George McGovern: 1922-2012

The earliest U.S. President I remember is Richard Nixon.  When I was in grade school, the only Presidents I knew of were Washington, Lincoln, and Nixon, and I understood that the President was America's leader and that we should stick behind him.  So, when the presidential election of 1972 took place at the time I turned seven, I wanted Nixon to win.  I had no idea who this fellow named George McGovern was.

Today, I obviously see things differently.  And I had long since grown to admire George McGovern for all the courageous positions he took . . . and for his equally courageous service as an airman in Europe in World War II, when he got hit over Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and managed to return himself and his crew safely.  McGovern became against all wars by having served in one, which led him to not only oppose the Vietnam War but to be more accommodating to the Soviet Union - never a popular position to take during the Cold War.  He headed President Kennedy's Food For Peace initiative and devoted his time in the Senate to expanding rights for women and minorities. When he was denied a fourth term in the Senate in the 1980 Reagan landslide, he continued to work against hunger in the world . . . and he even made a principled second run for the Presidency in 1984, which won him the admiration of many people - even Richard Nixon.

It was Nixon's defeat of McGovern in 1972, alas, that McGovern will best be remembered for.  The campaign had been doomed from the start, having been plagued by the psychiatric treatments of McGovern's original running mate, Missouri senator Thomas Eagleton (who was replaced on the ticket by Sargent Shriver), as well as lack of funds.  The night of the 1972 Democratic convention when McGovern was to give his acceptance speech for the nomination to run for President ran so far behind schedule that McGovern's acceptance speech took place sometime around three in the morning, after most Americans had gone to bed.  "We got a good reception in Guam," McGovern later joked.

While the defeat ended the dreams of young liberals to change America, never mind the world, McGovern left behind one important change. Before he ran for President, he chaired a commission on changing and reforming the Democratic presidential nomination process to allow more people - particularly Democrats not white or male like McGovern himself was - to take part in the process.  This would cause the party to lose a majority of white support but it made possible the inclusion of more Americans in the political system . . . and enabled Barack Obama to become President of the United States. Fairness may be McGovern's lasting legacy.