McCain Gives Unvarnished View of His Past
By LAURA MECKLER
April 5, 2008; Page A4
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- John McCain spent an unconventional week on the campaign trail, starting with memories of a rebellious youth and capped by an appearance Friday before a somewhat hostile African-American crowd gathered to remember Martin Luther King Jr.
Sen. John McCain greets the crowd after speaking at the Lorraine Hotel, the site where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, during an event marking the slain civil-rights leader's death.
Candidates usually try to cast their lives in a glossy sheen, and set their speeches before friendly audiences. But the Arizona senator spent the past few days frequently doing the opposite.
He was barely audible at the King event, over a driving rain and murmuring crowd. His speaking style was staid compared with the other speakers, giving his appearance an awkward quality.
"Martin Luther King Jr. was not a man to flinch from harsh truth, and the same is required of all who come here to see where he was in the last hours of his life," Sen. McCain said, standing beneath the balcony at the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King was shot 40 years ago Friday. "We look up to that balcony, we remember that night, and we are still left with a feeling of loss."
As he left the stage, there was a mixture of applause, booing and shouts of "End the war now!" and "No justice, no peace!"
"His words didn't carry the tone and passion that we're accustomed to hearing," said Earl McKinney, 51 years old, an architect born and raised in Memphis. Still, he said, he appreciated the appearance of Sen. McCain, who has said he will compete for African-American votes, normally unfriendly terrain for Republicans. "That shows interest," Mr. McKinney said. "You have to give him something for that."
Having sewn up his party's nomination, while the Democratic hopefuls battle it out, Sen. McCain started his general-election campaign with a journey through cities that were formative in his life, in an attempt to frame his personal story as he reintroduces himself to the country. He began Monday in Meridian, Miss., near the Navy's McCain Field, named for his grandfather, and devoted most of the subsequent days to discussing his own past.
In his telling, a misspent youth and a twisted sense of honor later gave way to a deeper and more meaningful understanding of both honor and his place in the world. The turning point was an oft-told story -- his time as prisoner of war in Vietnam. That, he said in Jacksonville, Fla., where he lived before and after Vietnam, was when he learned the true meaning of honor as he endured beatings and declined an offer for early release.
Sen. McCain largely ignored controversial episodes from his life from more recent years, though on Friday he mentioned his opposition to creating a federal holiday for Dr. King in 1983, his first term in Congress. "I was wrong and eventually realized that," he said to boos from the crowd.
Several times, he tried to tie lessons of his past to the nation's future, as when he pivoted from his enrollment in the Naval Academy to call on Americans to service.
Most comfortable speaking extemporaneously in town-hall meetings, the senator at times stumbled over the soaring words in his speeches. In Annapolis, Md., amid frigid weather and a nonfunctioning TelePrompTer, he skipped a full page of text.
In a question-and-answer session at his former high school, Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., junior Katelyn Halldorson said that students had been told the visit was "not a political event" and yet, she said, it appeared obvious that it was. "So what exactly is your purpose in being here?" she asked. "Not that I don't appreciate the opportunity, but I'd just like some clarification." Sen. McCain stammered through a reply but never fully answered her question.
He didn't flinch from some less-flattering memories though. At visits to both his high school and the Naval Academy, he spoke of his poor academic record and demerits for misbehavior. He talked about unauthorized "nocturnal sojourns" off campus and "other petty acts of insubordination." He spoke of a youth spent drinking, dating and generally having a good time.
These early acts of rebellion, he said, were a way of acting out against the expectation from a young age that he would follow his grandfather and father, both four-star admirals, into the Navy.
The military came up at other moments. Thursday morning, Sen. McCain and his wife, Cindy, spent about five minutes visiting the Walk of Heroes at Cecil Field, a former Naval air base in Jacksonville. As he walked along the tree-lined path, he stopped to read plaques dedicated to those who had died in uniform or were still missing from the Vietnam War and other wars.
"I knew Fred real well," he said reading one plaque. "He was behind me at the Naval Academy," he said passing another.
His lighter days were top of his mind as well.
"What did you do with the officers' club?" he asked a local official. "That's the most important thing!" he said, laughing. It was eradicated, he was told. "Oh no!" McCain replied.
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