Eugene McCarthy

In a post at DailyPundit DailyPundit Bill Quick does a short rememberance titled Ave Atque Vale (Hale and Farewell) on the Senator from Minnesota who brought down a president.

I have a slightly different take. In 1964, I was a county youth chairman for Goldwater. But in 1968 I worked hard for McCarthy in the same county. Johnson, and McNamara and Rostow - were the precipitating events for both decisions. I thought, and actually still think, that they eased us into a war with hubris and deception, and then refused to make a real commitment to the outcome. It seemed (and seems now) such a horrible waste. I thought BMG was actually a pretty good guy. During the campaign he came to San Joaquin county twice and I met him both times. He was down to earth and really quite a figure. Reagan also came to the county and gave "the speech" - which I was impressed with at the time that is what began his race for national office. -When he died I reread it and was not as impressed. Goldwater had an easy laugh and a western manner. By 1970 I was working in the US Senate and ran into Goldwater in the halls. BMG had just come back into the Senate- where he stayed for another three terms. I saw him about the time he retired and he was really frail. His writing and speaking were a lot the same.

In 1968, as we continued to get deeper into the war - without admitting it - McCarthy came on strong. He came to the county in the late spring and I helped organize a rally for him. I had the chance to shake his hand and actually speak with him for a couple of minutes. He was thoughtful and very pleasant with a wry sense of humor.

Both campaigns were blessed with a lot of energy - different types of people - the Goldwater included a lot of libertarians but also a lot of silver haired old righties. The McCarthy included a lot of counter culture people but also a lot of libertarians. When the RFK campaign came into town it was clear that the raggle taggle group that had been involved in McCarthy's campaign would not be able to hold on to the state. Kennedy came to Stockton and literally sucked the wind out of the McCarthy campaign.

That is not bad nor good. What McCarthy did was to energize (or at least give us who were against the policy in Vietnam a vehicle). I wrote my senior thesis on a theory by James MacGregor Burns on presidential power. My professor liked my research - but because I criticized Burns theory (that a president can get anything he really wants) he wrote a long criticism of it. On March 31 when LBJ gave his speech, I actually drove over to the professor's house and when he opened the door - he said with a grin, I know why you are here and I am not going to change your mark.

Both BMG and McCarthy were from an era before handlers. The brief time I met both gave me a pretty good idea of who they were as people. They were both independents. Remember that BMG was one of the delegation that asked Nixon to resign and was turned off after he left the Senate by the rise of the Christian right. McCarthy was often a surprise. In 1980 he endorsed Reagan over Carter. I think both had a sense of themselves. That is certainly lacking in many of today's elected officials.