Profile of Cindy McCain, Wife of Presidential Candidate John McCain

Name:

Cindy Lou Hensley McCain

Position:

Wife of Arizona Senator and presidential candidate John McCain
Chairman and majority owner of Hensley & Company, a $300 million beverage company that is one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributors in the world.

Born:

Phoenix, AZ
Actual birth date disputed by various sources: either May 20, 1954 or December 31, 1954

Education:

High School
Central High School in Phoenix, AZ.
Graduated 1972.

Undergraduate School
University of Southern California, B.S. in General Studies.
Graduated June 1976.

Graduate School
University of Southern California, M.S. in Education.
Graduated September 1978.

Family Background:

Born to Marguerite and James Hensley, Cindy was the couple's only child. An Army Air Corps B-17 bombadier who had been shot down three times during World War II, Jim Hensley returned home to start a highly successful beer distributorship, subsequently becoming one of the most prominent men in Arizona. Described as a proper belle who emphasized impeccable manners, Marguerite was a homemaker and was very protective of her daughter.

Childhood & Early Influences:

As an only child, Cindy formed a close bond with her parents whom she has called "my best friends." She had a special relationship with her father, and shared such typical father-son pursuits as wilderness camping in the canyon lands of Arizona near the Mexican border. A public school student, she attended Sunday school at a Presbyterian church where others described her as "impeccably dressed" and "gorgeous." She studied dance, rode horses and won the title Junior Rodeo Queen of Arizona at 14. Despite all this, Cindy has stated that she "was a little lonely" growing up and wanted a large family someday.

College & Graduate School:

Cindy attended the University of Southern California where she was a Kappa Alpha Theta sorority sister. The gold Mercedes she drove around campus spoke of her privileged background, but she resisted her father's urging to join the family business and instead pursued a graduate degree in education. While attending USC, Cindy participated in pilot programs testing Movement Therapy, now a widely accepted standard for working with severely disabled children.

Professional Career:

After graduation, Cindy returned to Phoenix to work in special education at an elementary school serving a poor neighborhood; there, she taught children with Down Syndrome and other disabilities. While vacationing in Hawaii with her parents in 1979, she met John McCain at a Navy reception and the two married within a year. She stopped teaching in 1983 and eventually her focus shifted from education to medical relief efforts.

Philanthropic Career:

After McCain moved to Arizona, he was elected to Congress in 1982 and the Senate in 1986. During a vacation to Micronesia in 1984 Cindy visited a local hospital; the filthy conditions prompted her to collect and send medical supplies after she returned to the US. She went on to found the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT) in 1988 to provide emergency medical /surgical care. She's served on the boards of non-profits such as HALO Trust (landmine removal); Operation Smile (surgical repair of cleft lips, palates and facial deformities of children worldwide); and CARE, USA (global poverty prevention.)

Personal:

During McCain's early political career, the couple lived in Alexandria, VA, but Cindy didn't fit in as a politician's wife. After several miscarriages, Cindy decided Phoenix would be a better place to raise a family. She moved back and had three children in four years: Megan (1984), Jack (1986), and Jimmy (1988.) Cindy raised the children with help from her parents who lived nearby; McCain came home on weekends.

The family grew in 1991. While on am AVMT mission to Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh, Cindy saw an infant so disfigured by a cleft palate it was difficult to feed her. She brought the child to the US for surgery and ended up adopting the little girl whom they named Bridget.

In 1989, after taking Vicodin and Percocet following back surgery, Cindy became addicted, turning to AVMT doctors to write her prescriptions. The situation was exacerbated by stress over the McCains' involvement with the Keating savings and loan scandal. She regards her three-year addiction as "the darkest period of my life." After kicking the habit, she publicly acknowledged her addiction in 1994. In 1995, AVMT closed.

In 2004, Cindy had a stroke that affected her speech and the right side of her body. For four months she retreated to San Diego's Coronado Island to focus on her recovery, eventually regaining nearly all her abilities.

Cindy has a private pilot's license and races cars. Yet she disavows the label 'feminist' and in an interview with MORE magazine stated, "Oh, I'm not a feminist. I am an independent Western woman" - one who learned to fend for herself and understands that "you never know where life is going to take you."

Updated August 8, 2008

_Sources

Alexander, Paul. "Cindy McCain at Full Throttle." MORE, September 2007.
Bailey, Holly. "In Search of Cindy McCain." Newsweek, 30 June 2008.
Collins, Nancy. "Cindy McCain: Myth vs. Reality." Harper's Bazaar, July 2007.
Copeland, Libby. "Cindy McCain: A Quiet Strength." Washingtonpost.com, 22 February 2008.
Copeland, Libby. "The Perfect Part." Washingtonpost.com, 22 July 2008.
Deans, Bob. "Cindy McCain, the woman behind the man, prefers to keep a lower profile." Atlanta Journal Constitution ajc.com, 7 March 208.
Henneberger, Melinda. "Unexpectedly, Cindy McCain Basks in a New Political Role." The New York Times, 3 March 2000.
Records of the University of Southern California Registrar, retrieved 8 August 2008
Zuckman, Jill. "The Contrasts of Cindy McCain." Chicagotribune.com, 15 April 2008.