Come Home America Redux

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of having dinner with Senator George McGovern following a presentation he made for the 10th Congressional Democrats of Illinois. It was delightful to sit with him and talk for about 2 hours about himself and his career in politics. I wrote a piece about him in the Huffpo in April of 2006 at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheldon-drobny/come-home-america_b_18767.html.

In my conversation with him we discussed his career. He flew 35 bombing missions during WW II as a pilot in his B-24. He was elected to the Senate from South Dakota in 1962. He served with many great Senators in the 1960s and we compared the Senate of today with his colleagues from the 60s and 70s. We both agreed that the current Senate does not have the likes of Fulbright, Gore Sr., and others who were willing to challenge their own party's President at the time. The current group of Senators does not even have the courage to really challenge an opposition party President who is completely out of control. In fact, we both agreed that the Bush Administration made the Nixon group of criminals look like Boy Scouts.

We talked about the Cold War and his view about our foreign policy vis-a-vis the Soviet Union. McGovern was a PHD in history and was fully aware of the events that occurred after WW II that put us into direct confrontation with our former ally. He and I both agreed that our policy toward the Soviet Union after WW II was based upon an exaggerated view of the Soviet threat at the time. We also discussed that historians like Stephen Ambrose also had the same view of the post war Russia and that the policy of containment against Russia in the late 40s was preceded by our policy of confrontation with them. Unfortunately, most Americans do not know the true history of our post WW II foreign policy. And we are making the same "Cold War" confrontations today as we did 60 years ago.

McGovern was also a Democratic Party reformer. At the 1968 Democratic National Convention, McGovern stood as the anti-war flag bearer for some of the supporters of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated two months earlier while running for the nomination. Despite strong anti-war sentiment, McGovern lost the Presidential nomination to establishment candidate Vice President Hubert Humphrey, coming in behind anti-war candidate Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy who had been in the race for the longest time, but had alienated many of the Kennedy supporters in the months leading up to Kennedy's assassination, and failed to win them over afterward.

During the convention, a motion was passed to establish a commission to reform the Democratic Party nomination process. In 1969, McGovern was named chairman of this Reform Commission. The commission significantly reduced the role of party officials and insiders in the nomination process, increased the role of caucuses and primaries, and mandated quotas for proportional black, women, and youth delegate representation. McGovern moved the nominating process from smoked filled rooms of political cronies to the electorate.

His "Come Home America" acceptance speech in 1972 was unfortunately given at 3:00 AM. Since not enough people heard it then and much of the electorate is too young to remember, I have reprinted below the most memorable portion. It is equally applicable today as it was 35 years ago.

From secrecy and deception in high places; come home, America. From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; come home, America. From the entrenchment of special privileges in tax favoritism; from the waste of idle lands to the joy of useful labor; from the prejudice based on race and sex; from the loneliness of the aging poor and the despair of the neglected sick -- come home, America. Come home to the affirmation that we have a dream. Come home to the conviction that we can move our country forward. Come home to the belief that we can seek a newer world, and let us be joyful in that homecoming, for this "is your land, this land is my land -- from California to New York island, from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters -- this land was made for you and me." So let us close on this note: May God grant each one of us the wisdom to cherish this good land and to meet the great challenge that beckons us home. And now is the time to meet that challenge. Good night, and Godspeed to you all.