Vietnam

Deeply opposed to the administration’s commitment to the war in Vietnam, in 1967 Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy decided to challenge Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination for President. It was certainly a long shot bid. Incumbents rarely face serious opposition within their own party, and Johnson had won election in 1964 with the largest percentage of the popular vote in modern history. But McCarthy, a former college professor and one-time noviate monk, believed he could tap into the growing anti-war sentiment in the country, and he was determined to spark public debate on U.S. policy in Vietnam.

McCarthy was not the first choice of the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party. Robert Kennedy and George McGovern had been encouraged to run, but both men had declined, viewing any attempt to unseat Johnson as quixotic. But thanks to McCarthy and his followers, it would soon become clear that they were wrong.

College students were especially drawn to the McCarthy campaign and thousands of them descended as campaign volunteers on New Hampshire, site of the first primary. In hopes of gaining credibility with the voters there, many of the students cut their long hair and shaved their beards. “Get clean for Gene,” they told fellow volunteers.

McCarthy finished a close second in New Hampshire, stunning the political world and proving that Johnson was vulnerable. McCarthy’s success led Kennedy to enter the race (to the chagrin of McCarthy and many of his followers). Johnson saw the writing on the wall, and he announced the end of his candidacy.

Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968 and the Democrats ultimately nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey at the explosive Chicago convention of 1968, even though he hadn’t been a candidate in a single primary, leaving many anti-war Democrats bitter and disillusioned.

McCarthy made several other unsuccessful campaigns for President and was soundly defeated in his attempt to return to the Senate. After 1968 he published several books—memoirs, political commentary, and poetry—but was never again a political force on the national stage. In December 2005 he died of Parkinson’s Disease at age 89.

Eugene McCarthy was born in Watkins, Minnesota on March 29, 1916.