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A former vice president, a Hollywood actor and politicians from both parties will serve as pallbearers at Sen. John McCain’s memorial service in the nation’s capital on Saturday.
Fifteen individuals will carry the Vietnam War veteran’s coffin at the Washington National Cathedral memorial service before he is laid to rest at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Sunday.
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They are actor Warren Beatty, Vice President Joe Biden, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, businessman Stephen Dart, former McCain presidential campaign manager Richard Davis, fundraiser Carla Eudy, former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, former Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.), Vice Chairman of Open Russia Vladimir Kara-Murza, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), McCain’s former chief of staff Mark Salter, fellow veteran and FedEx founder Fred Smith and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
Here’s a look at some of those individuals and their relationship with McCain:
Former Vice President Joe Biden
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Biden was a longtime friend and Senate colleague of John McCain’s. Here Biden is about to present Vietnam War veteran McCain with the Liberty Medal in Philadelphia in October 2017.
Actor Warren Beatty
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Beatty (here with his wife, actress Annette Bening, and John and Cindy McCain in 2005) is a well-known Hollywood liberal, and his friendship with John McCain goes back to before his 2000 presidential bid, according to The Atlantic.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
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Bloomberg, who served New York City as a Republican (and briefly as an independent), was longtime friends with McCain, who campaigned for Bloomberg in 2001. In a Bloomberg.com editorial on Saturday, he praised the late senator as a “hero in war” as well as “a hero in politics” who always did what he believed to be right. Bloomberg (far left) is seen here in 2008 on the seventh anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York with Barack Obama and McCain — who were opposing candidates for the presidency at the time — as well as Cindy McCain.
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Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen
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Cohen (second from left), with McCain (second from right) in 1999. They served together in the Senate, and Cohen was a groomsman at McCain’s wedding to Cindy McCain, PBS reported.
Former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold
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Feingold, a Democrat who served in the Senate from 1993 to 2011, recalled McCain in a New York Times editorial on Sunday as a determined and ambitious man who didn’t see party lines as a divider. Though initially they could be seen as a “political odd couple,” Feingold wrote, they were “dear friends” for many years.
Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart
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Hart, seen in 2013, whose political career overlapped with McCain’s, considered him a lifelong friend. The two men met a few years after McCain’s release from a North Vietnamese prison camp, when Hart was a first-term senator. A few years later, Hart was a guest of honor at McCain’s wedding in 1980 to Cindy McCain. When asked to be a pallbearer by McCain, Hart told The Denver Post, “I broke into tears. First of all, it was facing his death — and it was such an honor.”
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Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge
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Ridge (with McCain in 2008 when he was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee) was also a veteran of the Vietnam War. In a statement released after McCain’s death, Ridge reflected on McCain’s heroism and great character and called being his friend “a privilege,” adding, “America is a greater nation thanks to John McCain. His contributions and legacy will forever endure.”
Mark Salter
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Salter — a speechwriter, confidant and chief of staff of McCain’s — helped him draft his final letter, which was released after his death. “It was the honor of a lifetime,” Salter told CBS News of his work and friendship with McCain. “I met him in New Orleans in 1988, just sort of accidentally, and it was the luckiest day of my life.”
Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
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Whitehouse (center) a Democratic senator, was a longtime friend of McCain’s. In a statement, Whitehouse said that the request by McCain to serve as one of his pallbearers “is a treasured gift” and that “his loss is a loss to our whole country.”
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Vladimir Kara-Murza
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Kara-Murza (shown during a hearing on Capitol Hill in 2017) is a Russian activist and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last year McCain praised Kara-Murza on the Senate floor as “a great friend and a fighter for freedom” after the Russian dissident was hospitalized in Moscow for the second time after an apparent poisoning. In a Washington Post editorial on Monday, Kara-Murza credited McCain with saving his life by advocating for him and his recovery — which he said “is often the only protection in these situations.”
Richard Davis
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Davis, who served as McCain’s presidential campaign manager in 2000 and 2008, also served as the family’s spokesman after his death this month. Here he discusses McCain’s memorial arrangements.
Former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm
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A U.S. representative and senator who began his political career as a Democrat and switched to the Republican Party, Gramm (seen with McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign) served as McCain’s campaign adviser on economic matters.
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Fred Smith
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The president and CEO of the FedEx Corp. was a friend of McCain’s, as well as a former officer in the Marine Corps and fellow Vietnam War veteran.