{"id":2310,"date":"2012-10-17T10:40:31","date_gmt":"2012-10-17T16:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.keloland.com\/lund\/?p=2310"},"modified":"2023-07-20T21:00:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T21:00:06","slug":"bye-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/bye-george\/","title":{"rendered":"Bye, George"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"mcgovern<\/p>\n

Actually, I never felt like I knew George McGovern well enough to call him by his first name. He probably wouldn\u2019t have minded if I did but my respect and admiration for the man on so many levels would make such a familiar greeting akin to addressing the pope as Benny.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I, like most everybody, was really surprised that the Senator had entered hospice. He\u2019s had some health issues lately but he\u2019s 90 for cryin\u2019 out loud. Plus he was just at the State Theater dedication for another beloved nonagenarian, Sylvia Henkin , and seemed frail but fine. The point is, we\u2019re going to see and hear a lot about McGovern\u2019s life and times in the days to follow; all of the accolades well deserved, of course.<\/p>\n

I can only offer a few personal observations from our long association as reporter\/politician.<\/p>\n

\"mcgovernMcGovern was the first person I ever voted for in a general election. It was his successful bid for re-election to the U.S. senate in 1968 after a short campaign for president that year picking up the reins of Robert Kennedy who\u2019d been assassinated.
\nLike a lot of people back then, I didn\u2019t think so much about left or right, liberal or conservative. I just admired McGovern\u2019s intellect, the fact that he was a World War II hero; he was close to the Kennedys and applied a common sense approach to complicated issues. I was proud that he was a fellow South Dakotan and had a lot of respect among his political peers in Washington and around the world..
\n\u00a0I think a lot of the real George McGovern got lost in his 1972 presidential campaign.\u00a0He listened to advice he maybe shouldn\u2019t have like dumping Thomas Eagleton from the ticket after saying he wouldn\u2019t. \u00a0It made him look indecisive. He also embraced endorsements from the liberal Hollywood crowd which doesn\u2019t always bode well among voters.
\nPlus to appreciate George McGovern, you have to hear him speak at length on issues which very few people did on the night he accepted the presidential nomination at two o\u2019clock in the morning after most of the country had gone to bed.<\/div>\n
\n
\"Norman

Norman Rockwell was a McGovern fan<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I was shocked in 1980 when one of the most eloquent speakers in the country, McGovern, lost to Jim Abdnor..a good man but whose communication skills and power of persuasion seemed very limited. But, as Tom Daschle will tell you, South Dakota voters will send you packing if there\u2019s the slightest perception that you\u2019ve got above your rais\u2019n.<\/p>\n

Shortly after that election, I remember driving back to KELO on South Phillips Avenue and spotted the senator walking along on the sidewalk all by himself..no entourage..no reporters..alone on a brisk Autumn afternoon with his head down slightly. He looked more contemplative than defeated; as if he was pondering the chapters of his life so far with its victories and disappointments, all the while planning a strategy for his next role in public service which, as we all know, has been exemplary..reflecting his inherent compassion, diligence and effective statesmanship especially in the fight against world hunger.
\nThanks to my job, I\u2019ve had lots of chances to interview George McGovern. Each time, I told him who I was and each time he\u2019d say, \u201cI know who you are, Doug\u201d and then ask about my bosses and colleagues down at KELO. He was always gracious and always brilliant no matter if we were talking about his war experiences, his latest book, the death of his daughter to alcoholism, his bi-partisan mission with Senator Bob Dole to provide decent school lunches for kids around the world or even skydiving in his eighties.<\/p>\n

\"During

During World War II, McGovern was a B-24 pilot and flew 35 missions over Europe and received the Distinguished Flying Cross for safely landing his damaged plane saving his crew.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"McGovern

McGovern skydiving on his 88th birthday<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

His departure from this world will leave a huge void in the hearts of millions around the globe, including me, who\u2019ve been helped or enlightened by the wisdom and influence of this gentle preacher\u2019s kid from South Dakota.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Actually, I never felt like I knew George McGovern well enough to call him by his first name. He probably wouldn\u2019t have minded if I did but my respect and admiration for the man on so many levels would make such a familiar greeting akin to addressing the pope as Benny.\u00a0 I, like most…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lund-at-large","category-60","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11697,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2310\/revisions\/11697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}