Memories of Senator George McGovern

From the desk of Greg Smith...

The recent passing of US Senator and former Presidential candidate George McGovern brought back personal memories from 1968, when I got to know him and his family and worked on his campaign in South Dakota. At the time I was a 20 year old university student from London, Ontario. 

My friend, Ian and I were crossing the US in a Volkswagen beetle after final exams in May. Our intention was to find work on the west coast somewhere, but we inadvertently fell into jobs on the Robert F Kennedy Presidential campaign in the South Dakota primary. We found ourselves going from broke and sleeping in a tent to being put up in a hotel and being paid a regular salary ($5.00 per day plus meals!) to organize door to door canvassing. We met Ethel Kennedy and singer Andy Williams when their Lear Jet arrived for a campaign stop, and one memorable day I drove Ted Kennedy to Lead and Deadwood to make a couple of speeches and to visit the saloon where Wild Bill Hickock was shot.

One of the people we got to know well was a young political mover and shaker named Jim Abourezk, who later went on to become a Congressman and US Senator, and was a key go-between during the standoff between the FBI and American Indian protesters at the siege of Wounded Knee. Jim told us one day that the local Senator, George McGovern, had heard about the two Canadians working on the Kennedy campaign, and wanted to meet us. We had never heard of him, but said “sure”, and a breakfast was arranged at the hotel restaurant for a couple of days ahead. 

That evening Jim, Ian, I and a few other campaign workers went to a local Pow-wow to watch hoop dancers, drummers and other traditional Native American activities, and bumped into Senator McGovern, but didn’t really get a chance to speak with him because of the crowds and noise. However, we did turn up at the agreed time for breakfast, and spent an hour and a half over blueberry waffles, getting to know each other. He was a very nice, intelligent, distinguished and likeable man, who seemed fascinated by how two young Canadians ended up working on the local Kennedy campaign. At the time I don’t think we quite appreciated the importance of him being a Senator, or the full qualities and potential of George McGovern, but we liked him and he liked us, and we would get to know him better over the next couple of years.

On June 5, 1968 Robert Kennedy had won in South Dakota, and we were gathered with many others at Jim’s house to watch the results from California, when he was shot by Sirhan Sirhan. Among other things, this obviously ended the campaign, and so Ian and I eventually moved on to Denver, Colorado, where we found jobs to pay the rent and buy food (I sold used cars). We had only been there a couple of weeks, when we received a call from Jim saying that McGovern wanted us to come back to South Dakota to work on his Senate re-election campaign. I think it paid $50 per week, but we didn’t care about the money - we jumped at the opportunity.

Two days later we were back in Rapid City, among friends, living with Jim and his family, and working for George McGovern. We helped to organize the canvassing and took part in many other campaign tasks. Through working for McGovern in a relatively small community, we got to know him and his family pretty well, and grew very fond of him and his wife Eleanor. At one point, when their daughter Terry was charged with possession of marijuana, Ian and I sat with George and Eleanor in Court to provide support. Tragically, Terry died a few years later as a result of substance abuse.

One day, Jim, Ian and I were walking along the street in downtown Rapid City when George McGovern approached us from the opposite direction. He stopped to chat, and after a few minutes of campaign talk, asked us what we thought of him making a run for President. His plan was to try to pick up the Kennedy delegates at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in August. Of course, we all thought it was a great idea. “Don’t tell anyone”, he said, “I haven’t even told Eleanor yet”.

We continued working for McGovern for the next few weeks and as plans firmed up for him to start a run for President, we were asked to go to the Democratic Convention in Chicago in August to work on the floor for him, helping to round up delegates, and with communications. I ended up not being able to go for personal reasons but Ian did, and so was part of the famously violent 1968 Chicago convention. 

McGovern failed to pick up enough support, and didn’t become the nominee that year, though he was re-elected to the Senate. We visited him a year later at his office in Washington, where he welcomed us and showed us around, and we were impressed by a signed photo of him with JFK on his office wall. Of course he did become the Democratic nominee in 1972, but unfortunately was defeated conclusively by Richard Nixon, who won 48 of the 50 states - George McGovern didn’t even win his home state of South Dakota. Like many others, I have often wondered how things might have been if such an honorable, decent and progressive man had become President.