|
THREE
GENERATIONS OF McCAINs
IN PANAMA IN 1936
 |
|
 |
|
 |
| John Sidney
(“Slew”) McCain, Sr.(1884-1945)
[Source Note 1] |
|
John
Sidney
("Jack") McCain, Jr. (1911–1981)
[Source Note 2]
|
|
Senator John
Sidney McCain III (1936 - )
[Source Note 3] |
|
Numerous occasions
throughout its history, Panama has been a point of convergence of
often significance -- either at the time or
later. Such events occurred also during the U.S. military
presence in Panama during the 20th Century. In 1936, the
Panama Canal Zone (specifically the Coco Solo Naval Air Station/Submarine Base)
briefly became the epicenter of three generations of a family
whose distinguished naval service would eventually span World Wars
I and II through the Vietnam War and its aftermath. The
two elder McCains later became Navy Admirals and the third
continued the tradition of Naval service followed by becoming a
U.S. senator and in 2000 and 2008 ran unsuccessfully for President
of the United States.. He lost the 2008 election to Barack
Obama by 173
electoral votes to Obama's 365 electoral votes and 58,343,671
(46%) of
the popular vote to Obama's 66,882,230
(53%).
BORN
AT COCO SOLO NAVAL HOSPITAL IN PANAMA CANAL ZONE
Three
generations of John McCains at Coco Solo 1936
-- infant McCain with his father (left) and
grandfather; both later became Navy Admirals.
[Source Note
4]
|
|
| John
Sidney McCain III was
born on August
29, 1936 at the Naval hospital
on Coco Solo Naval Air Station on the Atlantic side
of the then American-controlled Panama
Canal Zone to naval officer John Sidney "Jack" McCain, Jr.
(1911–1981) and Roberta (Wright) McCain (born 1912).
Both
his father and grandfather were briefly assigned to
the Coco Solo base in 1936. [Source Note
5]
The McCains
returned to the United States within three
months of his birth for Jack McCain's next
assignment. [Source Note
18]
Seventy one
years later while briefly reminiscing those
days in an interview in April 2008 with a
Reuters news service correspondent, Senator
John McCain III recalls "My mother, at
the hospital where I was born, still relates
that on Friday afternoon just after I was
born, from the hospital she could hear from
the officer's club, all of them celebrating,
singing songs, congratulating my father on
my birth." [Source Note
18] |
|
Grandfather
John
Sidney "Slew" McCain, Sr.
(1884 - 1945) -- after graduating from the Naval
Academy in 1906, sea duty on a number of ships
during the 1920s and early 1930s, and undergoing flight
training and aviation at the Naval Air Station in
Pensacola, Florida, as a 51-year old Navy captain --
was appointed Commander of Aircraft Squadron and
Attending Craft at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station
on August 19, 1936 after he had been designated a
naval aviator. Ten days later, his grandson
was born there. [Source Note
6]
Jack
McCain was assigned nearby at the Coco Solo Submarine Base
following graduation from the Naval Academy in 1931 and
assignments on the USS Oklahoma and the New
London Naval
Submarine Base (the birthplace of the U.S. submarine force) in
Groton,
Connecticut. (After
having been turned down for flight school due to a heart
murmur, McCain Jr. applied to submarine school where he
later graduated.) In late 1936, he and his family was transferred
from Coco Solo to New London Naval
Submarine Base, Connecticut, then followed by assignments
at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and various other stations in the
Pacific Ocean. [Source Note
7]
In
May 1937,
"Slew"
McCain
departed Coco Solo to command the Ranger
than the Naval Air Station in San Diego,
California. He
went
on to become a pioneer of aircraft carrier strategy
who commanded all carrier forces in the Pacific Ocean theater during World War II,
led American forces into epic actions, including the
Marianas campaign, the Battle of the Philippine Sea , the
Leyte campaign, the
Battle of Okinawa, and raids on the Japanese mainland.
He died four days after attending the Japanese surrender
ceremony in Tokyo Bay, Japan and was posthumously
promoted to full admiral. [Source Note
6]
His son Jack was a submarine
commander in World War II and later served as
Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces in Europe in 1967 and
1968 and Commander in Chief, Pacific Command from 1968 to
1972 during the Vietnam War as a four-star Admiral. (During
this time, his son, Navy pilot John S. McCain III was shot
down in combat and held in Hanoi in the infamous "Hanoi
Hilton" as a prisoner of war for nearly five and a half
years.) Admiral Jack McCain retired in 1972 and died in 1981.
[Source Note 7]
The
McCains are the only father-son pair to achieve four-star
Navy Admiral rank so far in American history.
After
graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958 and serving
23 years in the Navy (including five and a half years as a
POW in Vietnam including periods of torture), John Sidney McCain III retired from
the Navy in 1981 as a captain eight years after his release
from captivity in Vietnam. His last Navy duty
assignment was the naval liaison to the United States Senate.
During his military
service, he was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion
of Merit, Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross and
other awards. [Source Note
8-a]
His Congressional
service began in 1982 with two terms in the House of
Representatives as a Republican representing Arizona
followed by serving as senator for Arizona since 1987
(succeeding Senator Barry Goldwater).
Senator McCain is currently
the Ranking
Member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services;
Ranking; Member and former Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; and
Member and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Indian Affairs. He served as Chairman of the Senate
Armed Services Committee from 1997 to 2001 and 2003 to
2005. .[Source Note
8-b]
Senator
McCain's son John Sidney "Jack" McCain IV
is serving in the U,S, Navy after graduating from the U.S.
Naval Academy and son James "Jimmy" McCain is serving
in the U.S. Marine Corps as an enlistee since late 2006,
including a seven-month tour in Iraq.
[Source Note 9]
RETURN
TO PANAMA
| During
the two-year political crisis in Panama in
1988-1989, Senator
McCain was one of the delegation of 21 U.S.
officials (including a former U.S. ambassador to
Panama), legislators, and legislative aides that flew
from Washington to Panama May 6 to serve as President
George H. W. Bush's personal election observers for
the Panamanian presidential and legislative election
on May 7. [Source Note
10]
Late May 8, this delegation held a press conference
in the Albrook Air Force Station Officers Club on
their observations of the previous day's election
results before returning to Washington. [Source Note
11]
May 9, the congressional delegation reported to
President Bush upon its return. The delegation
painted a very grim picture and wanted some sort of
action. Senator John McCain, for example,
stated that the United States might have to use
force in Panama, a thought that had occurred to
everyone. [Source Note
12]
|
 |
|
 |
| Arrival
of U.S. Congressional Delegation at Howard Air Force
Base in the Panama Canal Area in May 1989, including
Senator John McCain (second from right) and
Congressman John Murtha (third from left).
[Source Note
13] |
|
Senator
John McCain speaking at Howard Air Force Base after
arrival in May 1989. [Source
Note 14] |
 |
| Press
conference held by the Congressional delegation late
May 8 at Albrook Air Force Station on their findings
from observing the May 7 elections. The
delegation departed from Howard Air Force Base
immediately after the press conference returning to
Washington, D.C.. (WHO's comment: If memory serves
me correctly, Senator John McCain was at the end of
the table - left side of photo.) [Source Note
11] |
(A separate 22-member international delegation also
traveled to Panama
to observe the same election.
Headed by former U.S.
Presidents Gerald Ford (Republican) and Jimmy Carter
(Democrat) it had been organized by the National
Republican Institute for International Affairs and
the National Democratic Institute for International
Affairs in conjunction with the Council of
Freely-Elected Heads of Government. That
delegation’s purpose was to lend support to those
participating in the election and to ensure that an
objective assessment of the election process was
presented to the international community. [Source
Note 15]
SENATOR
McCAIN SALUTES PANAMA IN 2003 -- via taped remarks on July
4th via U.S. Embassy in Panama
| "I'd like to
congratulate the Panamanian government and people on
their hundredth anniversary. A nation that was born in
conflict and now lives in peace. We are proud of our
relationship and I am proud to say that I was born in
your country. I am convinced that the prospects for
our relations will continue to improve over the years
as you also have as part of your country one of the
most magnificent feats of engineering that the world
has ever seen. I know that you will take good care of
it. I look forward to seeing you soon."
SOURCE:
American Embassy Panama Website at http://panama.usembassy.gov/panama/mccain4th.html |
Private
Visit -- In December 2004, Senator McCain and his
family visited Panama, including visiting the Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institution where they visited some of
STRI's projects, including the Canopy Crane Access System in
Fort Sherman (a U.S. Army base on the Atlantic side that was
home
of the U.S. Army Jungle Operations Training Center until
1999 when the base was transferred to Panama), tropical
trees physiology research in Gamboa, and the Native Species
Reforestation Project. [Source
Note 16]
|
|
_____________________________________________________________________
REGARDING THE OFTEN
RAISED QUESTION OF WHETHER SENATOR McCAIN IS
CONSTITUTIONALLY
ELIGIBLE FOR THE U.S. PRESIDENCY
Much
has been written/debated pro and con – including online
blogs since 2000 (the first time Senator McCain
was a unsuccessful candidate for Republican nomination for President of the United States and again
in 2008 as the Republican nominee as of September 4, 2008) whether
Senator McCain is constitutionally eligible for the U.S.
Presidency because he was born outside the United States.
Many
opinions
reflect or cite varying interpretations of the Constitution or
agendas and with use of selected quoted sections (or
selected parts) of the U.S. Constitution and/or Amendments
often taken out of context; others off the wall
commentaries.
As
the New York Times recently reported, the
happenstance of his birth in the
Panama
Canal Zone
in 1936 is reviving a musty debate that has surfaced
periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment
and declared that only a "natural-born citizen"
can hold the nation's highest office. Almost since those
words were written in 1787 with scant explanation, their
precise meaning has been the stuff of confusion, law school
review articles, whisper campaigns and civics class debates
over whether only those delivered on American soil can be
truly natural born. To date, no American to take the
presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the
50 states, noted the New York Times. [Source
Note 17]
And
to date there has never been a court case on what
"natural-born citizen" means.
[WHO's
comment]
I would
assume that by now Senator McCain had been ensured that there is
no legal impediment to his being eligible to run for the
Presidency because he was born outside the United States. As the New York
Times recently reported, his
campaign
advisers say they are comfortable that McCain meets the
requirement and note that the question was researched for
his first presidential bid in 1999 and reviewed again this
time around. But given mounting interest, the campaign
recently asked Theodore Olson, a former solicitor general
now advising McCain, to prepare a detailed legal analysis.
"I don't have much doubt about it," said Olson,
who added, though, that he still needed to finish his
research.
[Source Note 17]
[WHO's
comments]
One might think that any serious concern
over this issue would have been raised by at least some of
the two former U.S. Attorneys General, a former Solicitor
General (Theodore Olson) and several other lawyers as well as four former
U.S. Secretaries of State among Senator McCain's supporters.
The fact that
McCain was born
to two U.S. citizens (the father a U.S. Navy officer) on the
Coco Solo U.S. Naval Air Station / Submarine base within the
U.S-controlled Panama Canal Zone in 1936 seem to be
fully consistent with a specific section of the
United States Code -- namely, Section 1403 (a) – Persons
born in the Canal Zone or Republic of Panama on or after
February 26, 1904, under Title 8 USC – Aliens
and Nationality of the United States Code as well as a
U.S. Department of State regulation (both shown below) and . The
United States Code is the collection of all the laws of the
United States. As shown below, 8 USC 1403 is identical
(verbatim) to Section 303 of the IMMIGRATION
AND NATIONALITY ACT (INA) - Title III: Chapter
1 - Nationality at Birth and by Collective
Naturalization (also showm below).
Relevant
U.S. Statutes:
| Aliens
and Nationality - 8 United States Code (USC) Section 1403
|
| 1403
|
Persons born in the Canal Zone
or Republic
of Panama
on
or after February 26, 1904
|
|
(a) Any person born in the Canal Zone on or after
February 26, 1904,
and whether before or after the effective date of this
chapter,
whose father or mother or both at the time of the birth of such
person was or is a citizen of the United States, is declared
to
be a citizen of the United States.
(b) Any person born in the Republic of Panama on or
after February
26, 1904, and whether before or after the effective date of
this chapter, whose father or mother or both at the time of
the birth
of such person was or is a citizen of the United States employed
by the Government of the United States or by the Panama Railroad
Company, or its successor in title, is declared to be a citizen
of the United States.
|
| (Source:
http://law.onecle.com/uscode/8/1403.html
)
|
8 USC
Section 1403 specifically addressing the Canal Zone
is
consistent with the fact that the United States controlled
the 10-mile swath of territory that bisected the Republic of
Panama (five miles each side of the centerline of the Panama
Canal) and administered it as if it were sovereign over that
territory in perpetuity as stipulated Article III and II
respectively in the U.S.-Panama Treaty of 1903 (also
known as the Hay/Bunau-Varilla Treaty), which governed canal
operations and civil affairs within the Canal Zone since the
waterway's construction by the United States) -- from
February 26, 1904 through September 20, 1979. During
that period, the
Canal Zone
was an integral territory of the United States
with equivalent status to other U.S.
territories at the time such as Puerto Rico, Alaska,
and Hawaii. (That 1903 treaty was replaced by the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977 that
went into effect October 1, 1979 and was terminated at noon,
December 31, 1999 after completion of the 20-year phased
plan for drawdown of U.S. military presence in Panama and
for preparation for the transfer of the Panama Canal to the
Panamanian Government on that date.)
| Acquisition
of U.S. Citizenship By a Child Born Abroad |
| See INA
section 301(c) below |
Birth
Abroad to Two U.S. Citizen Parents in Wedlock: A child
born abroad to two U.S. citizen parents acquires U.S.
citizenship at birth under section 301(c) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (INA). One of the parents MUST have
resided in the U.S. prior to the child's birth. No specific
period of time for such prior residence is required. |
|
[The rest of this section
pertains to birth abroad to one citizen and one alien parent
in wedlock; birth abroad out-of-wedlock to a U.S. citizen
father; birth abroad out-of-wedlock to a U.S. citizen
mother.]
|
| Source:
U.S. Department of State at http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html,
1997)
|
In addition
to being covered by 8 USC Section 1403 / INA Section 303 and
INA Section 301(c), Senator McCain's situation seems to be
consistent with INA Section 301(e) (also shown below).
The following table shows that INA Sections 301(c) and
301(e) under Nationals
and Citizens of the United States at Birth have the
same weight as INA Section 301(a) as persons born in the
United States.
| IMMIGRATION
AND NATIONALITY ACT (INA) - Title III: Chapter
1 - Nationality at Birth and by Collective
Naturalization |
|
301 |
Nationals
and Citizens of the United States at Birth |
|
|
(a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof; . . .
(c)
a person born outside of the United States and its
outlying possessions of parents both of whom are
citizens of the United States and one of whom has
had a residence in the United States or one of its
outlying possessions, prior to the birth of such
person; . . .
(e) a person born in an outlying possession of the
United States of parents one of whom is a citizen of
the United States who has been physically present in
the United States or one of its outlying possessions
for a continuous period of one year at any time
prior to the birth of such person; . . .
|
|
303 |
Persons
Born in the Canal Zone or Republic of Panama on or
after February 26, 1904 [also
8 USC Section 1403] |
|
|
(a)
Any person born in the Canal Zone on or after
February 26, 1904, and whether before or after the
effective date of this Act, whose father or mother
or both at the time of the birth of such person was
or is a citizen of the United States, is declared to
be a citizen of the United States.
(b)
Any person born in the Republic of Panama on or
after February 26, 1904, and whether before or after
the effective date of this Act, whose father or
mother or both at the time of the birth of such
person was or is a citizen of the United States
employed by the Government of the United States or
by the Panama Railroad Company, or its successor in
title, is declared to be a citizen of the United
States.
|
| (Source:
http://www.immigration-usa.com/ina_96_title_3.html
) |
Bottom line
-- end of debate unless a serious challenge to it
(on what "natural-born citizen means) should be entered and entertained by the Federal
courts. Frankly that should be a moot point except
perhaps for some of those who may be uncomfortable with a
precedent without having been vented by a Federal court or
the Supreme Court. In view of the above sections of
the U.S. Code and INA, I view a natural born citizen"
as a citizen who is automatically
a citizen of the United States by process of law without any
action on the part of the citizen to become a citizen.
That means anyone born in the United States or born to
citizens of the United States, no matter where they were at
the time of the birth.
On November
4, 2008, Senator McCain lost to Barack Obama by 173
electoral votes to Obama's 365 electoral votes and 58,343,671
(46%) of
the popular vote to Obama's 66,882,230
(53%).
_____________________________________________________________________
WHO's
SOURCE NOTES:
| 1 |
Photo of
John S. McCain, Sr. - from Arlington National
Cemetery website at: |
| http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jsmccain.htm |
| 2 |
Photo of
John S. McCain, Jr. - from Wikipedia website
at: |
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._McCain,_Jr.
|
| 3 |
Photo
of John S. McCain III. - from Senator McCain's
official website at: |
| http://mccain.senate.gov/
|
| 4 |
Photo
- Three
generations of McCains at Coco Solo 1936 - from Wikipedia
site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#Family_background_and_early_education
and Senator McCain's website at http://www.johnmccain.com/about/ |
| 5 |
Senator
John S. McCain III - Biographical data -- from Wikipedia
site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#Family_background_and_early_education
|
| 6 |
Admiral John S.
"Slew" McCain Sr. - Biographical data -- from Wikipedia
site at |
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._McCain%2C_Sr.
and |
| http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/9X/04712282/047122829X.pdf |
| 7 |
Admiral John S.
"Jack" McCain Jr. - Biographical data -- from Wikipedia
site at |
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._McCain%2C_Jr. |
| 8
-a |
Senator
John S. McCain III - Biographical data -- from Wikipedia
site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#Family_background_and_early_education
|
| and John
McCain's website at http://www.johnmccain.com/about/ |
| 8
-b |
Senator
McCain's Senate Committee Assignments -- from Senator McCain's
official website at: http://mccain.senate.gov/
|
|
| 9 |
McCain's
Marine son returns from Iraq -- CNN Political
Ticker, 13 Feb 08 at: |
| http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/13/mccains-marine-son-returns-from-iraq/ |
| 10 |
Kevin
Buckley, Panama: The Whole Story, New York:
Simon & Shuster, c.1991 (p. 176) |
| 11 |
William
H. Ormsbee (WHO), as civilian Public Information /
Press Officer for Headquarters, U.S. Southern
Command, attended that press conference. |
| 12 |
Kevin
Buckley, Panama: The Whole Story (p. 179) |
| 13 |
Photo
- Congressional Delegation arrival at Howard Air
Force Base -- from the U.S.
Southern Command's The Tropic Times newspaper
Special Edition: Panama Crisis 1989...Shattered
Dreams, July 14, 1989 (p. 3 - Observers Arrive) |
| 14 |
Photo
- Senator John McCain speaks at Howard Air Force
Base -- from the U.S.
Southern Command's The Tropic Times newspaper
Special Edition: Panama Crisis 1989...Shattered
Dreams, July 14, 1989 (p. 5) |
| 15 |
International delegation
of election observers headed by former Presidents
Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter -- from
Kevin Buckley, Panama: The Whole Story (pages
179 - 180) and The May 7, 1989 Panamanian
Elections - International Delegation Report
(Click
here for
complete report - pdf format) |
| 16 |
McCain
family visit to Panama 2004 -- from STRI News
- 2005, dated January 7,
2005 at http://striweb.si.edu/strinews/PDFs/January_7_2005.pdf
|
|
|
| 17 |
"McCain's
birthplace prompts queries about whether that rules
him out," Carl
Hulse, New
York Times, February 28, 2008
|
|
|
| 18 |
"Tropical
decay blights McCain's
Panama
birthplace," by Andrew Beatty, Reuters,
April 8, 2008 (complete release at http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0830488520080408)
|
_____________________________________________________________________
RELATED
LINKS AND LITERATURE
Senator John S. McCain III
- Biographical data -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain#Family_background_and_early_education
Senator
McCain's Official Websites --
http://mccain.senate.gov/
and
http://www.johnmccain.com/
Admiral John S.
"Slew" McCain Sr. - Biographical data -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._McCain%2C_Sr.
Admiral John S.
"Jack" McCain Jr. - Biographical data -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._McCain%2C_Jr.
Coco Solo Naval Air
Station / Submarine Base
-- from WHO's
SCROLL at http://william-h-ormsbee.com/cocosolo_naval_base_hist_p01.htm
Photos
of Coco Solo Naval Air Station taken in 1935-1936 by
Apprentice Seaman Ken Sederquist while on duty there – GO
TO:
http://www.czimages.com/CZMemories/Photos/photoof281.htm
and http://www.czimages.com/CZMemories/buchanan/buchanan_index.htm
John
McCain: An American Odyssey, by Robert Timberg,
Touchstone. Reviewed in New York Times at
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/t/timberg-mccain.html
Citizen
McCain, Elizabeth Drew, New York: Simon & Shuster,
2002
Man
of the People: The Life of John McCain, by Paul
Alexander, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002
Faith of
My Fathers, by John McCain with Mark Salter, New
York
: Random House, 1999
Worth
the Fighting For: A Memoir, John McCain with Mark
Salter, New York: Random House, 2002
Why
Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life, John McCain,
New York: Random House, 2004
|
|
| This
page last updated: September
8, 2008 |
 |
| Site
developed, owned and maintained by |
| William
H. Ormsbee, Jr. |
| 1999-2001
/ 2005-2008 |
|
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