It is well-known that U.S. presidential aspirant John McCain, a former U.S. Navy pilot, was struck by North Vietnamese fire over Hanoi during the Vietnam War and subsequently spent five and a half years in various prisoner-of-war camps. He still bears physical scars from the experience, notably the fact that he cannot lift his arms above shoulder level.
What, voters are entitled to ask, about mental or psychological scars? Much has been made of so-called brainwashing techniques, in which cerebral tampering is supposed to trigger behavioral changes and specific responses to subliminal code words.
A memorable work of fiction, in which a U.S. soldier is captured, tortured and much later turns up in an American presidential campaign, is the 1958 Richard Condon novel "The Manchurian Candidate." In it, a U.S. POW is programmed by Chinese captors to influence a presidential election of the future when he is "fed" certain keywords.