There's an old adage about running for office: when a person runs, their whole family runs along with them. And yet, in an era where the private is increasingly public, John McCain managed to keep his family life largely out of the spotlight. Though his own actions were very much in the public sphere, the late Senator, who passed away on Saturday after a prolonged battle with brain cancer, eschewed calling attention to his family or sharing tidbits of their personal lives. It was a particularly impressive feat, considering that his brood included seven children born across four decades. “It’s intentional,” McCain once said, when questioned about the conspicuous absence of his family during his 2008 presidential campaign. “I just feel it’s inappropriate for us to mention our children. ... I’d like them to have their own lives. I wouldn’t want to seem like I’m trying to gain some kind of advantage. I just feel that it’s a private thing.” Cindy McCain stands with Meghan, Andy, Jimmy, Jack, Doug, Bridget, and Sidney McCain during the Republican National Convention on September 4, 2008 Alex Wong Getty Images With the exceptions of Cindy McCain, who stood by her husband's side throughout his political career and during his recent battle with cancer, and their daughter Meghan, who has made a name for herself as a political and pop-culture commentator, the other members of the McCain family have mostly opted for low-profile lifestyles that have garnered little public attention. And yet, from their places in the background, each member of the McCain family helped to shape the Senator into the man who became a major public figure and worked at the heart of the American political scene. Carol McCain John McCain married his first wife, Carol, in 1965. She was, at the time, a single mother of two boys and would within their first year of marriage give birth to a daughter as well. Their life as a young family was cut short in 1967 when McCain, a Navy pilot, was shot down over Vietnam and held there as a prisoner of war. Carol took on the job of raising her three children on her own, finally welcoming McCain home when he was released in 1973. However, the years and traumas had taken a toll on their marriage. “As dad progressed, he was gone a lot, doing a lot of international travel, and it was putting a little stress on the marriage,” their son Andy recalled in the documentary John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls. In 1979, McCain met Cindy, who would become his second wife a scant six weeks after his divorce from Carol was finalized. "I was pretty much blindsided and it broke my heart,” Carol said in the documentary. Despite the rocky end to their marriage, though, Carol and McCain maintained a warm relationship in the ensuing decades. “A lot of people tried to get me to say bad things about him during [the 2008 presidential campaign," she stated. “And I was like, ‘Are you crazy? I would never do that, you don’t know me or you wouldn’t ask me. ... I mean, I love the man. I would never do anything to harm him in any way.” Cindy McCain John and Cindy McCain at the family’s Arizona ranch in March 2000. David Hume Kennerly Getty Images The courtship between McCain and his second wife was brief. At the time, she was working a special education teacher in Arizona and happened be invited to a reception that McCain was attending. "He introduced himself to me and I just didn’t know what to expect," Cindy stated in the documentary. "What I saw was this incredible human being that was a lot of fun to be around.” Within a year of meeting, the 43 year old McCain would propose 25 year old Cindy. “I really didn’t think he’d propose,” Cindy said. “He was older. I knew he cared very deeply for me. I did know that.” The couple wed in 1980, and over the course of their 38 year marriage would go on to have four children, run multiple political campaigns including two bids for the presidency, and work side by side in efforts both political and humanitarian. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years. He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved, in the the place he loved best. — Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) August 26, 2018 "My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years," Cindy wrote on Twitter in response to McCain's passing on August 25. "He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved, in the place he loved best." Doug McCain The eldest of McCain's children, Doug, 58, was the first of Carol McCain's two sons from her first marriage. After wedding Carol, McCain quickly adopted Doug and his younger brother, Andy. Though McCain was shot down over Vietnam in 1967 and held there as a prisoner of war until 1973, it's obvious that his service made a serious impression on his oldest son. Like his father, Doug would go on to become a pilot in the Navy and now serves as a captain for American Airlines, a company that shared a moving tribute to the late Senator. "Senator McCain will be sorely missed but his impact lives on. We will not forget his shining example of patriotism based on the ideals of freedom and equality for all and global leadership by the United States in support of those ideals," the airline said in a statement, offering condolences to the McCain family and Doug in particular. Andrew McCain The youngest of Carol's sons, 56-year-old Andy also chose to follow a path deeply intwined with his adopted father's life, though in a distinctly different way from his brother's. Like all three children from McCain's first marriage, Andy had a strained start with his stepmother Cindy (neither Doug, Andy, nor Sidney reportedly attended the couple's 1980 wedding ceremony), but the two evidently developed close ties over the years. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and MBA from Vanderbilt, Andy started working for Hensley Beverage Company, a beverage distributorship in association with Anheuser-Busch. The company was founded in 1955 by Cindy's father, Jim Hensely; Andy has served as an executive there for many years. John and Cindy McCain pose with Andy, Jimmy, Jack, Bridget, Meghan, Doug, and Sidney McCain in February 2000 in New Hampshire. David Hume Kennerly Getty Images Sidney McCain Born just a year before her father's plane was shot down over Vietnam, Sidney, 51, was just 9 months old when her father was captured. “I didn’t really have a father to miss because I didn’t know what a father was,” she told the New York Times of the five and a half years of her childhood during McCain's absence. Upon his return, she said, “I remember my dad just squeezing me and not wanting to let me go. It was very overwhelming at the time.” A music executive and longtime registered Democrat, Sidney was reportedly the most politically disparate from her father, but that didn't stop the two from maintaining a close connection. “I was the boundary pusher,” Sidney said in that 2007 interview. “In high school I was very rebellious. I needed to look at all sides. At least he would hear me out.” Meghan McCain Senator John McCain visited ’The View’ for daughter Meghan McCain’s birthday in October 2017. Heidi Gutman Getty Images Meghan McCain was the Senator's first child with his second wife Cindy. Meghan, 33, has developed a following in her own right since she first began garnering attention for her work on her father's 2008 presidential campaign, and for posting about her experiences on the road on the now-defunct McCainBlogette.com. The Columbia grad went on to become a commentator on Fox News and currently serves as a co-host on The View. While she has remained a stalwart champion of her father's political career in the decade since and operated as the family's spokesperson in the latter days of the Senator's life, she remembered him first and foremost as a loving father. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. I love you forever - my beloved father @SenJohnMcCain pic.twitter.com/Y50tVQvlVe — Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 26, 2018 "In the thirty three years we shared together, he raised me, taught me, corrected me, comforted me, encouraged me and supported me in all things," Meghan wrote in a tribute posted to Twitter following her father's passing. "His love and his care, ever present, always unfailing, took me from a girl to a woman -- and he showed me what it is to be a man. ... All that I am is thanks to him. Now that he is gone, the task of my lifetime is to live up to his example, his expectations and his love." At his memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday, Meghan gave a moving tribute to her father, who she remember both for his strength in guiding the nation as well as his dedication to his family. "An ancient Greek historian wrote The image of great men is woven into the stuff of other men's lives. Dad, your greatness is woven into my life, it is woven into my mother's life, into my sister's life, and it is woven into my brothers' lives. It is woven into the life and liberty of the country you sacrificed so much to defend," she said. You can read the full transcript of her eulogy here. John "Jack" Sidney McCain IV President Barack Obama hugs John McCain IV, the son of US Senator John McCain, at the graduation ceremony at the US Naval Academy on May 22, 2009. MANDEL NGAN Getty Images Named after his father, John Sidney McCain IV, aged 32, is better known to his family as Jack. McCain's third son was so dedicated to following his father's example that the Naval Academy was the only school he applied to when he graduated high school. “I want to be a part of our family legacy,” he reportedly said. The decision ultimately paid off, with Jack carrying on the family's aviation tradition by becoming a MH-60 Seahawk helicopter pilot. In 2013, he married Renee Swift McCain, a former Air Force Reserve captain. "It is not the man that was great, but instead it was his desire to serve a cause greater than himself that defined his life. To me, he was a giant, but to him he was an imperfect servant of the nation he loved deeply," Jack wrote on Twitter following his father's death. "Fair winds, following seas, and clear skies." James "Jimmy" McCain The youngest of the McCain boys, Jimmy, 30, also followed in his father's footsteps by enlisting for military service. Rather than training as a pilot, though, Jimmy chose to serve as a Marine, including a tour in Iraq when he was 19. It was in this, perhaps, that McCain most prominently showed his dedication to not using his family for political points, refusing to mention his son's active service even when questioned about the military situation in Iraq at the time. At McCain's funeral, Jimmy read out McCain's favorite poem, Requiem by Robert Louis Stevenson. McCain reportedly read the same selection at his own father's funeral. Bridget McCain Cindy and Bridget McCain hold hands at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Scott Olson Getty Images The last of McCain's children, 27-year-old Bridget came into the McCain family through Cindy's humanitarian work. While visiting an orphanage in Bangladesh in 1991, Cindy came across baby Bridget who suffered from a severe cleft palette as well as a congenital heart condition.<doc-sep>Travel was a given for the wife of a naval officer, and Roberta and her children moved repeatedly, “always in the middle of a school term,” she said in a 2008 C-SPAN interview. (A roving childhood would come to define Sen. McCain’s first run for Congress in the early 1980s. When accused of setting down artificial roots in Arizona during a candidate forum, McCain shot back by saying that the place he had lived the longest in his life was Hanoi.)<doc-sep>
JOHN McCain was not just a Senator and a war hero but also a loving family man. Here's what we know about the Republican's children and the legacy he has left behind. 3 John McCain had seven children over the course of his two marriages Credit: Getty - Contributor Who are John McCain's children? John McCain had four biological children over two marriages - Sidney, Meghan, Jack and Jimmy. The US war veteran also adopted his first wife Carol's, two sons, Doug and Andy. Sidney is his eldest biological daughter who he had with Carol. He later Meghan, Jack and Jimmy with his second wife, Cindy, and later adopted a baby from Bangladesh called Bridget. Who is Meghan McCain? McCain's most well-known child is Meghan McCain who is known for her TV appearances. Meghan, 34, is a former Fox News contributor and is the current co-host of the American talk-show The View. She left Fox News after September 2017, just over two years after she signed with the network. Meghan is currently a co-host on The View on NBC. Meghan is the eldest child John had with second wife Cindy. 3 Meghan shared the last known picture of her dad on Twitter on Fathers Day Credit: Twitter Who is Jack McCain? John “Jack” Sidney McCain IV, 32, is John's eldest biological son. He is a Navy lieutenant and a helicopter pilot and has flown MH-60 Seahawks since 2011. He is married to Air Force Reserve Captain Renee Swift and they had a son together in 2016. Who is Jimmy McCain? James "Jimmy" McCain, 30, is John McCain's youngest son. He was a member of the US Marine Corps and served two tours in Iraq. Jimmy was so young when he enlisted in the Marines his mum, Cindy, had to give consent for her then 17-year-old to join up. He also served in Afghanistan. 3 He had three biological children and one adopted daughter with his second wife Cindy Credit: AP:Associated Press Who is Bridget McCain? Cindy and John adopted Bridget, now 27, from an orphanage in Bangladesh. She was adopted from the Sisters of Charity of Mother Teresa Children’s Home, where nuns and foreign workers care for the children. John said of adopting her: “It was primarily my wife’s Cindy’s idea. She was in Bangladesh and she and some of the medical personnel visited Mother Theresa’s orphanage to try and help the children there. There were two little baby girls there. One had a heart problem the other a severe cleft palate. Cindy was very concerned about their ability to survive and their need for medical treatment, so she decided to bring them here for medical treatment. She fell in love with both of them. We decided to adopt Bridget. Two close friends of ours, adopted Mickey, the other child.” Who is Sidney McCain John and Carol McCain had eldest daughter Sidney in 1966. That was just one year before his plane was shot down over Vietnam. When he returned in 1973, his daughter didn't remember him. "I remember my dad just squeezing me and not wanting to let me go," Sidney told the New York Times in 2007. "It was very overwhelming at the time." A music executive and longtime registered Democrat, Sidney was reportedly the most politically disparate from her father. Who is Doug McCain? Douglas McCain, 58, is the eldest son of John McCain's first wife Carol from her first marriage. After the two wed he quickly adopted Doug and his brother Andy. Doug became a pilot in the Navy and now serves as a captain for American Airlines. MOST READ IN WORLD NEWS BETRAYAL OF TRUST Woman, 22, 'lured off street by paramedic and gang raped in ambulance' Latest FERRY DISASTER More than 150 feared dead after overloaded ferry 'breaks in two' and sinks CLINGING TO LIFE Hotel owner left critical after catching deadly from Aussie mouse plague CRYPTO KILLER Bondage-obsessed Bitcoin trader ‘went crazy’ & strangled lover to death SLIPPERY CHARACTER Massive deadly snake lurks in Aussie back garden... can YOU spot it? LIVES DESTROYED 3 women die and pal loses baby in crash while celebrating end of lockdown WHAT WAS THAT?