although 1992 was the
Year of the Woman The Year of the Woman was a popular label attached to 1992 after the election of a number of female senators in the United States. The term has also been used with respect to the 2018 House elections, in which a record 103 women were elected, ...
in American politics, failed to get the endorsement of organizations such as
Emily's List EMILY's List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money ...
. McCain outspent Sargent, $3 million to $350,000. McCain again won handily, getting 56 percent of the vote to Sargent's 32 percent and Mecham's 11 percent. McCain's victory put a final end to Mecham's political career. During the same election Arizona finally passed a referendum, which McCain supported, enabling the state Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.


Vietnam redux

McCain was a co-sponsor of the
Agent Orange Act of 1991 Agent Orange Act of 1991 establishes provisions for the National Academy of Sciences to analyze and summarize scientific evidence regarding presumptive military service exposure to defoliants, dioxins, and herbicides, better known as Agent Orange, ...
, which enabled disability benefits for Vietnam veterans afflicted with
Agent Orange Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the "tactical use" Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It ...
-related diseases and established periodic scientific reviews to determine what levels of exposure and diseases would be covered. In January 1993, McCain was named chairman of the board of directors of the
International Republican Institute The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. It is committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more iss ...
, a non-profit democracy-promotion organization with informal ties to the Republican party. The position would allow McCain to bolster his foreign policy expertise and credentials as well as his future fundraising prospects. At the same time, he was named head of recruiting and fund-raising for Republican senatorial candidates. Further in 1993, a
melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...
was discovered on his shoulder and removed. In 1990, McCain voted to confirm David Souter as a Supreme Court justice, and in 1991, he supported the contentious but eventually successful nomination of
Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 199 ...
. In 1993 and 1994, McCain voted to confirm President Clinton's nominees
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President ...
and
Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and repl ...
, whom he considered to be qualified for the Supreme Court despite differing judicial philosophies from his. He would later explain that "under our Constitution, it is the president's call to make." McCain was a key member of the 1991–1993 Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, chaired by Democrat and fellow Vietnam War veteran
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
, which was convened to investigate the
Vietnam War POW/MIA issue The Vietnam War POW/MIA issue concerns the fate of United States servicemen who were reported as missing in action (MIA) during the Vietnam War and associated theaters of operation in Southeast Asia. The term also refers to issues related to the tre ...
: the fate of U.S. service personnel listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War. The committee's work included more visits to Vietnam and persuading the Department of Defense to declassify over a million pages of relevant documents.Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 152–54. The committee's final report, which McCain endorsed, stated that, "While the Committee has some evidence suggesting the possibility a POW may have survived to the present, and while some information remains yet to be investigated, there is, at this time, no compelling evidence that proves that any American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia." After many years of disliking Kerry due to his actions with
Vietnam Veterans Against the War Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) is an American tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation founded in 1967 to oppose the United States policy and participation in the Vietnam War. VVAW says it is a national veterans' organization ...
, McCain developed "unbounded respect and admiration" for him during the hearings. The actions of the committee were designed to allow for improved ties between the two countries, pp. 149–50. although that goal was not shared by a large segment of Republicans. McCain pressed for normalization of diplomatic relations with Vietnam, partly because it was "a time to heal ... it's a way of ending the war; it's time to move on,"Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 170–71. and partly because he saw it in the U.S. national interest to do so, in particular envisioning Vietnam as a valuable regional counterbalance against
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. In 1994 the Senate passed a resolution, sponsored by Kerry and McCain, that called for an end to the existing trade embargo against Vietnam; it was intended to pave the way for normalization. During his time on the committee and afterward, McCain was vilified as a fraud, traitor, or " Manchurian Candidate" by some POW/MIA activists who believed that large numbers of American servicemen were still being held against their will in Southeast Asia. They were angry that McCain did not share their belief and that he sought to normalize relations with Vietnam. McCain's high-profile on the Vietnam issue also cost him the friendship of some fellow former POWs;Timberg, ''An American Odyssey'', pp. 187–89. McCain and 1992 independent presidential candidate
Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an inde ...
, who had helped McCain's wife Carol during her husband's captivity, also had a falling out over the POW/MIA issue, which then extended to Perot blasting McCain's remarriage to Cindy McCain. In return, McCain attacked those he saw as profiteers exploiting the families of those missing in action. In response to the criticism of the committee's findings, McCain said that he and Kerry had convinced the Vietnamese to give them full access to their records, and that he had spent thousands of hours trying to find real, not fabricated, evidence of surviving Americans. McCain's push for normalization was opposed by some leading Senate Republicans, including
Phil Gramm William Philip Gramm (born July 8, 1942) is an American economist and politician who represented Texas in both chambers of Congress. Though he began his political career as a Democrat, Gramm switched to the Republican Party in 1983. Gramm was ...
and Senate Majority Leader
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
. In 1995, President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
normalized diplomatic relations with Vietnam. McCain's and Kerry's visible support during the announcement gave Clinton, who came of age during Vietnam but did not serve in the military, some political cover. These actions were of a piece with McCain's attitude towards domestic reconciliation from the Vietnam era; unlike many who went to Vietnam (some of whom were his best friends), he did not hold grudges against those who did not go. In 1993 he had offered to escort Clinton on a speaking visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at a time when some veterans were angrily challenging Clinton's moral right to go there. He also struck up a friendship with an anti-war leader, David Ifshin, who had once traveled to Hanoi to make an anti-American propaganda broadcast that McCain had heard in his cell.


A maverick senator

Having survived the Keating Five scandal, McCain made attacking what he saw as the corrupting influence of big money on American politics his signature issue. Starting in late 1994 he worked with Democratic Wisconsin Senator
Russ Feingold Russell Dana Feingold ( ; born March 2, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee in the 2016 election for the same U.S ...
on
campaign finance reform Campaign finance reform may refer to: * Reform of campaign finance Campaign finance, also known as election finance or political donations, refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referen ...
; their McCain-Feingold bill would attempt to put limits on "
soft money The financing of electoral campaigns in the United States happens at the federal, state, and local levels by contributions from individuals, corporations, political action committees, and sometimes the government. Campaign spending has risen ...
", funds that corporations, unions, and other organizations could donate to political parties, which would then be funneled to political candidates in circumvention of " hard money" donation limits. From the start, McCain and Feingold's efforts were opposed by some of the interests targeted, by incumbents in both parties, by those who felt spending limits impinged on free political speech, and by those who wanted to lessen the power of what they saw as media bias. On the other hand, it garnered considerable sympathetic coverage in the national media, and from 1995 on, "maverick Republican" became a label frequently applied to McCain in stories. He had used the term himself, and one of the chapters in his 2002 memoir ''
Worth the Fighting For Worth may refer to: Places In the United States: *Worth, Georgia *Worth County, Georgia *Worth, Illinois *Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois *Worth Township, Woodford County, Illinois *Worth Township, Indiana *Worth Township, Michigan *Worth, ...
'' would be titled "Maverick". The first version of the McCain-Feingold Act was introduced into the Senate in September 1995; it was
filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
ed in 1996 and never came to a vote. pp. 163–65. In 1993, McCain opposed military operations in Somalia, saying it was "an unfocused mission that lacks an objective"; after 18 American deaths in the Battle of Mogadishu, he introduced a resolution to bring U.S. forces home immediately, but it was defeated in the Senate. McCain similarly opposed Operation Uphold Democracy in
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
in 1994. He was initially opposed to U.S. military involvement in the
Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
, voting against the
George H. W. Bush administration George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
on a 1992 resolution that would have authorized "demonstrations of force" in conjunction with the Operation Provide Promise humanitarian relief effort there. McCain's view changed after the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre, and he voted in favor of the resolution authorizing the
1995 NATO bombing in Bosnia and Herzegovina Operation Deliberate Force was a sustained air campaign conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in concert with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) ground operations, to undermine the military capability of the ...
against the
Bosnian Serb Army The Army of Republika Srpska ( sr, Војска Републике Српске/Vojska Republike Srpske; ВРС/VRS), commonly referred to in English as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of Republika Srpska (RS), the self-proclaimed Serb ...
. McCain attacked what he saw as
pork barrel ''Pork barrel'', or simply ''pork'', is a metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district. The usage originated in American English, and i ...
spending within Congress, believing that the practice did not contribute to the greater national interest. Towards this end he was instrumental in pushing through approval of the Line Item Veto Act of 1996, which gave the president the power to veto individual expenditures. Although this was one of McCain's biggest Senate victories, the effect was short-lived as the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled the act unconstitutional in 1998. In a more symbolic attempt to limit congressional privilege, he introduced an amendment in 1994 to remove free VIP parking for members of Congress at D.C. area airports; his annoyed colleagues rejected the notion and accused McCain of grandstanding. He was the only Republican senator to vote against the
Freedom to Farm Act The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-127), known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S. Farm Bill, was the omnibus 1996 farm bill that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies d ...
in 1996, saying that it catered to special interests rather than representing true reform of farm subsidies policy. He was one of only five senators to vote against the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of t ...
, on the grounds that it put the economic interests of corporations ahead of those of consumers. McCain became chairman of the
Senate Indian Affairs Committee The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is a committee of the United States Senate charged with oversight in matters related to the American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native peoples. A Committee on Indian Affairs existed from 1820 to 19 ...
in 1995, and would hold that position into 1997. McCain's visibility was increased by the 1995 publication of Robert Timberg's well-received '' The Nightingale's Song'', a joint biography of five graduates from the Naval Academy who had served in Vietnam and whose subsequent public fame and problems illuminated the role of Vietnam and the military in American life. At the start of the 1996 presidential election, McCain served as national campaign chairman for the highly unsuccessful Republican nomination effort of Texas Senator
Phil Gramm William Philip Gramm (born July 8, 1942) is an American economist and politician who represented Texas in both chambers of Congress. Though he began his political career as a Democrat, Gramm switched to the Republican Party in 1983. Gramm was ...
.Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 173–74. After Gramm dropped out, McCain endorsed eventual nominee Senate Majority Leader
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
, and was again on the
short list A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...
of possible vice-presidential picks.Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 176–80. McCain formed a close bond with Dole, based in part on their shared near-death war experiences; he nominated Dole at the
1996 Republican National Convention The 1996 Republican National Convention convened at the San Diego Convention Center (SDCC) in San Diego, California, from August 12 to August 15, 1996. The convention nominated former Senator Bob Dole from Kansas, for president and former Represe ...
and was a key friend and advisor to Dole throughout his ultimately losing general election campaign. In 1997, McCain became chairman of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee; he was criticized for accepting funds from corporations and businesses under the committee's purview, but responded by saying that, "Literally every business in America falls under the Commerce Committee" and that he restricted those contributions to $1,000 and thus was not part of the big-money nature of the campaign finance problem. In that year, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine named McCain as one of the "25 Most Influential People in America". McCain used his chairmanship to challenge the
tobacco industry The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any ...
in 1998, proposing legislation that would increase cigarette taxes in order to fund anti-smoking campaigns and reduce the number of teenage smokers, increase research money on health studies, and help states pay for smoking-related health care costs.Alexander, ''Man of the People'', pp. 184–87. The industry spent some $40–50 million in national advertising in response; while McCain's bill had the support of the
Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...
and many public health groups, most Republican senators opposed it, stating it would create an unwieldy new bureaucracy. The bill failed to gain cloture twice and was seen as a bad political defeat for McCain. During 1998 a revised version of the McCain-Feingold Act came up for Senate consideration; in addition to banning soft money, it sought to restrict "
issue ad Issue advocacy ads (also known as interest advocacy ads or issue only ads) are communications intended to bring awareness to a certain problem. Groups that sponsor this form of communication are known by several names including: interest advocac ...
s" run by independent groups within 60 days of an election.Barone and Cohen, ''Almanac of American Politics'' 2008, p. 96. While having majority support, it was fiercely opposed by Senator
Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConne ...
on free speech and partisan threat grounds, and it again fell victim to a filibuster and failed to gain cloture. McCain easily won re-election to a third senate term in November 1998, gaining 69 percent of the vote to 27 percent for his Democratic opponent, environmental lawyer Ed Ranger. Ranger was a motorcycle enthusiast whose
Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...
was painted as the flag of ArizonaAlexander, ''Man of the People'', p. 187. and a political novice who had only recently returned from four years of working and living in
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. McCain carried Democratic stronghold
Apache County Apache County is in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. Shaped in a long rectangle running north to south, as of the 2020 census, its population was 66,021. The county seat is St. Johns. Most of the county is occupied by part ...
by 54–42 percent and won Hispanic votes statewide by 52–42 percent. McCain took no "soft money" during the campaign, but still raised $4.4 million for his bid, saying that he had needed it in case the tobacco companies or other Washington special interests mounted a strong effort against him. One of Ranger's campaigning points had been that McCain was really more interested in running for president; McCain indeed created a presidential exploratory committee the following month. McCain had been uncomfortable and largely silent during the 1998 Lewinsky scandal, partly because his own personal life had not been without blemishes, and partly because his upcoming presidential nomination run restricted his political options.Timberg, ''An American Odyssey'', pp. 194–95. During the early 1999 Impeachment of Bill Clinton, McCain voted to convict the president on both the perjury and obstruction of justice counts. In his remarks on the Senate floor, McCain said: "Although I may admit to failures in my private life, I have lwayskept faith with every oath I have ever sworn to this country. I have known some men who kept that faith at the cost of their lives. I cannotnot in deference to public opinion, or for political considerations, or for the sake of comity and friendshipI cannot agree to expect less from the President." During 1999, the McCain-Feingold Act once again came up for consideration, this time with soft money prohibition features in but the issue ads provision out. McConnell challenged McCain to name specific senators who had been corrupted by existing campaign finance practices, but McCain refused. In the end, the same failure to gain cloture befell the legislation again. During that year, McCain shared the
Profile in Courage Award The Profile in Courage Award is a private award given to recognize displays of courage similar to those John F. Kennedy originally described in his book of the same name. It is given to individuals (often elected officials) who, by acting in acco ...
with Feingold for their work in trying to enact this
campaign finance reform Campaign finance reform may refer to: * Reform of campaign finance Campaign finance, also known as election finance or political donations, refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referen ...
; McCain was cited for opposing his own party on the bill at a time when he was trying to win the party's presidential nomination. Indeed, by April 1999 aspects of McCain's 2000 presidential campaign were underway, and his stance regarding the
Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...
and other issues would take place in that context.


Election results

Write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...
notes: According to the Clerk's office, there were 106 write-in votes registered in 1986; 26 write-in votes in 1992; and 187 write-ins in 1998.


See also

* List of bills sponsored by John McCain in the United States Senate


Bibliography

* Available onlin
in limited preview at Internet Archive
* *


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCain, John John McCain Vietnam War POW/MIA issues McCain, John, 2000 1980s in the United States 1990s in the United States 2000 in American politics