McGovern and Chappaquiddick

Argus Leader:

The way former Sen. George McGovern remembers it, another senator’s misery opened the door to his successful run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination.

Speaking Tuesday night in Mitchell, McGovern said he was vacationing on July 19, 1969, when he heard that Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy had driven his vehicle off a bridge after attending a party on Chappaquiddick Island. Kennedy swam to shore, but passenger Mary Jo Kopechne drowned.

And so did Kennedy’s presidential fortunes for the 1972 nomination.

McGovern said he woke up with a premonition the next morning after digesting the news.

“A quiet feeling came over me: ’I’m going to be the next president of the United States. I’m going to be the nominee,”’ McGovern said. “I couldn’t see anybody else.”
McGovern eventually lost the 1972 election to President Nixon.

The recollection came during a conversation with former network television newsman Sander Vanocur at Dakota Wesleyan University as part of a celebration of McGovern’s 85th birthday. McGovern turns 85 on July 19.

Tuesday was 35 years to the day since the opening of the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami.

The South Dakota senator had made a brief run for the 1968 nomination after the Robert Kennedy assassination. McGovern said his strong showing in a candidates’ debate put him in the national spotlight and set the stage for him to run for the 1972 nomination.

McGovern said he was convinced he could win the Democratic nomination when it became clear Ted Kennedy would not run in ’72.

“In the bid for the nomination, for almost a year and a half, I don’t think we made a mistake,” McGovern said. “We just did everything right. The press was just dumbfounded.”

Following the convention, the campaign unraveled, McGovern said.

McGovern said he hopes his legacy will be his efforts to reduce world hunger and end the war in Vietnam.