George McGovern

George McGovern, born in 1922, American political leader, who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1972 and represented South Dakota in the United States House of Representatives (1956-1960) and the United States Senate (1962-1980). McGovern campaigned for president on a liberal reform platform and called for an end to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. He lost the race in a landslide to Richard M. Nixon.

Born in Avon, South Dakota, McGovern graduated with honors from Dakota Wesleyan University. He served as a bomber pilot during World War II (1939-1945), for which he was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war McGovern earned a Ph.D. degree from Northwestern University and became a professor at Dakota Wesleyan University.

McGovern was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1956. He was defeated in a run for the Senate in 1960, and then served as special assistant to President John F. Kennedy and as director of the Food for Peace program. In 1962 McGovern ran successfully for the Senate. He was reelected in 1968 and became one of the leading opponents in the Senate of United States involvement in the Vietnam War. As chairman of the Democratic party's reform commission in 1972, McGovern attempted to make the party more responsive to youth, women, and minorities.

McGovern's reforms in party procedures and rules helped secure him the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, but these changes also alienated many old-line Democrats who switched their support to Nixon. McGovern first chose Senator Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri as his running mate, but the campaign was damaged when it was revealed that Eagleton had been hospitalized for mental health problems in the 1960s. McGovern replaced Eagleton with Sargent Shriver, the former director of the Peace Corps. But in one of the worst defeats in United States political history, McGovern and Shriver lost the election to Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew.

McGovern was reelected to the Senate in 1974, but lost a bid for a fourth term in 1980. He spent the next few years lecturing at several universities, and then declared himself a presidential candidate in 1984. After finishing third in the Massachusetts primary, he withdrew from the race.