The Election of 1972
The recent passing of George McGovern brings to mind the presidential election of 1972, yet another in which an incumbent president (Republican Richard Milhous Nixon) was seeking re-election against an anti-war Democrat, who was himself a war veteran.
Senate Majority Whip Ted Kennedy, the youngest brother of former President John F. Kennedy and former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, was the candidate everyone expected to win the 1972 Democratic nomination. But Kennedy announced that he would not be a candidate and so the favorite then became Ed Muskie of Maine, the 1968 Democratic vice-presidential nominee. South Dakota Senator George McGovern began campaigning in 1970 as an anti-war, progressive candidate. He was able to pull together support from the anti-war movement and other liberal elements of the party to win the nomination in a primary system he had played a significant part in designing.
On April 25, McGovern won the Massachusetts primary. Two days later, journalist Robert Novak claimed in a column that a Democratic senator whom he did not name said of McGovern: "The people don’t know McGovern is for amnesty, abortion and legalization of pot. Once middle America – Catholic middle America, in particular – finds this out, he’s dead." The label stuck and McGovern became known as the candidate of "amnesty, abortion and acid."
Alabama Governor George Wallace, who had run as a third party candidate in 1968, sought the Democratic nomination and did well in the South. His campaign was cut short when Wallace was shot in an assassination attempt by Arthur Bremer on May 15. Wallace was struck by four bullets and left paralyzed. The day after the assassination attempt, Wallace won the Michigan and Maryland primaries, but the shooting effectively ended his campaign.
McGovern won the nomination, but the new nomination rules angered many prominent Democrats who felt marginalized, and many prominent Democrats refused to support McGovern's campaign, leaving McGovern at a significant disadvantage in funding compared to Nixon. This resulted in some obstruction of the vice presidential nominee balloting, which went on so long that McGovern and his running mate Thomas Eagleton were forced to make their acceptance speeches at around two in the morning, local time.
After the convention ended, it was discovered that Eagleton had undergone psychiatric electroshock therapy for depression and had concealed this information from McGovern. A Time magazine poll taken at the time found that 77 percent of the respondents said "Eagleton's medical record would not affect their vote." Nonetheless, McGovern feared that this would be a distraction from his campaign platform. McGovern consulted confidentially with preeminent psychiatrists, including Eagleton's own doctors, who advised him that a recurrence of Eagleton's depression was possible and could endanger the country should Eagleton become president. McGovern had initially claimed that he would back Eagleton “1000 percent,” but he changed his mind and asked Eagleton to withdraw three days later. This perceived lack of conviction in sticking with his running mate was disastrous for the McGovern campaign.
After a week in which six prominent Democrats refused the vice presidential nomination, Sargent Shriver, brother-in-law to John, Robert and Ted Kennedy, former Ambassador to France and former Director of the Peace Corps, accepted. He was officially nominated by a special session of the Democratic National Committee. By this time, McGovern's poll ratings had plunged from 41 to 24 percent.
McGovern ran on a platform of ending the Vietnam War immediately and providing a guaranteed minimum incomes for the nation's poor. His foreign policy attacked as being too extreme, and the switch of running mates and lack of support from the party establishment weakened his popularity.
It was in the middle of this campaign that Nixon's aides committed the Watergate burglary to steal Democratic Party information during the campaign. But this didn't come out during the campaign and Nixon led in the polls by large margins throughout the entire campaign.
The election had the lowest voter turnout for a presidential election since 1948, with only 55 percent of the electorate voting. The Republicans successfully portrayed McGovern as a radical left-wing extremist, and Nixon won in a landslide by a margin of 61%–38%. Nixon won a majority vote in 49 states, including McGovern's home state of South Dakota. McGovern won in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Later, following the Watergate scandal, bumper stickers appeared reading "Don't blame me – I'm from Massachusetts".
Senate Majority Whip Ted Kennedy, the youngest brother of former President John F. Kennedy and former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, was the candidate everyone expected to win the 1972 Democratic nomination. But Kennedy announced that he would not be a candidate and so the favorite then became Ed Muskie of Maine, the 1968 Democratic vice-presidential nominee. South Dakota Senator George McGovern began campaigning in 1970 as an anti-war, progressive candidate. He was able to pull together support from the anti-war movement and other liberal elements of the party to win the nomination in a primary system he had played a significant part in designing.
On April 25, McGovern won the Massachusetts primary. Two days later, journalist Robert Novak claimed in a column that a Democratic senator whom he did not name said of McGovern: "The people don’t know McGovern is for amnesty, abortion and legalization of pot. Once middle America – Catholic middle America, in particular – finds this out, he’s dead." The label stuck and McGovern became known as the candidate of "amnesty, abortion and acid."
Alabama Governor George Wallace, who had run as a third party candidate in 1968, sought the Democratic nomination and did well in the South. His campaign was cut short when Wallace was shot in an assassination attempt by Arthur Bremer on May 15. Wallace was struck by four bullets and left paralyzed. The day after the assassination attempt, Wallace won the Michigan and Maryland primaries, but the shooting effectively ended his campaign.
McGovern won the nomination, but the new nomination rules angered many prominent Democrats who felt marginalized, and many prominent Democrats refused to support McGovern's campaign, leaving McGovern at a significant disadvantage in funding compared to Nixon. This resulted in some obstruction of the vice presidential nominee balloting, which went on so long that McGovern and his running mate Thomas Eagleton were forced to make their acceptance speeches at around two in the morning, local time.
After the convention ended, it was discovered that Eagleton had undergone psychiatric electroshock therapy for depression and had concealed this information from McGovern. A Time magazine poll taken at the time found that 77 percent of the respondents said "Eagleton's medical record would not affect their vote." Nonetheless, McGovern feared that this would be a distraction from his campaign platform. McGovern consulted confidentially with preeminent psychiatrists, including Eagleton's own doctors, who advised him that a recurrence of Eagleton's depression was possible and could endanger the country should Eagleton become president. McGovern had initially claimed that he would back Eagleton “1000 percent,” but he changed his mind and asked Eagleton to withdraw three days later. This perceived lack of conviction in sticking with his running mate was disastrous for the McGovern campaign.
After a week in which six prominent Democrats refused the vice presidential nomination, Sargent Shriver, brother-in-law to John, Robert and Ted Kennedy, former Ambassador to France and former Director of the Peace Corps, accepted. He was officially nominated by a special session of the Democratic National Committee. By this time, McGovern's poll ratings had plunged from 41 to 24 percent.
McGovern ran on a platform of ending the Vietnam War immediately and providing a guaranteed minimum incomes for the nation's poor. His foreign policy attacked as being too extreme, and the switch of running mates and lack of support from the party establishment weakened his popularity.
It was in the middle of this campaign that Nixon's aides committed the Watergate burglary to steal Democratic Party information during the campaign. But this didn't come out during the campaign and Nixon led in the polls by large margins throughout the entire campaign.
The election had the lowest voter turnout for a presidential election since 1948, with only 55 percent of the electorate voting. The Republicans successfully portrayed McGovern as a radical left-wing extremist, and Nixon won in a landslide by a margin of 61%–38%. Nixon won a majority vote in 49 states, including McGovern's home state of South Dakota. McGovern won in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Later, following the Watergate scandal, bumper stickers appeared reading "Don't blame me – I'm from Massachusetts".