John McCain (Dewey Defeats Truman)

John Sidney McCain III (born August 29th, 1936) is an American politician and Naval officer who was the 42nd President of the United States. Before that, he served as the senior Senator from Arizona and a member of the US House of Representatives.

Like his father and grandfather, McCain enlisted in the Navy, graduating from the Naval Academy and becoming an aviator. In October 1972, during the beginning of the Vietnam War, he was shot down over Hanoi and taken prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese, where he remained until 1978. McCain was tortured, and refused any repatriation attempts. His experience left him with lifelong physical limitations.

McCain had a reputation for centrism, bipartisanship, and pragmatism in the United States Senate, and had in fact been on the short list for Secretary of Defense for both Republican Lowell Weicker and Democrat Al Gore, Jr. (a fellow Navy veteran). McCain had explored a presidential run in 1996, but ultimately decided against it, and was on Steve Forbes' short list for running mates.

McCain's 2000 campaign for president was met with a surprising amount of push-back from the Republican establishment, who felt that McCain was too moderate and independent to be a reliable standard-bearer after Democrats had held the White House for 24 out of the last 28 years. The choice of the Republican establishment was Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, a long time friend of McCain's, who ultimately never took off. Despite a briefly strong showing from New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, McCain had the nomination sewn up relatively early.

McCain's first term was marked by the same peace and prosperity that had made Gore so popular, although by 2003, there were indications that McCain was ready to go to war with Jordan over certain anti-American and anti-UN overtures on Jordan's end. On July 19th, 2003, in the heat of the 2004 election, Jordan invaded Egypt, striking an international crisis. McCain sent in troops, which at the time had a great deal of popular support, and sailed to reelection.

By 2007, the Jordanian War was becoming a muck, in many respects like Vietnam. On October 3rd of that year, Vice President Lincoln Chafee resigned in protest of the war, and was replaced by Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

The legacy of the war was enough to doom Romney's election on his own right, and it was ultimately ended by Bill Richardson in his brief tenure as president. McCain's own legacy has been brighter, as, post-presidency, he has retired to a life of memoirs and speeches.