About George McGovern

A B-24J on take off

Let's see: George McGovern was a decorated B-24 pilot flying out of Italy in WWII. He flew on the last mission in Europe in WWII on April 25, 1945 over Vienna.

Karl Rove has seen 12 O'Clock High.

McGovern was born in Avon, South Dakota in 1922, and lived in nearby Mitchell, having moved there at the age of six.

He volunteered for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and served as a B-24 Liberator bomber pilot in the Fifteenth Air Force, flying 35 missions over enemy territory from bases in North Africa and later Italy, often against heavy anti-aircraft artillery. McGovern was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross; his wartime exploits were later at the center of Stephen Ambrose's book The Wild Blue. [1]

McGovern married Eleanor Stegeberg of Woonsocket, South Dakota on October 31, 1943.

On return from the war, he earned a PhD in history from Northwestern University and became a professor at his alma mater, Dakota Wesleyan University.

Although he was raised by two Republican parents, he chose not to join any particular party until the 1948 presidential election, when he registered as an Independent and joined the newly-formed Progressive Party. During the campaign, he attended the party's first national convention as a delegate and volunteered for the eventually unsuccessful campaign of its presidential nominee, former Vice President Henry A. Wallace. Four years later, in 1952, he heard a radio broadcast of Governor Adlai Stevenson's speech accepting the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. He immediately went into town and registered as a Democrat, then volunteered for Stevenson's campaign the following day. Although Stevenson lost that election, McGovern remained active in Democratic politics. In 1956, he ran for and won a seat in the House of Representatives.

So the next time one of these Republican cowards tosses up McGovern, a response is appropriate.