Throughout his sixty years in public
life, a great deal was written about George McGovern. One of my favorite
descriptions of him is by Pete Hamill. Back in the 1972 presidential
campaign, he wrote: “George McGovern comes at you like one of those big
Irish heavyweights in the 1930s—a little slow, but with the chin shut
hard against the chest, the jaw breaching out, coming on, daring you to
do your best. ... He might be beaten, but you will know he was there. He
will not fold up on you ... he will surrender no dignity ... and you
will come away speaking about him with respect.”
As we consider George’s contributions to our country, one thing is clear: Americans of all stripes have come away speaking about him with a deep, profound, and enduring respect. Someone once asked St. Francis of Assisi what it took to live a good life. He replied: “Preach the Gospel every day. If necessary, use words.” There are many ways to preach the Gospel. George McGovern practiced more of them that anyone I’ve ever known. He’s been a minister. Teacher. Peacemaker. Humanitarian. Champion of hungry children.
And if that’s not enough, he also pretty much single-handedly restored the two-party system of government in my state of South Dakota—and made my political career, among others, possible.
George and his wife, Eleanor, had four small children when he decided, in 1955, to resign as chairman of the history department at Dakota Wesleyan College in Mitchell, South Dakota, and try to rebuild the state Democratic Party. Their friends agreed there could be only one explanation for his decision: He’d lost his mind. Actually, there was another explanation. In a speech at Wheaton College in Illinois less than a month before he lost the 1972 election to Richard Nixon, George told his audience: "I felt called into the work of serving others. At first I thought my vocation was in the ministry, and I enrolled in seminary. ... After a period of deep reflection, I thought I should become a teacher. Yet, even in my teaching at Dakota Wesleyan University, I felt there was something else for me to do—and that is what finally led me into politics."
Read more: http://prospect.org/article/grit-and-grace-george-mcgovern
As we consider George’s contributions to our country, one thing is clear: Americans of all stripes have come away speaking about him with a deep, profound, and enduring respect. Someone once asked St. Francis of Assisi what it took to live a good life. He replied: “Preach the Gospel every day. If necessary, use words.” There are many ways to preach the Gospel. George McGovern practiced more of them that anyone I’ve ever known. He’s been a minister. Teacher. Peacemaker. Humanitarian. Champion of hungry children.
And if that’s not enough, he also pretty much single-handedly restored the two-party system of government in my state of South Dakota—and made my political career, among others, possible.
George and his wife, Eleanor, had four small children when he decided, in 1955, to resign as chairman of the history department at Dakota Wesleyan College in Mitchell, South Dakota, and try to rebuild the state Democratic Party. Their friends agreed there could be only one explanation for his decision: He’d lost his mind. Actually, there was another explanation. In a speech at Wheaton College in Illinois less than a month before he lost the 1972 election to Richard Nixon, George told his audience: "I felt called into the work of serving others. At first I thought my vocation was in the ministry, and I enrolled in seminary. ... After a period of deep reflection, I thought I should become a teacher. Yet, even in my teaching at Dakota Wesleyan University, I felt there was something else for me to do—and that is what finally led me into politics."
Read more: http://prospect.org/article/grit-and-grace-george-mcgovern
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