Senator George McGovern
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George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a
U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
and three-term
U.S. senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
from
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 U.S. presidential election. McGovern grew up in
Mitchell, South Dakota Mitchell is a city in and the county seat of Davison County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 15,660 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census making it the List of cities in South Dakota, sixth most populous city in South Dako ...
, where he became a renowned debater. He volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Forces upon the country's entry into World War II. As a
B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...
pilot, he flew 35 missions over
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from a base in Italy. Among the medals he received was a Distinguished Flying Cross for making a hazardous emergency landing of his damaged plane and saving his crew. After the war, he earned degrees from
Dakota Wesleyan University Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) is a private Methodist university in Mitchell, South Dakota. It was founded in 1885 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The student body averages slightly fewer than 800 students. The campus of t ...
and
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
, culminating in a PhD, and served as a history professor. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1956 and re-elected in 1958. After a failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 1960, he was a successful candidate in 1962. As a senator, McGovern was an example of
modern American liberalism Modern liberalism, often referred to simply as liberalism, is the dominant version of liberalism in the United States. It combines ideas of civil liberty and equality with support for social justice and a mixed economy. Modern liberalism is o ...
. He became most known for his outspoken opposition to the growing U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. He staged a brief nomination run in the 1968 U.S. presidential election as a stand-in for the assassinated
Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...
. The subsequent
McGovern–Fraser Commission The McGovern–Fraser Commission, formally known as Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection,Kamarck, Elaine C. (2009). Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System'. Washington, DC: Brookings I ...
fundamentally altered the presidential nominating process, by increasing the number of
caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...
es and
primaries Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...
and reducing the influence of party insiders. The McGovern–Hatfield Amendment sought to end the Vietnam War by legislative means but was defeated in 1970 and 1971. McGovern's long-shot, grassroots-based 1972 presidential campaign found triumph in gaining the Democratic nomination but left the party split ideologically, and the failed vice-presidential pick of
Thomas Eagleton Thomas Francis Eagleton (September 4, 1929 – March 4, 2007) was an American lawyer who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1968 to 1987. He was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972. H ...
undermined McGovern's credibility. In the general election, McGovern lost to incumbent
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
in one of the biggest
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in U.S. electoral history. Although re-elected to the Senate in 1968 and 1974, McGovern was defeated in his bid for a fourth term in 1980. Beginning with his experiences in war-torn Italy and continuing throughout his career, McGovern was involved in issues related to agriculture, food, nutrition, and hunger. As the first director of the
Food for Peace Since the 1950s, in different administrative and organizational forms, the United States' Food for Peace program has used America's agricultural surpluses to provide food assistance around the world, broaden international trade, and advance U.S. ...
program in 1961, McGovern oversaw the distribution of U.S. surpluses to the needy abroad and was instrumental in the creation of the United Nations-run
World Food Programme The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...
. As sole chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs from 1968 to 1977, McGovern publicized the problem of hunger within the United States and issued the "McGovern Report", which led to a new set of nutritional guidelines for Americans. McGovern later served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture from 1998 to 2001 and was appointed the first UN global ambassador on world hunger by the World Food Programme in 2001. The McGovern–Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program has provided school meals for millions of children in dozens of countries since 2000 and resulted in McGovern's being named
World Food Prize The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. Conceived by Nobel Peace Prize laureate No ...
co‑laureate in 2008.


Early years and education

McGovern was born in the 600‑person farming community of
Avon, South Dakota Avon is a city in Bon Homme County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 586 at the 2020 census. History Avon was founded in 1879. The community owes its name to Avon, New York, the hometown of an early postmaster. Construction of t ...
.''Current Year Biography 1967'', p. 265. His father, the Rev. Joseph C. McGovern, born in 1868, was pastor of the local Wesleyan Methodist Church there. Joseph, the son of an alcoholic who had immigrated from Ireland, had grown up in several states, working in coal mines from the age of nine and parentless from the age of thirteen. He had been a professional baseball player in the
minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...
, but had given it up due to his teammates' heavy drinking, gambling, and womanizing, and entered the seminary instead.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 27, 29. George's mother was the former Frances McLean, born and initially raised in
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
; her family had later moved to
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
,
Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
, and then she came to South Dakota looking for work as a secretary. George was the second oldest of four children. Joseph McGovern's salary never reached $100 per month, and he often received compensation in the form of potatoes, cabbages, or other food items.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 30. Joseph and Frances McGovern were both firm
Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, but were not politically active or doctrinaire. When George was about three years old, the family moved to Calgary for a while to be near Frances's ailing mother, and he formed memories of events such as the
Calgary Stampede The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, fair, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year a ...
. When George was six, the family returned to the United States and moved to
Mitchell, South Dakota Mitchell is a city in and the county seat of Davison County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 15,660 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census making it the List of cities in South Dakota, sixth most populous city in South Dako ...
, a community of 12,000. McGovern attended public schools there and was an average student. He was painfully shy as a child and was afraid to speak in class during first grade. His only reproachable behavior was going to see movies, which were among the worldly amusements forbidden to good Wesleyan Methodists. Otherwise he had a normal childhood marked by visits to the renowned Mitchell
Corn Palace The Corn Palace, commonly advertised as The World's Only Corn Palace and the Mitchell Corn Palace, is a multi-purpose arena/facility located in Mitchell, South Dakota, United States. The Moorish Revival building is decorated with crop art; the m ...
and what he later termed "a sense of belonging to a particular place and knowing your part in it". He would long remember the
Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors (severe drought) and hum ...
storms and grasshopper plagues that swept the prairie states during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. The McGovern family lived on the edge of the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
for much of the 1920s and 1930s. Growing up so close to privation gave young George a lifelong sympathy for underpaid workers and struggling farmers. He was influenced by the currents of
populism Populism is a essentially contested concept, contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the "common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently a ...
and agrarian unrest, as well as the "practical divinity" teachings of cleric
John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...
that sought to fight poverty, injustice, and ignorance.Mann, ''A Grand Delusion'', pp. 292–293. McGovern attended Mitchell High School, where he was a solid but unspectacular member of the track team. A turning point came when his tenth-grade English teacher recommended him to the debate team, where he became quite active. His high-school debate coach, a history teacher who capitalized on McGovern's interest in that subject, proved to be a great influence in his life, and McGovern spent many hours honing his meticulous, if colorless, forensic style.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 27–31. McGovern and his debating partner won events in his area and gained renown in a state where debating was passionately followed by the general public. Debate changed McGovern's life, giving him a chance to explore ideas to their logical end, broadening his perspective, and instilling a sense of personal and social confidence. He graduated in 1940 in the top ten percent of his class. McGovern enrolled at small
Dakota Wesleyan University Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) is a private Methodist university in Mitchell, South Dakota. It was founded in 1885 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The student body averages slightly fewer than 800 students. The campus of t ...
in Mitchell and became a star student there.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 46. He supplemented a forensic scholarship by working a variety of odd jobs.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 32–33. With World War II under way overseas and feeling insecure about his own courage, McGovern took flying lessons in an
Aeronca aircraft Aeronca, contracted from Aeronautical Corporation of America, located in Middletown, Ohio, is a US manufacturer of engine components and airframe structures for commercial aviation and the defense industry, and a former aircraft manufacturer. ...
and received a pilot's license through the government's
Civilian Pilot Training Program The Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) was a flight training program (1938–1944) sponsored by the United States government with the stated purpose of increasing the number of civilian pilots, though having a clear impact on military prepare ...
. McGovern recalled: "Frankly, I was scared to death on that first solo flight. But when I walked away from it, I had an enormous feeling of satisfaction that I had taken the thing off the ground and landed it without tearing the wings off." In late 1940 or early 1941, McGovern had pre-marital sex with an acquaintance that resulted in her giving birth to a daughter during 1941, although this did not become public knowledge during his lifetime. In April 1941 McGovern began dating fellow student Eleanor Stegeberg, who had grown up in
Woonsocket, South Dakota Woonsocket is a city in Sanborn County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 631 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Sanborn County. History Woonsocket was developed in 1883 as a railroad town becau ...
.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 45. They had first encountered each other during a high school debate in which Eleanor and her twin sister Ila defeated McGovern and his partner. McGovern was listening to a radio broadcast of the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...
for a sophomore-year music appreciation class when he heard the news of the December 7, 1941,
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...
.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 42–43. In January 1942 he drove with nine other students to
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, and volunteered to join the
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
. The military accepted him, but they did not yet have enough airfields, aircraft, or instructors to start training all the volunteers, so McGovern stayed at Dakota Wesleyan. George and Eleanor became engaged, but initially decided not to marry until the war was over. During his sophomore year, McGovern won the statewide intercollegiate South Dakota Peace Oratory Contest with a speech called "My Brother's Keeper", which was later selected by the
National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is a left-wing progressive activist group and the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partners ...
as one of the nation's twelve best orations of 1942. Smart, handsome, and well liked, McGovern was elected president of his sophomore class and voted "Glamour Boy" during his junior year. In February 1943, during his junior year, he and a partner won a regional debate tournament at
North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was ...
that featured competitors from thirty-two schools across a dozen states; upon his return to campus, he discovered that the Army had finally called him up.Knock, "Come Home America", p. 87.


Military service


Groundschool and trainers

Soon thereafter McGovern was sworn in as a
private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
at
Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint An ...
in
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', p. 49. He spent a month at
Jefferson Barracks Military Post The Jefferson Barracks Military Post is located on the Mississippi River at Lemay, Missouri, south of St. Louis. It was an important and active U.S. Army installation from 1826 through 1946. It is the oldest operating U.S. military installat ...
in
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
and then five months at Southern Illinois Normal University in
Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,083, making it the most po ...
, for ground school training. McGovern later maintained that both the academic work and physical training were the toughest he ever experienced.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 54, 56–57. He spent two months at a base in
San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...
, and then went to
Hatbox Field Hatbox Field is a closed airfield located within city limits, two nautical miles (3.7 km) west of central Muskogee, a city in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States. It was opened sometime in the early 1920s and was closed in 2000. It ...
in
Muskogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the 13th-largest city in Oklahoma and is the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of ...
, for basic flying school, training in a single-engined PT‑19. McGovern married Eleanor Stegeberg on October 31, 1943, during a three-day leave (lonely and in love, the couple had decided to not wait any longer).Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 65–66. His father presided over the ceremony at the Methodist church in Woonsocket. After three months in Muskogee, McGovern went to Coffeyville Army Airfield in
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
for a further three months of training on the BT‑13.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 68–70, 73–74. Around April 1944, McGovern went on to advanced flying school at Pampa Army Airfield in
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
for twin-engine training on the AT‑17 and AT‑9. Throughout, Air Cadet McGovern showed skill as a pilot, with his exceptionally good
depth perception Depth perception is the ability to perceive distance to objects in the world using the visual system and visual perception. It is a major factor in perceiving the world in three dimensions. Depth sensation is the corresponding term for non-hum ...
aiding him. Eleanor McGovern followed him to these duty stations, and was present when he received his wings and was commissioned a second lieutenant.


Training in the B-24

McGovern was assigned to Liberal Army Airfield in Kansas and its transition school to learn to fly the B‑24 Liberator, an assignment he was pleased with. McGovern recalled later: "Learning how to fly the B‑24 was the toughest part of the training. It was a difficult airplane to fly, physically, because in the early part of the war they didn't have hydraulic controls. If you can imagine driving a Mack truck without any power steering or power brakes, that's about what it was like at the controls. It was the biggest bomber we had at the time." Eleanor was constantly afraid. Accidents while training claimed a huge toll of airmen over the course of the war. This schooling was followed by a stint at Lincoln Army Airfield in
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
, where McGovern met his B-24 crew.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 94, 96, 99. Traveling around the country and mixing with people from different backgrounds proved to be a broadening experience for McGovern and others of his generation. The USAAF sped up training times for McGovern and others, owing to the heavy losses that bombing missions were suffering over Europe. Despite, and partly because of, the risk that McGovern might not come back from combat, the McGoverns decided to have a child, and Eleanor became pregnant. In June 1944, McGovern's crew received final training at
Mountain Home Army Air Field A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust Earth's crust is its thick outer shell of rock, referring to less than one percent of the planet's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a solidified divi ...
in
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
. They then shipped out via
Camp Patrick Henry Camp Patrick Henry is a decommissioned United States Army base which was located in Warwick County, Virginia. After World War II, the site was redeveloped as a commercial airport, and became part of City of Newport News in 1958 when the former C ...
in
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, where McGovern found history books with which to fill downtime, especially during the trip overseas on a slow troopship.


Italy

In September 1944 McGovern joined the 741st Squadron of the
455th Bombardment Group 455th may refer to: *455th Air Expeditionary Wing, provisional United States Air Force USAFCENT unit *455th Flying Training Squadron, United States Air Force unit of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) See also *455 (number) *455 (disamb ...
of the
Fifteenth Air Force The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Forc ...
, stationed at
San Giovanni Airfield The Foggia Airfield Complex was a series of World War II military airfields located within a radius of Foggia, in the Province of Foggia, Italy. The airfields were used by the United States Army Air Forces' Fifteenth Air Force as part of the st ...
near
Cerignola Cerignola (; ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, southeast from the town of Foggia. It has the third-largest land area of any ''comune'' in Italy, at , after Rome and Ravenna and it has the largest land ar ...
in the
Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
region of Italy.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 124, 128–130. There he and his crew found a starving, disease-ridden local population wracked by the ill fortunes of war and far worse off than anything they had seen back home during the Depression. Those sights would form part of his later motivation to fight hunger. Starting on November 11, 1944, McGovern flew 35 missions over enemy territory from San Giovanni, the first five as co-pilot for an experienced crew and the rest as pilot for his own plane, known as the ''Dakota Queen'' after his wife Eleanor. His targets were in
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
;
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
;
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
;
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
;
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
; and northern, German-controlled Italy, and were often either
oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...
complexes or rail marshaling yards, all as part of the U.S. strategic bombing campaign in Europe. The eight- or nine-hour missions were grueling tests of endurance for pilots and crew, and while German fighter aircraft were a diminished threat by this time as compared with earlier in the war, his missions often faced heavy
anti-aircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...
fire that filled the sky with flak bursts. On McGovern's December 15 mission over
Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...
, his second as pilot, a piece of shrapnel from flak came through the windshield and missed fatally wounding him by only a few inches. The following day on a mission to
Brüx Most (; ) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 63,000 inhabitants. Most is an industrial city with a long tradition of lignite mining. Due to mining, the historic city was demolished and replaced by a plann ...
, he nearly collided with another bomber during close-formation flying in complete cloud cover. The following day, he was recommended for a medal after surviving a blown wheel on the always-dangerous B-24 take-off, completing a mission over Germany, and then landing without further damage to the plane. On a December 20 mission against the
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at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, McGovern's plane had one engine out and another in flames after being hit by flak. Unable to return to Italy, McGovern flew to a British airfield on
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, a small island in the
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off the Yugoslav coast that was controlled by
Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
's
Partisans Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Itali ...
. The short field, normally used by small fighter planes, was so unforgiving to four-engined aircraft that many of the bomber crews who tried to make emergency landings there perished. But McGovern successfully landed, saving his crew, a feat for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 192–196.Schlesinger, ''A Thousand Days'', p. 176. In January 1945 McGovern used R&R time to see every sight that he could in Rome, and to participate in an audience with the pope. Bad weather prevented many missions from being carried out during the winter, and during such downtime McGovern spent much time reading and discussing how the war had come about. He resolved that if he survived it, he would become a history professor. In February, McGovern was promoted to
first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...
. On March 14 McGovern had an incident over Austria in which he accidentally bombed a family farmhouse when a jammed bomb inadvertently released above the structure and destroyed it, an event that haunted McGovern.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 228–233. Four decades later, after McGovern related the incident during an Austrian television program and indicated he was still haunted by it, the owner of the farm called the television station to say that his farm was hit by that bomb but that no one had been hurt and the farmer felt that it had been worth the price if that event helped achieve the defeat of Nazi Germany in some small way. McGovern said finding this out was "an enormous release". On returning to base from the flight, McGovern was told his first child Ann had been born four days earlier. April 25 saw McGovern's 35th mission, which marked fulfillment of the Fifteenth Air Force's requirement for a combat tour, against heavily defended Linz. The sky turned black and red with flak – McGovern later said, "Hell can't be any worse than that" – and the ''Dakota Queen'' was hit multiple times, resulting in 110 holes in its fuselage and wings and an inoperative hydraulic system. McGovern's waist gunner was injured, and his flight engineer was so unnerved by his experience that he would subsequently be hospitalized with battle fatigue, but McGovern managed to bring back the plane safely with the assistance of an improvised landing technique.Ambrose, ''The Wild Blue'', pp. 240–245. According to a McGovern associate speaking after McGovern's passing, sometime during his wartime experiences in Europe, McGovern had an extramarital affair and fathered a child with an unknown woman.


Postwar relief

In May and June 1945, following the end of the European war, McGovern continued with the 741st Bomb Squadron delivering surplus food and supplies near
Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
in Northeastern Italy; this was then trucked to the hungry in nearby locations, including to German prisoners of war. McGovern liked making these relief flights, as it gave a way to address the kinds of deprivations he had witnessed when first arriving in Italy. He then flew back to the United States with his crew.Knock, ''The Rise of a Prairie Statesman'', p. 75. McGovern was discharged from the Army Air Forces in July 1945, with the rank of first lieutenant. He was also awarded the
Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establi ...
with three
oak leaf cluster An oak leaf cluster is a ribbon device to denote preceding decorations and awards consisting of a miniature bronze or silver twig of four oak leaves with three acorns on the stem. It is authorized by the United States Armed Forces for a spec ...
s, one instance of which was for the safe landing on his final mission.


Later education and early career

Upon coming home, McGovern returned to Dakota Wesleyan University, aided by the
G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...
, and graduated from there in June 1946 with a
B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...
degree ''
magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
''.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 50–53. For a while he suffered from nightmares about flying through flak barrages or his plane being on fire. He continued with debate, again winning the state Peace Oratory Contest with a speech entitled "From Cave to Cave" that presented a Christian-influenced
Wilsonian Wilsonianism, or Wilsonian idealism, is a certain type of foreign policy advice. The term comes from the ideas and proposals of United States President Woodrow Wilson. He issued his famous Fourteen Points in January 1918 as a basis for ending Wor ...
outlook. The couple's second daughter, Susan, was born in March 1946. McGovern switched from Wesleyan Methodism to less fundamentalist regular
Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
. Influenced by
Walter Rauschenbusch Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918) was an American theologian and Baptist pastor who taught at the Rochester Theological Seminary. Rauschenbusch was a key figure in the Social Gospel and single tax movements that flourished in the United States ...
and the
Social Gospel The Social Gospel is a social movement within Protestantism that aims to apply Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such as economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean en ...
movement, McGovern began divinity studies at
Garrett Theological Seminary Garrett may refer to: Places in the United States * Garrett, Illinois, a village * Garrett, Indiana, a city * Garrett, Floyd County, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Garrett, Meade County, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Garrett, ...
in
Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...
, near
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. Among Methodist seminaries, Garrett tended towards social involvement paired with a theologically liberal approach, and many of the students there leaned towards pacifism. McGovern was influenced by the weekly sermons of a well-known local minister, Ernest Fremont Tittle, and the ideas of
Boston personalism Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleierm ...
. McGovern preached as a Methodist student supply minister at Diamond Lake Church in
Mundelein, Illinois Mundelein is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States and a northern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 31,560, making this the fourth largest town in Lake County. The village straddles ...
, during 1946 and 1947, but became dissatisfied by the minutiae of his pastoral duties. In late 1947 McGovern left the ministry and enrolled in graduate studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, where he also worked as a teaching assistant.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 55–56. The relatively small history program there was among the best in the country,Knock, "Come Home America", p. 89. and McGovern took courses given by noted academics
Ray Allen Billington Ray Allen Billington (September 28, 1903 in Bay City, Michigan – March 7, 1981 in San Marino, California) was an American historian who researched the history of the American frontier and the American West, becoming one of the leading defenders ...
, Richard W. Leopold, and L. S. Stavrianos. He received an
M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
in history in 1949. McGovern then returned to his alma mater, Dakota Wesleyan, and became a professor of history and political science. With the assistance of a Hearst fellowship for 1949–50, he continued pursuing graduate studies during summers and other free time. The couple's third daughter, Teresa, was born in June 1949. Eleanor McGovern began to suffer from bouts of depression but continued to assume the large share of household and child-rearing duties.McGovern, ''Terry'', pp. 44–46, 49. McGovern earned a
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in history from
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
in 1953. His 450-page dissertation, ''The Colorado Coal Strike, 1913–1914'', was a sympathetic account of the miners' revolt against Rockefeller interests in the
Colorado Coalfield War The Colorado Coalfield War was a major Labor dispute, labor uprising in the southern and central Colorado Front Range between September 1913 and December 1914. Striking began in late summer 1913, organized by the United Mine Workers of Ameri ...
. His thesis advisor, noted historian Arthur S. Link, later said he had not seen a better student than McGovern in 26 years of teaching. McGovern was influenced not only by Link and the " Consensus School" of American historians but also by the previous generation of "progressive" historians. Most of his future analyses of world events would be informed by his training as a historian, as well as his personal experiences during the Great Depression and World War II.Knock, "Come Home America", p. 94. Meanwhile, McGovern had become a popular if politically outspoken teacher at Dakota Wesleyan, with students dedicating the college yearbook to him in 1952.Knock, "Come Home America", p. 92. Nominally a Republican growing up, McGovern began to admire Democratic president
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
during World War II, even though he supported Roosevelt's opponent
Thomas Dewey Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in 1944 and ...
in the 1944 U.S. presidential election.White, ''The Making of the President 1972'', pp. 40–41.Knock, ''The Rise of a Prairie Statesman'', p. 122. At Northwestern, his exposure to the work of China scholars
John King Fairbank John King Fairbank (May 24, 1907September 14, 1991) was an American historian of China and United States–China relations. He taught at Harvard University from 1936 until his retirement in 1977. He is credited with building the field of China ...
and
Owen Lattimore Owen Lattimore (July 29, 1900 – May 31, 1989) was an American Orientalist and writer. He was an influential scholar of China and Central Asia, especially Mongolia. Although he never earned a college degree, in the 1930s he was editor of '' Pac ...
had convinced him that unrest in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
was homegrown and that U.S. foreign policy toward Asia was counterproductive. Discouraged by the onset of the Cold War, and never thinking well of incumbent president
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
, in the 1948 U.S. presidential election McGovern was attracted to the campaign of former vice president and secretary of agriculture
Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was the 33rd vice president of the United States, serving from 1941 to 1945, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as the 11th U.S. secretary of agriculture and the 10th U.S ...
.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 58–61. He wrote columns supporting Wallace in the ''
Mitchell Daily Republic The ''Mitchell Daily Republic'' is a daily newspaper published in Mitchell, South Dakota. The paper's circulation is reported to be 9,859 and primarily serves Davison County, South Dakota. It was founded in 1934 and is currently owned by the F ...
'' and attended the Wallace Progressive Party's first national convention as a
delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (United S ...
. There he became disturbed by aspects of the convention atmosphere, decades later referring to "a certain rigidity and fanaticism on the part of a few of the strategists." He remained a public supporter of Wallace and the Progressive Party afterward. As Wallace was kept off the ballot in Illinois where McGovern was now registered, McGovern did not vote in the general election. By 1952, McGovern was coming to think of himself as a
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...
. He was captivated by a radio broadcast of Governor
Adlai Stevenson Adlai Stevenson may refer to: * Adlai Stevenson I Adlai Ewing Stevenson (October 23, 1835 – June 14, 1914) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 23rd vice president of the United States from 1893 to 1897 under President Gr ...
's speech accepting the presidential nomination at the
1952 Democratic National Convention The 1952 Democratic National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 21 to July 26, 1952, which was the same arena the Republicans had gathered in a few weeks earlier for their national convention from ...
.McGovern, ''Grassroots'', pp. 49–51. He immediately dedicated himself to Stevenson's campaign, publishing seven articles in the ''Mitchell Daily Republic'' newspaper outlining the historical issues that separated the Democratic Party from the Republicans. The McGoverns named their only son, Steven, born immediately after the convention, after his new hero. Although Stevenson lost the election, McGovern remained active in politics, believing that "the engine of progress in our time in America is the Democratic Party." In early 1953,E. McGovern, ''Uphill'', p. 86. McGovern left a
tenure-track Tenure is a type of academic appointment that protects its holder from being fired or laid off except for cause, or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency or program discontinuation. Academic tenure originated in the United ...
position at the university to become executive secretary of the
South Dakota Democratic Party The South Dakota Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The party currently has very weak electoral power in the state, controlling none of South Dakota's statewide or federal elected offices ...
,''Current Year Biography 1967'', p. 266. the state chair having recruited him after reading his articles. Democrats in the state were at a low, holding no statewide offices and only 2 of the 110 seats in the state legislature. Friends and political figures had counseled McGovern against making the move, but despite his mild, unassuming manner, McGovern had an ambitious nature and was intent upon starting a political career of his own. McGovern spent the following years rebuilding and revitalizing the party, building up a large list of voter contacts via frequent travel around the state. Democrats showed improvement in the 1954 elections, winning 25 seats in the state legislature.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 73–75. From 1954 to 1956 he also was on a political organization advisory group for the
Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...
. The McGoverns' fifth and final child, Mary, was born in 1955.


U.S. House of Representatives

In 1956, McGovern sought elective office himself, and ran for the House of Representatives from
South Dakota's 1st congressional district South Dakota's 1st congressional district is an obsolete List of United States congressional districts, congressional district that existed from 1913 to 1983. When South Dakota was admitted into the Union in 1889, it was allocated two congressi ...
, which consisted of the counties east of the
Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...
. He faced four-term incumbent Republican Party representative Harold O. Lovre. Aided by the voter lists he had earlier accumulated, McGovern ran a low-budget campaign, spending $12,000 while borrowing $5,000. His quiet personality appealed to voters he met, while Lovre suffered from a general unhappiness over
Eisenhower administration Dwight D. Eisenhower's tenure as the 34th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1953, and ended on January 20, 1961. Eisenhower, a Republican from Kansas, took office following his landslide victor ...
farm policy. When polls showed McGovern gaining, Lovre's campaign implied that McGovern's support for admitting the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
to the United Nations and his past support for Henry Wallace meant that McGovern was a communist appeaser or sympathizer.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 81–84. In his closing speech, McGovern responded: "I have always despised communism and every other ruthless tyranny over the mind and spirit of man." McGovern staged an upset victory, gaining 116,516 votes to his opponent's 105,835, and became the first Democrat elected to Congress from South Dakota in 22 years. The McGoverns established a home in
Chevy Chase, Maryland Chevy Chase () is the colloquial name of an area that includes a town, several incorporated villages, and an unincorporated census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland; and one adjoining neighborhood in northwest Washington, D ...
. Entering the
85th United States Congress The 85th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1957 ...
, McGovern became a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor. As a representative, McGovern was attentive to his district. He became a staunch supporter of higher commodity prices, farm price supports, grain storage programs, and beef import controls, believing that such stored commodities programs guarded against drought and similar emergencies. He favored rural development, federal aid to small business and to education, and medical coverage for the aged under Social Security. In 1957 he traveled and studied conditions in the Middle East under a fellowship from the American Christian Palestine Committee. McGovern first allied with the
Kennedy family The Kennedy family () is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P ...
by supporting a House version of Senator John F. Kennedy's eventually unsuccessful labor reform bill. In his 1958 reelection campaign, McGovern faced a strong challenge from South Dakota's two-term Republican governor and World War II
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
recipient
Joe Foss Joseph Jacob Foss (April 17, 1915January 1, 2003) was a United States Marine Corps Major and a leading Marine fighter ace in World War II. He received the Medal of Honor in recognition of his role in air combat during the Guadalcanal Campaign. In ...
, who was initially considered the favorite to win.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 87–90. McGovern ran an effective campaign that showcased his political strengths of having firm beliefs and the ability to articulate them in debates and on the stump.Brokaw, ''The Greatest Generation'', p. 121. He prevailed with a slightly larger margin than two years before. In the
86th United States Congress The 86th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1959 ...
, McGovern was assigned to the
House Committee on Agriculture The United States House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, or Agriculture Committee is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The House Committee on Agriculture has general jurisdiction over federal agricultu ...
. The longtime chairman of the committee, Harold D. Cooley, would subsequently say, "I cannot recall a single member of Congress who has fought more vigorously or intelligently for American farmers than Congressman McGovern." He helped pass a new food-stamp law. He was one of nine representatives from Congress to the
NATO Parliamentary Assembly The NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It consists of delegates from the parliaments of the 32 NATO member countries as well as from associate ...
conferences of 1958 and 1959. Along with Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, McGovern strongly advocated a reconstruction of
Public Law 480 Since the 1950s, in different administrative and organizational forms, the United States' Food for Peace program has used America's agricultural surpluses to provide food assistance around the world, broaden international trade, and advance U.S. ...
(an agricultural surplus act that had come into being under Eisenhower) with a greater emphasis on feeding the hungry around the world, the establishment of an executive office to run operations, and the goal of promoting peace and stability around the world. During his time in the House, McGovern was regarded as a
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...
overall, and voted in accordance with the rated positions of
Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting p ...
(ADA) 34 times and against 3 times. Two of the themes of his House career, improvements for rural America and the war on hunger, would be defining ones of his legislative career and public life. McGovern did not vote on the initial House bill for the
Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights law passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. E ...
, but voted in favor of the Senate amendment to the bill in August 1957. McGovern voted in favor initial House bill for the
Civil Rights Act of 1960 The Civil Rights Act of 1960 () is a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. It dealt primarily wi ...
, but did not vote on the Senate amendment to the bill in April 1960. In 1960, McGovern decided to run for the U.S. Senate and challenge the Republican incumbent
Karl Mundt Karl Earl Mundt (June 3, 1900August 16, 1974) was an American educator and a Republican member of the United States Congress, representing South Dakota in the United States House of Representatives (1939–1948) and in the United States Senate ...
, a formidable figure in South Dakota politics whom McGovern loathed as an old-style
McCarthyite McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United St ...
.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 92–94. The race centered mostly on rural issues, but John F. Kennedy's Catholicism was a drawback at the top of the ticket in the mostly Protestant state. McGovern made careless charges during the campaign, and the press turned against him; he would say eleven years later, "It was my worst campaign. I hated undtso much I lost my sense of balance." McGovern was defeated in the November 1960 election, gaining 145,217 votes to Mundt's 160,579, but the margin was one third of Kennedy's loss to Vice President Richard M. Nixon in the state's presidential contest.


Food for Peace director

Having relinquished his House seat to run for the Senate, McGovern was available for a position in the new
Kennedy administration John F. Kennedy's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 35th president of the United States began with Inauguration of John F. Kennedy, his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with Assassination of John F. Kennedy, his ...
. McGovern was picked to become a special assistant to the president and first director of Kennedy's high-priority
Food for Peace Since the 1950s, in different administrative and organizational forms, the United States' Food for Peace program has used America's agricultural surpluses to provide food assistance around the world, broaden international trade, and advance U.S. ...
program, which realized what McGovern had been advocating in the House. McGovern assumed the post on January 21, 1961. As director, McGovern urged the greater use of food to enable foreign economic development, saying, "We should thank God that we have a food abundance and use the over-supply among the underprivileged at home and abroad." He found space for the program in the Executive Office Building rather than be subservient to either the
State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
or
Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
. McGovern worked with deputy director James W. Symington and Kennedy advisor
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. ( ; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a ...
in visiting South America to discuss surplus grain distribution, and attended meetings of the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...
. In June 1961, McGovern became seriously ill with
hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...
, contracted from an infected White House dispensary needle used to give him inoculations for his South American trip; he was hospitalized and unable to come to his office for two months;Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 110–113. his campaign disguised the condition by saying it was a mild kidney infection. By the close of 1961, the Food for Peace program was operating in a dozen countries, and 10 million more people had been fed with American surplus than the year before. In February 1962, McGovern visited India and oversaw an expanded
school lunch A school meal (whether it is a breakfast, lunch, or evening meal) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world offer various kinds of schoo ...
program thanks to Food for Peace. Subsequently, one in five Indian schoolchildren would be fed from it; by mid-1962, it fed 35 million children around the world.Knock, "Feeding the World and Thwarting the Communists", p. 107. During an audience in Rome,
Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...
warmly praised McGovern's work,Knock, "Feeding the World and Thwarting the Communists", pp. 114–115. and the distribution program was also popular among South Dakota's wheat farmers. In addition, McGovern was instrumental in the creation of the United Nations-run
World Food Programme The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...
in December 1961; it started distributing food to affected regions of the world the following year and would go on to become the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Administration was never McGovern's strength, and he was restless for another try at the Senate. With the approval of President Kennedy, McGovern resigned his post on July 18, 1962. Kennedy said that under McGovern the program had "become a vital force in the world", improving living conditions and economies of allies and creating "a powerful barrier to the spread of Communism". Columnist Drew Pearson wrote that it was one of the "most spectacular achievements of the young Kennedy administration", while Schlesinger would later write that Food for Peace had been "the greatest unseen weapon of Kennedy's third-world policy".


U.S. Senator


1962 election and early years as a senator

In April 1962, McGovern announced he would run for election to South Dakota's other Senate seat, intending to face incumbent Republican
Francis H. Case Francis Higbee Case (December 9, 1896June 22, 1962) was an American journalist and politician who served for 25 years as a member of the United States Congress from South Dakota. He was a Republican. Biography Case was born in Everly, Iowa, t ...
. Case died in June, and McGovern instead faced an appointed senator, former lieutenant governor Joseph H. Bottum. Much of the campaign revolved around policies of the Kennedy administration and its
New Frontier The term ''New Frontier'' was used by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech, delivered July 15, in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memo ...
;''Current Year Biography 1967'', p. 267. Bottum accused the Kennedy family of trying to buy the Senate seat. McGovern appealed to those worried about the outflux of young people from the state, and had the strong support of the Farmers Union. Polls showed Bottum slightly ahead throughout the race, and McGovern was hampered by a recurrence of his hepatitis problem in the final weeks of the campaign. (During this hospitalization, McGovern read Theodore H. White's classic ''
The Making of the President 1960 ''The Making of the President 1960'', written by journalist Theodore H. White and published by Atheneum Publishers in 1961, is a book that recounts and analyzes the 1960 election in which John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United St ...
,'' and for the first time began thinking about running for the office someday.) Eleanor McGovern campaigned for her ailing husband and may have preserved his chance of winning. The November 1962 election result was very close and required a recount, but McGovern's 127,458 votes prevailed by a margin of 597, making him the first Democratic senator from the state in 26 years and only the third since statehood in 1889. When he joined the Senate in January 1963 for the 88th Congress, McGovern was seated on the Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee and Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee. On the Agriculture Committee, McGovern supported high farm prices, full parity, and controls on beef importation, as well as the administration's Feed Grains Acreage Diversion Program.Anson, ''McGovern'', p. 135. McGovern had a fractious relationship with Secretary of Agriculture
Orville Freeman Orville Lothrop Freeman (May 9, 1918February 20, 2003) was an American politician who served as the 29th governor of Minnesota from 1955 to 1961, and as the U.S. secretary of agriculture from 1961 to 1969 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and L ...
, who was less sympathetic to farmers; McGovern's 1966 resolution to informally scold Freeman made the senator popular back in his home state. Fellow new senator Edward M. Kennedy saw McGovern as a serious voice on farm policy and often sought McGovern's guidance on agriculture-related votes. McGovern was largely inactive on the Interior Committee until 1967, when he was given the chairmanship of the subcommittee on Indian affairs;Anson, McGovern, pp. 143–144. however, Interior Committee chairman
Henry M. Jackson Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. representative (1941–1953) and U.S. senator (1953–1983) from the state of Washington (state), Washington. A Cold W ...
, who did not get along with McGovern personally or politically, refused to allow McGovern his own staff, limiting his effectiveness. McGovern regretted not accomplishing more for South Dakota's 30,000
Sioux Indian The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota language, Dakota/Lakota language, Lakota: ) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations people from the Great Plains of North Ame ...
s, although after a McGovern-introduced resolution on Indian self-determination passed in 1969, the
Oglala Sioux The Oglala (pronounced , meaning 'to scatter one's own' in Lakota) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live on the P ...
named McGovern "Great White Eagle." In his first speech on the Senate floor in March 1963, McGovern praised Kennedy's
Alliance for Progress The Alliance for Progress () was an initiative launched by U.S. President John F. Kennedy on March 13, 1961, that aimed to establish economic cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America. Governor Luis Muñoz Marín of Puerto Rico was a close ...
initiative but spoke out against U.S. policy toward Cuba, saying that it suffered from "our Castro fixation". In August 1963 McGovern advocated reducing the $53 billion
defense budget A military budget (or military expenditure), also known as a defense budget, is the amount of financial resources dedicated by a state to raising and maintaining an armed forces or other methods essential for defense purposes. Financing militar ...
by $5 billion; influenced by advisor
Seymour Melman Seymour Melman (December 30, 1917 – December 16, 2004) was an American professor emeritus of industrial engineering and operations research at Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. He wrote extensively f ...
, he held a special antipathy toward the doctrine of nuclear "overkill".Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 129–131. McGovern would try to reduce defense appropriations or limit military expenditures in almost every year during the 1960s.Anson, ''McGovern'', p. 133. He also voted against many weapons programs, especially missile and antimissile systems, and also opposed military assistance to foreign nations. In 1964 McGovern published his first book, ''War Against Want: America's Food for Peace Program''. In it he argued for expanding his old program, and a Senate measure he introduced was eventually passed, adding $700 million to the effort's funding. Preferring to concentrate on broad policy matters and speeches, McGovern was not a master of Senate legislative tactics, and he developed a reputation among some other senators for "not doing his homework".Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 138–139. Described as "a very private, unchummy guy", he was not a member of the Senate "club" nor did he want to be, turning down in 1969 a chance to join the powerful
Senate Rules Committee The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, also called the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, is responsible for the rules of the United States Senate, administration of congressional buildings, and with credentials and qualificat ...
. Relatively few pieces of legislation bore his name, and his legislative accomplishments were generally viewed as modest, although he would try to influence the contents of others' bills. In his political beliefs, McGovern fit squarely within
modern American liberalism Modern liberalism, often referred to simply as liberalism, is the dominant version of liberalism in the United States. It combines ideas of civil liberty and equality with support for social justice and a mixed economy. Modern liberalism is o ...
; through 1967 he had voted in accordance with the rated positions of the ADA 92 percent of the time, and when lacking specific knowledge on a particular matter, he would ask his staff, "What are the liberals doing?"


Opposition to Vietnam War

In a speech on the Senate floor in September 1963, McGovern became the first member to challenge the growing U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.Weil, ''The Long Shot'', pp. 16–17. Bothered by the
Buddhist crisis The Buddhist crisis () was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam between May and November 1963, characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance, led mainl ...
and other recent developments, and with concerns influenced by Vietnam historian
Bernard Fall Bernard B. Fall (November 19, 1926 – February 21, 1967) was a prominent war correspondent, historian, political scientist, and expert on Indochina during the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Austria, he moved with his family to France as a child after ...
, McGovern said: As the speech was little noticed, McGovern backed away from saying anything publicly for over a year afterward, partly because of the November 1963
assassination of President Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline, Texas gove ...
and partly to not appear strident.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 152–154. Though more skeptical about it than most senators,Mann, ''A Grand Delusion'', pp. 357, 366–368. McGovern voted in favor of the August 1964
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution or the Southeast Asia Resolution, , was a joint resolution that the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964, in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. It is of historic significance because it gave U.S. ...
, which turned out to be an essentially unbounded authorization for President
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
to escalate U.S. involvement in the war. McGovern thought the commander in chief should be given limited authority to retaliate against an attack; subsequently, he said his instinct had been to vote no, but that he had voted yes because of Senator
J. William Fulbright James William Fulbright (April 9, 1905 – February 9, 1995) was an American politician, academic, and statesman who represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1945 until his resignation in 1974. , Fulbright is the longest-serving chair ...
's urging to stand behind Johnson politically. The day after the resolution vote, McGovern spoke concerning his fears that the vote would lead to greater involvement in the war;
Wayne Morse Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was an American attorney and United States Senator from Oregon. Morse is well known for opposing the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party’s leadership and for his opposition t ...
, one of only two senators to oppose the resolution, sardonically noted that this fell into the category of "very interesting, but very belated." This would become the vote that McGovern most bitterly regretted. In January 1965 McGovern made his first major address on Vietnam, saying that "We are not winning in South Vietnam ... I am very much opposed to the policy, now gaining support in Washington, of extending the war to the north."Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 154–157. McGovern instead proposed a five-point plan advocating a negotiated settlement involving a federated Vietnam with local autonomy and a UN presence to guarantee security and fair treatment. The speech gave McGovern national visibility as one of the "doves" in the debate over Vietnam;Knock, "Come Home America", pp. 104–105. however, McGovern made moderate-to-hawkish statements at times too, flatly rejecting unconditional withdrawal of U.S. forces and criticizing
antiwar An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during co ...
draft-card burning Draft-card burning was a symbol of protest performed by thousands of young men in the United States and Australia in the 1960s and early 1970s as part of the anti-war movement. The first draft-card burners were American men participating in the ...
s as "immature, impractical, and illegal". He eschewed personal criticism of Johnson. In November 1965 McGovern traveled to South Vietnam for three weeks.Mann, ''A Grand Delusion'', p. 486. The human carnage he saw in hospital wards deeply upset him, and he became increasingly outspoken about the war upon his return, more convinced than ever that Vietnam was a political, not military, problem.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 160–164. Now he was ready, as he later said, "not merely to dissent, but to crusade" against the war. McGovern voted in favor of Vietnam military appropriations in 1966 through 1968, not wanting to deprive U.S. forces of necessary equipment. Nevertheless, his antiwar rhetoric increased throughout 1967.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 165–166. Over the years, Johnson had invited McGovern and other Senate doves to the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
for attempts to explain the rationale for his actions in Vietnam; McGovern came away from the final such visit, in August 1967, shaken by the sight of a president "tortured and confused ... by the mess he has gotten into in Vietnam."


1968 presidential and Senate campaigns

In August 1967 activist Allard K. Lowenstein founded the Dump Johnson movement, and soon it was seeking a Democratic Party figure to make a primaries campaign challenge against Johnson in the 1968 U.S. presidential election.White, ''The Making of the President 1968'', pp. 72–74. The group's first choice was Senator Robert Kennedy, who declined, as did another, and by late September 1967 they approached McGovern. After much deliberation McGovern declined, largely because he feared such a run would significantly damage his own chances for reelection to his Senate seat in 1968. A month later the anti-Johnson forces were able to persuade Senator
Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...
to run; he was one of the few "dove" senators not up for reelection that year.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 2–8. In the 1968 Democratic primary campaign, McCarthy staged a strong showing. Robert Kennedy entered the race, President Johnson withdrew and Vice President
Hubert Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American politician who served from 1965 to 1969 as the 38th vice president of the United States. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Minnesota from 19 ...
joined the field. While McGovern privately favored Kennedy, McCarthy and Humphrey were both from the neighboring state of Minnesota and publicly McGovern remained neutral.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 188–192. McGovern hosted all three as they campaigned for the June 4 South Dakota Democratic primary, which resulted in a strong win by Kennedy to go along with his win in the crucial California primary that night. McGovern spoke with Kennedy by phone minutes before Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles. The death of Bobby Kennedy left McGovern the most emotionally distraught he had ever been to that point in his life. Within days, some of Kennedy's aides were urging McGovern to run in his place; their antipathy toward McCarthy and ideological opposition to Humphrey made them unwilling to support either candidate. McGovern delayed making a decision, making sure that Bobby's brother
Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...
did not want to enter, and with his staff still concerned about the senator's own reelection prospects.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 192–199. McGovern's voting had changed during 1968, with his ADA rating falling to 43 as he sought more middle-of-the-road stances. In late July, McGovern's decision became more complicated when his daughter Teresa was arrested in
Rapid City Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed. It is the second-mo ...
on marijuana possession charges. She had led a troubled life since her teenage years, developing problems with alcohol and depression and suffering the consequences of a relationship with an unstable neighborhood boy. On the basis of a recently enacted strict state drugs law, Terry now faced a minimum five-year prison sentence if found guilty.McGovern, ''Terry'', pp. 71–74. McGovern was also convinced that the socially conservative voters of South Dakota would reject him owing to his daughter's arrest. Charges against her were subsequently dropped because of an invalid search warrant. McGovern formally announced his candidacy on August 10, 1968, in Washington, two weeks in advance of the
1968 Democratic National Convention The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus making ...
, committing himself to "the goals for which Robert Kennedy gave his life." Asked why he was a better choice than McCarthy, he said, "Well – Gene really doesn't want to be president, and I do." At the convention in Chicago, Humphrey was the near-certain choice, while McGovern became the initial rallying point for around 300 leaderless Kennedy delegates.White, ''The Making of the President 1968'', pp. 265–266. The chaotic circumstances of the convention found McGovern denouncing the Chicago police tactics against demonstrators as "police brutality."Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 207–211. Given the internal politics of the party, it was difficult for McGovern to gain in delegate strength, and black protest candidate Channing E. Phillips drew off some of his support. In the actual roll call, McGovern came in third with 146½ delegates, far behind Humphrey's 1760¼ and McCarthy's 601. McGovern endorsed Humphrey at the convention, to the dismay of some antiwar figures who considered it a betrayal. Humphrey went on to lose the general election to
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
. McGovern returned to his Senate reelection race, facing Republican former governor Archie M. Gubbrud. While South Dakota voters sympathized with McGovern over his daughter's arrest,McGovern, ''Terry'', pp. 76, 79. he initially suffered a substantial drop in popularity over the events in Chicago;Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 213–216. however, McGovern conducted an energetic campaign that focused on his service to the state, while Gubbrud ran a lackluster effort. In November, McGovern won 57 percent of the vote in what he would consider the easiest and most decisive victory of his career.


Middle Senate years and continued opposition to the Vietnam War

During the 1968 Democratic Convention, a motion had been passed to establish a commission to reform the Democratic Party nomination process. In 1969 McGovern was named chairman of the
Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...
, also known as the McGovern–Fraser Commission; owing to the influence of former McCarthy and Kennedy supporters on the staff, the commission significantly reduced the role of party officials and insiders in the nomination process.White, ''The Making of the President 1972'', pp. 24–33. The commission's 1970 report, ''Mandate for Reform'', was approved by the Democratic National Committee in 1971. It required that delegates be selected either by a party primary where delegate preferences were indicated on the ballot or by a state convention process where the first stage was open caucuses. It also mandated quotas for proportional black, female, and youth delegate representation. The new rules had an immediate effect; in 1972, a third more primaries were held in the Democratic nomination process than in 1968 and those primaries produced half again as many delegates. Over the next few presidential election cycles, this trend towards holding primaries increased in both parties, with eventually over 80 percent of delegates being chosen via primaries; whereas before McGovern–Fraser, two-thirds of all delegates were chosen by state conventions controlled by party elites. Thus the U.S. presidential nominating process has been different ever since the McGovern–Fraser reforms, with scholars and politicians debating whether all the changes are for the better.Reichley, ''The Life of the Parties'', pp. 283, 285–287. At pp. 457, 459. In the wake of several high-profile reports about hunger and
malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
in the United States, the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs had been created in July 1968, with McGovern as its chairman. Seeking to dramatize the problem, in March 1969 McGovern took the committee to
Immokalee, Florida Immokalee ( ) is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Collier County, Florida, United States. The population was 24,557 at the 2020 census, up from 24,154 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Collier Co ...
, the base for 20,000
migrant farm worker A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have an intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers who work outsid ...
s.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 225–229. They saw graphic examples of hunger and malnutrition firsthand, but also encountered resistance and complaints about bad publicity from local and state officials. McGovern battled the Nixon administration and Southerners in Congress during much of the next year over an expanded
Food Stamp Program In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a Federal government of the United States, federal government program that provides food-purchasing assistance for Poverty ...
; he had to compromise on a number of points, but legislation signed in 1970 established the principles of free food stamps and a nationwide standard for eligibility. McGovern generally lacked both interest and expertise in
economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
, but was outspoken in reaction to Nixon's imposition of
wage and price controls Incomes policies in economics are economy-wide wage and price controls, most commonly instituted as a response to inflation, and usually seeking to establish wages and prices below free-market level. Incomes policies have often been resorted to ...
in 1971. McGovern declared: "This administration, which pledged to slow inflation and reduce unemployment, has instead given us the highest rate of inflation and the highest rate of unemployment in a decade." Regarding another heated domestic issue, ''
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...
'' included McGovern in a 1971 report about liberal politicians and journalists who advocated integrated schooling while avoiding it for their children. But most of all, McGovern was known for his continued opposition to the Vietnam War. In March 1969, he became the first senator to explicitly criticize the new president's policy there, an action that was seen as a breach of customary protocol by other Senate doves.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 167–169. The ongoing diversion to South Vietnam of much of Food for Peace's aid, where it was used to subsidize that country's budget, when there were countries around the world affected by drought and food shortages, upset him. By the end of 1969, McGovern was calling for an immediate cease-fire and a total withdrawal of all American troops within a year. In October 1969 McGovern was a featured speaker before 100,000 demonstrators in Boston at the
Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was a massive demonstration and teach-in across the United States against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. It took place on October 15, 1969, followed a month later, on November 15, 196 ...
, and in November he spoke before 350,000 at Moratorium/
Mobilization Mobilization (alternatively spelled as mobilisation) is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word ''mobilization'' was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the ...
's antiwar march to the
Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States, victorious commander-in-chief of the Continen ...
.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 169–174. Afterward, he decided that radicalized peace demonstrations were counterproductive and criticized antiwar figures such as
Rennie Davis Rennard Cordon Davis (May 23, 1940 – February 2, 2021) was an American anti-war activist who gained prominence in the 1960s. He was one of the Chicago Seven defendants charged for anti-war demonstrations and large-scale protests at the 1968 ...
,
Tom Hayden Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, becoming an i ...
,
Huey Newton Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was an African American revolutionary and political activist who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. He ran the party as its first leader and crafted its ten-point manifesto with ...
,
Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponent of the ...
, and
Jerry Rubin Jerry Clyde Rubin (July 14, 1938 – November 28, 1994) was an American social activist, anti-war leader, and counterculture icon during the 1960s and early 1970s. Despite being known for holding radical views when he was a political activist, h ...
as "reckless" and "irresponsible". Instead, McGovern focused on legislative means to bring the war to an end. The McGovern–Hatfield Amendment to the annual military procurement bill, co-sponsored by Republican
Mark Hatfield Mark Odom Hatfield (July 12, 1922 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Factions in the Republican Party (United States)#Moderates, moderate Republican Party (United States), Republican, he se ...
of Oregon, required via funding cutoff a complete withdrawal of all American forces from Indochina by the end of 1970. It underwent months of public discussion and alterations to make it acceptable to more senators, including pushing the deadline out to the end of 1971. In May 1970 McGovern obtained a
second mortgage Second mortgages, commonly referred to as junior liens, are loans secured by a property in addition to the primary Mortgage loan, mortgage. Depending on the time at which the second mortgage is originated, the loan can be structured as either a ...
on his Washington home in order to fund a half-hour televised panel discussion on the amendment on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
. The broadcast brought in over $500,000 in donations that furthered work on passage, and eventually the amendment gained the support of the majority of the public in polls. The effort was denounced by opposition groups organized by White House aide
Charles Colson Charles Wendell Colson (October 16, 1931 – April 21, 2012), generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as ...
, which called McGovern and Hatfield "apostles of retreat and defeat" and "salesmen of surrender" and maintained that only the president could conduct foreign policy. The amendment was defeated in September 1970 by a 55–39 vote, just short of what McGovern had hoped would constitute at least a
moral victory A moral victory occurs when a person, team, army or other group loses a confrontation, and yet achieves some other moral gain. This gain might be unrelated to the confrontation in question, and the gain is often considerably less than what would ...
.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 174–178. During the floor debate, McGovern criticized his colleagues opposing the measure: The Senate reacted in startled, stunned silence, and some faces showed anger and fury; when one member told McGovern he had been personally offended by the speech, McGovern said, "That's what I meant to do."Mann, ''A Grand Delusion'', pp. 666–670. McGovern believed Vietnam an immoral war that was destroying much of what was pure, hopeful, and different about America's character as a nation. The defeat of the amendment left McGovern embittered and somewhat more radicalized.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 179–180. He accused the vice president of South Vietnam, Nguyen Cao Ky, of running a heroin trafficking operation that was addicting American soldiers. In a retort to the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee chairman
John Stennis John Cornelius Stennis (August 3, 1901 – April 23, 1995) was an American politician who served as a U.S. senator from the state of Mississippi. He was a Democrat who served in the Senate for over 41 years, becoming its most senior member fo ...
's suggestion that U.S. troops might have to return to Cambodia, McGovern declared, "I'm tired of old men dreaming up wars for young men to fight. If he wants to use American ground troops in Cambodia, let him lead the charge himself." He denounced Nixon's policy of
Vietnamization Vietnamization was a failed foreign policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnamese forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, a ...
as "subsidiz ngthe continued killing of the people of Indochina by technology and mercenaries." In a ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'' interview, he said that
Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...
was the North Vietnamese
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
. McGovern–Hatfield was put up for a vote again in 1971, with somewhat weaker provisions designed to gain more support.Weil, ''The Long Shot'', pp. 21–22. In polls, a large majority of the public now favored its intent, and McGovern took his name off a final form of it, as some senators were just objecting to him. Nevertheless, in June 1971, it failed to pass again, gaining only a few more votes than the year before.Mann, ''A Grand Delusion'', pp. 682–684. McGovern was now certain that the only way the war would come to a quick end was if there was a new president.


1972 presidential campaign

McGovern announced his candidacy on January 18, 1971, during a televised speech from the studios of
KELO-TV KELO-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States, affiliated with CBS, MyNetworkTV, and The CW Plus (as an owned-and-operated station). The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios o ...
in
Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls ( ) is the List of cities in South Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the List of United States cities by population, 117th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha Coun ...
.Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 267–268. At the time of his announcement, McGovern ranked fifth among Democrats in a presidential preference
Gallup Poll Gallup, Inc. is an American multinational analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Gallup provides analytics and man ...
. The earliest such entry since
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...
, it was designed to give him time to overcome the large lead of the frontrunner, Maine senator
Edmund Muskie Edmund Sixtus Muskie (March 28, 1914March 26, 1996) was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 58th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1980 to 1981, a United States Senator from Maine from 1 ...
. By January 1972, McGovern had only 3 percent national support among Democrats in the Gallup Poll and had not attracted significant press coverage. McGovern's campaign manager
Gary Hart Gary Warren Hart (''né'' Hartpence; born November 28, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential nominations, until in 1988, he dropped out amid revelations of ex ...
decided on a guerrilla-like insurgency strategy of battling Muskie in only selected primaries, not everywhere, so as to focus the campaign's organizational strength and resources. Muskie fell victim to inferior organizing, an over-reliance on party endorsements, and Nixon's " dirty tricks" operatives,Witcover, ''Party of the People'', pp. 578–580. and in the March 7, 1972,
New Hampshire primary The New Hampshire presidential primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest, the first being the Iowa caucuses, held in the United States every four years as part of the process of cho ...
, did worse than expected with McGovern coming in a close second. As Muskie's campaign funding and support dried up, Hubert Humphrey, who had rejoined the Senate, became McGovern's primary rival for the nomination, with Alabama governor
George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...
also in the mix after dominating the March 14 primary in Florida. McGovern won a key breakthrough victory over Humphrey and Wallace on April 4 in Wisconsin, where he added blue-collar economic populism to his appeal. He followed that by dominating the April 25 primary in Massachusetts.White, ''The Making of the President 1972'', pp. 106–107, 110–112. At that point, McGovern had become the frontrunner. A late decision to enter the May 2 Ohio primary, considered a Humphrey stronghold, paid dividends when McGovern managed a very close second there amid charges of election fraud by pro-Humphrey forces. The other two leading candidates for the nomination also won primaries, but Wallace's campaign in effect ended when he was seriously wounded in a May assassination attempt, and McGovern's operation was effective in garnering delegates in caucus states. The climactic contest took place in California, with Humphrey attacking McGovern in several televised debates; in the June 6 vote, McGovern defeated him by five percentage points and claimed all the delegates due to the state's winner-take-all rules. He then appeared to clinch the nomination with delegates won in the New York primary on June 20.Witcover, ''Party of the People'', pp. 580–582. Humphrey's attacks on McGovern as being too radical began a downward slide in the latter's poll standing against Nixon. McGovern became tagged with the label "amnesty, abortion, and acid", supposedly reflecting his positions. During his primary victories, McGovern used an approach that stressed
grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...
-level organization while bypassing conventional campaign techniques and traditional party power centers. He capitalized on support from antiwar activists and reform liberals; thousands of students engaged in door-to-door campaigning for him. He benefited by the eight primaries he won being those the press focused on the most; he showed electoral weakness in the South and industrial Midwest, and actually received fewer primary votes overall than Humphrey and had only a modest edge over Wallace.Cook, ''The Presidential Nominating Process'', pp. 51, 53. McGovern ran on a
platform Platform may refer to: Arts * Platform, an arts centre at The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow * ''Platform'' (1993 film), a 1993 Bollywood action film * ''Platform'' (2000 film), a 2000 film by Jia Zhangke * '' The Platform'' (2019 film) * Pla ...
that advocated withdrawal from the Vietnam War in exchange for the return of American
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
and amnesty for draft evaders who had left the country. McGovern's platform also included an across-the-board 37-percent reduction in defense spending over three years. He proposed a "demogrant" program that would give a $1,000 payment to every citizen in the United States.White, ''The Making of the President 1972'', pp. 119–120. Based around existing ideas such as the
negative income tax In economics, a negative income tax (NIT) is a system which reverses the direction in which tax is paid for incomes below a certain level; in other words, earners above that level pay money to the state while earners below it receive money. NIT ...
and intended to replace the welfare bureaucracy and complicated maze of existing public-assistance programs, it nonetheless garnered considerable derision as a poorly thought-out "liberal giveaway" and was dropped from the platform in August. An "Anybody But McGovern" coalition, led by southern Democrats and organized labor, formed in the weeks following the final primaries. McGovern's nomination did not become ensured until the first night of the
1972 Democratic National Convention The 1972 Democratic National Convention was the presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party for the 1972 presidential election. It was held at Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, also the host city of the Rep ...
in
Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...
, where, following intricate parliamentary maneuverings led by campaign staffer Rick Stearns, a Humphrey credentials challenge regarding the California winner-take-all rules was defeated. Divisive arguments over the party platform then followed; what resulted was arguably the most liberal one of any major U.S. party. On July 12, 1972, McGovern officially won the Democratic nomination. In doing so and in taking over the party's processes and platform, McGovern produced what ''The New York Times'' termed "a stunning sweep." The convention distractions led to a hurried process to pick a vice presidential running mate. Turned down by his first choice, Ted Kennedy, as well as by several others, McGovern selected – with virtually no vetting – Missouri senator
Thomas Eagleton Thomas Francis Eagleton (September 4, 1929 – March 4, 2007) was an American lawyer who served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1968 to 1987. He was briefly the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972. H ...
. On the final night of the convention, procedural arguments over matters such as a new party charter, and a prolonged vice presidential nomination process that descended into farce, delayed the nominee's acceptance speech. As a result, McGovern delivered his speech, "Come home America!", at three o'clock in the morning, reducing his television audience from about 70 million people to about 15 million. Just over two weeks after the convention, it was revealed that Eagleton had been hospitalized and received
electroshock therapy Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment that causes a generalized seizure by passing electrical current through the brain. ECT is often used as an intervention for mental disorders when other treatments are inadequate. Condit ...
for "nervous exhaustion" and "depression" several times during the early to mid-1960s. Years later, Eagleton's diagnosis was refined to
bipolar II disorder Bipolar II disorder (BP-II) is a mood disorder on the bipolar spectrum, characterized by at least one episode of hypomania and at least one episode of major depression. Diagnosis for BP-II requires that the individual must never have experienc ...
. McGovern initially supported Eagleton, in part because he saw parallels with his daughter Terry's battles with mental illness. He was additionally sympathetic due to his wife Eleanor having experienced depression; and he was also harboring a secret about his own past, that being an undisclosed child. On the following day, July 26, McGovern stated publicly, "I am 1,000 percent for Tom Eagleton and have no intention of dropping him from the ticket." Though many people still supported Eagleton's candidacy, an increasing number of influential politicians and newspapers questioned his ability to handle the office of vice president and, potentially, president or questioned the McGovern campaign's ability to survive the distraction.Giglio, "The Eagleton Affair", pp. 662-665. The resulting negative attention – combined with McGovern's consultation with preeminent psychiatrists, including
Karl Menninger Karl Augustus Menninger (July 22, 1893 – July 18, 1990) was an American psychiatrist, author, and activist. He was a member of the Menninger family of psychiatrists who founded the Menninger Foundation and the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, ...
, as well as doctors who had treated Eagleton – prompted McGovern to accept, and announce on August 1, Eagleton's offer to withdraw from the ticket. It remains the only time a major party vice presidential nominee has been forced off the ticket. Five prominent Democrats then publicly turned down McGovern's offer of the vice presidential slot: in sequence, Kennedy again,
Abraham Ribicoff Abraham Alexander Ribicoff (April 9, 1910 – February 22, 1998) was an American politician from the state of Connecticut. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Connecticut in the United States House of Representatives and Senate ...
, Humphrey,
Reubin Askew Reubin O'Donovan Askew (September 11, 1928 – March 13, 2014) was an American politician, who served as the 37th governor of Florida from 1971 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 7th U.S. trade representative from 1979 ...
, and Muskie. (
Larry O'Brien Lawrence Francis O'Brien Jr. (July 7, 1917September 28, 1990) was an American politician and commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1975 to 1984. He was one of the United States Democratic Party's leading electoral strat ...
was also approached but no offer made). Finally, he named U.S. ambassador to France
Sargent Shriver Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. (November 9, 1915 – January 18, 2011) was an American diplomat, politician, and activist. He was a member of the Shriver family by birth, and a member of the Kennedy family through his marriage to Eunice Kennedy. ...
, a brother-in-law of John F. Kennedy.White, ''The Making of the President 1972'', p. 207–210. McGovern's 1,000 percent statement and subsequent reneging made him look both indecisive and an opportunist, and has since been considered one of the worst gaffes in presidential campaign history.Miroff, ''The Liberals' Moment'', pp. 89, 93. McGovern himself would long view the Eagleton affair as having been "catastrophic" for his campaign. The general election campaign did not go well for McGovern. Nixon did little campaigning; he was buoyed by the success of his visit to China and arms-control-signing summit meeting in the Soviet Union earlier that year, and shortly before the election
Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...
's somewhat premature statement that "peace is at hand" in Vietnam. Top Republican figures attacked McGovern for being weak on defense issues and "encouraging the enemy"; Nixon asserted that McGovern was for "peace at any price" in Vietnam rather than the "
peace with honor "Peace with Honor" was a phrase U.S. President Richard Nixon used in a speech on January 23, 1973 to describe the Paris Peace Accords to end the Vietnam War. The phrase is a variation on a campaign promise Nixon made in 1968: "I pledge to you th ...
" that Nixon said he would bring about.Wayne, ''The Road to the White House 2008'', pp. 252–253. McGovern chose to not emphasize his own war record during the campaign. The McGovern Commission changes to the convention rules marginalized the influence of establishment Democratic Party figures, and McGovern struggled to get endorsements from figures such as former President Johnson and Chicago mayor
Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of ...
. The
AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...
remained neutral, after having always endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate in the past. Some southern Democrats, led by former Texas governor
John Connally John Bowden Connally Jr. (February 27, 1917June 15, 1993) was an American politician who served as the 39th governor of Texas from 1963 to 1969 and as the 61st United States secretary of the treasury from 1971 to 1972. He began his career as a Hi ...
, switched their support to the Republican incumbent through a campaign effort called
Democrats for Nixon Democrats for Nixon was a campaign to promote Democratic support for the then-incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential election. The campaign was led by the former Democratic governor of Texas, John Connally. Connal ...
. Nixon outspent McGovern by more than two-to-one. Nixon directly requested that his aides use government records to try to dig up dirt on McGovern and his top contributors. McGovern was publicly attacked by Nixon surrogates and was the target of various operations of the Nixon "dirty tricks" campaign.Miroff, ''The Liberals' Moment'', pp. 241–243. The infamous
Watergate break-in The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Nixon's resignation in 1974, in August of that year. It revol ...
of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in June 1972 was an alternate target after bugging McGovern's headquarters was explored. The full dimensions of the subsequent
Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...
did not emerge during the election; the vast majority of the press focused on McGovern's difficulties and other news rather than the break-in or who was behind it, and a majority of voters were unaware of Watergate. In the end, Nixon's covert operations had little effect in either direction on the election outcome. By the final week of the campaign, McGovern knew he was going to lose. While he was appearing in
Battle Creek, Michigan Battle Creek is a city in northwestern Calhoun County, Michigan, United States, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo River, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek River, Battle Creek rivers. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a tota ...
, on November 2, a Nixon admirer heckled him. McGovern told the heckler, "I've got a secret for you", then said softly into his ear, "Kiss my ass." The incident was overheard and reported in the press, and became part of the tale of the campaign. In the general election on November 7, 1972, the McGovern–Shriver ticket suffered a 61 percent to 37 percent defeat to Nixon – at the time, the second biggest landslide in American history, with an
Electoral College An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...
total of 520 to 17. McGovern's two electoral vote victories came in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, and he failed to win his home state of South Dakota, which had gone Democratic in only three of the previous eighteen presidential elections and would continue to go Republican in presidential elections to come. Over the nation as a whole he carried a mere 135 counties. At just over four percent of the nation's counties, McGovern's county wins remain the fewest by almost a factor of three for any major-party nominee.


Remaining Senate years

After this loss, McGovern remained in the Senate. He was scarred by the enormous defeat,Miroff, ''The Liberals' Moment'', p. 293. and his wife, Eleanor, took it even worse; during the winter of 1972–1973, the couple seriously considered moving to England. His allies were replaced in positions of power within the Democratic Party leadership, and the McGoverns did not get publicly introduced at party affairs they attended. On January 20, 1973, a few hours after Richard Nixon was re-inaugurated, McGovern gave a speech at the
Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest unive ...
that talked about the abuses of Nixon's presidency; it brought criticism, including from some Democrats, for being ill-mannered. To get past the "bitterness and self-pity" he felt, McGovern forced himself to deal with the defeat humorously before audiences; starting at the March 1973
Gridiron Dinner The Gridiron Club is the oldest and most selective journalistic organization in Washington, D.C. History :"an elitist social club of sixty print journalists" — Hedrick Smith, ''Power Game: How Washington Works'' February 1988 Random House ...
, he frequently related his campaign misadventures in a self-deprecating fashion, such as saying, "For many years, I wanted to run for the presidency in the worst possible way – and last year I sure did." Emotions surrounding the loss would remain with McGovern for decades, as it did with some other defeated presidential nominees. Nixon resigned in August 1974 because of the Watergate scandal. McGovern said President
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...
's subsequent September 1974 pardon of Nixon was difficult to understand, given that Nixon's subordinates were going to prison. McGovern displayed the political resiliency he had shown in the past. In
1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...
, he faced possible political peril because of his having neglected the state during his long presidential campaign, and by May 1973, he had already begun campaigning for re-election. An Air Force pilot and Medal of Honor recipient, Leo K. Thorsness, had just been repatriated after six years as a
prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
in North Vietnam; he publicly accused McGovern of having given aid and comfort to the enemy and of having prolonged his time as a POW. McGovern replied that if there had been no war, there would have been no POWs, and that everything he had done had been toward the goal of ending the war sooner. Thorsness became the Republican nominee against McGovern, but despite the two men's different roles in it, the war did not become a significant issue. Instead, the campaign was dominated by farm policy differences and economic concerns over the 1973–75 recession. Thorsness charged McGovern with being a "part-time senator" more concerned with national office and with spending over $2 million on his re‑election bid, while McGovern labeled Thorsness a
carpetbagger In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical pejorative used by Southerners to describe allegedly opportunistic or disruptive Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War and were pe ...
owing to his having grown up in Minnesota. In a year in which Democrats were advantaged by the aftereffects of the Watergate scandal, McGovern won re-election in November 1974 with 53 percent of the vote. Following the
Fall of Saigon The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...
and the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975, McGovern attributed the outcome not to Congressional refusal to fund more military aid to South Vietnam, as President Ford had wanted. Instead, McGovern said, the regime of
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnam, South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the Leaders of South Vietnam, president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Repub ...
"fell because the leadership was corrupt and decadent and did not have the support of its own people." Regarding the
Indochina refugee crisis The Indochina refugee crisis was the large outflow of people from the former French colonies of Indochina, comprising the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, after communist governments were established in 1975. Over the next 25 years and ...
that soon developed, McGovern introduced legislation in early May 1975 to enable Vietnamese refugees who had left the country in panic fearing a post-war bloodbath to return to the country. He said, "Ninety percent of the refugees would be better off going back to their own land. And I say that in a humanitarian spirit. ... The ewSaigon government has already given orders that the people are not to be molested ... that is more respect than Thieu's army frequently demonstrated. ... our program for dealing with these refugees should include as the highest priority steps to facilitate their early return to Vietnam." McGovern's stance brought immediate criticism from some quarters; syndicated columnist John D. Lofton, Jr. said it proved that McGovern was "the most immoral hypocrite on the American political scene today." McGovern objected to what he termed distorted interpretations of his proposal, but newspaper publisher
Creed C. Black Creed Carter Black (July 15, 1925 – August 16, 2011) was an American newspaper executive and publisher of the ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' from 1977 to 1987, where he published a series of articles on corruption in Kentucky's coal industry a ...
considered the criticism fair. Following his Senate re-election victory, McGovern harbored thoughts of running in the 1976 U.S. presidential election. Given the magnitude of his defeat in 1972, very few in the Democratic Party wanted him as a presidential candidate again. Unfamiliar and uncomfortable with Democratic nominee
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
, McGovern secretly voted for Ford instead. McGovern's view on intervention in Southeast Asia took a turn in 1978 in reaction to the ongoing
Cambodian genocide The Cambodian genocide was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian citizens by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979, nearly 25% of Cambodia's populati ...
. Noting that it affected a percentage of the population that made "Hitler's operation look tame", he advocated an international military intervention in Cambodia to put the
Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...
regime out of power. McGovern's Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs expanded its scope to include national nutrition policy. In 1977, it issued a new set of nutritional guidelines for Americans that sought to combat leading killer health conditions. Titled ''Dietary Goals for the United States'', but also known as the "McGovern Report", it suggested that Americans eat less fat, less cholesterol, less refined and processed sugars, and more complex carbohydrates and fiber. While many public health officials had said all of this for some time, the committee's issuance of the guidelines gave it higher public profile. The recommendations proved controversial with the cattle, dairy, egg, and sugar industries, including from McGovern's home state. The McGovern committee guidelines led to reorganization of some federal executive functions and became the predecessor to the more detailed
Dietary Guidelines for Americans The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) provide nutritional advice for Americans who are healthy or who are at risk for chronic disease but do not currently have chronic disease. The Guidelines are published every five years by the USDA Center f ...
later issued twice a decade by the
Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) is a program area of the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), originally created in 1994 and merged into FNS beginning in 2017, to improve the health and well-being of Americans by establis ...
. In
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...
, McGovern was one of several liberal Democratic senators targeted for defeat by the
National Conservative Political Action Committee The National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC; pronounced "nick-pack"), based in Alexandria, Virginia, was a New Right political action committee in the United States that was a major contributor to the ascendancy of conservative R ...
(NCPAC), which put out a year's worth of negative advertising about McGovern. It and other
anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its Abortion by country, legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in r ...
groups especially focused on McGovern's support for
abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...
laws. McGovern faced a Democratic primary challenge for the first time, from a pro-life candidate. McGovern's Republican opponent was
James Abdnor Ellis James Abdnor (February 13, 1923 – May 16, 2012) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States Senate from South Dakota. He was also the 15th Administrator of the Small Business Administration under presidents Rona ...
, a four-term incumbent congressman who held identical positions to McGovern's on farm issues, was solidly conservative on national issues, and was well liked within the state. Abdnor's campaign focused on both McGovern's liberal voting record and what it said was McGovern's lack of involvement in South Dakota affairs. McGovern made an issue of NCPAC's outside involvement, and that group eventually withdrew from the campaign after Abdnor denounced a letter it had sent out. Far behind in the polls earlier, McGovern outspent Abdnor two-to-one and repeatedly criticized Abdnor's refusal to debate him, thereby drawing attention to a slight speech defect Abdnor had.Marano, ''Vote Your Conscience'', p. 32. Showing the comeback pattern of some of his past races in the state, McGovern closed the gap for a while. In November 1980, McGovern was defeated for re-election, winning only 39 percent of the vote to Abdnor's 58 percent. In what became known as the "
Reagan Revolution Ronald Reagan's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 40th president of the United States began with First inauguration of Ronald Reagan, his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Rep ...
", McGovern was one of many Democratic casualties of that year's Republican sweep.


Post-Senate life and 1984 presidential campaign

McGovern did not mourn leaving the Senate. Although being rejected by his own state stung, intellectually he could accept that South Dakotans wanted a more conservative representative; he and Eleanor felt out of touch with the country and in some ways liberated by the loss. Nevertheless, he refused to believe that
American liberalism Liberalism in the United States is based on concepts of unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of consent of the governed, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the separation of church and st ...
was dead in the time of Reagan; remaining active in politics, in January 1981 he founded the political organization Americans for Common Sense. The group sought to rally liberals, encourage liberal thinking, and combat the
Moral Majority The Moral Majority was an American political organization and movement associated with the Christian right and the Republican Party in the United States. It was founded in 1979 by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell Sr. and associates, and dissolv ...
and other new
Christian right The Christian right are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation ...
forces. In 1982 he turned the group into a
political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
, which raised $1.2 million for liberal candidates in the 1982 U.S. congressional elections. McGovern shut the committee down when he decided to run again for president. McGovern also began teaching and lecturing at a number of universities in the U.S. and Europe, accepting one-year contracts or less. From 1981 to 1982, McGovern replaced historian
Stephen Ambrose Stephen Edward Ambrose (January 10, 1936 – October 13, 2002) was an American historian, academic, and author, most noted for his books on World War II and his biographies of U.S. presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a long ...
as a professor at the
University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...
. McGovern also began making frequent speeches, earning several hundred thousand dollars a year. McGovern attempted another presidential run in the 1984 Democratic primaries. Friends and political admirers of McGovern initially feared the effort would prove an embarrassment, and McGovern knew that his chances of winning were remote, but he felt compelled to try to influence the intraparty debate in a liberal direction.Miroff, ''The Liberals' Moment'', p. 270. Freed from the practical concerns of trying to win, McGovern outlined a ten-point program of sweeping domestic and foreign policy changes; because he was not seen as a threat, fellow competitors did not attack his positions, and media commentators praised him as the "conscience" of the Democratic Party. Despite enjoying good name recognition, McGovern had little funding or staff, although he did garner critical funding from some celebrities and statesmen. He won a surprise third-place showing in the
Iowa caucuses The Iowa caucuses are quadrennial electoral events for the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. state of Iowa. Unlike primary elections, where registered voters cast ballots at polling places on election day, Iowa caucuses are ...
amidst a crowded field of candidates but finished fifth in the New Hampshire primary. He announced he would drop out unless he finished first or second in the Massachusetts primary, and when he came in third behind his former campaign manager
Gary Hart Gary Warren Hart (''né'' Hartpence; born November 28, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential nominations, until in 1988, he dropped out amid revelations of ex ...
and former vice president
Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928April 19, 2021) was the 42nd vice president of the United States serving from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Minnesota from 1964 to 1976. ...
, he kept his word. He later endorsed Mondale, the eventual Democratic nominee. McGovern hosted ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' on April 14, 1984. McGovern addressed the party's platform committee, and his name was placed in nomination at the
1984 Democratic National Convention The 1984 Democratic National Convention was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California from July 16 to July 19, 1984, to select candidates for the 1984 United States presidential election. Former Vice President Walter Mondale was no ...
, where he delivered a speech that strongly criticized President Reagan and praised Democratic unity. He received the votes of four delegates. He actively supported the Mondale–
Geraldine Ferraro Geraldine Anne Ferraro (August 26, 1935 March 26, 2011) was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, and was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice presiden ...
ticket, whose eventual landslide defeat bore some similarities to his own in 1972. During the 1980s McGovern was a fellow at the
Institute for Policy Studies The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) is an American Progressivism in the United States, progressive think tank, formed in 1963 and based in Washington, D.C. It was directed by John Cavanagh (economist), John Cavanagh from 1998 to 2021. In 202 ...
, a
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
in Washington, D.C. In September 1987, McGovern lectured at the inaugural
Waldo Family Lecture on International Relations Waldo may refer to: People and fictional characters * Waldo (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Waldo (surname), a list of people * Waldo (footballer), Brazilian footballer Waldo Machado da Silva (1934–20 ...
at
Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (ODU) is a Public university, public research university in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. Established in 1930 as the two-year Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary, it began by educating people with fewer ...
in
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
. In January 1988, McGovern said that he was considering entering the 1988 Democratic primaries in the event that a front-runner did not emerge in the race. Ultimately, he did not enter. McGovern had made several real estate investments in the D.C. area and became interested in hotel operations. In 1988, using the money he had earned from his speeches, the McGoverns bought, renovated, and began running a 150-room inn in
Stratford, Connecticut Stratford is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is situated on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Housatonic River. The town is part of the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, Connecticut, Greater Bri ...
, with the goal of providing a hotel, restaurant, and public conference facility. It went into bankruptcy in 1990 and closed the following year. In 1992 McGovern published his reflections on the experience in the ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' and the ''
Nation's Restaurant News ''Nation's Restaurant News'' (''NRN'') is an American trade publication, founded in 1967. NRN covers the foodservice industry, including restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Me ...
''. He attributed part of the failure to the
early 1990s recession The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incum ...
, but also part to the cost of dealing with federal, state, and local regulations that were passed with good intentions but made life difficult for small businesses, and to the cost of dealing with frivolous lawsuits. McGovern wrote, "I ... wish that during the years I was in public office I had had this firsthand experience about the difficulties business people face every day. That knowledge would have made me a better U.S. senator and a more understanding presidential contender." His statement would still be resonating with American conservatives two decades later. Although he briefly explored another presidential run in the 1992 contest, McGovern instead became president of the
Middle East Policy Council The Middle East Policy Council (MEPC) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization that produces analysis and commentary on issues impacting U.S. national interests in the Middle East. It was founded in 1981 under the stated missi ...
(a nonprofit organization that seeks to educate American citizens and policymakers about the political, economic and security issues impacting U.S. national interests in the Middle East) in July 1991; he had previously served on its board since 1986. He held this position until 1997, when he was replaced by
Charles W. Freeman Jr. Charles W. Freeman Jr. (, born March 2, 1943) is an American retired diplomat and writer. He served in the United States Foreign Service, the State and Defense Departments in many different capacities over the course of thirty years. Most notabl ...
On the night of December 12–13, 1994, McGovern's daughter Teresa fell into a snowbank in
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...
, while heavily intoxicated and died of
hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...
.McGovern, ''Terry'', pp. x–xi. Heavy press attention followed, and McGovern revealed his daughter had battled her
alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
for years and had been in and out of many treatment programs while having had one extended period of sobriety. He authored an account of her life, ''Terry: My Daughter's Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism''; published in 1996, it presented a harrowing, unsparing view of the depths to which she had descended, the torment that he and the rest of his family had experienced in trying unsuccessfully to help her, and his ongoing thoughts and guilt about whether the demands of his political career and the time he had spent away from the family had made things worse for her. The book was a modest best-seller, and with the proceeds, he founded the Teresa McGovern Center in Madison to help others suffering from the combination of alcoholism and mental health problems. He would later say that Terry's death was by far the most painful event in his life: "You never get over it, I'm sure of that. You get so you can live with it, that's all."


Ambassador to food agencies and other later activities

In April 1998 McGovern returned to public service when he began a three-year stint as
United States ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
, serving in
Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, after having been named to the post by President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
. The announcement that Clinton was choosing McGovern for the role had come on February 19, McGovern's appointment had been confirmed by voice vote of the Senate on March 6, had become official on March 10, and he presented his credentials to the UN in Rome on April 14. The 75-year-old McGovern said he had not been seeking the position, but that "it's ideal for someone my age because it carries full ambassadorial rank without the hassle of running a big embassy." In an effort to meet the UN's goal of reducing the number of hungry people in the world by half by 2015, Ambassador McGovern formulated detailed plans, urging delivery of more surplus food to foreign school-lunch programs and the establishment of specific targets such as had been done in old American programs. He began working again with fellow former senator
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...
to persuade the Senate to support this effort, as well as expanded school lunch, food stamps, and nutritional help for pregnant women and poor children in the United States. The
George McGovern–Robert Dole International Food for Education and Nutrition Program The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (IFEP) is a food aid program authorized in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (P.L. 107–171, Sec. 3107, known as the 2002 Farm Bill) which provides for ...
that was created in 2000, and funded largely through the Congress, would go on to provide more than 22 million meals to children in 41 countries over the next eight years. It was also credited with improving school attendance, especially among girls, who were more likely to be allowed to go to school if a meal was being provided. In August 2000, President Clinton presented McGovern with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
, the nation's highest civilian honor, in recognition of McGovern's service in the effort to eradicate world hunger. McGovern's book ''The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time'' was published in January 2001; with its title making reference to Roosevelt's
Four Freedoms speech The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Monday, January 6, 1941. In an address known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freed ...
, it proposed a plan whereby chronic world hunger could be eliminated within thirty years. In January 2001, McGovern was asked to stay on at the UN post for a while by the incoming
George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following his narrow electoral college vict ...
. His stint then concluded with a termination of mission on September 28, 2001. In October 2001, McGovern was appointed as the first UN global ambassador on world hunger by the World Food Programme, the agency he had helped found forty years earlier. He was still active in this goodwill ambassador position as of 2011 and remained in it until his death. McGovern was an honorary life member of the board of Friends of the World Food Program. McGovern also served as a senior policy advisor at
Olsson Frank Weeda Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Matz PC is an American boutique law firm and lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C., that specializes in representing business interests in the food, drug, medical device, and agriculture industries in their dealings wit ...
, a food and drug regulatory counseling law and lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., where he specialized on issues of food, nutrition, and agriculture. McGovern's wartime story was at the center of Ambrose's 2001 best-selling profile of the men who flew B‑24s over Germany in World War II, '' The Wild Blue''. It was the first time much of the public became familiar with that part of his life; throughout his political career, McGovern had rarely mentioned his war service or the medals he had won. McGovern continued to lecture and make public appearances, sometimes appearing with Dole on college campuses. McGovern and Dole contributed essays to the 2005 volume ''Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith''. From around 2003 to 2005, McGovern owned a
bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The found ...
in his summer home of Stevensville in
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
's
Bitterroot Valley The Bitterroot Valley is located in southwestern Montana, along the Bitterroot River between the Bitterroot Range and Sapphire Mountains, in the Northwestern United States. Geography The valley extends approximately from Lost Trail Pass in I ...
, until deciding to sell it because of lack of sufficient market. In 2003, the McGoverns became part-time residents of
Marco Island, Florida Marco Island is a city and barrier island in Collier County, Florida, south of Naples on the Gulf Coast of the United States. It is the largest barrier island in Southwest Florida's Ten Thousand Islands area, which extends southerly to Cape Sa ...
; by then, Eleanor was struggling with
heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...
. In October 2006, the $8.5 million George and Eleanor McGovern Library and Center for Leadership and Public Service was dedicated at Dakota Wesleyan University. The couple had helped raise the funds for it. It seeks to prepare the college's best students for future careers in public service through classes, seminars, research, and internships, and also to raise the visibility of the university. The dignitaries in attendance were led by former president Clinton. McGovern's wife Eleanor was too ill to attend the ceremony, and she died of heart disease on January 25, 2007, at their home in Mitchell. Later in 2007, several events were held at Dakota Wesleyan and in Washington, D.C., to celebrate McGovern's 85th birthday and the 35th anniversary of his nomination for president. Hundreds of former staff, volunteers, supporters and friends attended, along with public officials. McGovern still sought to have his voice heard in the American political scene. He became an outspoken opponent of the
Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
, likening U.S. involvement in that country to that of the failed Vietnam effort, and in 2006 co-wrote the book ''Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now''. In January 2004, McGovern campaigned for
Wesley Clark Wesley Kanne Clark (born Wesley J. Kanne, 23 December 1944) is a retired United States Army officer. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at United States Military Academy, West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the U ...
in his presidential bid, citing him as the candidate best suited to win in the general election. In January 2008, McGovern wrote an
op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...
in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' calling for the impeachment of President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
and Vice-President
Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...
, saying they had violated the U.S. Constitution, transgressed national and international law, and repeatedly lied to the American people. The subtitle of the article read "Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse." In the tumultuous 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination campaign, he first endorsed U.S. senator
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
and then later switched to Senator
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
after concluding Clinton could no longer win. On October 16, 2008, McGovern and Dole were made
World Food Prize The World Food Prize is an international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. Conceived by Nobel Peace Prize laureate No ...
laureates for their efforts to curb hunger in the world and in particular for their joint program for school feeding and enhanced school attendance.


Final years and death

By 2009, McGovern had moved to St. Augustine Beach, Florida. McGovern's seventh book (as author, co-author, or contributing editor) issued in the first decade of the 2000s, ''Abraham Lincoln'', was published by
Times Books Times Books (previously the New York Times Book Company) is a publishing imprint owned by the New York Times Company and licensed to Henry Holt and Company. Times Books began as the New York Times Book Company in 1969, when The New York Times Co ...
and released at the close of 2008. Throughout 2009, McGovern embarked on a book tour, including a prominent visit to the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. He was treated for exhaustion during 2011 and then was hospitalized after a serious fall in December 2011 on his way to participate in a live
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
program about his 1972 presidential campaign. By January 2012 he was promoting his latest book, ''What It Means to Be a Democrat''. He was hospitalized again in April 2012 owing to fainting spells. McGovern's 90th birthday was celebrated on July 19, 2012, with a Washington event hosted by World Food Program USA and attended by many liberal Democratic politicians, along with (as ''The Washington Post'' termed it) "one respectful conservative", South Dakota's Republican senator
John Thune John Randolph Thune ( ; born January 7, 1961) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Dakota, a seat he has held since 2005. A Republican, Thune has been the Senate majority leader and Senate Republica ...
. On July 27, 2012, McGovern's son Steven died at age 60. McGovern's daughter Ann said, "Steve had a long struggle with alcoholism. We will all miss him deeply, but are grateful that he is now at peace." In August 2012, McGovern moved back to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to be nearer to his family. His final public appearance was on October 6, 2012, when he introduced his recorded narration for
Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...
's "
Lincoln Portrait ''Lincoln Portrait'' (also known as ''A Lincoln Portrait'') is a 1942 classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work involves a full orchestra, with particular emphasis on the brass section at climactic moments ...
" with the
South Dakota Symphony Orchestra The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (SDSO) is an American orchestra located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The SDSO gives its concerts principally in the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in downtown Sioux Falls. The official anthem of the ...
. On October 15, 2012, McGovern's family announced he had entered Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls; his daughter Ann said, "He's coming to the end of his life." On the morning of October 21, 2012, McGovern died at the age of 90 at the Sioux Falls hospice, surrounded by family and lifelong friends. The family released this statement: "We are blessed to know that our father lived a long, successful and productive life advocating for the hungry, being a progressive voice for millions and fighting for peace. He continued giving speeches, writing and advising all the way up to and past his 90th birthday, which he celebrated this summer." In addition to his three remaining children, he was survived by ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. President Obama paid tribute to McGovern as "a champion for peace" and a "statesman of great conscience and conviction". At a memorial service in Sioux Falls, Vice President
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
eulogized McGovern, addressing his World War II service and his opposition to the Vietnam War by saying to his family, "Your father was a genuine hero. ... Had your father not been in the Senate, so much more blood, so much more treasure would have been wasted." His funeral was held in the
Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science The Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science opened in 1999 and houses an Art museum, art gallery, List of concert halls, concert hall, IMAX, large-format theater, and science museum in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Unite ...
in Sioux Falls, with his ashes to be buried alongside his wife and daughter Terry at
Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth (Washington, D.C.), Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across ...
in Washington. On July 26, 2015, the ''
Argus Leader The ''Argus Leader'' is the daily newspaper of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It is the largest newspaper by total circulation in South Dakota. It is owned by Gannett and part of the USA Today Network. History The ''Argus Leader'' traces its h ...
'', the daily newspaper in Sioux Falls, published an article detailing the extensive files on McGovern compiled through the years by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
, including letters and notations from FBI director
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...
, revealing that Hoover had a direct interest in the FBI monitoring of McGovern. The newspaper also published the complete FBI file on McGovern that was obtained through a
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...
request filed shortly after McGovern's death.


Awards and decorations

McGovern's decorations include:


Legacy

Owing to his resounding loss to Nixon in the 1972 election and the causes behind it, "McGovernism" became a label that a generation of Democratic politicians tried to avoid. In 1992, nationally syndicated ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' columnist
Bob Greene Robert Bernard Greene Jr. (born March 10, 1947) is an American journalist and author. He worked for 24 years for the ''Chicago Tribune'' newspaper, where he was a columnist. Greene has written books on subjects including Michael Jordan, Alice C ...
wrote, "Once again politicians – mostly Republicans, but some Democrats, too – are using his name as a synonym for presidential campaigns that are laughable and out of touch with the American people." Conservatives used McGovern's name as a ready synonym for what they saw as liberal failures. According to Daniel McCarthy of ''
The American Conservative ''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a bimonthly magazine published by the American Ideas Institute. The magazine was founded in 2002 by Pat Buchanan, Scott McConnell and Taki Theodoracopulos to advance an anti- neoconservative perspect ...
'', the Republican Party began to act after 1972 as if "every Democratic leader, no matter how Southern, how pro-war, how middle-of-the-road, is really a McGovernite. Indeed, for nearly 40 years the conservative movement has defined itself in opposition to the Democratic standard-bearer of 1972. Anti-McGovernism has come to play for the Right the unifying role that anticommunism once played, much to the detriment of older principles such as limited government, fiscal continence, and prudence in foreign policy." The association with dovishness and weakness on defense has been especially prevalent,Miroff, ''The Liberals' Moment'', pp. 1–2. although McGovern publicly stated in 1972 that he was not a
pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...
and that use of force was sometimes necessary, such as in World War II. McGovern later said in 2001 that his political image had been exaggerated: "I am a liberal and always have been – just not the wild-eyed character the Republicans made me out to be." He continued to feel that he was marginalized with his views miscast. He saw himself as a son of the prairie, in 2005 reciting his traditional upbringing and family values, culminating with "I'm what a normal, healthy, ideal American should be like", and in 2006 asked, "How the hell do you get elected in South Dakota for twenty years if you're a wild-eyed radical?" In later decades, McGovern remained a symbol, or standard-bearer, of the
American Left The American Left refers to the groups or ideas on the left of the political spectrum in the United States. It is occasionally used as a shorthand for groups aligned with the Democratic Party. At other times, it refers to groups that have soug ...
, particularly in relation to the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s when the country was torn by U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and the corruption and abuse of power of the Nixon administration. Throughout his career, McGovern's positions reflected his own experiences as well as a personal synthesis of the traditions of American liberalism and progressivism.Knock, "Come Home America", p. 84.
Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...
historian Thomas J. Knock wrote in 2003 that " cGovern'scareer was extraordinary and historic ... primarily because of his impress as searching and prophetic critic" and that "few political careers offer an alternative understanding of the American Century as compelling and instructive as McGovern's." As chairman of the McGovern–Fraser Commission in 1969–1970, McGovern instituted major changes in Democratic party rules that continue to this day and, to a large degree, were ultimately adopted by the Republican Party as well, with large institutional changes taking place in both. Among those was the centralization of decisions about the nominating process at the national party level, rather than with the states.Cook, ''The Presidential Nominating Process'', pp. 43–44. His 1972 campaign fundamentally altered how presidential primary campaigns were waged.Miroff, ''The Liberals' Moment'', pp. 2–3. Within the Democratic Party, power shifted from the
New Deal coalition The New Deal coalition was an American political coalition that supported the Democratic Party beginning in 1932. The coalition is named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, and the follow-up Democratic presidents. It was ...
to younger, more affluent, issue-oriented activists; the women's movement and gay rights movement found a place; skepticism about military buildups and foreign interventions took hold; and the 1960s "New Politics" found its culmination in McGovern's nomination. In turn, the overwhelming defeat of McGovern in the general election led to the liberal wing of the Democratic Party being stigmatized for decades to come and a turn in the party towards centrist directions. McGovern himself recognized the mixed results of his 1972 candidacy, saying, "We made a serious effort to open the doors of the Democratic Party – and as soon as we did, half the Democrats walked out." The 2005 documentary film '' One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern'' captured some of these achievements and lamentations.
SUNY Albany The State University of New York at Albany (University at Albany, UAlbany, or SUNY Albany) is a public research university in Albany, New York, United States. Founded in 1844, it is one of four "university centers" of the State University of N ...
political scientist Bruce Miroff wrote in 2007 that the McGovern campaign was the last time in presidential politics that liberals had "their chance to speak of their goals with enthusiasm and their dreams with fire ... Yet almost at the instant that the insurgents successfully stormed the heights of American politics, they found themselves on the brink of one of the worst free falls on record." Half a century after McGovern's 1972 winning nomination effort, writers were making extensive comparisons between it and the
Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign The 2020 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders was an election campaign from the junior United States Senate, United States senator from Vermont. It began with Bernie Sanders, Sanders's formal announcement on February 19, 2019. The announcem ...
. Staffers who worked on McGovern's 1972 campaign later became influential within the Democratic Party.Miroff, ''The Liberals' Moment'', pp. 290–293. Campaign manager Gary Hart staged his own presidential runs in 1984 and 1988. Future president Bill Clinton, with assistance from his future wife and politician,
Hillary Rodham Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
, had managed the McGovern campaign's operations in Texas. Hart both embraced and moved away from aspects of his past affiliation with McGovern, while Clinton, and the
Democratic Leadership Council The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation that was active from 1985 to 2011. Founded and directed by Al From, it argued that the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it had ...
movement of which he was a part, explicitly rejected McGovern's ideology. There was still a legacy in terms of staffing, as the Clinton White House would be full of former "McGovernites".Knock, "Feeding the World and Thwarting the Communists", pp. 114, 120. McGovern's post-political career generally enhanced his reputation;
Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American author and retired network television journalist. He first served as the co-anchor of Today (American TV program), ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anch ...
, who referred to McGovern as part of the "
Greatest Generation The Greatest Generation, also known as the G.I. Generation and the World War II Generation, is the demographic cohort following the Lost Generation and preceding the Silent Generation. This generation is generally defined as people born from ...
", wrote in 1998 that "he remains one of the country's most decent and thoughtful public servants." McGovern's legacy also includes his commitment to combating hunger both in the United States and around the globe. He said, "After I'm gone, I want people to say about me: He did the best he could to end hunger in this country and the world." In the view of Knock, McGovern in all his activities arguably accomplished more for people in need than most presidents or secretaries of state in U.S. history. Responding to the
Serenity Prayer The Serenity Prayer is an prayer, invocation by the petitioner for wisdom to understand the difference between circumstances ("things") that can and cannot be changed, asking courage to take action in the case of the former, and serenity to accep ...
's desire to "grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change", McGovern said simply that he rejected that notion: "I keep trying to change them."


Writings

* McGovern, George S. ''War Against Want: America's Food for Peace Program'', Walker & Co., 1964. * McGovern, George (ed.) ''Agricultural Thought in the Twentieth Century'', Bobbs-Merrill, 1966. * McGovern, George. ''A Time of War! A Time of Peace'', Vintage Books, 1968. . * McGovern, George S. and Leonard F. Guttridge. ''The Great Coalfield War'', Houghton Mifflin, 1972. * McGovern, George. ''Grassroots: The Autobiography of George McGovern'', Random House, 1977. . * McGovern, George. ''Terry: My Daughter's Life-And-Death Struggle With Alcoholism'', New York: Villard, 1996. , . * McGovern, George. ''The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time'', Simon & Schuster, 2001. . * McGovern, George. ''The Essential America: Our Founders and the Liberal Tradition'', Simon & Schuster, 2004. . * McGovern, George. ''Social Security and the Golden Age: An Essay on the New American Demographic'', Speaker's Corner Books, 2005. . * McGovern, George,
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...
and Donald E. Messer. ''Ending Hunger Now: A Challenge to Persons of Faith'', Augsburg Fortress, 2005. . * McGovern, George and William R. Polk. ''Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now'', Simon & Schuster, 2006. . * McGovern, George S., Donald C. Simmons, Jr. and Daniel Gaken (eds.) ''Leadership and Service: An Introduction'', Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2008. . * McGovern, George S. ''Abraham Lincoln'', Times Books, 2008. , . * McGovern, George with Linda Kulman. ''What It Means to Be a Democrat'', Blue Rider Press, 2011. .


See also

* List of awards and honors received by George McGovern * Electoral history of George McGovern *
List of peace activists This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated Diplomacy, diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usua ...
*
Jim McGovern (American politician) James Patrick McGovern (born November 20, 1959) is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 1997, representing since 2013. A Democrat, he is the ranking member of the House Rules Committe ...


Notes


References


Citations


Works cited

* Ambrose, Stephen, '' The Wild Blue : The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944–45'', Simon & Schuster, 2001. . * Anson, Robert Sam, ''McGovern: A Biography'', New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972. . * Brokaw, Tom, '' The Greatest Generation'', New York: Random House, 1998. * Clinton, Bill, '' My Life'', Vintage, 2005. . * Cook, Rhodes, ''The Presidential Nominating Process: A Place for Us?'', Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004 (paperback). . * Dougherty, Richard, ''Goodbye, Mr. Christian: A Personal Account of McGovern's Rise and Fall'', Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1973. . * Giglio, James N., "The Eagleton Affair: Thomas Eagleton, George McGovern, and the 1972 Vice Presidential Nomination", ''Presidential Studies Quarterly,'' December 2009, Vol. 39 Issue 4, pp. 647–676. * Glasser, Joshua M., ''The Eighteen-Day Running Mate: McGovern, Eagleton, and a Campaign in Crisis'', New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. . * Hart, Gary, ''Right from the Start: A Chronicle of the McGovern Campaign'', New York: Quadrangle, 1973. . * Knock, Thomas J., "Feeding the World and Thwarting the Communists: George McGovern and Food for Peace" in Jespersen, J. Christopher, and Schmitz, David F. (eds.), ''Architects of the American Century: Essays on American Foreign Policymakers and the Organizations They Have Shaped'', Chicago: Imprint Publications, 2000. pp. 98–120. * Knock, Thomas J., "'Come Home, America': The Story of George McGovern" in Woods, Randall B. (ed.), ''Vietnam and the American Political Tradition: The Politics of Dissent'', New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. . pp. 82–120. * Knock, Thomas J. ''The Rise of a Prairie Statesman: The Life and Times of George McGovern'', Volume 1, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016. . * Lauck, Jon K. "George S. Mcgovern and the Farmer: South Dakota Politics, 1953–1962", ''South Dakota History,'' Winter 2002, Vol. 32 Issue 4, pp. 331–353. * Lempke, Mark A. ''My Brother's Keeper: George McGovern and Progressive Christianity''. Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press, 2017. . * Mann, Robert, ''A Grand Delusion: America's Descent Into Vietnam'', New York: Basic Books, 2001. . * Marano, Richard Michael, ''Vote Your Conscience: The Last Campaign of George McGovern'', Praeger Publishers, 2003. . * McGovern, Eleanor, ''Uphill: A Personal Story'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974. . * Miroff, Bruce, ''The Liberals' Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party'', University Press of Kansas, 2007. . * Moritz, Charles (ed.), '' Current Biography Yearbook 1967'', H. W. Wilson Company, 1968. * Reeves, Richard, ''President Nixon: Alone in the White House'', New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001 (paperback). . * Reichley, A. James, ''The Life of the Parties: A History of American Political Parties'', Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000 (paperback). . * Schlesinger Jr., Arthur M., '' A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House'', Houghton Mifflin, 1965. . * Thompson, Hunter S., ''
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 ''Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72'' is a 1973 book that recounts, analyzes, and sometimes fictionalizes the 1972 presidential campaign in which Richard Nixon was re-elected President of the United States. Written by Hunter S. Tho ...
'', Warner Books, 1973. . * Watson, Robert P. (ed.), ''George McGovern: A Political Life, A Political Legacy'', South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2004. . * Wayne, Stephen J., ''The Road to the White House 2008: The Politics of Presidential Elections'' (8th edition), Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008. . * Weil, Gordon L., ''The Long Shot: George McGovern Runs for President'', New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1973. . * White, Theodore H., ''The Making of the President 1968'', Antheneum Publishers, 1969. * White, Theodore H., ''The Making of the President 1972'', Antheneum Publishers, 1973. . * Witcover, Jules, ''Party of the People: A History of the Democrats'', New York: Random House, 2003. .


Further reading

* Andelic, Patrick. ''Donkey Work: Congressional Democrats in Conservative America, 1974–1994'' (University Press of Kansas, 2019). Liberal Democrats in Congress did not give up after McGovern's presidential defeat in 1972. * Johnson, Marc C. ''Tuesday Night Massacre: Four Senate Elections and the Radicalization of the Republican Party'' (University of Oklahoma Press, 2021). The 1980 Senate races saw bitter defeats of
Frank Church Frank Forrester Church III (July 25, 1924 – April 7, 1984) was an American politician and lawyer. A Democrat, from 1957 to 1981 he served as a U.S. Senator from Idaho, and is currently the last Democrat to do so. He was the longest serving De ...
,
Birch Bayh Birch Evans Bayh Jr. (; January 22, 1928 – March 14, 2019) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as a member of United States Senate from 1963 to 1981. He was first elected t ...
,
John Culver John Chester Culver (August 8, 1932 – December 26, 2018) was an American politician, writer, and lawyer who was elected to both the United States House of Representatives (1965–1975) and United States Senate (1975–1981) from Iowa. He w ...
, and McGovern and weakened moderates in the Republican Party.


External links

* *
"George McGovern, Presidential Contender"
from
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
's '' The Contenders''
George McGovern – Goodwill Ambassador at World Food Programme

McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program

George and Eleanor McGovern Center for Leadership and Public Service at Dakota Wesleyan University



McGovern Library at Dakota Wesleyan University


* ttp://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/f7623c58x George S. McGovern Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
McGovern nomination acceptance speech, July 10, 1972

George McGovern FBI files, Part 1

George McGovern FBI files, Part 2

with George McGovern by Stephen McKiernan, Binghamton University Libraries Center for the Study of the 1960s, August 13, 2010

Recordings of George McGovern presidential campaign radio spots, 1972–1974, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University
, - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McGovern, George 1922 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American biographers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American anti–Vietnam War activists American autobiographers American male non-fiction writers American people of Canadian descent American people of Irish descent American political writers Candidates in the 1968 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1972 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1984 United States presidential election Dakota Wesleyan University alumni Dakota Wesleyan University faculty Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees Democratic Party United States senators from South Dakota Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from South Dakota Military personnel from Sioux Falls, South Dakota Northwestern University alumni People from Bon Homme County, South Dakota People from Mitchell, South Dakota Politicians from Sioux Falls, South Dakota Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Representatives of the United States to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture United States Army Air Forces bomber pilots of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers Writers from South Dakota Methodists from South Dakota Liberalism in the United States 20th-century United States senators 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives