McGovern Reunion
Last weekend I attended the 35th anniversary of the McGovern campaign, along with Senator Gary Hart and hundreds of other grassroots activists from the 1972 effort. It was nostalgic for all of us. As I looked around the room at the luncheon, I wondered at those of us who were so impassioned by an unpopular war. And here we are again. But we were here to honor our ideals and the birthday of Senator George McGovern. He turned 85 on July 19. For some of us it was the beginning of activism. For me, it was another leg in the journey. Many of us were former Peace Corps volunteers. Below is an article by David Broder, who attended the luncheon along with other reporters. Enjoy.
High campaign ideals can generate lofty aspirations
By David Broder
The Washington Post
July 18, 2007 6:00 AM
The gathering last weekend to celebrate George McGovern’s 85th birthday was more than a salute to a respected elder for his decades of work as a public official and a private citizen to end hunger.
Bob Dole, who has joined him in that cause since they were senators, spoke warmly of the friendship that crossed party lines and bridged years of disagreement on other issues.
Most of the people there were veterans of McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign, reunited after 35 years to mark one of the great lost causes of American politics.
McGovern was swamped by Richard Nixon in that campaign, carrying only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. As he noted ruefully in his reminiscences on Saturday, he decided to take a nap while awaiting returns and left the instruction to “wake me when we know the outcome. It turned out to be a very short nap.”
That campaign has had long-term consequences. As evidenced by the turnout for this reunion, McGovern’s candidacy attracted and trained a whole generation of young people who are the heart and soul of the Democratic Party today.
Youthful rebels then but gray-haired now, they still embody forces that define the Democratic Party - an insistence on openness and reform, and a commitment to peace.
As former President Clinton, one of thousands who got his first national experience as a McGovern volunteer, put it in his message to the gathering, they are all “McGovern’s heirs.”
Gary Hart, who was McGovern’s campaign manager, made the bold statement that McGovern had “saved the Democratic Party” by forcing open a closed system and allowing outsiders - anti-Vietnam war amateurs - to come in.
At the time, it certainly didn’t look like salvation to party leaders, who saw the Democrats losing in election after election in the McGovern debacle.
The energy and talent McGovern enlisted have proved to be the party’s salvation. Without the reforms McGovern forced onto a reluctant Democratic establishment - including guaranteed representation for women and minorities at the convention - it’s impossible to imagine that this year, the leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination would be Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
Though no one at this mostly partisan Democratic gathering noted the point, the parallel to the McGovern experience on the Republican side can be found in the 1964 Barry Goldwater campaign.
Goldwater was a landslide loser to Lyndon Johnson, but he too brought a whole set of talented newcomers into national politics, among them Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Unsuccessful campaigns can have that long-term benefit for their party, but only if that losing candidate identifies with much larger causes.
For McGovern, the causes were peace abroad and reform of the Democratic Party at home. For Goldwater, it was conservatism in its contemporary definition - low taxes, strong defense and skepticism about government.
It was the idealism of their campaigns - and their willingness to defy the pollsters and political odds - that endeared them to their young followers. Their vindication came with the success those followers achieved.
There’s a lesson in this for those running for president today: There is more than one way to measure a successful campaign. Pragmatism - trimming positions to fit political winds - can yield short-term victories. Sticking to principle can build a legacy for a generation.
That might be a consolation for John McCain, who is the most stubbornly principled person in the Republican field.
He’s being punished now for saying what he believes about Iraq and immigration, among other things.
The examples of Goldwater and McGovern tell us time-tested veterans who take the abuse but don’t abandon their beliefs can inspire a movement of enduring importance.
Broder is a columnist for The Washington Post. His e-mail address is davidbroder@washpost.com.