He has lived a life nearly as large as his heart
McGovern worked to unleash the power of grass roots activists. He worked to open up the nominating process of the Democratic Party beyond elite party insiders. For my generation, he was beloved for his courageous opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
McGovern challenged his colleagues with a candor seldom heard in Washington, he said, “It does not take any courage at all for a congressman, or a senator, or a president to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Vietnam, because it is not our blood that is being shed. But we are responsible for those young men and their lives and their hopes. And if we do not end this damnable war those young men will someday curse us for our pitiful willingness to let the Executive carry the burden that the Constitution places on us.”
