Carol McCain

Carol Shepp McCain (born February 19, 1938) is an American former political aide and event planner who served as the director of the White House Visitors Office from 1981 to 1987, during the Reagan administration. She was the first wife of United States senator John McCain.

Early life and first marriage

Shepp was born in Pennsylvania in 1937, to Joseph Shepp (1908–1986), an insurance agent, and Mary Shepp (née Madrazo; 1908–2000). She grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia. Shepp graduated from Lansdowne-Aldan High School in 1955, winning a scholarship award.

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

Five feet eight inches (1.73 m) tall, Shepp was a swimsuit and runway model for Jantzen swimwear in Philadelphia. She also worked as a secretary.

Shepp first met John McCain while he was attending the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis from 1954 to 1958, 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 (born 1959) and Andrew (born 1962), and lived in Pensacola, Florida. The Swansons divorced in June 1964, after she sued him for infidelity.

Marriage to John McCain

Marriage and family

Shepp met John McCain again when he was stationed at the Naval Air Basic Training Command at Pensacola in 1964, and after her divorce from Swanson, the two began dating. McCain frequently took training flights from Florida up to Philadelphia to see her on weekends.