Carol McCain

Carol Shepp McCain (born February 19, 1938) She grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia.

Shepp attended Centenary Junior College for Women in Hackettstown, New Jersey, beginning in 1956.

tall, Shepp was a swimsuit and runway model for Jantzen swimwear in Philadelphia. She also worked as a secretary. but in 1958, she married one of his midshipman classmates, Alasdair E. Swanson, who had been a football and basketball star there. She and Swanson, who became a Navy pilot, had two sons, Douglas (1959–2026) and Andrew (born 1962), and lived in Pensacola, Florida. The ceremony was held at the home of the family that owned the well known Old Original Bookbinder's seafood restaurant in Philadelphia; one of the Bookbinder family members was a close friend of Shepp from college.

Apart during Vietnam War John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam on October 26, 1967; he was captured and would remain a prisoner of war for five and a half years. During her husband's captivity, McCain raised their children in Orange Park, Florida, with the assistance of friends and neighbors in the Navy-oriented community. She sent frequent letters and packages to him, She became active in the POW/MIA movement, During this time, her daughter stayed with her parents in Landsdowne while her sons stayed with friends in Florida. She remained grateful to Perot, later remarking: "The military families are in Ross's heart and in his soul...There are millions of us who are extremely grateful to Ross Perot". Years after her husband found out about Perot's help, he said "we loved him for it". She was now four inches (ten centimeters) shorter, in a wheelchair or on crutches, and substantially heavier than when he had last seen her. He was also visibly hampered by his injuries and the mistreatment he had endured from the North Vietnamese. The two couples became friendly. Her husband's assignments as executive officer, then commanding officer, of A-7 attack squadron VA-174 at NAS Cecil Field saw the couple leading an active social life. McCain's marriage, however, began to falter due to her husband's partying away from home and extramarital affairs.

Her husband's next assignment was to the Senate Liaison Office within the Navy's Office of Legislative Affairs. The McCains separated briefly, then reunited. During this time she worked as a staff aide for Congressman John H. Rousselot of California. By 1979, the McCains were still living together.

Her ex-husband would later state that he felt the demise of his marriage was due to his "selfishness and immaturity more than it was to Vietnam, and I cannot escape blame by pointing a finger at the war. The blame was entirely mine." Ross Perot gave his own assessment of the McCain divorce: "After he came home, he walked with a limp, she [Carol McCain] walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona [Cindy McCain] and the rest is history." McCain's three children were initially upset with their father about the divorce, but later reconciled with him. In 1981, McCain said that the divorce "was the hardest thing I've ever been through. I lost my husband and my best friend."

Subsequent career

Reagan campaign

McCain moved to La Mesa, California, where she lived for several months with the family of top Reagan associate Edwin Meese

Following Reagan's victory, she served as director of the 1981 Reagan inaugural ball, There she planned tours and dealt with the pleas of different groups for the limited slots available. Regarding the pressures of her job, she said cheerfully, "I'm always in tears, but I love the job. I'm really having a ball." She was a well-liked presence on the Washington social scene.

Between 1981 and 1986, she greatly expanded the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, adding participatory activities and doubling the size of the crowds attending. She credited her ability to handle such events to her background as the wife of an officer: "As a Navy wife you have to learn how to give a party on short notice and entertain for 50 or 100." She was named programming director, part of We the People 200's senior management team. In any case, the We the People 200 celebrations took place as scheduled on September 17, 1987, in Philadelphia.

By 1990, she was a spokesperson for Washington, Inc., a large event planning company. During 1991, she was a spokesperson for the Desert Storm Homecoming Foundation, which held a $12 million victory celebration and memorial in Washington in June 1991 following the conclusion of the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm. She later worked in press relations for the National Soft Drink Association in Washington.

In 2003, McCain retired and moved to a bungalow in Virginia Beach. While she has had romantic relationships since her divorce, McCain has not remarried. A friend of the family, who was interviewed by The Washington Post in 2008, recounted McCain's reasoning why she never remarried: "She had a lot of boyfriends. She was going out with one fellow who was so terrific. And I said: 'He's so in love with you. You'll have a terrific life together.' She said, 'No, I don't think so.' She's never fallen in love with anyone else. [John McCain] was a hard act to follow."