Writing Memoir, McCain Found a Narrative for Life
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
NYT
WASHINGTON — For 25 years after his release from a North Vietnamese prison, Senator John McCain tried to build a reputation as more than a famous former captive. “I never want to be a professional P.O.W.,” he often told friends. He refused to let his campaigns use pictures from his incarceration, and he never mentioned his torture.
“When somebody introduces me like, ‘Here is our great war hero,’ I don’t like it,” Mr. McCain complained in a 1998 interview with Esquire magazine. “Jesus,” he said, “it can make your skin crawl.”
Mr. McCain’s impatience with his war story soon changed, however, when he became not only its protagonist but also its author. His 1999 memoir, “Faith of My Fathers,” for the first time put his prison camp ordeal at the center of his public persona. In its pages, he recalled the experience as much more than a trial: a turning point from glory-seeking flyboy to responsible patriot, the final resolution of a rebellion against his father’s expectations, and the origin of a drive “to serve a cause” larger than himself.
A descendant of Navy admirals who wrote unpublished novels and quoted Victorian poetry, Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, often surprises aides and friends with his literary musings and bibliophilic appetite. He cites characters from fiction and film as role models.
(Continued here.)
NYT
WASHINGTON — For 25 years after his release from a North Vietnamese prison, Senator John McCain tried to build a reputation as more than a famous former captive. “I never want to be a professional P.O.W.,” he often told friends. He refused to let his campaigns use pictures from his incarceration, and he never mentioned his torture.
“When somebody introduces me like, ‘Here is our great war hero,’ I don’t like it,” Mr. McCain complained in a 1998 interview with Esquire magazine. “Jesus,” he said, “it can make your skin crawl.”
Mr. McCain’s impatience with his war story soon changed, however, when he became not only its protagonist but also its author. His 1999 memoir, “Faith of My Fathers,” for the first time put his prison camp ordeal at the center of his public persona. In its pages, he recalled the experience as much more than a trial: a turning point from glory-seeking flyboy to responsible patriot, the final resolution of a rebellion against his father’s expectations, and the origin of a drive “to serve a cause” larger than himself.
A descendant of Navy admirals who wrote unpublished novels and quoted Victorian poetry, Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, often surprises aides and friends with his literary musings and bibliophilic appetite. He cites characters from fiction and film as role models.
(Continued here.)
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