From Michael Zak:

On this day in 1973, Lt. Commander John McCain was released from a North Vietnamese prison.

The missile that shot down his fighter-bomber broke both arms and a leg, and he nearly drowned after parachuting into a lake. He was then bayoneted and beaten. McCain refused his captors' demands that he divulge military information in return for medical treatment. Despite being tortured, McCain also refused offers from the communists to free him ahead of other servicemen who had been imprisoned longer.

President Richard Nixon welcomed McCain home, after five and a half years of captivity, much of that time in solitary confinement.

Son and grandson of admirals, John McCain graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. In 1967, a massive fire broke out on the deck of his aircraft carrier. As bombs and jet fuel exploded nearby, McCain was injured trying to rescue a fellow pilot. One hundred and thirty-four men died in the inferno.

In 1982, McCain was elected to the first of two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1986, he won the first of four terms in the U.S. Senate.

President McCain -- what a terrific campaign slogan that would be! It sounds great and brings to mind the horrors of the Democrat alternative.

President McCain

This article and hundreds more are available on theGrand Old Partisan blog. Republicans today would benefit tremendously from appreciating the heritage of our Grand Old Party.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP from the Republican point of view. See www.republicanbasics.com for more information.