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| Senator John McCain |
John McCain, a war hero and towering figure in American politics, regarded for reaching across the aisle in an increasingly divided nation, died Saturday following a battle with brain cancer. He died at 81.
The senator’s passing marked the end of a storied, 35-year political career that added the independent-minded Republican within reach of the White house as his party’s presidential nominee.
“It’s been quite a trip,” McCain, who was tortured in the course of five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, wrote in a memoir published earlier this year.
“I’ve known incredible passions, seen brilliant wonders, fought in a war and helped make peace. I made a small place for myself in the tale of america and the records of my times.”
McCain, who have been receiving treatment in his home state of Arizona, was surrounded by his spouse Cindy and his family throughout his final hours.
“He was a notable fire who burned bright, and we lived in his mild and warmth,” stated Meghan McCain, one of the late senator’s seven children — 3 of them from a previous marriage.
Near the driveway to his ranch in a rural part of Sedona, Arizona, a sign read “Sen McCain, thank you for your service.”
A police escort accompanied the hearse that carried his body, as a fiery sunset cast its last light over the rustic countryside McCain loved dearly, and local citizens came bearing flowers for the late political titan.
A regular move of friends and associates had come to bid him farewell at his Arizona ranch within the months since his cancer diagnosis, in July 2017.
US President Donald Trump, who before mocked McCain’s war record, said he sent his “deepest sympathies and respect.”
McCain was an extraordinary and outspoken Republican critic of Trump, accusing him of “naivete,” “egotism” and of sympathizing with autocrats. He made a decisive vote last year that killed Republican attempts to repeal Barack Obama’s health care reforms, and Trump never forgave him.
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