On Saturday, August 25, just four days before his 82nd birthday, Sen. John McCain passed on, leaving a trailing legacy behind him. From his maverick bipartisan stances in politics to his push for fairness down the line, McCain was always a storied character in U.S. government. And now McCain is a storied character in terms of his expansive materials collection held at an Arizona State University library in Tempe.

Hoards of the late senator’s effects that highlight his 35-year political career, including papers, records and memorabilia, will flood the campus this TKTK. The collection started up in 2012 when McCain donated his papers to the university. The archive will see its new items come in over the next few months.

All told, more than 800 additional boxes of his materials are set to travel west from his offices in Maryland and Washington, D.C., to ASU Library. The archives will be available for the general public as well as scholars and historians looking to research McCain and his legacy. The historic materials span from his turn as a U.S. representative starting in 1983, when he served his first term in elected office, to his 2008 presidential run against Barack Obama to his recent years in the senate.

“Currently, we have about 270 boxes, or over 200 linear feet, of archival materials from Sen. McCain, and we expect the collection to grow substantially,” said Renee James, curator of the Greater Arizona Collection, part of ASU Library’s Distinctive Collections, in a statement.

Those looking for a more personal view of McCain the Maverick will be able to see his correspondence, handwritten notes, talking points on certain policy issues, photographs, polling data, staff files, press files, and much more.

“Some of the memorabilia items, such as hats, buttons, T-shirts, posters and banners, will really take you back to the cultural moment of the mid- to late ’80s and early 2000s,” James notes.

Also available to look over are McCain’s digital files from his Washington, D.C., office, which will be uploaded soon.

A trip down memory lane, and a nod to old school American political campaigns, the collection will display hats, buttons, t-shirts, posters, pennants and banners from his runs for senate and president. But the collection won’t just feature notes scribed by McCain; instead, there will also be some debate notes from his staff offering insight into the concerns they had on certain topics. According to James, this shows the campaign strategy on plenty of issues.

Those interested in seeing the collection can access it by submitting a request via the library’s website, Ask an Archivist. Curators should be available to assist those going through the materials as assistance is required for supervision.

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Governor Ducey announced today that former Senator Jon Kyl will succeed the late Senator John McCain in the United States Senate. The appointment comes after a week of memorials in Arizona and Washington D.C. celebrating Senator McCain’s lifetime of service and as the U.S. Senate begins confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“There is no one in Arizona more prepared to represent our state in the U.S. Senate than Jon Kyl,” said Governor Ducey in a statement. “He understands how the Senate functions, and will make an immediate and positive impact benefiting all Arizonans. I am deeply grateful to Senator Kyl for agreeing to succeed his friend and colleague of so many years. Every single day that Jon Kyl represents Arizona in the United States Senate is a day when our state is being well-served.”

Kyl previously served in the U.S. Senate for 18 years, rising to the second-highest republican position, minority whip. He also served in the House of Representatives for eight years prior to his tenure in the senate. Most recently, Kyl has been assisting Kavanaugh with the senate confirmation process.

“We are all saddened by the circumstances that required this appointment and appreciate there was only one John McCain,” said Jon Kyl. “John and I served the people of Arizona for nearly two decades, and in that spirit, along with Senator Flake, I will do my best to ensure Arizonans are well represented in the Senate. There is much-unfinished business, including confirmation of President Trump’s nominees for judicial and executive branch positions, and I look forward to getting to work on behalf of my fellow Arizonans.”

Cindy McCain tweeted this morning that “Jon Kyl is a dear friend of mine and John’s. It’s a great tribute to John [McCain] that he is prepared to go back into public service to help the State of Arizona.”

McCain and Kyl served together in the U.S. Senate and built a strong friendship. Kyl provided a tribute to McCain during a private ceremony in the Arizona Capitol rotunda last week stating, “I consider it a great privilege to have served with John and I will miss him as a friend and as a strong force for America in the world.”

Local leaders praised Ducey’s decision including Senator Jeff Flake, who succeeded Kyl, “Jon Kyl is an excellent choice to fill John McCain’s Senate seat. There is no one more qualified. Arizona will be well-served by Jon’s willingness to once again serve his country.”

Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and a former Kyl staffer, stated “There is no one better to serve Arizona’s interests in the U.S. Senate and to carry on the legacy of Sen. John McCain than Jon Kyl. Sen. Kyl’s record of service on Capitol Hill has been exemplary.” He continued, “On the issues that are important to Arizona, Sen. Kyl is an expert with an established track record. I commend Gov. Ducey for this outstanding selection. Arizonans are so fortunate to have a leader of Sen. Kyl’s stature and experience representing us once again.”

According to a press release from the Governor’s office, Kyl will serve through at least the second session of the 115th Congress, concluding this year. Kyl stated that he will not seek the seat in 2020.

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The following is a tribute made by Meghan McCain at the Washington National Cathedral Memorial service honoring Senator John McCain on September 2, 2018.

“The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for, and I hate very much to leave it.” When Ernest Hemingway’s Robert Jordan, at the close For Whom the Bell Tolls lies wounded, waiting for his last fight, these are among his final thoughts. My father had every reason to think the world was an awful place. my father had every reason to think the world was not worth fighting for. My father had every reason to think the world was worth leaving. He did not think any of those things. Like the hero of his favorite book, John McCain took the opposite view: You had to have a lot of luck to have had such a good life.

I am here before you today saying the words I have never wanted to say giving the speech I have never wanted to give. Feeling the loss I have never wanted to feel. My father is gone, John Sidney McCain III was many things. He was a sailor, he was an aviator, he was a husband, he was a warrior, he was a prisoner, he was a hero, he was a congressman, he was a senator, he was nominee for President of the United States. These are all of the titles and roles of a life that’s been well lived. They’re not the greatest of his titles nor the most important of his roles.

He was a great man. We gather to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice, those that live lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served.

He was a great fire who burned bright. In the past few days, my family and I have heard from so many of those Americans who stood in the warmth and light of his fire and found it illuminated what’s best about them. We are grateful to them because they’re grateful to him. A few have resented that fire for the light it cast upon them for the truth it revealed about their character, but my father never cared what they thought and even that small number still have the opportunity as long as they draw breath to live up to the example of John McCain.

My father was a great man. He was a great warrior. He was a great American. I admired him for all of these things. but I love him because he was a great father. My father knew what it was like to grow up in the shadow of greatness, he did just as his father had done before him. He was the son of a great admiral who was also the son of a great admiral. When it came time for the third John Sidney McCain to be a man, he had no choice but to walk in the same path. He had to become a sailor. He had to go to war. He had to have his shot at becoming a great admiral as they also had done. The past of his father and grandfather led my father to the Hanoi Hilton. This is where all of the biography, campaign literature say he showed his character, his patriotism, his faith, his endurance in the worst of possible circumstances. This is where we learned who John McCain truly was. And all is very true except for the last part.

Today I want to share with you where I found out who John McCain truly was and wasn’t in the Hilton. It wasn’t in the cockpit of a fast and lethal fighter jet or on the campaign trail. John McCain was in all those places, but the best of him was somewhere else, the best of John McCain, the greatest of his titles and the most important of his roles was as a father.

Imagine the warrior the night of the skies gently carrying his little girl to bed. Imagine the dashing aviator who took his aircraft, hurdling off pitching decks in the South China Seas, kissing the hurt when I fell and skinned my knee. Imagine the distinguished states man who counseled presidents singing with his girl in oak creek during a rainstorm to singing in the rain. Imagine the senator fierce conscience of the nation’s best self taking his 14-year-old daughter out of school because he believed I would learn more about America at the town halls he held across the country. Imagine the loyal veteran with his eyes shining with happiness as he gave blessing for his grown daughter’s marriage.

You all have to imagine that. I don’t have to because I lived it all. I know who he was. I know what defined him. I got to see it every single day of my blessed life.

John McCain was not defined by prison, by the navy, by the senate, by the republican party or by any single one of the deeds in his absolutely extraordinary life. John McCain was defined by love.

Several of you in the pews that crossed swords with him or found yourselves on the receiving end of his famous temper or were at a cross purpose to him on anything, are doing your best to stay stone faced. Don’t. You know full well if John McCain were in your shoes today, he would be using some salty word while my mother jabbed him in the arm in embarrassment. He would look back at her and grumble, maybe stop talking, but he would keep grinning. She was the only one who could do that.

On their first date when he still did not know what sort of woman he was, he recited a poem called The Cremation of Sam McGee about an Alaskan prospector who welcomed his cremation as the only way to get warm in the icy north. “Strange things done in the midnight sun. The arctic trails have secret tales that would make your blood run cold.” He learned it in Hanoi. A prisoner rapped it out in code over and over during years of captivity. My father knew if she would sit through that, appreciate the dark humor that had seen him through so many years of imprisonment, she might sit through a lifetime with him as well, and she did.

John McCain was defined by love. This love of my father for my mother was the most fierce and lasting of them all, mom. Let me tell you what love meant to John McCain and to me.

As much as he comforts, he was endlessly present for us, and though we did not always understand it, he was always teaching. he didn’t expect us to be like him. His worldly achievement was to be better than him. Armed with his wisdom, informed by his experiences, long before we were old enough to assemble our own. As a girl I didn’t appreciate what I most fully appreciate now; how he suffered and how he bore it with a stoic silence that was once the mark of an American man. I came to appreciate it first when he demanded it of me. I was a small girl, thrown from a horse and crying from a busted collarbone. My dad picked me up. He took me to the doctor, he got me all fixed up. Then he immediately took me back home and made me get back on the same horse. I was furious at him as a child, but how I love him for it now.

My father knew pain and suffering with an intimacy and immediacy most of us are blessed never to have endured. He was shot down, he was crippled, he was beaten, starved, tortured and humiliated. That pain never left him. The cruelty of his communist captors ensured he would never raise his arms above his head for the rest of his life, yet he survived, yet he endured. Yet he triumphed. And there was this man who had been through all that with a little girl that didn’t want to get back on her horse.

He could have sat me down and told me that and made me feel small because my complaint and fear was nothing next to his pain and memory. Instead, he made me feel loved, said in his quiet voice that spoke with authority and meant you had best obey. “Get back on the horse.” I did. And because I was a little girl, I resented it. Now that I am a woman, I look back across that time and see the expression on his face when I climbed back up and rode again, and see the pride and love in his eyes as he said “Nothing is going to break you.”

For the rest of my life, whenever I fall down, I get back up. Whenever I am hurt, I drive on. Whenever I am brought low, I rise. That is not because I am virtuous, strong, resilient, it is simply because my father, John McCain, was.

When my father got sick, when I asked him what he wanted me to do with this eulogy, he said “Show them how tough you are.” that is what love meant to John McCain.

Love for my father also meant caring for the nation entrusted to him. My father, the true son of his father and grandfather was born into the character of American greatness, was convinced of the need to defend it with ferocity and faith. John McCain was born in a distant now vanquished outpost of American power, and he understood America as a sacred trust. He understood our republic demands responsibilities, even before it defends its rights. He knew navigating the line between good and evil was often difficult but always simple. He grasped that our purpose and meaning was rooted in a missionary responsibility, stretching back centuries.

Just as the first Americans looked upon a new world full of potential for a grand experiment in freedom and self confidence, so their descendants have a responsibility to defend the old world from its worst self. The America of John McCain is the America of the revolution. fighters with no stomach for the summer soldier and sunshine patriot, making the world anew with bells of America of John McCain is the America of Abraham Lincoln. Fulfilling the promise of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, and suffering greatly to see it through. The America of John McCain is the America of the boys who rushed the colors in every war across three centuries, knowing in them is the life of the republic, and particularly those by their daring as Ronald Reagan said, gave up their chance as being husbands and fathers and grandfathers and gave up their chance to be revered old men. The America of John McCain is, yes, the America of Vietnam, fighting the fight, even in the most grim circumstances, even in the most distant, hostile corner of the world, standing for the life and liberty of other peoples in other lands.

The America of John McCain is generous and welcoming and bold. she’s resourceful, confident, secure. She meets her responsibilities. she speaks quietly because she’s strong. America does not boast because she has no need to. The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great. That fervent faith, that proven devotion, that abiding love, that is what drove my father from the fiery skies above the Red River delta to the brink of the presidency itself.

Love defined my father. As a young man he wondered if he would measure up to his distinguished lineage. I miss him so badly. I want to tell him that take small comfort in this. somewhere in the great beyond where the warriors go, there are two admirals of the United States meeting their much loved son, telling him he is the greatest among them.

Dad, I love you, I always have. All that I am, all that I hope, all that I dream is grounded in what you taught me. You loved me and you showed me what love must be. 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.

Dad, I know you were not perfect. We live in an era where we knock down old American heroes for all their imperfections when no leader wants to admit to fault or failure. You were an exception and gave us an ideal to strive for.

Look, I know you can see this gathering in this cathedral. The nation is here to remember you. Like so many other heroes, you leave us draped in the flag you loved. You defended it, you sacrificed it, you always honored it. It is good to remember we are Americans. We don’t put our heroes on pedestals just to remember them, we raise them up because we want to emulate their virtues, this is how we honor them, this is how we will honor you.

My father gone. My father is gone and my sorrow is immense, but I know his life, and I know it was great because it was good. And as much as I hate to see him go, I do know how it ended. I know that on the afternoon of August 25th in front of Oak Creek in Arizona, surrounded by the family he loved so much, an old man shook off the scars of battle one last time and arose a new man to pilot one last flight up and up and up, busting clouds left and right, straight on through to the kingdom of heaven. And he slipped the earthly bonds, put out his hand, and touched the face of god.

I love you, dad.

Photo credit: AP

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The following is a tribute made by former President Barack Obama at the Washington National Cathedral Memorial service honoring Sen. John McCain on Sept. 2, 2018.

To John’s beloved family, Mrs. McCain, to Cindy and the McCain children, President and Mrs. Bush, President and Secretary Clinton, Vice President and Mrs. Biden, Vice President and Mrs. Cheney, Vice President Gore, and as John would say, my friends. We come to celebrate an extraordinary man. A statesman, a patriot who embodied so much that is best in America.

President Bush and I are among the fortunate few who competed against John at the highest levels of politics. He made us better presidents just as he made the senate better, just as he makes this country better.

For someone like John to ask you while he is still alive to stand and speak of him when he is gone is a precious and singular honor. Now, when John called me with that request earlier this year, I’ll admit sadness and also a certain surprise. After our conversation ended, I realized how well it captured some of John’s essential qualities.

To start with, John liked being unpredictable, even a little contrarian. He had no interest in conforming to some prepackaged version of what a senator should be and he didn’t want a memorial that was going to be prepackaged either. It also showed John’s disdain for self pity. He had been to hell and back and yet somehow never lost his energy or his optimism or his zest for life. So cancer did not scare him. And he would maintain that buoyant spirit to the very end, too stubborn to sit still, as ever, fiercely devoted to his friends and most of all to his family. It showed his irreverence, his sense of humor, a little bit of a mischievous streak. what better way to get a last laugh than make George and I say nice things about him to a national audience? And most of all it showed a largeness of spirit. An ability to see past differences in search of common ground.

And in fact on the surface, John and i could not have been more different. We’re of different generations. I came from a broken home and never knew my father. John was the stein of one of America’s most distinguished military families. I have a reputation for keeping cool, John not so much. We were standard bearers of different American political traditions and throughout my presidency John never hesitated to tell me when he thought I was screwing up, which by his calculation was about once a day. But for all our differences, for all of the times we sparred, I never tried to hide, and I think John came to understand the long-standing admiration that I had for him.

By his own account John was a rebellious young man. In his case, what’s faster way to distinguish yourself when you’re the son and grandson of admirals than to mutiny. Eventually, though, he concluded that the only way to really make his mark on the world is to commit to something bigger than yourself. For John, that meant answering the highest of callings, serving his country in a time of war.

Others this week and this morning have spoken to the depths of his torment and the depths of his courage there in the cells of Hanoi when day after day, year after year that youthful iron was tempered into steel. And it brings to mind something that Hemingway wrote, a book that Meghan referred to, his favorite book. “Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today.”

In captivity John learned in ways that few of us ever will the meaning of those words, how each moment, each day, each choice is a test. And John McCain passed that test again and again and again. And that’s why when John spoke of virtues like service and valor they weren’t just words to him, it was a truth that he had lived and for which he was prepared to die. And it forced even the most cynical to consider what were we doing for our country? What might we risk everything for?

Much has been said this week about what a maverick John was. In fact, John was a pretty conservative guy. Trust me, I was on the receiving end of some of those votes. But he did understand that some principles transcend politics. Some values transcend party. He considered it part of his duty to uphold those principles and uphold those values.

John cared about the institutions of self government, our constitution, our bill of rights, rule of law. Separation of powers. Even the arcane rules and procedures of the senate. He knew that in a nation as big and boisterous and diverse as ours, those institutions, those rules, those norms are what bind us together. Give shape and order to our common life. Even when we disagree. Especially when we disagree.

John believed in honest argument and hearing our views. He understood that if we get in the habit of bending the truth to suit political expediency or party orthodoxy, our democracy will not work. That’s why he was willing to buck his own party at times. occasionally work across the aisle on campaign finance reform and immigration reform. That’s why he championed a free and independent press as vital to our democratic debate. And the fact it earned him good coverage didn’t hurt either.

John understood as JFK understood, as Ronald Reagan understood that part of what makes our country great is that our membership is based not on our blood line, not on what we look like, what our last names are, not based on where our parents or grandparents came from or how recently they arrived, but on adherence to a common creed that all of us are created equal. Endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.

It has been mentioned today, seen footage this week, John pushing back against supporters that challenged my patriotism during the 2008 campaign. I was grateful but I wasn’t surprised. As Joe Lieberman said, that was John’s instinct. I never saw John treat anyone differently because of their race or religion or gender. That in those moments that have been referred to during the campaign he saw himself as defending America’s character, not just mine. He considered it the imperative of every citizen that loves this country to treat all people fairly.

And finally while John and I disagreed on all kinds of foreign policy issues, we stood together on America’s role as the one nation, believing that with great power and great blessings comes great responsibility. That burden is borne most heavily by our men and women in uniform. Service members like Doug, Jimmy, Jack who followed their father’s footsteps, as well as families that serve alongside our troops. But John understood that our security and our influence was won not just by our military might, not just by our wealth, not just by our ability to bend others to our will, but from our capacity to inspire others with our adherence to a set of universal values. Like rule of law and human rights and insistence on the god-given dignity of every human being.

Of course John was the first to tell us he was not perfect. Like all of us that go into public service, he did have an ego. Like all of us there was no doubt some votes he cast, some compromises he struck, some decisions he made that he wished he could have back.

It is no secret, it has been mentioned that he had a temper, and when it flared up, it was a force of nature, a wonder to behold. His jaw grinding, his face reddening, his eyes boring a hole right through you. Not that I ever experienced it firsthand, mind you. But to know john was to know that as quick as his passions might flare, he was just as quick to forgive and ask for forgiveness. He knew more than most his own flaws, his blind spots, and he knew how to laugh at himself. And that self awareness made him all the more compelling.

We didn’t advertise it, but every so often over the course of my presidency John would come over to the White House and we’d just sit and talk in the oval office, just the two of us. We would talk about policy and we’d talk about family and we’d talk about the state of our politics. And our disagreements didn’t go away during these private conversations. Those were real and they were often deep. but we enjoyed the time we shared away from the bright lights and we laughed with each other and we learned from each other and we never doubted the other man’s sincerity or the other patriotism or that when all was said and done, we were on the same team. We never doubted we were on the same team.

For all of our differences, we shared a fidelity to the ideals for which generations of Americans have marched and fought and sacrificed and given their lives. We considered our political battles a privilege, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those ideals at home and do our best to advance them around the world. We saw this country as a place where anything is possible. and citizenship as an obligation to ensure it forever remains that way.

More than once during his career John drew comparisons to Teddy Roosevelt. I am sure it has been noted that Roosevelt’s men in the arena seems tailored to John. most of you know it. Roosevelt speaks of those who strive, who dare to do great things, who sometimes win and sometimes come up short but always relish a good fight. A contrast to those cold, timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Isn’t that the spirit we celebrate this week? That striving to be better, to do better, worthy of the great inheritance that our founders bestowed. So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty. Trafficking in bombastic manufactured outrage, it’s politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born of fear. John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that.

Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. but what will happen in all the other days that will ever come can depend on what you do today. What better way to honor John McCain’s life of service than as best we can follow his example to prove that the willingness to get in the arena and fight for this country is not reserved for the few, it is open to all of us, and in fact it is demanded of all of us as citizens of this great republic. That’s perhaps how we honor him best, by recognizing that there are some things bigger than party or ambition or money or fame or power, that the things that are worth risking everything for, principles that are eternal, truths that are abiding. At his best, John showed us what that means. For that, we are all deeply in his debt.

May God bless John McCain. May God bless this country he served so well.

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The following is the tribute made by Jack McCain:

First, thank you all for joining in this celebration of my father’s life. Here he is at the end of his long, eventful journey, back where the adventure began. This is the world he always insisted that he knew best, and loved most.

His love/hate relationship with the Academy had long ago warmed into just love, his memories of his time here and the traditions he kept faith with ever after claimed an exalted place in his affections, and were a guiding star in his life. Here he will remain near his classmate, his dear friend of sixty years, Admiral Chuck Larson

Thank you, Admiral Carter for all you have done to see Dad have a proper Navy send off. And thank you to the Brigade of Midshipmen. He would be delighted you were here, and would have wanted to take each of you by the hand, and wish you the best in your military service to come.

All of you here were very special to my father. You are his closest family, friends, and classmates, and my mother and siblings thank you for your place in his affections and your friendship and support for us. You are dear to us.

I have been as impressed as all of you, though certainly not surprised, by my mother’s grace and dignity these last few days, concluding more than a year of devoted care for dad, seldom leaving his side, making sure he lived his last months in comfort and with dignity, in the place he loved so much. Thank you, Mom.

My father was a great man. There are challenges associated with having a great man for a father, though, I will admit, the advantages outweigh them. Great men cast large shadows. Their example can be hard to emulate. My father knew something about that challenge, having been son and grandson of great men, and he knew how to ease the burden on us without depriving us direction.

He knew to set an example for us, and to show us in word and deed how to live honorable, purposeful lives. But he gave us the freedom and the respect to trust us to choose our own way. He didn’t expect or want us to attempt impersonating him. After all, who could? He just wanted us to know that he only satisfying – truly satisfying life – is to live adventurously and bravely in service to cause bigger than ourselves. The routes we took were up to us. That was the respect his father had shown him.

Dad was a naval officer and a statesman. He had big responsibilities that claimed much of his time and attention. His seven children had to make the most of our time with him. We had to live as he lived, rushing along with him enthusiastically from one thing to another. Dad didn’t waste time, not a minute. To live nearly 82 years without squandering a day of it is quite an achievement.

The attack pilot was always alive in him. As he was not a fighter pilot, as he would sharply tell you. The way he dove into life, the way he confronted problems with daring and tenaciousness. He was relentless and resilient. Life with him was exhausting and exciting and fascination and an awful lot of fun. “Let’s go, boy,” he’d instruct, and off we’d go, hurtling into another adventure, struggling to keep pace with that stiff-legged, quick step gait of his.

He and I hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim about ten years ago. He liked to hike and he loved the canyon. He also wanted to demonstrate to the public, and I think to himself, that he still had the physical stamina to run for president again.

That was the only time I remember seeing him in obvious pain. He lived with pain for decades after Vietnam, but he never once mentioned it. This time, as we hiked down from the North Rim and he winced and grimaced, I could see his pain was excruciating. But he just kept walking, for two more days from the base of the North Rim to the top of the South. We reached our summit at the end of the final day. I was twenty-two and I was bone-weary. I have no idea how he managed it, much less without even a single complaint. We stood together in silence, took in the majesty of the canyon as that gorgeous Arizona sun sank below the cliff line, and then we slept. An unspoken rite of passage finished for both.

My Dad taught me the two qualities that take you farthest in life, especially in the military, are humility and inquisitiveness. He recognized in every person, friend or stranger, dignity equal to his own. He never spurned a request for help. He never treated a person or a service as beneath him.

He was always willing to apologize for his mistakes. He had a deep need to make amends if he had wronged someone. He was a restless man, and his conscience was the most restless part of him. Always present was his desire to be a better man today than he was yesterday.

He could not read enough, inquire enough, experience enough, learn enough. He was never satisfied with the knowledge he possessed. He was always questioning, demanding more information from books, from people, from intimidated witnesses before his committee who had steeled themselves for days to prepare for the experience. But he also asked questions of people to establish a personal connection to them, to let them know he shared their interests and their purposes.

He fought hard, obstinately, exuberantly because he liked to fight, but more importantly, because he believed in what he was fighting for. He fought for America and her great causes – freedom, equal justice, the dignity of all people. He fought the bad guys for the little guys. He fought to make a better world. That’s what he believed an American leader is supposed to do – to fight and sacrifice for causes greater than themselves. He had an ego. He had ambitions. But it was country first. Country first.

Sixteen years ago, I visited the notorious Hanoi Hilton with him. It was quite moving to see in his company the place where he had suffered so much and, he said, fallen in love with his country. But he only ever talked matter-of-factly with me about his experiences there. He had subordinated all personal feeling to his efforts to help Vietnam be a better country, and a friend and ally to his.

Not long after Dad helped restore normal relations between the United States and Vietnam, he received a letter from a person he didn’t know, who had admired his efforts to reconcile the two countries. The Thoughtful correspondent closed his letter by reciting some lines from Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound, which he said had been brought to mind by Dad’s courage, by his capacity for forgiveness, and by his determined belief, however dark the hour, that the future could be made better than the present:

�������������������������������������� “To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;

�������������������������������������� To forgive wrongs darker than death or night’

�������������������������������������� To defy Power, which seems omnipotent;

�������������������������������������� To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates

�������������������������������������� From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;

�������������������������������������� Neither to change, not falter, nor repent;

�������������������������������������� This, like thy glory, Titan, is to be

�������������������������������������� Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;

�������������������������������������� This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory.”

My father fought and suffered, endured defeats, rose from the ground and fought again to keep faith with his heroes, to safeguard the country he loved and her causes, to be a better man, and to make a better world.

That was your glory, Dad, in triumph and defeat, at dawn and dusk. And we who were privileged to witness it saw it was good, great, joyous, beautiful and free, and we will not forget it.

Good-bye, Old man. Like you, I believe we’ll see each other again. Until then, I’ll keep your faith, and make my life count for something more than myself, so that you’ll be proud of me on that day.

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Serving Arizona for more than three decades, Senator John McCain earned a reputation negotiating tense military situations in places like Syria and Lebanon. But he also worked fiercely on behalf of Arizona.

McCain is one of the reasons Luke Air Force Base is still standing, the state’s Indian tribes have gaming, and the dream for developing the banks of the Rio Salado is back on track.

“There’s so many different things he did for the state,” said friend and former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, who served with McCain in congress from 1995 to 2013. “He cared about the state greatly and its environment.”

It’s no wonder he wanted to spend his last days in Hidden Valley on Oak Creek, he said.

“If you went there, you had to get prepared to go for a hike,” said Kyl, who was close friends with McCain until his death from brain cancer Aug. 25. “He would show you a hawk’s nest in this tree and an owl’s nest in that tree.”

His accomplishments on behalf of Arizona are far too many to list, Kyl and others said. But a few were closest to his heart: helping veterans and the military, preserving the state’s natural landscapes, and Native American sovereignty.

When McCain first ran for office in Arizona in 1982, he was called a carpetbagger. McCain replied that he was a Navy kid who attended 20 different schools. Then, he was a prisoner of war for five and a half years. He never really had a home. Until Arizona.

Here are a few of his achievements:

Military and defense

Saving Luke Air Force Base When talk of shutting the base down started in the early 2000s, McCain rallied to keep the base open. Today, it’s a $2.4 billion economic driver for the West Valley. It’s also the military’s largest training base for the F-35.

Keeping the A-10 flying As Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain worked on bills that prevented the Air Force from retiring the A-10 Warthog, many of which are stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. A close-air support aircraft, the A-10 plays a role in the fight against ISIL and as a deterrent to Russian aggression.

Preserving the EC-130H Compass Call fleet McCain sponsored bills that preserved the EC-130H Compass Call electronic attack and electronic early warning airplanes at Davis-Monthan. These jamming and surveillance planes protect ground troops from electronic attacks in conflicts in the Middle East, and against potential threats in the Pacific and Europe.

Veterans

Veterans Choice Act McCain was a major negotiator for the 2014 act after a scandal broke in Phoenix over excessive wait times for veterans at the Veterans’ Administration (VA) Hospital. The bill earmarked nearly $2 billion to improve healthcare in the VA system. The same year, he led a bipartisan effort to pass legislation that allows vets who live far from a VA health care facility, or cannot get a timely appointment, to see a doctor in their own communities.

Tribal sovereignty

Tribal Self-Governance Act As chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, he sponsored the 1983 act that ended federal paternalism over tribally-administered healthcare, education, law enforcement and other services.

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act Senators McCain and Daniel Inouye (D-HI) introduced the 1993 act that enabled tribes to develop the state and the nation’s $27 billion gaming industry.

Environment

Arizona Desert Wilderness Protection Act of 1990 McCain built consensus among the state’s congressional delegation to protect 2.5 million acres of wilderness in Arizona.

Rio Reimagined In his last year of life, McCain used his federal connections to enlist the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help revive a dream to develop the banks of a 45-mile stretch of the Salt and Gila rivers in metropolitan Phoenix.

In a historic meeting in March, all the necessary parties came together to make a pact to carry  forward the dream, called Rio Reimagined. They are working together to bring economic development, ecosystem restoration, and “multi-generational” recreation to the rivers that cut through the Salt River Maricopa and Gila River indian communities, Mesa, Phoenix, Tempe, Goodyear, Avondale and Buckeye.

His final act for Arizona was to give the world a “shining example of leadership,” said longtime friend and former campaign manager Steve Betts.

“The last several months of his life, he has been trying to send the message about improving the civil discourse of not just the state but the country and the way Americans serve our role in society,” Betts said. “I’m hoping that message comes through.”

The post McCain’s legacy: Arizona appeared first on 91ֱ��.

John McCain, Arizona Senator and former presidential candidate, passed away on Saturday, Aug. 25 after discontinuing treatment for glioblastoma.

Beyond Senator McCain’s political success, he is remembered as a war hero. The senator served in the Vietnam War as a Naval pilot and was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years.

Senator McCain was an influential political leader who left his mark not only on Arizona, but the nation. Local political leaders and public figures from around the country expressed their sympathy and paid tribute to the senator following his passing.

On the day of the senator’s passing, Governor Doug Ducey released a statement that read,

“John McCain is one American who will never be forgotten. He was a giant. An icon. An American hero. But here at home, we were most proud to call him a fellow Arizonan. Like so many of us, he was not born here, but his spirit, service and fierce independence shaped the state with which he became synonymous.”

Gov. Ducey went on to acknowledge Senator McCain’s heroism throughout the Vietnam War, and the persistent patriotism he displayed as a political leader.

Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio said in statement, “Sen. McCain dedicated his life in service to this country, the State of Arizona, and our citizens with honor and courage.”

Larry Fitzgerald, wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL, took to Twitter to pay his respects to the senator.

At the Arizona Diamondbacks game on Saturday, the crowd gave a standing ovation after a tribute video to Senator McCain played on the jumbotron. The video played soon after the announcement of the senator’s passing.

The baseball team also tweeted the tribute video so those who were not in attendance could appreciate it.

Senator McCain’s legacy was addressed on a national scale, as well. Statements from Vice President Pence to American Airlines were released following the senator’s passing.

Vice President Mike Pence offered his condolences on behalf of him and his wife, Karen Pence.

Former President Barack Obama, who Senator McCain requested to speak at his funeral, also posted a statement sending his condolences to the McCain family. His statement also noted,

“John McCain and I were members of different generations, came from completely different backgrounds, and competed at the highest levels of politics. But we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher- the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed.”

Former President George W. Bush, who the senator also requested to speak at his funeral, expressed that Senator McCain is a friend he will “deeply miss.”

He also stated, “Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended. Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled. John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order. He was a public servant in the finest traditions of our country.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan released a statement, and several tweets, acknowledging Senator McCain’s passing and his legacy.

House Speaker Ryan’s statement read,

“This is a sad day for the United States. Our country has lost a decorated war hero and statesman. John McCain was a giant of our time—not just for the things he achieved, but for who he was and what he fought for all his life. John put principle before politics. He put country before self. He was one of the most courageous men of the century. He will always be listed among freedom’s most gallant and faithful servants. Our hearts are with his wife, Cindy, his children, and his grandchildren. This Congress, this country mourn with them.”

Arizona Congresswoman Debbie Lesko sent her thoughts and prayers to the McCain family. In a statement Lesko said, “John McCain’s life was one of service and sacrifice. He will always be remembered for his love of country. My thoughts and prayers are with Senator McCain’s family and loved ones.”

Thomas J. Donohue, U.S. Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, addressed the senator as an American hero in his statement which said,

“Few Americans wills ever mean more to their country than Senator John McCain. He embodied the meaning of service and patriotism and was a true American hero. We will miss the dedication and commitment of John McCain, and it is our sincere hope that his legacy will serve as a reminder to future generations of Americans of a life fulfilled.”

Donohue also expressed his condolences to the McCain family.

In a statement released by American Airlines, chairman and CEO Doug Parker said, “Senator John McCain was a true American hero. He dedicated his life to serving his country and to just causes larger than himself. He fought for the American people and American values with unwavering courage, integrity and honor.”

Parker also addressed the senator’s commitment to the commercial aviation industry, especially following 9/11. He said American Airlines “would not be what it is today without the principled support of Senator McCain and our 130,000 team members are forever grateful.”

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