Senator George McGovern- the Democratic Presidential nominee in 1972 turns 90 today. George McGovern was a World War II war hero-flying 35 missions over German-occupied Europe. After the war he went to school-and became a history professor. He was elected to the House of Representative in 1956 from South Dakota. He ran for the senate in 1960 and was beaten but won a senate seat in 1962 and served 3 terms in the United States Senate.

Senator McGovern was a very outspoken critic of the war in Vietnam. He was a liberal back when being a liberal wasn’t a tag that a politican ran away from. When Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 McGovern briefly entered the presidential race but Hubert Humphrey had that one in the bag.

In 1972 he ran again and was a long shot for the Democratic nomination. Before the process even began it seemed a foregone conclusion that Ed Muskee-the Man From Maine would be the choice. It didn’t take Big Ed long to implode- and McGovern-who was not someone the big party bosses wanted-won the nomination.

He ran a brilliant campaign in winning the nomination but the wheels fell off the wagon quickly. He chose Tom Eagleton as his VP candidate and soon after the story leaked of Eagleton’s history of mental health issues. Eagleton was dropped and Sargant Shriver took his place on the ticket.

Nixon crushed McGovern in the general election that November- winning every state but Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. A humiliating defeat for McGovern.

McGovern continued to serve in the Senate until he was beaten along with a number of liberal democratic senators in the 1980 elections.

McGovern in the past 30 plus years has continued in public service, he has written a number of books Over the years he has appeared on tv off and on and I’ve never seen him act like nothing but a gentleman. Although I think we would disagree on a lot of issues- I have always found George McGovern to be a very decent and thoughtful man. We could use more people like him in the senate today-regardless of his views. He is a man who you always knew where he stood on and issue. As Bobby Kennedy once said about McGovern “George McGovern is the most decent man in the senate”

A great read on George McGovern and the 1972 campaign is Hunter Thompson’s classic “Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail ’72”  Hunter was a big supporter of McGovern’s but wrote fairly objectively about McGovern and the campaign.

At age 90 George McGovern is the oldest living presidential nominee and the one who goes back the in time the furthest-1972. The honorable Jimmy Carter is next in line 1976.