McGovern, George (1922–)

George Stanley McGovern served as a U.S. representative (1957–1961) and senator from South Dakota (1963–1981) and was the Democratic nominee for president in 1972 against Richard M. Nixon. McGovern secured 38% of the popular vote to Nixon's 61%, winning only 17 electoral votes to Nixon's 520. Although the famous Watergate break-in scandal occurred during this campaign, the investigations leading to Nixon's implication in the scheme and his eventual resignation did not occur until after the campaign was over. McGovern never reaped the benefits of Nixon's wrongdoing. He also conducted unsuccessful campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968 and 1984.

McGovern's 1972 campaign was characterized by an emphasis on the primary system, controversy over his choice for vice president, and antiwar themes. The campaign was managed by Gary Hart, future U.S. senator and unsuccessful presidential candidate. Hart published a chronicle of the events of the campaign, Right From the Start (1973), which outlined the campaign's strategy of concentrating on winning popular support through primaries and caucuses rather than gaining the support of party elites. [Page 430]Such a strategy was made possible by reforms instituted in 1969 by the Democratic Party based on recommendations of the party's Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection, which had been chaired by McGovern.

At the 1972 Democratic Convention, the choice of a vice-presidential candidate led to 39 nominations from the floor, but McGovern was eventually able to secure Missouri Senator Thomas Eagleton as his running mate. McGovern's choice of Eagleton turned disastrous when journalist Clark Hoyt published a story concerning Eagleton's earlier hospitalization for nervous exhaustion and treatment with electroshock therapy. These revelations led to calls in the media for McGovern to replace Eagleton. Initially McGovern expressed support for Eagleton, but on July 31, 1972, Eagleton withdrew his name from the ticket. McGovern replaced Eagleton with R. Sargent Shriver, but intense media coverage questioning McGovern's choice of and initial support for Eagleton continued.

In his 1972 campaign, McGovern expressed strong opposition to the Vietnam War, calling for the end of bombing and the withdrawal of American troops. He also called for cutting waste in military spending. One of McGovern's television ads highlighted his antiwar stance by showing an image of a Vietnamese woman cradling her injured child in her arms with the sound of jets and the voice of a child saying, “Does a president know that planes bomb children?” Although most of McGovern's campaign ads in 1972 were produced by Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Charles Guggenheim, this ad was produced by Tony Schwartz, maker of the controversial “Daisy Girl Ad” for Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Throughout the campaign, McGovern was never able to defend successfully his liberal viewpoints. The Republican campaign against him succeeded in branding him a liberal whose judgment on policy issues as well as his vice-presidential choice could not be trusted.

McGovern also served as special assistant to the president and director of the Food for Peace Program (1961–1962), as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly (1976 and 1978), president of the Middle East Policy Council (1991–1998), ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture (1998–2001), and the first United Nations Global Ambassador on World Hunger (2001). He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross as a bomber pilot during World War II and earned MA and PhD degrees from Northwestern University. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000.

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