Vote Your Conscience: The Last Campaign of George McGovern

by Richard Michael Marano

One of the great ironies of American politics is that George McGovern, one of the most misinterpreted and misunderstood men ever to seek the presidency, was also perhaps one of the most intelligent and far-sighted. Sadly, he is generally remembered for his landslide defeat to Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential contest. The stigma of that defeat has often overshadowed McGovern's otherwise influential and respectable career in politics. Richard Michael Marano shows that despite his infamous defeat, McGovern―very much a man of high principles―stood tall and spoke his conscience when he decided in 1983 that he would again run for the presidency. While his candidacy was at first seen by many as a pathetic attempt by a political has-been to relive past glories, McGovern quickly proved his critics wrong by running a solid, admirable campaign.

In an era of conservatism, McGovern offered the American voter a clear alternative to the politics of Ronald Reagan, and his campaign helped guide the Democratic candidates onto a platform based on substantive issues and common sense ideas. Marano, a McGovern activist in the Connecticut campaign, provides an inside, yet detailed and documented, account of McGovern's last play on the national stage and all that went into it. This book is an in-depth analysis of the 1984 Democratic campaign, as well as a detailed discussion of George McGovern's common sense program for America.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2003

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

“If you want military spending cut rather than increased, and you're convinced I can't be the nominee, vote for me anyway and the bigger that McGovern vote is, the more this eventual nominee is going to move in the direction that you think we ought to go. Don't throw away your conscience.” - George S. McGovern.

Unabashedly told through a favorable lens (though how could one not?), this book leaves nothing to be desired. A full, complete account of McGovern, and the Democratic Party at large, during the 1984 campaign, it’s impossible to walk away after reading holding anything but the upmost respect for the man. I could fill this entire review with things I admire about McGovern himself, but anyone who wants to become better acquainted with him ought to read it themselves. There are still points where McGovern’s faults are recognized, and the 1984 campaign was marked by many, but those shortcomings are never the result of malice.

I wasn’t alive to vote for George McGovern in 1972 or 1984. I wasn’t old enough to appreciate the words of the man while he was still alive. But still, even after his death, I can’t shake the man who challenged us to be better people. No one has inspired me more to practice compassion and spirted advocacy in the cause of justice than the man regarded as a Quixotic national loser. There are, and will always be, new generations of young Americans discovering the wisdom of my state’s Senator. It’d be easy to call it a vindication, but that’d be a poor phrase to apply to man without a vindictive bone in his body.

As predicted, history looks favorably upon the efforts of George McGovern. Though having passed without accomplishing all of his goals, there are some things worse than losing.