![]() First edition | |
Author | John McCain with Mark Salter |
---|---|
Language | English |
Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | August 1999 |
Media type | Hardcover |
Pages | 349 |
ISBN | 0-375-50191-6 |
OCLC | 40776751 |
973.9/092/2 B 21 | |
LC Class | E840.8.M467 A3 1999 |
Followed by | Worth the Fighting For |
Faith of My Fathers is a 1999 bestselling non-fiction book by United States Senator John McCain with Mark Salter. Published by Random House, it is part autobiography, part family memoir. It traces the story of McCain's life growing up, during his time in the United States Naval Academy, and his military service as a naval aviator before and during the Vietnam War. His story is interwoven with those of his father John S. "Jack" McCain, Jr. and his grandfather John S. "Slew" McCain, Sr., both four-star admirals in the Navy.
McCain had rarely discussed his military experiences until the 1995 publication of Robert Timberg's The Nightingale's Song . [1] After that book found critical praise, Timberg's literary agent tried to persuade McCain to write his own memoir on the subject; he was reluctant until she suggested he fold in the stories of his father and grandfather as well. [1]
Publisher Random House paid McCain $500,000 for a two-book advance. [2] Half went to McCain and half to Salter, McCain's longtime legislative aide. [2] The book's themes were heavily influenced by McCain's literary tastes, such as Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls , and its tone by Salter's gloomy view of human nature. [1]
The book was released in late August 1999; during September, McCain went on a 15-city book tour, that dovetailed with campaign stops of his 2000 presidential campaign that would be formally announced later in the month. [2]
The book was a commercial success, spending 24 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list between September 1999 and March 2000, with a peak position of number two, [3] and selling over 500,000 copies. [1] Reviews of the book were almost all positive. [2] McCain's royalties from the book were donated to charity. [4]
The success of the book tour and the book's high number of sales led to it becoming a central part of the themes of McCain's 2000 presidential campaign, and represented a fundamental change in McCain using his Vietnam and prisoner experiences as a framing device for the narrative of his life. [1]
The memoir was made into the 2005 television film Faith of My Fathers . McCain also wrote a sequel memoir, 2002's Worth the Fighting For , that covered his life after returning from Vietnam and as a politician. The final volume of McCain's autobiographical trilogy is The Restless Wave , published in 2018. [5]
Slew McCain commanded the aircraft carriers of Task Force 38 in the Pacific War in late 1944 and 1945, ultimately having 15 carriers and 8 battleships, plus their escorts, under his control for operations against Japan in July 1945. Jack McCain was a submariner in the U.S. Navy during the Pacific War, and later rose to four star rank and became Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command (CINCPAC), commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater from 1968 to 1972. John McCain writes forthrightly of his rebellious and misspent youth, and his conflicts about following in his forefathers' steps.
The centerpiece of Faith of My Fathers is a lengthy account of McCain's five and half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnamese camps, of the torturing and suffering he and his fellow prisoners endured, and the various kinds of faith that enabled him to carry on through the ordeal. It describes the injuries he sustained during his shoot-down and imprisonment, and the origin of why he cannot lift his arms above his shoulders. The book concludes with the release from captivity of him and the other POWs in 1973.
The following passage explains the book's title:
Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles. No misfortune, no injury, no humiliation can destroy it. This is the faith that my commanders affirmed, that my brothers-in-arms encouraged my allegiance to… It was my father and grandfather's faith. A filthy, broken man, all I had left of my dignity was the faith of my fathers. It was enough.
John Sidney McCain III was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms in the United States House of Representatives and was the Republican nominee for president of the United States in the 2008 election.
John Sidney "Jack" McCain Jr. was a United States Navy admiral who served in conflicts from the 1940s through the 1970s, including as the Commander, United States Pacific Command.
Mark Salter is an American speechwriter from Davenport, Iowa, known for his collaborations with United States Senator John McCain on several nonfiction books as well as on political speeches. Salter also served as McCain's chief of staff for a while, although he had left that position by 2008. Salter has often been referred to as McCain's "alter ego".
The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, commonly known as the National League of POW/MIA Families or the League, is an American 501(c)(3) humanitarian organization that is concerned with the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. According to the group's web site, its sole purpose is "to obtain the release of all prisoners, the fullest possible accounting for the missing and repatriation of all recoverable remains of those who died serving our nation during the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia." The League's most prominent symbol is its flag.
The 2000 presidential campaign of John McCain, the United States Senator from Arizona, began in September 1999. He announced his run for the Republican Party nomination for the presidency of the United States in the 2000 presidential election.
The early life and military career of John Sidney McCain III spans the first forty-five years of his life (1936–1981). McCain's father and grandfather were admirals in the United States Navy. McCain was born on August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone, and attended many schools growing up as his family moved among naval facilities. McCain graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1958. He married the former Carol Shepp in 1965; he adopted two children from her previous marriage and they had another child together.
John Sidney McCain III retired from the United States Navy in April 1981. His last four years in the service had been spent as the Navy's liaison to the United States Senate. He moved to Arizona with his new wife and, aided by a job from his father-in-law and the contacts it gave him, soon began a new career in politics.
Senator John McCain's personal character has dominated the image and perception of him. His family's military heritage, his rebellious nature as a youth, his endurance over his treatment as a prisoner of war, his resulting physical limitations, his political persona, his well-known temper, his admitted propensity for controversial or ill-advised remarks, and his devotion to maintaining his large blended family have all defined his place in the American political world more than any ideological or partisan framing.
Worth the Fighting For is a 2002 book by John McCain with Mark Salter. Published by Random House, it is part autobiography, part mini-biographies of others.
Faith of My Fathers is a 2005 American biographical drama television film directed by Peter Markle and written by Markle and William Bingham, based on the 1999 memoir of the same name by United States Senator and former United States Navy aviator John McCain. It aired on A&E on Memorial Day, May 30, 2005.
Joseph Pinckney McCain II is an American stage actor, newspaper reporter, and the brother of the late U.S. Senator and two-time presidential candidate John McCain.
The Nightingale's Song is a 1995 book by Baltimore Sun journalist Robert Timberg. It relates the military and political careers of five graduates of the United States Naval Academy, most of whom served during the Vietnam War in either the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps: John McCain, Bud McFarlane, Oliver North, John Poindexter, and Jim Webb. Timberg himself was also a Naval Academy graduate and served in Vietnam with the Marine Corps, where he was badly wounded.
Carol Shepp McCain is an American former political aide and event planner who served as the director of the White House Visitors Office from 1981 to 1987, during the Reagan administration. She was the first wife of United States Senator John McCain.
The Vietnam War POW/MIA issue concerns the fate of United States servicemen who were reported as missing in action (MIA) during the Vietnam War and associated theaters of operation in Southeast Asia.
Robert Richard "Bob" Timberg was an American journalist, writer, and author of four books, including The Nightingale's Song.
Members of the United States armed forces were held as prisoners of war (POWs) in significant numbers during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1973. Unlike U.S. service members captured in World War II and the Korean War, who were mostly enlisted troops, the overwhelming majority of Vietnam-era POWs were officers, most of them Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps airmen; a relatively small number of Army enlisted personnel were also captured, as well as one enlisted Navy seaman, Petty Officer Doug Hegdahl, who fell overboard from a naval vessel. Most U.S. prisoners were captured and held in North Vietnam by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN); a much smaller number were captured in the south and held by the Việt Cộng (VC). A handful of U.S. civilians were also held captive during the war.
Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life is a 2004 book by United States Senator John McCain with his frequent collaborator and aide Mark Salter. Published by Random House, it is mostly mini-biographies and mini-commentaries on others, but contains a small autobiographical element.
Thirteen Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War is a 2014 book by United States Senator John McCain and his frequent collaborator and former staff member Mark Salter. Published by Simon & Schuster, it contains a chapter representing one person's story from each of America's thirteen major wars.
The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations is a 2018 book by American politician John McCain and his frequent collaborator and former staff member Mark Salter. It is a personal memoir looking at McCain's last ten years or so in the Senate, and his 2008 campaign for the presidency against Barack Obama. As such it is the final volume of an autobiographical trilogy that also comprises Faith of My Fathers (1999) and Worth the Fighting For (2002). It also covers his work on behalf of democracy and human rights in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The work's title comes from the second line of the naval hymn "Eternal Father, Strong to Save", reflecting McCain's career as a naval aviator. It contains 10 chapters including Arab Spring and Regular order.
The McCain family is a prominent American naval family. Its member include Admirals John S. McCain Sr. (1884–1945) and John S. McCain Jr. (1911–1981), who were the first father-and-son pair to achieve four-star admiral rank in the U.S. Navy, and John S. McCain III (1936–2018) who served in the Vietnam War and as a Congressman and United States Senator from Arizona.