McGovern, George Stanley (1922-2012), was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1972. He lost to his Republican opponent, President Richard M. Nixon.
When McGovern ran for president, he was serving his second term as a U.S. senator. In 1962, he had been elected South Dakota’s first Democratic senator since the 1930’s. During the 1950’s, he twice won election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Early life.
McGovern was born on July 19, 1922, in Avon, South Dakota. He graduated from Dakota Wesleyan University and later taught history there. He earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Northwestern University. During World War II (1939-1945), McGovern served as a bomber pilot and won the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1943, he married Eleanor Faye Stegeberg. The McGoverns had five children—from oldest to youngest, Ann, Susan, Teresa, Steven, and Mary.
Career in Congress.
McGovern was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1956. He was reelected in 1958 and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate two years later. McGovern won election to the Senate in 1962 and was reelected in 1968. In 1969, McGovern became chairman of a commission to recommend ways to reform the Democratic Party. In 1974, McGovern won reelection to a third term in the Senate, but he was defeated in his bid for a fourth term in 1980.
Presidential candidate.
In 1972, the Democratic National Convention nominated McGovern for president and Senator Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri for vice president. Twelve days after Eagleton’s nomination, he revealed that he had been hospitalized three times in the 1960’s for treatment of emotional exhaustion and depression. Eagleton’s qualifications for the vice presidency became the subject of a nationwide debate, and he resigned from the ticket at McGovern’s request. He was replaced by Sargent Shriver, former director of the Peace Corps. McGovern and Shriver were defeated by Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.
McGovern also ran for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination. He withdrew from the race after failing to win any early primary elections. In 1998, he became the United States representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In 2001, he was appointed the first United Nations global ambassador on world hunger.
McGovern wrote several books. They include Grassroots: The Autobiography of George McGovern (1977); The Essential America: Our Founders and the Liberal Tradition (2004); and What It Means to Be a Democrat (2011). McGovern died on Oct. 21, 2012.
