I am proud to say that I voted for George McGovern for President in 1972! (It was the first election after I was old enough to vote.) Unfortunately, I was one of the few people that voted for him.
George McGovern was the anti-war candidate in 1972, pressing for pulling US troops out of South Vietnam and for direct negotiation with North Vietnam to end the fighting. Richard Nixon (the slimiest of all US presidents) and was pressing the Vietnam conflict with brutal carpet bombing of North Vietnam, fully convinced that we could bomb them into submission.
The 1972 election ended up being one of the biggest electoral landslides in US History with George McGovern only winning the Electoral votes of Massachusetts and District of Columbia. Even so, I am more proud of that vote than any other vote I have ever cast. Let me tell you why and maybe we can learn some important lessons that are applicable to the upcoming election this year.
Even thought George was badly beaten in the election let’s look at what followed.
- Richard Nixon was driven out of office in 1974 based on the Watergate scandal (I told you he was slimy)
- The North Vietnamese took Saigon in 1975, ending the war as the victors
- The US was humiliated by videos of the Marines evacuating the US Embassy by helicopter as Saigon was overrun
- Almost 60,000 American soldiers died, 150,000 were wounded, and over 20,000 were permanently disabled
- In the end, it was all a waste
George McGovern, the liberal Democrat, was proven to be correct. The Republicans were wrong (DEAD WRONG) and proven to be a bunch right wing conservative crooks. I see some similarities with the current presidential race….how about you?
Let’s hope the American people are smarter this time?
