She said she was overwhelmed by the show of support she received.
Meghan McCain has returned to "The View," five weeks after her father’s death.
McCain was given a warm welcome Monday as she re-joined her co-hosts for the first time this season. As the show began, she offered gratitude to viewers and the American public.
“I really want to thank all of America with being so kind to my family," she said.
She took a five-week leave from the show following the death of her father, Sen. John McCain, who lost his fight with brain cancer on Aug. 25.
“It made me so inspired that the ideals my father espoused through his career are the ideals of America. And I think there was a lot of talk about what died with him. And I am here today to tell you — it didn't. It is alive and well!” she said.
During her emotional return, the 33-year-old said people of “all races, all ages, all creeds out there with American flags waving, saluting, praying, everyone,” paid tribute to her father.
“He would have loved it,” she added.
In a candid moment, McCain turned to co-host Whoopi Goldberg to express what the longtime Arizona Republican thought of her.
“Whoopi, my father loved you," she said. "He loved you ... and I love you."
She added that Goldberg let her cry in her dressing room “all year last year” as her father battled the disease.
She also revealed that co-host Abby Huntsman witnessed her pain firsthand.
"[Abby] was heavily pregnant and she watched me down Jack Daniels after Jack Daniels, and then I threw up and her sister held my hair back," she said.
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