The First Man I Ever Voted For Is Gone

I was 20 years old during the climax of the 1972 campaign.  While I was a supporter of Richard Nixon at an eight year old back in 1960 and as a 17 year old in 1968, by 1972 I had come to see just how much a crook he really was, a man rather devoid of principles.  Besides, I was never a big fan of Nixon's secret and unrealized plan of ending the war in Vietnam.

That's a long way of saying the George McGovern was the first candidate for President I ever voted for, and although I knew he was going to be defeated in a landslide that year (let's hear it for Massachusetts!), I was saddened.

Had Nixon not lowered the voting age to 18, this much I'll never forget, I would not have been able to vote in 1972...I was weeks shy of being 21 at the time of the election.  For that much, I owe Tricky Dick a debt of gratitude.

I was also broadcasting election results that night on WPCR, the Plymouth State College radio station.  In fact, I've unearthed a very strange picture of me at the mike in Silver Hall where our studio was located.  What a prim and proper young man I was back then.  Maybe I'll show the picture of The Liberty Express one of these days.

You don't forget the first person you voted for for President.

I'll never forget George McGovern, one of the most honorable men ever to become involved in what has become a less than honorable profession (politics).

At 90, George McGovern died over the weekend. 

I grave for him. 

It seems like I've lost a part of myself with his passing and I assume I am not alone.

George McGovern with Thomas Eagleton, a shockingly bad choice for Vice President in 1972.  Check out Douglas Brinkley's new biography of Walter Cronkite who might well have accepted an approach from McGovern for Veep...not that McGovern could have won even with Uncle Walter, but it would have been much more interesting.

George McGovern with Thomas Eagleton, a shockingly bad choice for Vice President in 1972.  Check out Douglas Brinkley's new biography of Walter Cronkite who might well have accepted an approach from McGovern for Veep...not that McGovern could have won even with Uncle Walter, but it would have been much more interesting.