McGovern, George Stanley definition of McGovern, George Stanley in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

McGovern, George Stanley (məgŭv`ərn), 1922–, U.S. senator from South Dakota (1963–81), b. Avon, S.Dak. He was (1942–45) a decorated B-24 bomber pilot during World War II and later taught (1949–53) American history. After serving as a Democrat (1957–61) in the U.S. House of Representatives, he was (1961–62) director of President Kennedy's Food for Peace Program and helped to found the UN World Food Program. Elected (1962) to the U.S. Senate, McGovern became an outspoken critic of defense spending and was among the first senators to oppose the Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam.
..... Click the link for more information. . At the 1968 Democratic convention he tried unsuccessfully to rally the antiwar supporters of the late Robert F. Kennedy Kennedy, Robert Francis, 1925–68, American politician, U.S. Attorney General (1961–64), b. Brookline, Mass., younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and son of Joseph P. Kennedy .

A graduate of Harvard (1948) and the Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. . McGovern announced (1971) his candidacy for the presidency on a platform promising to end the war in Vietnam, cut defense spending by $30 billion, and provide a guaranteed annual income for all Americans. His grassroots campaign won (1972) him the Democratic nomination, but his handling of the Thomas Eagleton Eagleton, Thomas Francis, 1929–2007, U.S. senator (1968–87), b. St. Louis, Mo. Admitted to the bar in 1953, he entered Democratic politics in Missouri and served as circuit attorney for St.
..... Click the link for more information. affair, in which he announced complete support for his running mate and then dropped him for Sargent Shriver Shriver, Robert Sargent, 1915–, U.S. public official, b. Westminster, Md. A lawyer, he served in World War II and was (1945–46) an assistant editor of Newsweek magazine before joining the business enterprises of his future father-in-law, Joseph P.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Republican charges of radicalism, contributed to his defeat by Richard M. Nixon Nixon, Richard Milhous, 1913–94, 37th President of the United States (1969–74), b. Yorba Linda, Calif.

Political Career to 1968

A graduate of Whittier College and Duke Univ. law school, he practiced law in Whittier, Calif.
..... Click the link for more information. in the election. McGovern subsequently served as a U.S. delegate to the United Nations under Presidents Ford and Carter. He lost a bid for a fourth Senate term in 1980, and made an unsuccessful run for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination. Under President Clinton, McGovern served as U.S. representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization. In 2001 he became the World Food Program's first global ambassador on hunger. He has written War Against Want (1964), A Time of War, A Time of Peace (1968), The Great Coalfield War (1972), Terry: My Daughter's Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism (1996), The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time (2001), and The Essential America (2004).

Bibliography

See his autobiography (1978); biography by R. S. Anson (1972); studies by R. Dougherty (1973), G. W. Hart (1973), and E. McGovern (1974); S. E. Ambrose, The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany (2001).