GEORGE S. McGOVERN
b. July 19, 1922
Senator GEORGE McGOVERN
(D-South Dakota)
in the 1972 Presidential Campaign
Senator McGovern did become the 1972 Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidency; he was badly beaten in the general election, by the incumbent, Republican Richard M. Nixon. It was McGovern -- the Democrats under McGovern -- whom "Watergate" was designed to defeat. In the end it was Nixon's own undoing; he was forced to resign from the White House in August 1974.
Just thinking back and reflecting on my memories, I was tempted to say that George McGovern was Swift-Boated before the term was invented. Here was a World War II B-24 pilot who won the Distinguished Flying Cross made out to be some kind of weaselly wimp for opposing the Vietnam War (and we know how that turned out). But I see that some commentators seem to blame McGovern for being loathe to brag about himself.
So in honor of his ninetieth, a couple of mash notes here and here and here (and his congressional biography here; a contemporary photograph here).
