Sioux Falls, South Dakota: Former US Senator and 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern has died on Sunday at the age of 90 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
“At approximately 5:15 am this morning, our wonderful father, George McGovern passed away peacefully at the Dougherty Hospice House in Sioux Falls, SD, surrounded by our family and life-long friends,” a family statement said, according to AP.
“We are blessed to know that our father lived a long, successful and productive life advocating for the hungry, being a progressive voice for millions and fighting for peace.
“He continued giving speeches, writing and advising all the way up to and past his 90th birthday, which he celebrated this summer,” the statement said.
President Obama called McGovern a “statesman of great conscience and conviction.”
“George McGovern dedicated his life to serving the country he loved. He signed up to fight in World War II, and became a decorated bomber pilot over the battlefields of Europe. When the people of South Dakota sent him to Washington, this hero of war became a champion for peace. And after his career in Congress, he became a leading voice in the fight against hunger,” Obama said in a statement.
He opposed the Vietnam War and opposed US involvement in the region.
McGovern, who had lost the Democratic nomination twice before, ran against President Nixon in 1972 on the platform of withdrawing all US troops from Vietnam.
“As one whose heart has ached for the past 10 years over the agony of Vietnam, I will halt a senseless bombing of Indochina on Inaugural Day,” McGovern promised at the Democratic National Convention in 1972.
“And then let us resolve that never again will we send the precious young blood of this country to die trying to prop up a corrupt military dictatorship abroad.”
Nut he failed to keep Nixon from a second term as president, losing by a massive margin.
McGovern moved to Florida in 2008 after the death of his wife, Eleanor.
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