Reminiscences of Adm. John S. McCain Jr., USN (Ret.)

This interview was intended as the first in a series that would cover chronologically Admiral McCain’s entire life and naval career. Unfortunately, the admiral did no further interviews after this one. It is devoted largely to the early years of his naval service, starting with his time at the Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1931. Other tours he discussed included duty in the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37), as a student in Submarine School, as an instructor at the Academy, in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, and as CinCPac. Sometimes he departed from the time sequence to talk about his father, who was an admiral in World War II, and his son John S. McCain III, who was a naval aviator in the Vietnam War. Some of the material in the oral history was used in a book titled Faith of My Fathers, written by the admiral’s son, Senator John McCain.