John S. McCain, Jr.

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For McCain's son and father, see John McCain and John S. McCain, Sr., respectively
John S. McCain Jr.
January 17, 1911(1911-01-17) – March 22, 1981 (aged 70)

Admiral John S. McCain, Jr.
Nickname Jack
Place of birth Council Bluffs, Iowa
Place of death In air over North Atlantic
Place of burial Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service 1931-1972
Rank Admiral
Commands held USS Gunnel (SS-253)
USS Dentuda (SS-335)
U.S. Naval Forces Europe
U.S. Pacific Command
Battles/wars World War II
Korean War
Vietnam War
Awards Navy Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star
Relations Adm. John S. McCain, Sr. (father)
Sen. John S. McCain III (son)

John Sidney McCain Jr. (January 17, 1911 – March 22, 1981) was a four star admiral in the United States Navy who served in conflicts from the 1940s through the 1970s.

In World War II, he was a submarine commander in several theaters of operation and was decorated with both the Silver Star and Bronze Star. After the war, he held a variety of commands, specialized in amphibious warfare, and became known as a strong anti-Communist and advocate of the importance of seapower. He led the 1965 U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic. In the Vietnam War, he was Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command (CINCPAC), commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater from 1968 to 1972, and played a significant role in the militarization of U.S. policy towards Cambodia.

His father John S. McCain, Sr. was also a four-star admiral in the Navy, and they were the first father-son pair to achieve four-star admiral rank.[1] His son John S. McCain III is a former naval aviator who retired with the rank of Captain and is currently a United States Senator and the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States.

Contents

[edit] Early years, education and family

McCain was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, while his father was away at sea and his mother was traveling cross country to visit with her sister.[2] His family name was "Jack",[2] although he would also be called "Junior" by others, which he preferred less.

Besides his father, his uncle (his father's brother) was U.S. Army Brigadier General William Alexander McCain. His family tree also had other people engaged in military service, back through many wars.[1]

McCain grew up in Washington, D.C. and attended Central High School there.[3]

McCain entered the United States Naval Academy in 1927, at age 16.[2] He disliked the hazing tradition of Annapolis, and spent his years there gaining many demerits and mediocre grades.[2] As one biographer wrote, McCain "was given to taking unauthorized midnight leave and spent much of his four ... years in contention with authority and working off massive doses of extra duty."[4] For much of his final year there, he was banished from Bancroft Hall, the normal residence for midshipmen, and forced to live on the barracks ship Reina Mercedes instead.[1] He graduated in 1931, finishing 423 out of 441 in class rank, eighteenth from the bottom.[1]

Upon graduation he was commissioned an ensign and assigned to duty aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma in the Pacific.[2][5] He applied to flight school to become a naval aviator, but was turned down due to a heart murmur, and was accepted at submarine school instead.[2]

He married Roberta Wright on January 21, 1933, when they eloped to a bar in Tijuana, Mexico, after Roberta's mother objected to her association with a sailor.[6] They would have three children: Sandy (born 1934), John Sidney III (born 1936), and Joe (born 1942).[1][6]

The family was frequently uprooted as they followed him to New London, Connecticut, where the submarine training began in 1933,[5] Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and other stations in the Pacific Ocean.[7] He served on the old, World War I-era submarines S-45 and R-13.[5][2] From 1938 to 1940, he returned to the Naval Academy for a stint of teaching electrical engineering to midshipmen.[5] He later said of this position, "The lads learned soon enough never to try to hoodwink an old hoodwinker."[3] In 1940 and early 1941, he sailed in the more modern Skipjack[5] (then commanded by Larry Freeman)[8] as part of the Pacific Fleet's SubDiv 15, under Captain Ralph Christie.[9] In April 1941, McCain was detached to his first command, the antique O-8, recommissioned as a training ship at the Submarine School in New London.[5]

After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, he would not see his family for long stretches.[1]

[edit] World War II

McCain, by now a lieutenant commander,[5] was assigned to command the submarine Gunnel, joining her in May 1942 for trials and seeing the boat commissioned in August 1942.[5]

Gunnel was deployed as part of the November 1942 invasion of French North Africa.[5] Operating conditions for the five submarines deployed there were not favorable, due to overcrowded waters, poor weather, and mixed-up signals, and the deployment had no accomplishments.[10] Like many other U.S. subs, Gunnel was attacked in error by friendly aircraft.[10] The Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (H.O.R.) diesels (known as "whores") which powered Gunnel were troublesome; at one point en route home, drive gears of all four of the main engines were out of commission, and McCain had to rely on his tiny auxiliary for the last thousand miles (1850 km). Gunnel went into the navy yard for an extensive refit[10] and was replaced on patrol station off North Africa by "Pilly" Lent's Haddo.[11]

After the refit, Gunnel was ordered to the Pacific Fleet. In June 1943, in the East China and Yellow Seas, McCain sank two ships (confirmed postwar by JANAC): Koyo Maru (6400 tons) and Tokiwa Maru (7000 tons). Persistent trouble from the sub's diesels cut the patrol to only eleven days, after which McCain returned to Pearl Harbor.[12]

Gunnel was the first Pearl Harbor boat to have her H.O.R. diesels replaced, and she returned to action off Iwo Jima in December 1943. Alerted by HYPO of carriers, on the night of 2-3 December, McCain fired four torpedoes at IJNS Zuihō at a very long range of 6000 yd (5500 m, 3 mi), only to miss as Zuiho zigged.[13] Although he missed, McCain was one of only a handful of U.S. submarine commanders to actually attack an enemy carrier.

On 18 March 1944, on patrol off Tawi Tawi, the main Japanese fleet anchorage in the Philippines, McCain got another shot at a carrier. He fired from extremely long range (9000 yd {8200 m}), missed the target, and sustained a counterattack of sixteen depth charges. He tried to attack the same carrier over the next four days, but could place his boat no closer than 5 nm (9 km).[14]

During the May 1944 U.S. air strike on Surabaya, Gunnel lay off Tawi Tawi in company with Robert Olsen's Angler, but McCain managed no attacks on Japanese ships. He shifted his operations to the coast of Indochina, where, on 8 June 1944, he picked up a convoy, escorted by yet another aircraft carrier. He was unable to approach closer than 15 nautical miles (28 km). In July 1944, he was detached for a brief return to New London.[5]

On his return to Pearl Harbor then, the Navy ordered him to command the new Dentuda starting October 1944, with commissioning two months later.[5] During his one patrol in command of that submarine, he damaged a large freighter and sank two patrol craft in the East China Sea and the Taiwan Straits.[15] At the conclusion of the war, McCain sailed Dentuda into Tokyo Bay and had one last meeting with his father, who had been commanding the Fast Carrier Task Force during the latter stages of the war. Slew McCain would die four days after the Japanese surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay.[16]

For his actions in the war, McCain was decorated with the Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and two letters of commendation.[3]

[edit] Post-World War II

Right-to-left: John S. McCain, Jr. with his son Joe, his wife Roberta Wright, and son John McCain III in 1951.

After the end of the war, McCain stayed in the Navy and his family settled in Northern Virginia.[17] He was assigned as Director of Records to the Bureau of Naval Personnel until early 1949.[5] He assumed command of Submarine Division 71 in the Pacific that year, sailing on the flagship Carp,[5] which took him to a variety of naval stations[18] and two exploratory cruises to extreme northern waters,[5] adding to the knowledge of an increasingly important strategic area for submarine operations.

By now a commander,[19] from February through November 1950, McCain was executive officer of the heavy cruiser USS Saint Paul, and from June 1950 was involved in the early stages of the Korean War, joining Task Force 77 to patrol the Formosa Strait.[20][19]

Now a captain, McCain was assigned to a series of posts at The Pentagon in alternation with various commands.[5] He was Director of Undersea Warfare Research and Development from 1950 to 1953, commander of Submarine Squadron 6 aboard flagship Sea Leopard in the Atlantic from 1953 to 1954, commander of the attack transport Monrovia from 1954 to 1955 in the Mediterranean, Director of the Progress Analysis Group from 1955 to 1957, and commander of the heavy cruiser Albany from 1957 to 1958.[5][21]

McCain was promoted to rear admiral in 1958[22] or 1959.[3] From that year to 1960 he was assigned to the the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, where he joined the Legislative Affairs Office as Chief Legislative Liaison.[21] There he formed many useful political connections, as senators, representatives, admirals, and generals were all frequent social visitors to his centrally-located D.C. house, which would later become the Capitol Hill Club.[1][23] (His son John would witness these interactions and two decades later assume the same role, on the way to the start of his political career.) During this stint, Rear Admiral McCain helped persuade Congress to restore budget allocations it had earlier cut from construction programs for aircraft carriers.[3]

From 1960 to 1962, McCain held commands in the Atlantic, including Amphibious Group 2 and Amphibious Training, and served on Taconic and Mount McKinley.[21] From 1962 to 1963 he was Chief of Naval Information,[21] initiating the post and garnering influence with the Washington press that would aid his career.[1] He was promoted to vice admiral in 1963,[22] and was made commander of the entire Amphibious Forces, Atlantic Fleet.[21] In 1964, he commanded the Operation Steel Pike exercise off the coast of Spain, which was the largest amphibious landing ever in peacetime;[3] he would be awarded be a gold star in lieu of a Legion of Merit for this operation.[3]

In April 1965, McCain led the United States invasion of the Dominican Republic as commander of Task Force 124,[21] which maintained a military occupation until civil unrest had ended.[3] McCain later said, "Some people condemned this as an 'unwarranted intervention,' but the Communists were all set to move in and take over. People may not love you for being strong when you have to be, but they respect you for it and learn to behave themselves when you are."[3] For this operation, McCain was awarded the Legion of Merit.[3]

McCain then served three roles simultaneously: vice chairman of delegation to the United Nations Military Staff Committee, Commander Eastern Sea Frontier, and Commander Atlantic Reserve Fleet.[21] Although he was awarded another gold star in lieu of a Legion of Merit for his work there,[24] the U.N. post was considered to be a dead-end, but his political contacts kept his career going.[1][25] In May 1967, he was promoted to admiral, and became Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe, stationed in London.[1] He was involved in the investigations that followed the 1967 USS Liberty incident.

McCain was known for his short and thin stature,[4] salty character,[26][27] and trademark cigar.[27] He liked to confer with enlisted men and get their opinions.[4] When often asked how he told his wife Roberta and her identical twin sister Rowena apart, he famously responded by puffing his cigar, flashing a grin, and saying, "That's their problem."[1]

McCain was a strong promoter of the importance of seapower.[27] During the Cold War, McCain stressed the importance of maintaining naval superiority over the Soviet Union.[26] He was especially concerned in light of the growing number of submarines deployed by the Soviet Navy, calling them, "a direct threat to our free use of the oceans of the world."[26] He also said that the Soviets' maritime goal "encompasses not only the military uses of the sea, but also those relating to world politics, economics, commerce and technology," and likened its propaganda value to the Space Race.[28]

[edit] Vietnam War

In April 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, McCain was named by President Lyndon Johnson as Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command (CINCPAC), effective in July 1968, stationed in Honolulu and commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater.[29] McCain was a believer in the domino theory,[24] and as CINCPAC, he became known for emphasizing what he saw as the grave threat of Communist Chinese expansion of influence.[30] He became well-known within the Pentagon and to the press for his fervent briefings on the "Chicom" menace, showing maps with bright-red claws or arrows extending from a bright-red China into much of the area he was responsible for.[30] To some, McCain was the Navy's most persuasive and energetic briefer,[31] while to others, he was over-the-top and spoke longer than necessary.[30] McCain believed the Pacific Command's role was both to confront the major Communist powers with superior and mobile force, and to provide a deterrent force to protect smaller countries from "aggression, whether this be overtly military or by subversion and infiltration."[32]

When the Nixon Administration took office in January 1969, the secret National Security Study Memorandum 1 collected views of top officials on the prospects for President Richard Nixon's policy of Vietnamization.[33] There was a division of thought among those contributing, but McCain was one of those who were relatively optimistic, believing the North Vietnamese had entered peace talks due to military weakness, that the South Vietnamese pacification progress was real, and the tide of the war was favorably turning.[33]

McCain played an important part in the expansion of U.S. involvement in Cambodia.[30] In April 1970, McCain gave personal briefings to Nixon in Honolulu and Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger in San Clemente,[31] where he highlighted the threat from North Vietnamese operations in Cambodia and Laos.[34] In particular, he said that Lon Nol's government in Cambodia would soon collapse unless North Vietnamese operations there were stopped, and that with a secure base there, North Vietnam could then launch attacks on South Vietnam which would cause the failure of Vietnamization.[31] Indeed, McCain said that regardless, the schedule for the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. ground forces from Vietnam had to be flexible.[34] McCain's views, which had the support of his subordinate, MACV commander General Creighton Abrams, helped persuade Nixon to go ahead with the Cambodian Incursion later that month.[34][35]

By fall 1970, McCain worried that Kissinger's plan for extensive commitment of South Vietnamese troops to preserve the Cambodian regime would endanger the progress of Vietnamization.[36] Nevertheless McCain was also involved in the intense U.S. effort to prop up Cambodian leader Lon Nol, paying visits to give him assurances; when Lon Nol suffered a stroke in early 1971, he recuperated at McCain's guesthouse in Honolulu.[37] At the same time, a Military Equipment Delivery Team program was organized to supply military assistance to the Cambodian government. McCain gained control of this effort, instead of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, and for a conflict that he proprietarily spoke of as "my war"[38] made constant requests to the Pentagon for more arms and staff.[39] He forced an Americanization of many logistics procedures within the Cambodian military,[39] and along with Kissinger and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, prevailed over the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia and U.S. Defense Secretary Melvin Laird in adopting a militarization of American policy with regard to that country.[40]

McCain was also very concerned about the North Vietnamese presence in Laos.[41] He was a proponent of Operation Lam Son 719, the February–March 1971 U.S.-assisted incursion into southeastern Laos by the South Vietnamese Army. He told Admiral Thomas Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, that an offensive against the Ho Chi Minh Trail might compel Prince Souvanna Phouma, prime minister of Laos, "to abandon the guise of neutrality and enter the war openly."[42] The operation ended in failure.

During all this time, McCain's son, naval aviator John S. McCain III, was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, having been shot down in October 1967. Each year Jack McCain was CINCPAC, he paid a Christmastime visit to the American troops in South Vietnam serving closest to the DMZ; he would stand alone and look north, to be as close to his son as he could get.[43]

During Operation Linebacker, the resumed bombing of the north starting in April 1972, the targets included the Hanoi area and the daily orders were issued by McCain, knowing his POW son was in the vicinity.[44] McCain's tour as CINCPAC ended in September 1972,[45] despite his request to have it extended so he could see the war to its conclusion, which was turned down by Nixon.[43] For the next two months, he served as special assistant to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.[21]

Kissinger would later characterize McCain's approach to the Vietnam War by saying, "He fought for the victory that his instinct and upbringing demanded and that political reality forbade."[34]

[edit] Retirement

Admiral McCain retired in November 1972.[21] He felt despair over his reluctant retirement from the United States Navy and fell into prolonged poor health afterwards.[46] His son John felt his father's "long years of binge drinking" had caught up with him, despite his mostly successful subsequent recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.[46]

He died of heart failure on a military aircraft en route from Europe on 22 March 1981, with his wife at his side.[46][47] He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on March 27, 1981.[6]

[edit] Namesakes

USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) was named for both Admirals McCain.

Grandson John S. McCain IV is currently attending the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the fourth-generation John S. McCain to do so.

[edit] Awards

John S. McCain, Jr. received the following medals and decorations (incomplete):[citation needed]

Navy Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star[3]
Gold award star
 Legion of Merit and two gold stars[3][24]
Bronze Star with Combat V[3]
American Defense Service Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Navy Occupation Service Medal with "Asia" clasp
National Defense Service Medal
Korean Service Medal
Bronze service star
Bronze service star
Bronze service star
 Vietnam Service Medal with three bronze stars
 
Vietnam Campaign Medal with "1960-" device
United Nations Korea Medal
Philippine Legion of Honor[24]
Korean Order of National Security Merit First Class[24]
Korean War Service Medal ribbon Korean War Service Medal (postumous)

[edit] See also

United States Navy portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 17–34.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g John McCain (likely). "USS John S. McCain (DDG56): Namesake". United States Navy. Retrieved on 2008-10-02.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Moritz (ed.), Current Biography Yearbook 1970, p. 260.
  4. ^ a b c Hubbell, John G. (March 1970). "Adm. John S. (Jack) McCain: Sentinel of the Pacific", Reader's Digest. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Reynolds, Famous American Admirals, p. 208.
  6. ^ a b c Meacham, Jon (2008-08-30). "Hidden Depths", Newsweek. Retrieved on 2008-09-04. 
  7. ^ Alexander, Man of the People, p. 19.
  8. ^ Blair, Silent Victory, p.164.
  9. ^ Blair, p.82.
  10. ^ a b c Blair, Silent Victory, p.265.
  11. ^ Blair, Silent Victory, p. 256.
  12. ^ Blair, Silent Victory, p.439-40
  13. ^ Blair, Silent Victory, p. 527
  14. ^ Blair, Silent Victory, p. 582
  15. ^ Blair, p.630
  16. ^ McCain and Salter, Faith of My Fathers, pp. 3–6, 92.
  17. ^ Alexander, Man of the People, p. 20.
  18. ^ Alexander, Man of the People, p. 21.
  19. ^ a b "Executive Officers". The Fighting Saint website (2008-09-26). Retrieved on 2008-10-02.
  20. ^ "Adm. John S. McCain Jr. is Dead; Ex-Commander of Pacific Forces", The New York Times (1981-03-24). 
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h i Reynolds, Famous American Admirals, p. 209.
  22. ^ a b Alexander, Man of the People, p. 34.
  23. ^ Timberg, Nightingale's Song, pp. 40–41.
  24. ^ a b c d e Moritz (ed.), Current Biography Yearbook 1970, p. 261.
  25. ^ McCain, Faith of My Fathers, p. 94.
  26. ^ a b c "(Milestones: Died)", Time (1981-04-06). 
  27. ^ a b c Timberg, Nightingale's Song, p. 32.
  28. ^ Arnold, Martin (1968-01-24). "Admiral Says Soviet Is Striving to Rule the Seas", The New York Times. 
  29. ^ Frankel, Max (1968-04-11). "Gen. Abrams Gets Top Vietnam Post; Deputy Is Named", The New York Times. 
  30. ^ a b c d Shawcross, Sideshow, p. 136.
  31. ^ a b c Reeves, President Nixon, p. 192.
  32. ^ McCain Jr, John S.. Speech Commander's Digest (1970-02-21).
  33. ^ a b Kissinger, Ending the Vietnam War, p. 50.
  34. ^ a b c d Kissinger, Ending the Vietnam War, pp. 144–145.
  35. ^ Reeves, President Nixon, p. 193.
  36. ^ Shawcross, Sideshow, p. 180.
  37. ^ Shawcross, Sideshow, pp. 167, 187.
  38. ^ Shawcross, Sideshow, pp. 169, 190.
  39. ^ a b Shawcross, Sideshow, pp. 190–192.
  40. ^ Shawcross, Sideshow, pp. 194–195, 198–199.
  41. ^ Holloran, Bernard (1970-03-01). "Communist Challange in Laos; Laos 2: Fear Test Of the Nixon Doctrine", The New York Times. 
  42. ^ Nalty, The War Against Trucks, p. 247.
  43. ^ a b McCain and Salter, Faith of My Fathers, pp. 287–288. John McCain states he has received dozens of reports over the years of his father doing this.
  44. ^ Timberg, An American Odyssey, pp. 106–107.
  45. ^ Frankum, Like Rolling Thunder, p. 161.
  46. ^ a b c McCain and Salter, Worth the Fighting For, pp. 3–4.
  47. ^ The plane landed at Bangor, Maine where his death was confirmed, and then went on to Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington. See Worth the Fighting For, p.5. This has lead some web sources to inaccurately report the place of death as Washington.

[edit] Books

v • d • e
John McCain
Political activities
Elections
Life
Books authored
Family
Cindy Hensley McCain (wife) · Carol McCain (first wife) · Meghan McCain (daughter) · John S. McCain, Jr. (father) · Roberta McCain (mother) · Joseph McCain (brother) · Sandy McCain Morgan (sister) · John S. McCain, Sr. (grandfather)
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