35 years later, McGovern supporters gather for memories, homage

WASHINGTON -- Thirty-five years ago, with the United States riven by an unpopular armed conflict in a faraway land, the Democratic Party responded by nominating for president its most vocal antiwar candidate, George McGovern.

Not far from the Capitol, where debate over another war is an almost daily occurrence, veterans of the McGovern campaign and others gathered at a reception Friday night to pay homage to him. It was sponsored by Representative James McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts.

The parallels between the fight that George McGovern led against US involvement in Vietnam and the effort now being waged by many in the room to withdraw US troops from Iraq was a major theme of the evening.

"Don't stop fighting for peace in Iraq!" activist Medea Benjamin shouted at one point above the din of chatter among the crowd of about 200.

Benjamin, who said that as a college student in Boston she volunteered for McGovern's 1972 campaign against President Nixon, went on to help found Code Pink, a women-initiated group that opposes the Iraq war.

Said Benjamin: "We need another McGovern now more than ever."

The event, held at the Cannon House Office Building, was timed to celebrate George McGovern's birthday; he turns 85 Thursday.

Although Jim McGovern is not biologically related to the guest of honor, there's a strong political link -- the congressman has long been one of the harshest critics of the Iraq war.

"You were so right, George," he said as he took his turn at the microphone to praise the former South Dakota senator. "You were right then, and you were right today."

Representative McGovern, 47, was not quite a teenager when George McGovern ran for president, but he made himself part of the effort.

"I put bumper stickers on people's cars -- even if they didn't want them," he said.

He also recalled election night. "I was so excited when the Massachusetts returns came in, but then there was the rest of the country. And I said, '. . . I did my job right.' "

His comment elicited a rueful laugh from his audience.

George McGovern carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia in one of the most sweeping electoral routs in American history.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California was one of several Democratic lawmakers in attendance Friday ; she wore a McGovern campaign button she borrowed from an aide.

Ticking off the names of some of her most liberal colleagues whose political careers were inspired in large part by his candidacy, she said, "Thank you, George McGovern. . . . The beat goes on."

McGovern, clad in a peach-colored sports coat, spent much of the evening anchored in one spot; those who wanted to converse with him slowly orbited around him. Friends say he's often subdued these days. His wife of 63 years, Eleanor, died in January.

When it was time for him to say a few words, he was introduced by Gary Hart, his old campaign manager. Hart was elected US senator from Colorado in 1974, and 10 years later launched his own improbable presidential campaign.

"Here is a man who on the issue of war and peace . . . has been the humanitarian voice of the Democratic Party," Hart said, to a roar of applause.