Cindy McCain; Joe Biden.Photo: FilmMagic; Tom Brenner/Getty Images
The lateJohn McCainand his wife,Ambassador Cindy McCain, had an unlikely matchmaker when it came to their nearly 40-year courtship: PresidentJoe Biden.
In a new interview withConan O’Brienfor his podcastConan O’Brien Needs a Friend, the president said that he and the late senator, a Republican, became friends despite their differing party affiliations during myriad travels.
“John ended up traveling with me well over 300,000 miles, and we became friends,” Biden told O’Brien. “Matter of fact, I introduced him to his wife.”
The two were traveling to Japan and stopped in Hawaii in April 1979 where, at a military reception in Honolulu, John met Cindy, who was on a family vacation.
“We were going to Japan and we stopped in Hawaii. And the Admiral’s daughter was this beautiful woman, who now works with me, and he talked about it,” Biden said.
Biden, then a young senator, even encouraged John to gather the courage to speak to Cindy.
“I said, ‘Go up and meet her,’ and he wouldn’t do it. So I went up and I introduced them. They ended up getting married. We were friends,” Biden added.
When O’Brien asked if Biden had “done a lot of matchmaking” in his life, the president said, “No, but John would’ve done it for me.”
Biden added that he was the one who encouraged a younger McCain, then a war hero, to eventually run for office.
“I’m the one that talked him into running for office,” Biden said. “I knew he wasn’t going to run as a Democrat. Anyway, he ended up running and we would argue like hell. I mean, hammer and tong, like two brothers, but then that was it.”
Despite their differing party affiliations, Biden and McCain remained close friends throughout their times in the senate and even as McCain became the Republican presidential nominee.
In 2022, she accepted thePresidential Medal of Freedomfrom Biden on behalf of her late husband.
The full presidential interview airs Dec. 20 at 8 a.m. EST on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio (channel 104), and will be available on the SiriusXM app or wherever you get your podcasts.
source: people.com
