Editing George McGovern (section)

===Middle Senate years and continued opposition to the Vietnam War===
During the 1968 Democratic Convention, a motion had been passed to establish a commission to reform the Democratic Party nomination process.<ref>White, ''The Making of the President 1972'', pp. 17–20.</ref> In 1969 McGovern was named chairman of the [[Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection]], also known as the McGovern–Fraser Commission; owing to the influence of former McCarthy and Kennedy supporters on the staff, the commission significantly reduced the role of party officials and insiders in the nomination process.<ref name="White, pp. 24">White, ''The Making of the President 1972'', pp. 24–33.</ref><ref name="reichley-285"/> The commission's 1970 report, ''Mandate for Reform'',<ref name="kauf"/> was approved by the Democratic National Committee in 1971.<ref name="reichley-285"/> It required that delegates be selected either by a party primary where delegate preferences were indicated on the ballot or by a state convention process where the first stage was open caucuses.<ref name="reichley-285"/> It also mandated quotas for proportional black, female, and youth delegate representation.<ref name="White, pp. 24"/><ref name="reichley-285"/> The new rules had an immediate effect; in 1972, a third more primaries were held in the Democratic nomination process than in 1968 and those primaries produced half again as many delegates.<ref>White, ''The Making of the President 1972'', p. 71.</ref> Over the next few presidential election cycles, this trend towards holding primaries increased in both parties, with eventually over 80&nbsp;percent of delegates being chosen via primaries; whereas before McGovern–Fraser, two-thirds of all delegates were chosen by state conventions controlled by party elites.<ref name="kauf"/> Thus the U.S.&nbsp;presidential nominating process has been different ever since the McGovern–Fraser reforms, with scholars and politicians debating whether all the changes are for the better.<ref name="reichley-285">Reichley, ''The Life of the Parties'', pp. 283, 285–287.</ref><ref name="kauf">{{cite journal | last1=Kaufmann | first1=Karen M. | first2=James G. | last2=Gimpel | first3=Adam H. | last3=Hoffman | title=A Promise Fulfilled? Open Primaries and Representation | journal=[[The Journal of Politics]] | volume=65 | issue= 2 | year=2003 | pages=457–476 | doi=10.1111/1468-2508.t01-2-00009 | s2cid=154515817 }} At pp. 457, 459.</ref>

In the wake of several high-profile reports about hunger and [[malnutrition]] in the United States, the [[Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs]] had been created in July 1968, with McGovern as its chairman.<ref>Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 220–224.</ref> Seeking to dramatize the problem, in March 1969 McGovern took the committee to [[Immokalee, Florida]], the base for 20,000 [[migrant farm worker]]s.<ref name="anson-225">Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 225–229.</ref> They saw graphic examples of hunger and malnutrition firsthand, but also encountered resistance and complaints about bad publicity from local and state officials.<ref name="anson-225"/><ref>{{cite news |url= http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F70C10FD3B5D137A93C3A81788D85F4D8685F9 |title=Senators on Hunger Tour See Squalor in Florida |author=Hunter, Majorie |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 11, 1969 |page=31}}</ref> McGovern battled the Nixon administration and Southerners in Congress during much of the next year over an expanded [[Food Stamp Program]]; he had to compromise on a number of points, but legislation signed in 1970 established the principles of free food stamps and a nationwide standard for eligibility.<ref>Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 229–234.</ref>

McGovern generally lacked both interest and expertise in [[economics]], but was outspoken in reaction to Nixon's imposition of [[wage and price controls]] in 1971.<ref>Anson, ''McGovern'', p. 137.</ref> McGovern declared: "This administration, which pledged to slow inflation and reduce unemployment, has instead given us the highest rate of inflation and the highest rate of unemployment in a decade."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/#title |title=Economic Crisis: 1971 Year in Review |publisher=United Press International |access-date=October 29, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212064553/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/#title |archive-date=February 12, 2009 }}</ref> Regarding another heated domestic issue, ''[[60 Minutes]]'' included McGovern in a 1971 report about liberal politicians and journalists who advocated integrated schooling while avoiding it for their children.{{refn|The report, by [[Mike Wallace]], detailed the senator's support of [[desegregation busing]] even while the Washington, D.C., resident was paying non-resident tuition for his own daughter to attend [[Bethesda, Maryland]], public schools, which were only 3&nbsp;percent black. McGovern responded that where he sent his children to school was a private matter.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zY1JAAAAIBAJ&pg=3688,478219 | title=Hypocrisy, Unlimited | author=Hart, Jeffrey | newspaper=[[The News and Courier]] | location=Charleston, South Carolina | date=January 3, 1972 | page=8A| author-link=Jeffrey Hart }}{{dead link|date=October 2016}}</ref>|group="nb"}}

{{U.S. Congressional opposition to war}}
But most of all, McGovern was known for his continued opposition to the Vietnam War. In March 1969, he became the first senator to explicitly criticize the new president's policy there, an action that was seen as a breach of customary protocol by other Senate doves.<ref name="anson-168">Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 167–169.</ref> The ongoing diversion to South Vietnam of much of Food for Peace's aid, where it was used to subsidize that country's budget, when there were countries around the world affected by drought and food shortages, upset him.<ref>Knock, "Feeding the World and Thwarting the Communists", pp. 112–113.</ref> By the end of 1969, McGovern was calling for an immediate cease-fire and a total withdrawal of all American troops within a year.<ref name="anson-168"/> In October 1969 McGovern was a featured speaker before 100,000&nbsp;demonstrators in Boston at the [[Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam]], and in November he spoke before 350,000 at Moratorium/[[National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam|Mobilization]]'s antiwar march to the [[Washington Monument]].<ref name="anson-172">Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 169–174.</ref> Afterward, he decided that radicalized peace demonstrations were counterproductive and criticized antiwar figures such as [[Rennie Davis]], [[Tom Hayden]], [[Huey Newton]], [[Abbie Hoffman]], and [[Jerry Rubin]] as "reckless" and "irresponsible".<ref name="anson-172"/>

Instead, McGovern focused on legislative means to bring the war to an end.<ref name="anson-177"/> The [[McGovern–Hatfield Amendment]] to the annual military procurement bill, co-sponsored by Republican [[Mark Hatfield]] of Oregon, required via funding cutoff a complete withdrawal of all American forces from Indochina by the end of 1970.<ref name="nyt090270">{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FA0B1FF73D551B7493C0A91782D85F448785F9 | title=Senate Defeats 'End War' Move By Vote Of 55–39 | author=Smith, Robert M. | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=September 2, 1970 | page=1}}</ref> It underwent months of public discussion and alterations to make it acceptable to more senators, including pushing the deadline out to the end of 1971.<ref name="mann-669"/> In May 1970 McGovern obtained a [[second mortgage]] on his Washington home in order to fund a half-hour televised panel discussion on the amendment on [[NBC]].<ref name="mann-669"/> The broadcast brought in over $500,000 in donations that furthered work on passage,<ref name="anson-177"/> and eventually the amendment gained the support of the majority of the public in polls.<ref name="mann-669"/> The effort was denounced by opposition groups organized by White House aide [[Charles Colson]], which called McGovern and Hatfield "apostles of retreat and defeat" and "salesmen of surrender" and maintained that only the president could conduct foreign policy.<ref name="mann-669"/> The amendment was defeated in September 1970 by a 55–39 vote, just short of what McGovern had hoped would constitute at least a [[moral victory]].<ref name="anson-177">Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 174–178.</ref> During the floor debate, McGovern criticized his colleagues opposing the measure:
{{cquote|
Every Senator in this chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave. This chamber reeks of blood. Every Senator here is partly responsible for that human wreckage at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval and all across our land{{snd}}young men without legs, or arms, or genitals, or faces or hopes. There are not very many of these blasted and broken boys who think this war is a glorious adventure. Do not talk to them about bugging out, or national honor or courage. 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 some day curse us for our pitiful willingness to let the Executive carry the burden that the Constitution places on us.<ref name="anson-177"/><ref name="mann-669"/>}}

The Senate reacted in startled, stunned silence, and some faces showed anger and fury;<ref name="weil-16"/> when one member told McGovern he had been personally offended by the speech, McGovern said, "That's what I meant to do."<ref name="mann-669">Mann, ''A Grand Delusion'', pp. 666–670.</ref> McGovern believed Vietnam an immoral war that was destroying much of what was pure, hopeful, and different about America's character as a nation.<ref name="weil-16"/>

The defeat of the amendment left McGovern embittered and somewhat more radicalized.<ref name="anson-179">Anson, ''McGovern'', pp. 179–180.</ref> He accused the vice president of South Vietnam, [[Nguyen Cao Ky]], of running a heroin trafficking operation that was addicting American soldiers.<ref name="anson-179"/> In a retort to the powerful Senate [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|Armed Services Committee]] chairman [[John Stennis]]'s suggestion that U.S.&nbsp;troops might have to return to Cambodia, McGovern declared, "I'm tired of old men dreaming up wars for young men to fight. If he wants to use American ground troops in Cambodia, let him lead the charge himself."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ref=355047 |newspaper=[[The Harvard Crimson]] |title=McGovern Runs for President |date=February 17, 1971 |author=Southwick, Thomas P. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060218061205/http://www.thecrimson.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ref=355047 |archive-date=February 18, 2006 }}</ref> He denounced Nixon's policy of [[Vietnamization]] as "subsidiz[ing] the continued killing of the people of Indochina by technology and mercenaries."<ref>Mann, ''A Grand Delusion'', p. 680.</ref> In a ''[[Playboy]]'' interview, he said that [[Ho Chi Minh]] was the North Vietnamese [[George Washington]].<ref name="anson-179"/>

McGovern–Hatfield was put up for a vote again in 1971, with somewhat weaker provisions designed to gain more support.<ref name="weil-21">Weil, ''The Long Shot'', pp. 21–22.</ref> In polls, a large majority of the public now favored its intent, and McGovern took his name off a final form of it, as some senators were just objecting to him.<ref name="mann-682"/> Nevertheless, in June 1971, it failed to pass again, gaining only a few more votes than the year before.<ref name="mann-682">Mann, ''A Grand Delusion'', pp. 682–684.</ref> McGovern was now certain that the only way the war would come to a quick end was if there was a new president.<ref name="weil-21"/>