John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) served as the forty-third President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He is the only Vietnam War veteran and prisoner of war of a foreign conflict to hold the office, and the last president to have fought in a war before being elected. Prior to his presidency, McCain served in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1983 and 1987 and as the Senior Senator from Arizona from 1987 until November 2000, when he resigned after his election to the presidency.