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Against all odds, McCain fights for GOP nod
January 1968. The North Vietnamese launch a surprise attack on Saigon: the Tet Offensive.
Americans tune-in to a Viet-Cong invasion of the U.S. Embassy compound.
It's a turning point in the war and for John McCain as well.
After sharing a cell for months with his fellow POWs, McCain is suddenly dealt a dehumanizing blow: he's transferred to solitary confinement.
Bud Day, former POW: Solitary of course, was very bleak. You had to get back into your mind to inspire yourself to think for hours on end. Remember; keep your, your mind occupied.
Believing that McCain’s isolation has weakened his will, his captors ask McCain if he wants to go home.
Day: It was very clear that the Vietnamese were trying to turn John around. What they had in mind was to make John some kind of a willing accomplice in their propaganda efforts.
Orson Swindle, former POW: He's trying to hang on long enough to live. He does an admirable job and then later, they come along and say, you will go home. And he's still not well, he could still die. He knows what they want to do and he tells them to stick it in their ear.
Driving McCain’s refusal is the POW code of conduct: first captured, first released.
Bob Timberg, biographer: This infuriated and enraged the North Vietnamese. But he made it stick, and he refused to go. For his pains, he was beaten and his arm broken again. He was pounded, but he wouldn't go!
The Vietnamese throw him back to solitary, where he will spend the next two years.
In the summer of '68, America is at war with itself. Violence comes to the streets of Chicago during the Democrats' national convention.
Back in Hanoi, McCain’s agony worsens.
His captors now demand he sign a war crimes confession. When McCain refuses, he's pushed to his physical limits.
Swindle: They would torture you and we'd all go through the torture. It came in brutal fashion.
Day: They would put you in the ropes, which amounted to taking arms, pinning them behind your back, and then roping your arms around behind your back. Then they bent you over and put their foot into the middle of your back and then pull up with your arms.
Unable to resist any further, McCain reaches his breaking point and an unbearable moment of despair.
Timberg: He took his shirt and rolled it up and laid it across his shoulder, and fed the one end of the rolled-up shirt which was in effect a rope, through the louvers in the door. It appeared that he was preparing to hang himself. At which point, his guards crashed in through the door and knocked him down and it never got to this point.
McCain signs the war crimes confession. It's the darkest moment of his life.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): You get to a point in those situations where first, you like to last for another day, then you'd like to try to last for another hour, and then you try to last for another minute. And I wasn't able to last for another minute.
Former President Richard Nixon: I want to welcome you all to the 1970 Pageant for Peace.
Christmas, 1970. After 31 months in solitary confinement, John McCain is transferred to a room with 50 other Americans.
Bud Day, former POW: That was an incredible night [laughs]. We grabbed each other and hugged each other and hung on like we hadn't, were never going to see each other again. And, it still makes me misty eyed. It was just so wonderful to hear his voice and to see him.
McCain gets his Christmas wish, but his prayers for freedom on his terms remain unanswered. Months go by.
Former President Richard Nixon: I have ordered attacks on enemy military targets.
Then, in April 1972, President Richard Nixon, trying to end the war quickly, resumes the bombing of the north.
Ironically, it's McCain’s father, Jack, who must carry out the order to bomb the very city of his son's imprisonment.
Sen. McCain: But he never let it interfere with the performance of his duties. At the same time, he could not change the fact that he was my father, and it was very, very tough on him.
Late one night, the prisoners awake to the rumble of approaching B-52s.
Swindle: All of a sudden all hell breaks loose. Sirens go off, missiles are being fired and the whole sky turns red. All of a sudden we start hearing, boom, boom, boom!
And the tears are coming down our cheeks. Hey we're going home. We're going home.
Former President Richard Nixon: At 12:30 Paris time today, January 23, 1973…
After months of on again, off again negotiations and bombing, President Nixon announces an end to direct U.S. involvement in the war on Jan. 23, 1973.
Video of NBC live coverage of first POWs.
... Here they come [shouts]!
The first group of POWs is released in February.
And then, on March 14, 5 1/2 years after being shot down, John McCain steps into freedom.
Joe McCain, brother: He came down that stairway, and he had to hold onto the railing. I remember I could not stop crying, and I don't think [crying] I stopped crying for about 25- to 30 minutes. People were rubbing my neck and hands in concern. Then I said, don't worry about it, I'm loving every second of this.
From the moment he steps out onto the tarmac, McCain is determined to put his POW past behind him.
He reunites with his wife and children and starts planning for the future.
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