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Staying at the Hanoi HiltonWhy did John McCain's captors need his permission to release him from jail?

By Noreen MalonePosted Friday, Sept. 5, 2008, at 6:50 PM ET

Read our complete coverage of the GOP Convention.

In Thursday's speech at the Republican National Convention, Sen. John McCain described his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. As he recounted, his captors offered to release him, but he refused, saying that "[i]f I went home, they would use it as propaganda to demoralize my fellow prisoners." Wait, why didn't the North Vietnamese just kick him out of the Hanoi Hilton?

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Because they wouldn't have gotten what they wanted out of his release. McCain's captors may have been hoping for positive publicity in letting go such a high-profile prisoner. (His father was an admiral in the U.S. Navy.) Had McCain been thrown out of jail without formally disavowing the United States, the North Vietnamese would have been denied a chance at propaganda victory. McCain would have come home telling stories of torture and coercion—not the PR the captors hoped for in engineering his parole.

Related in Slate

John Dickerson said McCain's RNC speech, with its key reference to his time as a POW, is a blueprint for the character-based turn the '08 presidential campaign will take. Bryan Curtis assessed Jane Fonda's memoir, which did little to convince conservatives that they'd been wrong about Hanoi Jane. And in 2002, Dahlia Lithwick and Scott Shuger debated how the United States ought to treat prisoners detained in Guantanamo Bay.

According to an account of his captivity given to U.S. News & World Report in 1973, the North Vietnamese offered McCain the opportunity for an unconditional release—without signing any statements. But, he said, there was no way to know that they wouldn't coerce him into signing something later on, after he'd already caved on the initial offer. (As for demoralizing his fellow prisoners, it does seem like the captors could have kicked him out, then told the other inmates that he'd capitulated.)

Approximately a dozen of the 472 prisoners of war held in North Vietnam accepted offers of early release, usually in return for signing statements expressing sympathy for communism, denouncing U.S. involvement in the war, and saying they had been treated well by their captors. Most who accepted were injured or near the point of death. (Early release wasn't offered to all prisoners.) Those who took the deal were then handed over to visiting anti-war groups, including American peace activists Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda. During their debriefing, most reneged on the statements they'd made to obtain release.

Tension still exists between those prisoners and other POWs. One notable exception to this is Douglas Hegdahl, who was explicitly ordered by the ranking officer in his prison camp to accept parole since he had memorized the names of many others in captivity. (For the most part, the North Vietnamese didn't release the names of POWs, so people in the United States had no way of knowing whether missing soldiers were dead or imprisoned.) Hegdahl was an enlisted man, but most POWs were officers and pilots. Many were older than the average U.S. soldier in Vietnam and had hopes of further promotion within the military—which would have been destroyed by the acceptance of early parole.

Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.

Explainer thanks Bruce Franklin of Rutgers University, Paul Galanti of NAM POWS, and Craig Howes of the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

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Noreen Malone is a Slate Group copy editor.

COMMENTS

Comments from the Fray

Everyone who has been in service has a story to tell. Being blownup or getting a splinter is more or less a matter of dumb luck. I caught poison ivy in basic training which hampered my activities on a date the following weekend. I guess I'm a hero too.

--njdon

Yep njdon, everyone has a story. I run into people at cocktail parties that never wore a uniform, they always have a story to tell also. Sorry, you guessed wrong, no medals of valor for you. Nor do I believe Captain McCain USN (Ret) is a hero. His conduct as a POW was in keeping with what I would expect of a commissioned Naval officer - -

Incidentally, thanks for putting on the uniform. Oh, and me? I got yelled at in boot camp, I felt very offended.

--Tyrtaios-rising

I did get a medal - service during wartime. check your dd-214. You can get the appropriate papers on the internet. In 6 months they'll send you a medal and then later a bonus certificate from the veterans of foreign wars. This does not entitle or qualify you to be president of the united states.

--njdon

(Find this thread here)

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