Content area
Full Text
John McCain, Mark Salter, Faith of My Fathers. A Family Memoir, Harper Perennial, New York, 2008, 359 pp., (first edition: Random House, New York, 1999)
Lucian Bogdan*
The book recounts the lifeline story of U.S. Senator John S. McCain (R, AZ) and of his two most prominent forbears and namesakes, emphasis being put not inasmuch on sheer biographical (and, of course) autobiographical details, which are present solely to the extent of fitting the characters into the context, but on those elements defining the image of the Navy hero, an inspirational model for military cadres and civilians alike.
It is revealing in this respect that the first part of the book, comprising no less than seven chapters and 96 pages, dedicated to the Senator's grandfather, John Sidney McCain and to the former's father, John Sidney "Jack" McCain1, constitutes basically a walkthrough the history of the ascension of the U.S. as a great sea power, highlighting the way the major events of this roughly half-a-century period reflected themselves in the personalities of the aforementioned protagonists and how, in turn, they had literally put their imprint on the flow of history.
While there was a several-centuries long tradition of joining the military amongst the McCains' line of ancestry, the first to distinguish himself being John Young, captain of the Augusta County militia, victor over the Native Americans in 1764 (p. 19) and William Alexander McCain, Sr. being a reputed Civil War hero, the Senator's grandfather would be the first to join the Navy, at a time it went through steep, momentous developments.
The authors put a great emphasis on the moment McCain I was commissioned as an ensign on the USS Connecticut, the flagship of Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet (p. 24), which, by its tour around the world, was meant to mark the ascension of the U.S. to great-power status. Not only was the tour laden with symbolism; so was its mentioning in the book: the life of the would-be distinguished admiral, victorious against the Japanese some four decades later, would be intimately linked to the existence and thriving of the U.S. Navy; his achievements would all come while serving his country's cause, just as it was the mission of the Navy to safeguard the national interest...