George
McGovern
George
McGovern
Political
Biography
George
McGovern
(1922-2012)
George McGovern
Political Career/Military
Career/Connections
Party
Affiliation:
Democrat
1943–1945: 1st Lieutenant,
U.S. Army Air Corps, bomber pilot
1948: Campaign volunteer for in
the1948 presidential campaign of former Vice- President
and Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace. However,
deciding that Wallace was in the control of "fanatics"
and Communist, McGovern did not vote in the general
election, but he supportthe re-election of President
Harry Truman
1949-1953: Assistant professor
of history and political science at Dakota Wesleyan
University in Mitchell, South Dakota
1952: As a supporter of
Democratic Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson,
McGovern publishied seven articles in Mitchell's Daily
Republic newspaper in support of Stevenson.
1953: McGovern became the
Executive Secretary of the South Dakota Democratic
Party
1956: Won election to Congress
representing South Dakota's 1st Congressional
District
1957-1960: Represented South
Dakota's 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of
Representatives
1960: Ran for the U.S. Senate,
but lost to Republican office-holder Karl Earl
Mundt.
1961-1962: Joined the Kennedy
Administration as the first director of the Food for
Peace program
1962: Ran for and won election
to the U.S. Senate, defeating appointed and former
Republican Lieutenant Governor Joseph H.
Bottum.
1963-1981: U.S. Senator
representing South Dakota
1968: McGovern became a
candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination on
August 10, 1968, only two weeks prior to the Democratic
Nominating Convention in Chicago. McGovern finished a
distant third to Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy.
McGovern had entered the race late because he did not
want to challenge President Johnson. When Johnson dropped
out of the race, McGovern supported Robert Kennedy, and
entered only after Kennedy's assassination. McGovern had
been on the phone with Kennedy only minutes before the
murder. McGovern was a vocal opponent of American
involvement in the war in Vietnam
1972: McGovern captured the
Democratic Presidential Nomination with Thomas Eagleton
as his running mate. Soon after the convention, however,
Eagleton dropped out of the race due to revelations of
his mental health issues. McGovern then picked a Kennedy
In-Law, Sargent
Shriver, as his running mate.
The McGovern/Shriver ticket was defeated by Nixon in one
of the worst political defeats in American presidential
history.
1980: McGovern lost re-election
to Republican James Abdnor, a four-term congressman.
McGovern was one of several liberal politicians targeted
by the conservative interest group called National
Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC). As one
of many liberals defeated in the 1980 election, McGovern
is considered one of the victims of the so-called "Reagan
Revolution"
1981: McGovern founded
Americans for Common Sense, an organization dedicated to
liberal values
1984: Ran for the Democratic
Presidential Nomination. He dropped out after placing
third in the Massachusetts primary. He then endorsed
Walter Mondale and campaigned for the Mondale/Ferraro
ticket.
1991-1997: Served as president
of the Middle East Policy Council
1998-2001: Appointed by
President Bill Clinton, McGovern served as the United
States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food
and Agriculture. In January 2001, McGovern was asked to
continue working at the United Nations by incoming
Republican Presidnet George W. Bush. Traditionally, when
a new president takes office, all ambassadors are
replaced. McGovern continued in this position until,
September 2001
2001: McGovern was appointed
as the first United Nations Global Ambassador on World
Hunger by the World Food Program
2003: McGovern spoke out
publicly against the war in Iraq
2008: In January 2008, McGovern
wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post calling for the
impeachment of President George W. Bush and
Vice-President Dick Cheney
2008: George McGovern endorsed
U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in her bid for the
Democratic Presidential Nominatin, and then later gave
his support to Senator Barack Obama after concluding
Clinton could no longer win.
George McGovern
Pictures:
George
McGovern with his first vice-presidential pick, Thomas
Eagleton
George
McGovern with his second vice-presidential pick,
Sargent Shriver
Presidential
Candidate George McGovern with a young Bill Clinton,
who was a campaign worker in Little
Rock
George McGovern
Personal Information:
George Stanley McGovern (July
19, 1922 – October 21, 2012)
George McGovern
Family:
Spouse:
Eleanor Stegeberg
(married October 31, 1943 )
Children:
Ann McGovern
Susan McGovern
Mary McGovern
Teresa
McGovern
Steven
McGovern
Educaton:
1940: Diploma,
Mitchell High School (South Dakota)
1940-1943: Attended Dakota
Wesleyan University. Called up by the military in
1943
1946: B.A., History, Dakota
Wesleyan University
1946-1947: Garrett
Theological Seminary
1947-1949: M.A. in history;
Northwestern University
1953: Ph.D in history;
Northwestern University
Religion:
Methodist