Eugene McCarthy: The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism

by Dominic Sandbrook

Originally a New Deal liberal and aggressive anticommunist, Senator Eugene McCarthy famously lost faith with the Democratic party over Vietnam. His stunning challenge to Lyndon Johnson in the 1968 New Hampshire primary inspired young liberals and was one of the greatest electoral upsets in American history. But the 1968 election ultimately brought Richard Nixon and the Republican Party to power, irrevocably shifting the country’s political landscape to the right for decades to come.

Dominic Sandbrook traces one of the most remarkable and significant lives in postwar politics, a career marked by both courage and arrogance. Sandbrook draws on extensive new research – including interviews with McCarthy himself – to show convincingly how Eugene McCarthy’s political experience embodies the larger decline of American liberalism after World War II. These were tumultuous times in American politics, and Sandbrook vividly captures the drama and historical significance through his intimate portrait of a singularly interesting man at the heart of it all.

Genres: Biography, History, Politics, Nonfiction, American, American History

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

An English historian, commentator and broadcaster and author of two highly acclaimed books on modern Britain: Never Had It So Good and White Heat. Their follow-up is State of Emergency.

Reviews

[Robert Jeens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is what a decent history book does: it uses a combination of an interesting topic and good writing to immerse you into a period and a story and teach you something you didn’t know before. That is exactly what this book does. It takes the story of the American politician Eugene McCarthy to illustrate certain fascinating aspects of the America of the 1950s and 60s. The book documents how the post-war Democratic coalition of labor unions, southern Dixiecrats and northern liberals that promoted the New Deal, Fair Deal, and the Cold War fell apart over Vietnam and Civil Rights.
The author’s portrait of Eugene McCarthy is not flattering. McCarthy was an extremely intelligent, jealous, grudge-carrying backstabber. He was not very hardworking, and he was more conservative than was his reputation. McCarthy himself called the book almost libelous. McCarthy was an Irish Catholic from Minnesota who contemplated the priesthood before going into teaching and the professorate. In the late 1940s, he won a seat in the US Congress representing his district and then became a Senator in the late 1950s. His most famous moment came as he ran for the Democratic nomination as an anti-war candidate against the incumbent Democratic President, Lyndon Johnson. He didn’t win the nomination, but he forced Johnson to resign from the ticket, setting up the nomination of Hubert Humphrey. After this, he ran for President again a few times, always somewhat less successfully than the previous time. Besides this, he was an author, speaker and editor.
The book is somewhat of a specialist work designed for a general audience. Do you like to read some of the minutiae of Congressional and Senatorial committee assignments in the 1950s? If not, this book is probably not for you. But there is a lot of interesting minutiae. You learn about the ethnic and political composition of Minnesota in the 1930s and 40s. How did the liberal and Southern wings of the Democratic Party interact in the 1950s? Exactly how and why did the Democratic coalition break down in the 1960s?
One of the most interesting points of the book for me was the unrealistic dreams of Vietnam shared by so many. Hindsight is 20/20 and we now know that the options were stay and keep the war going or leave and let the North Vietnamese take over. The idea that it would have been possible to stop bombing the North, negotiate with the South Vietnamese Communists, and find a compromise was a fantasy. McCarthy and those behind him had figured that out by 1968, but it took until 1973, five years after McCarthy’s run for the nomination, for America as a whole to finally come to that conclusion.
And it was fun to read of McCarthy’s famous feuds in the Democratic Party. McCarthy vs. Humphrey. McCarthy vs. the Kennedys. This is meaty, gossipy history.
The subtitle of this book is “The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism.” Overall, the author proves his thesis. The book documents how that liberal dream broke down and was replaced by the neoconservatives, even within the Democratic Party. Liberal became a dirty word in American politics. Personally, I think some of those proposals from the 1960s and 70s like a socialized National medical system and guaranteed income for the poorest were good ideas but that was not to be and this books shows why.

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched, clearly presented biography of a key figure in the chaotic 1968 presidential election. Sandbrook's very clear that, myths aside, McCarthy wasn't only or simply an "anti-war" candidate and that he wasn't particularly attuned to the youth who drove his campaign.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dominic Sandbrook's biography of Eugene McCarthy has been on my to-read pile for a bit. I confess that the obvious knowledge of him was based upon his strong second place finish to LBJ in the 1968 New Hampshire primary.

Although LBJ took 49.4%, McCarthy stunned the pundits and population with a robust 42.2%. The results led to two of the first of many events that made 1968 one of the most turbulent presidential campaigns of the last century (possibly to be duplicated in 2016). First Robert F. Kennedy entered the race on March 16. McCarthy had been reluctant to run ceding the right of RFK to oppose LBJ as heir to JFK's agenda. Second, LBJ dropped out on March 31 before the Wisconsin primary. This was earthshaking and both indicated that McCarthy's end the Vietnam war platform plus the opposition of RFK had become the salient point of the Democratic primaries. Lots of drama to follow.

What I learned from this book is how Eugene McCarthy reached 1968, a lad who grew up reading his aunt's Harvard Classics, a devout Catholic who even became a novice at St. John's, but receiving feedback that he was sardonic and "had little regard for people not as talented or as sophisticated." McCarthy as a student set records and graduated cum laude with three times the credits necessary for his BA. That intellectual and religious background carried on throughout his life, for his Congressional offices always had "works of Aquinas, Augustine, and Thomas More" rather than political books.

McCarthy remained a novice for only nine months and then after obtaining his Masters from U of Minnesota became a teacher in public schools and then a professor of Economics at St. Johns. The political bug hit him and he ran for Congress successfully in 1948, a bright star who fell under the wing of Sam Rayburn the powerful speaker. In 1958 McCarthy becoming bored moved on to win a Senate seat and appeared to move under the wing of another Texan, LBJ, the Majority leader. All the while Gene showed flashes of brilliance, but didn't stick to anything solid despite writing some books and passing a few bills. Yet he debated Joe McCarthy publicly, nominated Adlai Stevenson for President, and became politically well know that parleyed into his Presidential run.

I think one can argue that McCarthy didn't like the ground work necessary as a Congressman and every ten years moved into something else. He wasn't someone who sought out meeting people, but was happy to move into the background or disappear into a library to read while others argued out policy. That he was able to go so far says a great deal about his abilities, but that sardonic streak caused damage with almost every colleague, mentor, and friend that he had (including his wife).

Post '68 McCarthy appeared to be sick of politics, but yet he somehow would show back up every Presidential election through 1992, which became for some an embarrassment, but perhaps indicates that McCarthy always felt he had something to add or a different angle such as the nuclear freeze movement.

Throughly enjoyed getting to know McCarthy more. It would be interesting to have a dinner with him.

Oh, and I should mention that on 29, March 2016 Eugene Joseph McCarthy would have been 100. He passed in 2005 at the ripe age of 89. Ironically, the eulogy at Gene's funeral was given by Bill Clinton, who McCarthy had once demanded by impeached because he was "tired of him." Such was the respect given of McCarthy, that someone scorned could still eulogize him.

[Damon Glassmoyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned more about Eugene McCarthy and the post-WWII liberal movement from this one book than I ever would from a year's worth of PBS and History Channel documentaries combined. A fascinating portrait of one of the most important political players of the 1960's.

[Kevin Camp · Rating 3 out of 5]

A competent biography of a Senator who captured the anti-Vietnam war spirit of America, circa 1968. Sadly, McCarthy, Gene, did himself in by his lack of work ethic and unwillingness to work with fellow colleagues. 1968 was the apex of his political power, and due in large part to his own ego and personal failings, he squandered away many chances for leadership.

I was struck with what a waste of talent McCarthy was. He couldn't decide whether to be a priest, college professor, published author, professional lecturer, or politician. He sought to do all five and did none that well, save a period in his early career where he was an efficient, effective U.S. Representative from his home state of Minnesota.

By the end of his career, he was a perinnel candidate, capable only of playing spoiler. McCarthy's selfish 1976 run as an independent nearly threw the race to Gerald Ford. There's not much to admire in the conduct of Gene McCarthy, except perhaps his devotion to Catholicism and Catholic theology. McCarthy was an unfocused dreamer more than a happier warrior like political rival Hubert Humphrey.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eugene McCarthy by Domnic Sandbrook looks at the life of the senator who would define liberalism and how it fell to republicans in the Post World War II era. McCarthy was a rising star in the party despite not having intended for a career in politics and along with Hubert Humphrey as the Senators from Minnesota would define what the next extension of the new deal would be. They were believers in the Square Deal of Harry Truman and while not always lining up with LBJ on the Great Society they would argue for many things that democrats today push for in terms of social safety nets. This book tracks the historic election where McCarthy opposed LBJ and became one of the forces that led to his concession clearing the way for RFK and Humphrey to run. Humphrey’s run would become a defining split and push McCarthy into a “maverick” status against the party. McCarthy would make several more runs towards the White House including as late as in the primary against Bill Clinton. A very interesting book for those interested in electoral politics.

[Jason Hillenburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unflinching, thoughtful, and well reasoned. Sandbrook's appraisal of American liberalism in the second half of the 20th century viewed through the public trajectory of Eugene McCarthy's political career makes for fascinating reading, particularly in a Presidential election year like 2020. His point of view about McCarthy himself is exacting but, ultimately, a fair accounting of the man - his strengths and weaknesses alike. There's a lot of research poured into this book, but it's far from a dry reading experience. Highly recommended.

[Jim Milway · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always had a begrudging respect for Eugene McCarthy. I’m more aligned with the GOP and McCarthy was too far left for my liking. But he had principles and had the courage to take on a sitting president in 1968. Bobby Kennedy only entered the race after McCarthy had done so well in the New Hampshire primary. But Sandbrook’s biography presents a flawed human being. He held petty grudges, was not loyal to others on his side, was lazy intellectually and physically. Sandbrook is pretty hard on McCarthy - but I think deservedly so.

[Brannon Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book should come with a trigger warning in case you've ever worked for a candidate who seemed bound and determined to lose a very winnable race.

[haetmonger · Rating 4 out of 5]

"[...] McCarthy privately mocked all the contenders [in the 1960 Democratic primary] and told his friends that none were as qualified as he was, an extraordinarily proud assertion for a man who had been a senator for barely a year. He was, he declared, 'twice as liberal as Humphrey [and] twice as Catholic as Kennedy,' a remark that soon found its way into the press and that he unsuccessfully sought to deny having made."

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"The columnist and Kennedy confidant Joseph Alsop recalled that during a plane journey in the 1950s, McCarthy came and sat by him and told him a series of anecdotes about Kennedy’s past: 'real sort of hate stuff, and nasty hate stuff.' According to Alsop, when he protested, McCarthy reacted in haughty fashion: 'He rose without a word, returned to his own seat at the front of the plane, and there got out the very largest missal I have ever seen. It held an astonishing collection of long and elaborately decorated Sacred Heart page markers, one of which, I remember, was a meticulous embroidery of the Veil of Saint Veronica. For the rest of the trip, the senator held the missal very high in front of his face so that all would be sure to notice what he was studying.'"

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eugene McCarthy more or less embodied anti-war, socialistic American liberalism in 1968. He came close to winning the New Hampshire primary, was a significant factor in L.B.J.'s decision not to run again, and inspired a generation to political idealism. Then he was gone, and pretty much forgotten. British historian Dominic Sandbrook uses this as a metaphor for late 1960's American liberalism. In Eugene McCarthy's rise and fall Sandbrook finds the perfect metaphor for the real subject of his book: the American Left. A timely book, given that it is about the failure of liberalism in a time when it should have thrived.

NC

[Andrew Crouch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-balanced and insightful, but it suffers from the inescapable fact that Gene McCarthy simply wasn't a very interesting or significant historical figure. Like the man himself, his biography's dramatic arc peaks too early and then simply withers in its last 100 pages.

[Phil Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of passing interest to UK readers I guess who are not that familiar with the books subject. The subject was not a heroic man and seems like a forgotten footnote in history for good reason. Only saved by Sandbrooks writing.

[Jason S · Rating 4 out of 5]

good biography, very unflattering view of McCarthy as self-absorbed, willing to back conservatives (Regean).