Recalling George McGovern

George McGovern, in Congress (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recall standing at a bus stop on Superior Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, on election day in November 1972.  I was in my Coast Guard uniform.  As I waited for my bus, a black limo pulled up.  The window came down and there, in the back seat, was the Coast Guard rear admiral whose aide I was.  Hop in, he said.  

The admiral and I both lived in Lakewood, Ohio, the first burb to the west of Cleveland.  He lived in a "Gold Coast" high rise.  I lived nearby in a low rise.  The polling station for our neighborhood happened to be on the first floor of his apartment building.  As we road there together, he told me how enthusiastic he was to be reelecting Dick Nixon.  "He's become a true statesman," observed my commanding officer.  I smiled and nodded... than voted for George McGovern.

McGovern only carried Massachusetts.  A short time later, as the Nixon Administration unravelled in the Watergate scandal, bumper stickers appeared, which read, "Don't blame me.  I'm from Massachusetts."  I had the same thought: don't blame me.  I voted for George.

McGovern favored national Health insurance.  I'm glad that he --- unlike Teddy Kennedy, who like Moses, never got to enter the promised land where he had led us --- got to see Obamacare endorsed by the Supreme Court.  

McGovern was a passionate opponent of the Vietnam War, which is why young people, such as myself, supported him.  A decorated WWII bomber pilot, he knew the face of war and recoiled from it.

I believe he was a good man and would have been a good president.

May he rest in peace.

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