It's the birthday of politician George McGovern, born in Avon, South Dakota (1922), who was the son of a Methodist minister who played pro baseball before his ordination. As a student at Dakota Wesleyan University, he was president of the sophomore and junior classes and won an oratory contest with a speech entitled "My Brother's Keeper." A bomber pilot in World War II, he flew 29 combat missions before his plane was badly damaged over Vienna and his navigator killed. He survived a crash landing on an island in the Adriatic Sea and won a Distinguished Flying Cross before returning for five more missions. Although both of his parents were Republicans, McGovern ran for Congress in 1956 as a Democrat and won, the first South Dakota Democrat to go to the House of Representatives in 22 years. After a losing campaign in 1960, he was elected to the Senate in 1962, and, upon re-election in '68, emerged as a leading opponent to the war in Vietnam. He said, "I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."
And, "The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain."
"You know, sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing."
No comments:
Post a Comment