My mother and father rarely voted for the same candidates for president. The last time they voted for the same candidate for president was when they voted for George McGovern in 1972. this shows (even today) in our divided America that for the Boomer generation of Americans and their children, the campaign of George McGovern was a dividing line in American history. It was the path not taken. It is tragic what we see around us today in the world today because we failed to take the right path in 1972 and change the status quo in America.
Jim Abourezk noted of George McGovern, "He wanted to be there to advance civilization. If McGovern had won in '72, he would have led this nation on a compassionate future."
" Well, of course, all of this talk about him as a softy, you know, and that he didn't have the spine to be president was just preposterous. I mean, the man is an authentic American hero." claimed Frank Mankewicz.
McGovern, like Howard Zinn, had served in the US airforce in WWII and understood war and what America could do and should refuse to do in war and foreign policy.
In the years after 1972, other saber-rattling Americans did try to paint McGovern as a softy--just as they painted Carter as a softy. We, American educators, have dropped the ball and not told the truth of the ONE BRIGHT SHINING MOMENT in American history.
Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_McGovern
You absolutely must see: George McGovern, 1922-2012: Antiwar Candidate Who Challenged Vietnam and Inspired a Generation
SEN. GEORGE McGOVERN: But the president of United States can make a difference. He can set the moral and political tone of this country. He can speak out against injustice. He can use the power and the influence of that office to lead us in a more constructive and humane direction.
NOTES
George McGovern
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George McGovern
United States Senator
from South Dakota
In office
January 3, 1963 -- January 3, 1981
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Dakota's 1st district
In office
January 3, 1957 -- January 3, 1961
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture
In office
April 15, 1998 -- October 19, 2001
Appointed by Bill Clinton
Personal details
Born July 19, 1922
Avon, South Dakota, U.S.
Died October 21, 2012 (aged 90)
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, U.S.
Political party Democratic Party
Spouse(s) Eleanor Stegeberg (1943--2007)
Children Ann
Susan
Teresa
Steven
Mary
Alma mater Dakota Wesleyan University
Northwestern University
Military service
Allegiance United States
Service/branch Us army air corps shield.svg United States Army Air Forces
Years of service 1943--1945
Rank US-O2 insignia.svg First Lieutenant
Unit 741st Bomb Squadron
455th Bombardment Group
15th Air Force
Battles/wars European Theatre of World War II
Awards Distinguished Flying Cross
Air Medal (3)
George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 -- October 21, 2012) was a historian, author and U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 presidential election.
McGovern grew up in Mitchell, South Dakota, where he was a renowned debater. He volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Forces upon the country's entry into World War II and as a B-24 Liberator pilot flew 35 missions over German-occupied Europe. Among the medals awarded him was a Distinguished Flying Cross for making a hazardous emergency landing of his damaged plane and saving his crew. After the war he gained degrees from Dakota Wesleyan University and Northwestern University, culminating in a Ph.D., and was 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 elected there in 1962.
As a senator, McGovern was an exemplar of modern American liberalism. He became most known for his outspoken opposition to the growing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He staged a brief nomination run in the 1968 presidential election as a stand-in for the assassinated Robert F. Kennedy. The subsequent McGovern--Fraser Commission fundamentally altered the Democratic presidential nominating process, by greatly increasing the number of caucuses and primaries 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 badly split ideologically, and the failed vice-presidential pick of Thomas Eagleton undermined McGovern's credibility. In the general election McGovern lost to incumbent Richard Nixon in one of the biggest landslides in American history. Re-elected Senator in 1968 and 1974, McGovern was defeated in a bid for a fourth term in 1980.
Throughout his career, McGovern was involved in issues related to agriculture, food, nutrition, and hunger. As the first director of the Food for Peace 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-based World Food Programme. As sole chair of the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs during 1968--1977, McGovern publicized the problem of hunger within the United States and issued the "McGovern Report" that 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--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 co"'laureate in 2008.
