Senator John McCain Is Dead at Age 81

You could not help but admire his bravery, even if you frequently abhorred his politics. Republican Senator John McCain, who died today of brain cancer at his ranch in Arizona at the age of 81, was a complicated American, full of contradictions—sometimes surprisingly openhearted, sometimes infuriatingly closed-minded, sometimes seemingly both at once. Frequently referred to as a “maverick,” a label he embraced, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, served two terms, was first elected to Senate in 1986, and easily won five subsequent contests.

McCain came to national attention early. A former naval pilot, he was shot down during a bombing mission over North Vietnam in 1967 and was incarcerated for five-and-half years in the North Vietnamese Hoa Lo prison, nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton.” He spent more than two of those years in solitary confinement and was repeatedly tortured, which left him with permanent physical disabilities. He refused to be released early, ahead of other captives who had been held longer. (One of the most shocking statements Donald Trump offered in his presidential campaign disparaged this sacrifice: “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said in 2015. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” At the time, many thought this sentiment would sink Trump’s campaign. They were wrong.)

If McCain had passed away 10 years ago, or even five, things might seem different. But in the current climate, any shred of reason, the merest hint of ethical behavior, glows like the torch of the Statue of Liberty. In his long history in government, McCain was willing to work across the aisle; he spent decades attempting to reform immigration policy. He was unafraid to change his mind: Having initially opposed making Martin Luther King, Jr., Day a national holiday, in 2008 he admitted: “We can be slow as well to give greatness its due, a mistake I myself made long ago when I voted against a federal holiday in memory of Dr. King. . . . I was wrong and eventually realized it in time to give full support—full support—for a state holiday in my home state of Arizona. I’d remind you that we can all be a little late sometimes in doing the right thing, and Dr. King understood this about his fellow Americans.” Reluctant on gay civil rights, he never endorsed gay marriage, but last summer he gave his full-throated support to transgender troops, stating, “There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train, and deploy to leave the military—regardless of their gender identity. We should all be guided by the principle that any American who wants to serve our country and is able to meet the standards should have the opportunity to do so—and should be treated as the patriots they are.”

Still, there are those who will never forgive him for the elevation of Sarah Palin, his vice presidential partner when he ran for president on the Republican ticket in 2008. McCain said recently that he regretted this selection and wished that he had opted for his friend, then–Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut, instead. On foreign policy, he could be unrelentingly hawkish. (He was notorious for singing “Bomb Iran” in 2007, to the tune of the Beach Boys’s “Barbara Ann,” a sour parody.)

If there is deep affection for the man, even among those who usually detested his positions, it may be due to moments such as this: On the campaign trail in 2008, while at a town hall in Minnesota, a woman in the audience told the candidate, “I can’t trust Obama. I have read about him, and he’s not, he’s not, uh—he’s an Arab.” McCain did not hesitate, responding quietly: “No, ma’am. He’s a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign’s all about.” And last July, when it fell to him to cast the deciding vote on a Republican repeal of Obamacare, McCain walked onto the floor of the Senate around midnight, made a thumbs-down gesture, and said, “No.” Senator McCain reportedly informed people close to him that he did not want Donald Trump to attend his funeral.