USA: John McCain (1936 - ), Republican senator for Arizona (1987 -), official portrait, 23 January 2009

John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and was the Republican presidential nominee for the 2008 United States presidential election.

McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973.

Despite spending five and a half years as a prisoner of war and suffering torture in the 'Hanoi Hilton' prison, McCain is known for his work in the 1990s to restore diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

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