Former Senator George McGovern is recovering in a South Dakota hospital after falling and hitting his head on the pavement outside a library named for him Friday. McGovern was going to host a show on C-SPAN when he fell outside Dakota Wesleyan University's McGovern Library. ABC News reports the former presidential candidate is stable, alert and resting comfortably after hitting his head.
Here's a look at the life and career of McGovern from a military recruit to the present day.
Early Life and Career
McGovern was born in Avon, S.D., on July 19, 1922, according to his official congressional biography. After attending Dakota Wesleyan for three years, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in June 1942. McGovern was a decorated pilot who flew combat missions over Europe. After being discharged, he returned to DWU to complete his degree.
When McGovern received his Ph.D from Northwestern in 1953, he began to be more active in politics. With his new degree in hand, McGovern returned to Dakota Wesleyan to teach history. He also became executive secretary of the South Dakota Democratic Party.
Congress
The Biography Channel states McGovern served in the House of Representatives from 1957 to 1960. He ran unsuccessfully for a Senate seat in 1960 but then was appointed to head President John F. Kennedy's Food for Peace Program.
McGovern was elected to the Senate in 1962 and re-elected in 1968. His growing popularity with national politics was due in part to his objections to the Vietnam War which was becoming more and more unpopular.
Presidential Ambitions
McGovern challenged the popularity of incumbent Richard Nixon in the 1972 election. Nixon won in an Electoral College landslide. He garnered over 60 percent of the popular vote but had 520 electoral votes to McGovern's 17. Despite the war, Nixon was a formidable opponent in national elections. Part of the reason McGovern was defeated so badly was that he didn't appeal to enough Democratic-leaning independent voters.
Despite his loss, McGovern was again elected to the Senate in 1974. He declared himself a candidate for president again in 1984. He dropped out of the race after finishing third in the Massachusetts primary election, the only state he won in his bid of 1972.
Semi-Retired
After his failed presidential bid, McGovern turned to the lecture circuit and wrote several books. In addition to speaking at more than 1,000 colleges and universities, he has written non-fiction books on subjects such as Abraham Lincoln and the Democratic Party .
The Daily Kos reports McGovern wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama in Harper's Magazine in September 2011. In it, he states Obama inherited a horrible situation. Unfortunately, it was made worse by his own party leaders among Democrats who opposed Obama's initiatives. McGovern then proposes several cost-cutting measures to Obama.
William Browning is a research librarian.
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