Some bloggers are questioning John McCain's right to run for the presidency on the basis of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone. They have produced "evidence"
showing that that the hospital where the Arizona senator says he was born was not built until 1941--five years after McCain's birth. A review of the archival record shows that
there was a small hospital at the Coco Solo submarine base in 1936 and also reveals the name of the U.S. Navy physician who signed McCain's birth certificate.
The Facts
I dealt with the constitutional debate on whether McCain is a "natural born citizen" in a previous post. (According to the Constitution, only "natural born citizens" have the right to run for the presidency.") The senator bases his eligibility claim on the fact that he was (1) born on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone at a time when it was effectively under U.S. sovereignty and (2) both of his parents were U.S. citizens.
As I reported earlier, the McCain campaign has declined to publicly release the senator's birth certificate. But a senior campaign official
showed me a copy of his birth certificate issued by the "family hospital" in the Coco Solo submarine base. (McCain's grandfather commanded the Coco Solo Naval Air Station in 1936; his father was the executive officer of a submarine based in Coco Solo.)
The birth certificate was signed by Captain W. L. Irvine. I have now checked that name against the Naval Register for 1936, and I find that
William Lorne Irvine was director of the medical facility at the submarine base hospital in Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, during that time period. You can see the entry
HERE. I think this effectively disposes of any remaining doubts that McCain was born inside the Canal Zone.
The senator's 96-year-old mother, Roberta McCain, recalled the occasion in a Mother's Day video
AVAILABLE HERE. She recalled "the 27 bottles of Scotch" stacked on a table of the nearby Officers' Club, gifts to her husband in celebration
