Editing Eugene McCarthy (section)

==Early life==
McCarthy was born in [[Watkins, Minnesota]]. He was the son of a deeply religious [[Catholic]] woman of German ancestry, Anna Baden McCarthy, and a strong-willed man of Irish descent, Michael John McCarthy Jr.,<ref name="stjohns">{{cite news |last=Post |first=Tim |url= http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/01/24_postt_mccarthymemorial|title=St. John's remembers Sen. Eugene McCarthy |work=[[Minnesota Public Radio]]|date=January 24, 2006|access-date=June 14, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMqSzTPXl7QC&pg=PA3|title=Eugene McCarthy: The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism|first= Dominic|last=Sandbrook|isbn=9780307425775|page=3|publisher=Knopf Doubleday|year=2007}}</ref> a postmaster and cattle buyer.

McCarthy grew up in Watkins with his parents and three siblings. He attended St. Anthony's Catholic School in Watkins, and spent hours reading his aunt's ''[[Harvard Classics]]''.<ref name=Fire /> He was influenced by the monks at nearby [[St. John's Abbey and University]] in [[Collegeville, Minnesota]], and attended school there, at [[Saint John's Preparatory School (Collegeville, Minnesota)|Saint John's Preparatory School]], from which he graduated in 1932.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://apps.csbsju.edu/sjuvignettes/EugeneMcCarthy.pdf|title=Eugene McCarthy's Days at St. John's|first=Peggy|last=Roske|date=2010|access-date= May 4, 2016}}</ref> He also went to college at [[College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University|Saint John's University]], graduating in 1935. McCarthy earned his master's degree from the [[University of Minnesota]] in 1939. He taught in public schools in Minnesota and [[North Dakota]] from 1935 to 1940, when he became a professor of economics and education at St. John's, working there from 1940 to 1943.<ref name="csbsju.edu">[https://csbsju.edu/news/former-us-senator-and-sju-graduate-eugene-j-mccarthy-dies "Former U.S. Senator and SJU Graduate Eugene J. McCarthy Dies"], ''Newsroom'', Saint John's University, December 10, 2005</ref>

While at St. John's, he coached the [[ice hockey|hockey]] team for one season.<ref>{{cite web |title=Saint John's Hockey All-Time Coaching Records |url=https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2009/3/24/SJU%20Hockey%20Coaching%20Records.pdf?id=273 |website=GoJohnnies.com |access-date=April 27, 2020 |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308123052/https://gojohnnies.com/documents/2009/3/24/SJU%20Hockey%20Coaching%20Records.pdf?id=273 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1943, considering the contemplative life of a monk, he became a Benedictine novice at Saint John's Abbey.<ref name=Fire /> After nine months as a monk he left the monastery, causing a fellow novice to say, "It was like losing a [[Win–loss record (pitching)#Background|20-game winner]]".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/news/10430-his-time-was-then--and-now|title=His time was then and now|website=TheHill.com|first=Albert|last=Eisele|date=December 13, 2005|access-date=March 29, 2020}}</ref> He enlisted in the Army, serving as a code breaker for the [[Military Intelligence]] Division of the [[United States Department of War|War Department]] in Washington, D.C. in 1944.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csbsju.edu/mccarthy-center/about-the-center/who-is-eugene-j-mccarthy |title=Who is Eugene J. McCarthy? â€" CSB/SJU |website=www.csbsju.edu |publisher=College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University |access-date=June 15, 2017}}</ref> He was then an instructor in sociology and economics at the [[University of St. Thomas (Minnesota)|College of St. Thomas]] in [[St. Paul, Minnesota]], from 1946 to 1949.<ref name="csbsju.edu"/>