Phi Delta Theta (ΦΔΘ), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has over 200 active chapters and colonies in over 44 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces and has initiated more than 310,000 men between 1848 and 2024. There are over 180,000 living alumni. Phi Delta Theta chartered house corporations own more than 135 houses valued at over $200 million as of summer 2024. There are nearly 100 recognized alumni clubs across the U.S. and Canada.

John Sidney "Slew" McCain Sr. was a U.S. Navy admiral and the patriarch of the McCain military family. McCain held several command assignments during the Pacific campaign of World War II. He was a pioneer of aircraft carrier operations. Serving in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, he commanded all land-based air operations in support of the Guadalcanal campaign, and in 1944–45, he aggressively led the Fast Carrier Task Force. His operations off the Philippines and Okinawa and air strikes against Formosa and the Japanese home islands caused tremendous destruction of Japanese naval and air forces in the closing period of the war. He died four days after the formal Japanese surrender ceremony.