The conversation took place during a special Veterans Day edition of the McCain Institute’s Authors and Insights series.
Watch the video HERE
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 11, 2026) – The McCain Institute hosted a special Veterans Day edition of its Authors and Insights book talk series on the 251st birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps. The event featured two Marine Corps veterans: Rye Barcott, Co-Founder and CEO of With Honor, and James McCain, Arizona Board of Regents Member and McCain Institute McCain Global Leaders Council Member.
Drawing on Barcott’s latest book, Courage Can Save US, and his work leading With Honor, the conversation explored how the courage and sense of shared purpose forged in uniform can strengthen American democracy, and why putting service before self matters more than ever in a divided country.
Highlights from the conversation between Rye Barcott and James McCain:
On the legacy of Senator John McCain:
“Your father is the most cited of anyone outside of the 10 individuals: five Republicans, five Democrats [in “Courage Can Save US”],” said Rye Barcott to James McCain about his father, Senator John McCain. “He appears in almost every single chapter and is really, I think, a model for us as an organization, which exists to fight the polarization gripping us and support veterans getting back into public office, which was the main purpose of writing this book.”
On the importance of service:
“Veterans Day is really a broader day to recognize service … by our counts at With Honor, less than 2% of young adults now serve in either the military or its civilian equivalents … I think it’s a really healthy thing for democracy to have a day that recognizes service in general,” said Rye Barcott. “I think a lot of young Americans … they’re searching for purpose, maybe even more so than any time before, and service is a path to fulfillment.”
“My father used to say that nothing in life is more liberating than fighting for a cause larger than yourself,” said James McCain. “Rye’s work, people he writes about, are proof that idea, that it is alive and well.”
On Courage:
“Bravery, I believe, can be instinctive … it can be self-serving, it can be selfless. But courage, I’ve come to see, is something different, which is accepting risk, not necessarily fear, but risk, a decision,” said Rye Barcott, “Courage thinks, it contemplates, and it always serves what the Stoics and Marcus Aurelius referred to as the common good.”
On Veterans returning home:
“A lot of people think in the United States that deployment is the hard part, and I think that many veterans would agree with me when I say that actually the coming home is the hard part,” said James McCain.
On Veterans Day:
“I would like to ask everyone watching to do one simple thing: to reach out to a veteran in your life, whether it’s a parent, neighbor, or friend, thank them for their service,” said James McCain. “If you’re a veteran yourself, remember that service doesn’t need to end when the uniform comes off. There’s plenty of work to do, and your country will always need you.”
Click HERE to view the complete discussion.
Previous authors have included USA Today’s Susan Page, former U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, journalist Anne Applebaum, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark Esper, CBS News’ Major Garrett and elections expert David Becker, former World Food Programme Executive Director Amb. Cindy McCain, CNN’s Jake Tapper, former POLITICO National Security Reporter Alex Ward, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and more. The McCain Institute is grateful to the Merrill Family Foundation for the generous support of the Authors & Insights series.
About the McCain Institute at Arizona State University
The McCain Institute is a nonpartisan organization inspired by Senator John McCain and his family’s dedication to public service. We are part of Arizona State University and based in Washington, D.C. Our programs defend democracy, advance human rights and freedom, and empower character-driven leaders. Our unique power to convene leaders across the global political spectrum enables us to make a real impact on the world’s most pressing challenges. Our goal is action, not talk, and like Senator McCain, we are fighting to create a free, safe, and just world for all.
About Arizona State University
Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American research university, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it.