George McGovern, R.I.P.

George McGovern and Sargent Shriver, 1972 (Chron photo)

George McGovern, who died this morning at the age of 90, was the first Presidential candidate I voted for.

Unlike most of my college classmates, my political leanings in 1972 were actually closer to those of his opponent.

But I couldn't stand Richard Nixon.

In my youthful idealism--some might call it naivete--I believed strongly that character trumped ideology. Senator McGovern, a war hero turned peace advocate, was far more principled and honorable than the small man who occupied the White House, the man who ordered the bombing of Cambodia, the mining of Haiphong Harbor, and, probably, even the "third-rate burglary" at the Watergate Hotel.

The American public was horrified that George McGovern declared that the war was hopelessly lost. He said that he would unilaterally pull out of Vietnam, which is what happened anyway three years later under President Ford. George McGovern lost 49 states in a 520-17 Electoral College blowout.

After leaving office George McGovern fought against hunger and for human rights, dignity, and peace. He always spoke his mind, not dissembling as most politicians do. And he wasn't afraid to admit when he had changed his views:

For several years Mr. McGovern was proprietor of the Stratford Inn in Stratford, Conn. After the inn went belly-up, he wrote an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal in 1992 urging legislators to reduce red tape and frivolous lawsuits.

"I…wish that I had had this firsthand experience about the difficulties that businesspeople face every day," he wrote.

Although he was defeated, George McGovern shaped his party's politics for a generation. His formerly "radical" positions are now in the mainstream of Democratic Party thought. Per former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle: "I believe America would be a better nation today if George McGovern had become president." Amen.