1922-
Democratic Candidate for President, 1972

Small-Town Background.

The 1972 Democratic nominee for president, George McGovern, distinguished himself through his calls for a new morality in politics and through his sincerity and integrity. These qualities derived from his South Dakota youth. Son of a coal miner turned Methodist preacher, McGovern had grown up with a strong family life in the small town of Mitchell, an agricultural community. Educated at Dakota Wesleyan, McGovern served in World War II as a B-24 pilot, winning the Distinguished Service Flying Cross. After the war he earned a doctorate in American history at Northwestern and returned to South Dakota determined to break the hold the Republican party had on the state's politics. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1957, he was the author and director of John F. Kennedy's Food for Peace program. Moving to the Senate in 1962, he became an early opponent...