Senator John McCain died

Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / CC by-SA 2.0

American Senator John McCain died at home in Arizona after a long illness. Since 2017, he suffered from brain cancer. McCain was 81 years old. In the United States, he is known as the Hero of the War in Vietnam and twice presidential candidates, in Russia - as one of the "hawks" and the most consistent critics of Vladimir Putin.

Details

McCain died at home in Arizona surrounded by a family, his office said. He suffered from brain cancer. The disease was diagnosed in 2017, and a few days ago his family announced that the senator decided to stop treatment. The other day he was supposed to be 82. In the Senate, McCain voted for the last time on December 7 last year.

https://twitter.com/meghanmcain/status/1033514757544767488

“Not a single person in this century is the best example of honor, patriotism, service to the country and sacrifice than Senator John McCain. His heroism inspires, his life forms our character, ”Mitt Romny, candidate from the Republicans in the 2012 presidential election, wrote about McCain ( here - in detail about the reaction of the political elite in the United States).

https://twitter.com/mittromney/status/1033018983073513473

Biography

McCain is the son and grandson of the US Navy Admirals. Before becoming a politician, in the United States, he became a national hero-after graduating from the US Naval Academy in 1958, during the Caribbean crisis, McCain became a marine pilot. Since 1967, he served in Vietnam, and in the same year he was shot down over Hano. In captivity, McCain was tortured and was released only in 1973, when the United States ceased military operations and withdrawn troops from Vietnam. McCain had the opportunity to free himself earlier - when his father headed the Pacific Fleet, but he decided that he would leave captive with the rest of the American military.

Photo: Wikimedia.org

Since the beginning of the 1980s, McCain began politics-in 1986 he was elected a senator from Arizona, re-elected five times and twice since then he was a candidate for US presidency. In 2000, McCain lost the republican primaries of George Bush Jr., from which “never really recovered,” WSJ writes . During his first presidential campaign, McCain traveled around the country by bus with the inscription “The Straight Talk Express” and answered the questions of replacing reporters for hours. Having lost, he later wrote that, despite the disappointment, the presidential campaign was “damn cheerful”.
Eight years later, McCain still became a presidential candidate from the Republican Party, but lost to Barack Obama in the election.

https://twitter.com/barackobama/status/1033521851312623616

McCain did not participate in the presidential campaign, but decided to stay in politics and remained one of the main military “hawks” (for example, he was a convinced supporter of the war in Iraq), as well as a critic of the politics of Russia and Vladimir Putin, who, in his opinion, tried to change the world order that had developed after the Cold War. McCain, in particular, was one of the ideologists of compiling the Magnitsky List and a supporter of the tightening of sanctions against Russia. He considered the last negotiations of Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki a big mistake. He also accused the Russian authorities of pressure on opposition politicians many times, and believed that they were standing behind the murder of Boris Nemtsov.

McCain also implacably fought with Donald Trump, after he became president. Of the representatives of the Republican Party, McCain was one of Trump's main critics, Nyt today called him the “last lion in the Senate”. In his late memoirs, McCain wrote about Trump's admiration for dictators and his contempt for refugees:

Quote: “It seems to him deeply indifferent to the moral qualities of world leaders and the regimes they create. Looking cool or accurately reproducing what seems cool in a reality show is what bothers him most of all our values. Fraternity is the key to friendship with him, criticism guarantees its hostility. ”

Trump expressed condolences to the McCain family, but the current president was in advance of visiting the funeral.
You can read more about the life of McCain in today's necrologist The New York Times or see the NBC News plot .

Irina Malkova