John McCain

=== Early life and education ===

John Sidney McCain III was born on August 29, 1936, at [[Coco Solo]] Naval Air Station in the [[Panama Canal Zone]], to naval officer [[John S. McCain Jr.]] and [[Roberta McCain|Roberta (Wright) McCain]]. He had an older sister, Sandy, and a younger brother, [[Joe McCain|Joe]].<ref name="timberg-bio-ch1">{{Cite book|last=Timberg|first=Robert|chapter-url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/t/timberg-mccain.html|title=John McCain, An American Odyssey|chapter=The Punk|author-link=Robert Timberg|via=The New York Times|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date=1999|isbn=978-0-684-86794-6|access-date=August 4, 2015|url=https://archive.org/details/johnmccainameric00timb}}</ref> At that time, the [[Panama Canal]] was under U.S. control,<ref>{{Cite book|author-link=Samuel Eliot Morison|last=Morison|first=Samuel Eliot|title=The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War|publisher=[[Naval Institute Press]]|date=2007|page=119}}</ref> and he was granted [[Citizenship of the United States|U.S. citizenship]] at the age of eleven months.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Immerwahr |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Immerwahr |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1086608761 |title=How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States |date=2019 |others=Straus, and Giroux Farrar |isbn=978-0-374-71512-0 |location=New York |oclc=1086608761 |quote=McCain was, per the 1937 statute, a citizen by virtue of his birth. But he wasn't born a citizen, as no law made him a citizen at the time of his birth. Arguably, then, he was not a 'natural born citizen' and thus not eligible for the presidency. As Gabriel Chin, the law professor who unearthed this, put it, McCain was born 'eleven months and a hundred yards short of citizenship.' |access-date=December 3, 2022 |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605215508/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1086608761 |url-status=live }}</ref>

McCain's family tree includes [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scots-Irish]] and English ancestors.<ref>{{cite web|last=Roberts|first=Gary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915022255/http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/services/56_ancestry_john_mccain.asp|url=http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/services/56_ancestry_john_mccain.asp|archive-date=September 15, 2008|title=On the Ancestry, Royal Descent, and English and American Notable Kin of Senator John Sidney McCain IV|website=New England Historic Genealogical Society|date=April 1, 2008|access-date=May 19, 2008}}</ref> His great-great-great-grandparents owned [[High Rock Farm]], a plantation in [[Rockingham County, North Carolina]].<ref>Burritt, Mary (October 16, 2016).  [https://www.greensboro.com/news/rockingham-county-historian-bob-carter-combines-discretion-scholarship/article_3deb10a8-5f74-526d-b6f0-b020d86f0f9f.html "Rockingham County Historian Bob Carter Combines Discretion, Scholarship."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702181846/https://www.greensboro.com/news/rockingham-county-historian-bob-carter-combines-discretion-scholarship/article_3deb10a8-5f74-526d-b6f0-b020d86f0f9f.html |date=July 2, 2019 }}  ''[[News & Record]]'' (Greensboro.com). Retrieved April 29, 2020.</ref>  His father and his paternal grandfather, [[John S. McCain Sr.]], were also [[Naval Academy (United States)|Naval Academy]] graduates and both became [[four-star admiral]]s in the [[United States Navy]].<ref name="az-naval">Nowicki, Dan and [[Bill Muller|Muller, Bill]]. [https://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter2.html "John McCain Report: At the Naval Academy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906090218/http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter2.html |date=September 6, 2014 }}, ''[[The Arizona Republic]] '' (March 1, 2007). Retrieved November 10, 2007; [https://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-postscript.html "How the biography was put together"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829111658/http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-postscript.html |date=August 29, 2008 }}, ''The Arizona Republic'' (March 1, 2007). Retrieved June 18, 2008. ("McCain's grades [at the Naval Academy] were good in the subjects he enjoyed, such as literature and history. Gamboa said McCain would rather read a history book than do his math homework. He did just enough to pass the classes he didn't find stimulating. 'He stood low in his class,' Gamboa said. 'But that was by choice, not design.'")</ref> The McCain family moved with their father as he took various naval postings in the United States and in the Pacific.<ref name="timberg-bio-ch1" /><ref>Alexander, ''Man of the People'', p. 19.</ref>

As a result, the younger McCain attended a total of about 20 schools.<ref name="ap-wmd" /> In 1951, the family settled in [[Northern Virginia]], and McCain attended [[Episcopal High School (Alexandria)|Episcopal High School]], a private preparatory boarding school in [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]].<ref>Alexander, ''Man of the People'', p. 22.</ref><ref>McCain was christened and raised Episcopalian. See Nichols, Hans. [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aHH18X6Vsqzk "McCain Keeps His Faith to Himself, at Church and in Campaign"]{{dead link|date=November 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Bloomberg (April 25, 2008). He then identified as a Baptist, although he had not been baptized as an adult, and was not an official member of the church he attended. See Warner, Greg. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090318030725/http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3229&Itemid=121 "McCain's faith: Pastor describes senator as devout, but low-key"], [[Associated Baptist Press]] (April 8, 2008). Retrieved September 6, 2008. Also see Hornick, Ed. [http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/16/warren.forum/index.html "McCain and Obama cite moral failures"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080818024018/http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/16/warren.forum/index.html |date=August 18, 2008}}, [[CNN]] (August 16, 2008): "McCain, who was raised an Episcopalian and now identifies himself as Baptist, rarely discusses his faith." Retrieved August 16, 2008. Also see Reston, Maeve and Mehta, Seema. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080912033715/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-saddleback17-2008aug17,0,140426.story "Barack Obama and John McCain to Meet at Saddleback Church"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', (August 16, 2008). Archived from [https://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-saddleback17-2008aug17,0,140426.story the original] on September 12, 2008: "McCain [is] an Episcopalian who attends a Baptist church in Phoenix{{nbsp}}..." Retrieved August 16, 2008.</ref> He excelled at [[scholastic wrestling|wrestling]] and graduated in 1954.<ref>Alexander, ''Man of the People'', p. 28.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://alextimes.com/2007/06/episcopal-fetes-a-favorite-son/|title=Episcopal fetes a favorite son|newspaper=Alexandria Times|date=June 12, 2007|access-date=March 19, 2012|archive-date=August 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180809060417/https://alextimes.com/2007/06/episcopal-fetes-a-favorite-son/|url-status=live}}</ref> He referred to himself as an [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]] as recently as June 2007, after which date he said he came to identify as a Baptist.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/16/AR2007091600864.html|title=McCain Says He's Been Baptist for Years|last=Smith|first=Bruce|date=September 17, 2007|access-date=August 8, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=August 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803183943/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/16/AR2007091600864.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:McCain at Annapolis.JPG|upright|thumb|McCain at the [[United States Naval Academy|Naval Academy]], 1954|alt=Formal portrait of young, dark-haired man in white naval uniform]]

Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, McCain entered the [[United States Naval Academy]], where he was a friend and informal leader for many of his classmates<ref name="timberg-ns-ch1" /> and sometimes stood up for targets of [[bullying]].<ref name="az-naval" /> He also fought as a lightweight [[boxing|boxer]].<ref name="nw051407">{{Cite news|last=Bailey|first=Holly|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/34694|title=John McCain: 'I Learned How to Take Hard Blows'|work=[[Newsweek]]|date=May 14, 2007|access-date=December 19, 2007|archive-date=January 25, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125125048/http://www.newsweek.com/id/34694|url-status=live}}</ref> He earned the nickname "John Wayne" "for his attitude and popularity with the opposite sex."<ref name="BBCNews2018Aug26-KeyMoments">{{Cite web |last=Zurcher |first=Anthony  |date=August 26, 2018 |title=The key moments in John McCain's life |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44009916 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824230208/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44009916 |archive-date=August 24, 2021 |access-date=August 24, 2021 |website=[[BBC News]] |language=en-GB}}</ref> McCain did well in academic subjects that interested him, such as literature and history, but studied only enough to pass subjects that gave him difficulty, such as mathematics.<ref name="az-naval" /><ref>McCain, ''Faith of My Fathers'', p. 134.</ref> He came into conflict with higher-ranking personnel and did not always obey the rules. "He collected demerits the way some people collect stamps."<ref name="BBCNews2018Aug26-KeyMoments" /> His [[class rank]] (894 of 899) was not indicative of his intelligence nor his [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]], which had been tested to be 128 and 133.<ref name="timberg-ns-ch1" /><ref>Alexander, ''Man of the People'', 207. McCain scored 128 and then 133 on [[IQ]] tests.</ref> McCain graduated in 1958.<ref name="timberg-ns-ch1">{{Cite book|last=Timberg|first=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89xm-0eIfG8C&pg=PA31|title=Nightingale's Song|publisher=Simon and Schuster|pages=31–35|isbn=978-0-684-82673-8|date=September 11, 1996}}</ref>
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