John McCain Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

Trivia quiz with answers about Senator John McCain.

John McCain Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

Who was John Sidney McCain III?
A: John Sidney McCain III was an American statesman and military officer who served as a United States Senator from Arizona from January 1987 until his death.

When was John McCain born?
A: On August 29, 1936.

Where was he born?
A: At Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone.

Who were his parents?
A: Naval officer John S. McCain Jr. and Roberta (Wright) McCain.

What is the name of his older sister?
A: Sandy.

What is the name of his younger brother?
A: Joe.

McCain's family tree includes people of what ancestry?
A: Scots-Irish and English ancestors.

His father and his paternal grandfather, John S. McCain Sr. were also what?
A: Naval Academy graduates and both became four-star United States Navy admirals.

Altogether, he attended how many schools?
A: About 20.

Where did the family settle in 1951?
A: In Northern Virginia.

Where did McCain attend High School?
A: Episcopal High School, a private preparatory boarding school in Alexandria.

He excelled at what sport?
A: Wrestling.

When did he graduate?
A: He graduated in 1954.

Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, McCain entered what?
A: The United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.

He also became a lightweight what?
A: Boxer.

McCain did well in academic subjects that interested him, such as literature and history, but studied only enough to what?
A: Pass subjects that gave him difficulty, such as mathematics.

He came into conflict with higher-ranking personnel and did not always what?
A: Obey the rules, which contributed to a low class rank (894 of 899), despite a high IQ.

When did he graduate?
A: In 1958.

McCain began his early military career when he was commissioned as an ensign and started two and a half years of training at Pensacola to become a what?
A: Naval aviator.

While there, he earned a reputation as a man who what?
A: Partied.

He became a naval aviator and flew what?
A: Ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers.

During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in what fire?
A: The 1967 USS Forrestal fire.

While on a bombing mission during Operation Rolling Thunder over Hanoi in October 1967, he was what?
A: He was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese.

He was a prisoner of war until when?
A: 1973.

He experienced episodes of torture and refused what?
A: An out-of-sequence early release.

The wounds that he sustained during the war left him with what?
A: Lifelong physical disabilities.

He retired from the Navy as a captain in what year?
A: 1981.

Where did he move to?
A: Arizona, where he entered politics.

In 1982, he was elected to what?
A: The United States House of Representatives, where he served two terms.

He entered the U.S. Senate in what year?
A: 1987.

He easily won reelection how many times?
A: Five.

While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain also had a media reputation as a what?
A: A "maverick" for his willingness to break from his party on certain issues.

His stances on gun control and LGBT issues were significantly more what?
A: Progressive than the party's base.

After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as one of the Keating Five, what did he make one of his signature concerns?
A: Campaign finance reform.

He was also known for his work in the 1990s to restore diplomatic relations with whom?
A: Vietnam, and for his belief that the Iraq War should have been fought to a successful conclusion.

He chaired what Senate committee?
A: The Senate Commerce Committee and opposed pork barrel spending.

He belonged to the bipartisan "Gang of 14" which played a key role in what?
A: Alleviating a crisis over judicial nominations.

McCain entered the race for the Republican nomination for president in 2000, but lost what?
A: A heated primary season contest to Governor George W. Bush of Texas.

In 2015, he became Chairman of what?
A: The Senate Armed Services Committee.

He refused to support whom?
A: Then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in 2016.

After a diagnosis of brain cancer in 2017, what did he do?
A: He reduced his role in the Senate to focus on treatment.

When McCain died in 2018, he lay in state in the United States Capitol rotunda, and his funeral was televised from where?
A: Washington National Cathedral.

He completed flight school in 1960 and became a naval pilot of ground-attack aircraft; he was assigned to A-1 Sky raider squadrons aboard the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas.

McCain began as a sub-par flier who was at times what?
A: Careless and reckless.

During the early to mid-1960s, two of his flight missions what?
A: Crashed and a third mission collided with power lines, but he received no major injuries.

His aviation skills improved over time, and he was seen as a what?
A: A good pilot, albeit one who tended to "push the envelope" in his flying.

At age 28 on July 3, 1965, McCain married whom?
A: Carol Shepp, who was a model from Philadelphia.

McCain adopted whom?
A: Her two young children Douglas and Andrew.

His combat duty began when he was 30 years old in mid-1967, when Forrestal was assigned to a what?
A: A bombing campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder, during the Vietnam War.

On July 29, 1967, McCain was a lieutenant commander when he was near the center of what?
A: The USS Forrestal fire.

He escaped from his burning jet and was trying to help another pilot escape when what happened?
A: A bomb exploded and McCain was struck in the legs and chest by fragments.

The ensuing fire killed how many sailors?
A: 134.

In 1997, Time magazine named McCain as what?
A: One of the "25 Most Influential People in America".

In 1999, McCain shared the Profile in Courage Award with Senator Russ Feingold for their work towards what?
A: Campaign finance reform.

In 2005, The Eisenhower Institute awarded McCain the what?
A: The Eisenhower Leadership Prize.

In 2006, the Bruce F. Vento Public Service Award was bestowed upon McCain by whom?
A: The National Park Trust.

In 2010, President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia awarded McCain what?
A: The Order of National Hero, an award never previously given to a non-Georgian.

In 2015, the Kiev Patriarchate awarded McCain its own version of what?
A: The Order of St. Vladimir.

In 2016, Allegheny College awarded McCain, along with Vice President Joe Biden, its Prize for what?
A: Civility in Public Life.

In August 2016, Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, awarded McCain with what?
A: The highest award for foreigners, the Order of Liberty.

McCain also received the Liberty Medal from whom?
A: The National Constitution Center in 2017.

In the spring of 2018 McCain was decorated with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from whom?
A: The Japanese Emperor for 'strengthening bilateral relations and promoting friendship between Japan and the United States'.

On 11 July 2018, USS John S. McCain, originally named in honor of the Senator's father and grandfather, was what?
A: Rededicated in the Senator's name.