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 incumbent 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 incumbent 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 incumbent congressman. McGovern
was one of several liberal incumbents 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 magna cum laude;
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