Former President George H.W. Bush remembered Arizona Sen. John McCain as a “patriot of the highest honor” and a “maverick and warrior.”
“John McCain was a patriot of the highest honor, a public servant of rarest courage,” reads the statement from Bush’s office. “Few sacrificed more for, or contributed more to, the welfare of his fellow citizens – and indeed freedom-loving peoples around the world. Another maverick and warrior, General George Patton, once observed: ‘We should thank God that men such as these lived.’”
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The statement continued, “To that I can only add my gratitude to John’s wife Cindy, his wonderful family, and the people of Arizona who permitted this great and good man to serve with such distinction in the world’s greatest deliberative body.”
With Bush’s statement, all four living former Presidents have commented on McCain’s death, including Bush’s son, who defeated McCain in the 2000 Presidential primaries.
“John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order,” President George W. Bush wrote on Facebook. “He was a public servant in the finest traditions of our country. And to me, he was a friend whom I’ll deeply miss. Laura and I send our heartfelt sympathies to Cindy and the entire McCain family, and our thanks to God for the life of John McCain.”
President Jimmy Carter called McCain a “man of honor, a true patriot in the best sense of the word” and said Americans will be “forever grateful for his heroic military service and for his steadfast integrity as a member of the United States Senate.”
“Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did,” President Barack Obama said. “But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John’s best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt. Michelle and I send our heartfelt condolences to Cindy and their family.”
McCain died Saturday, more than a year after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. His death came a day after his family announced he would no longer seek treatment.
McCain represented Arizona in Washington for more than three decades, beginning in 1982, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected to the Senate in 1987 and most recently re-elected in 2016. He first ran for president in 2000, when he lost to George W. Bush in the Republican presidential primaries. In 2008, he was defeated by Obama in the general election.
Prior to his death, McCain requested that Obama and George W. Bush deliver eulogies at his funeral. McCain reportedly asked his staff to invite Vice President Mike Pence, but not President Donald Trump, with whom McCain had several disagreements.
“My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain,” Trump tweeted in his only statement so far on McCain’s death. “Our hearts and prayers are with you!”
Photo credit: Dave Einsel/Getty Images
