George McGovern

Dr. George Stanley McGovern (born July 19, 1922 in Avon, South Dakota) was a United States Congressman, Senator, and Democratic presidential candidate, losing the 1972 presidential election to incumbent Richard Nixon.

1972 Presidential election

In the 1972 election, McGovern ran on a platform of:

Related Topics:
1972 election - Platform

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• unilateral withdrawal from the Vietnam War in exchange for the return of American prisoners of war and amnesty for draft evaders who had left the country
• an across-the-board, 37% reduction in defense spending over three years
• a "demogrant" program giving $1,000 to every citizen in American , later changed to creating a $6,500 guaranteed minimum income for Americans, later dropped
• ratification the Equal Rights Amendment.

This "anti-war" platform had been presaged in 1970 when McGovern sponsored the McGovern-Hatfield amendment, seeking to end U.S. participation in the war by Congressional action. His campaign manager in 1972 was Gary Hart.

Related Topics:
1970 - McGovern-Hatfield amendment - Gary Hart

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Between difficulties with his running-mate, Thomas Eagleton (whom he eventually dropped and replaced with Sargent Shriver), and the Republicans' successful campaign to paint him as unacceptably radical, he suffered a 60% - 38% defeat to Richard Nixon — at the time the second biggest landslide in American history, losing in the Electoral College 520 to 17. McGovern's victories came in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia; McGovern failed to win his home state of South Dakota.

Related Topics:
Thomas Eagleton - Sargent Shriver - Republicans' - Radical - Richard Nixon - Electoral College

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