[2] McGovern had run a short presidential campaign in 1968, acting as a stand-in for the assassinated Robert F. Kennedy leading up to the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

[5][6] Senate Majority Whip Ted Kennedy, the younger brother of Robert and John, had been the early favorite to win the 1972 nomination, but his hopes were derailed by his role in the July 1969 Chappaquiddick incident.

In March 1970, he met Gary Hart in Denver, and soon hired him to be his Western political affairs coordinator; a couple of months later, he became McGovern's national campaign director.

[8] Shortly thereafter he opened a New York office and hired the first woman as executive director, Phyllis Holtzer, a former Robert Kennedy staffer.

[11] McGovern announced his candidacy on January 18, 1971, in the form of a televised speech from the studios of KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,[10][12] and in letters sent to many a newspaper editorial board and potential backer.

Future president Bill Clinton (with assistance from his wife and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham) managed the McGovern campaign's operations in Texas.

[15] Recruited as a Harvard University senior by Hart, 22-year-old pollster Pat Caddell also played an integral role in paving McGovern's route to the nomination by encouraging him "to increase his populist rhetoric and tour factories instead of obsessing about the Vietnam War."

MIT Sloan School of Management professor Edwin Kuh headed McGovern's economic advisory panel, for which he recruited Lester Thurow and other academic economists.

Levine and former Robert Kennedy staffer Phyllis Holtzer established the New York office, helped to organize at least five big events, and met regularly with the senator.

They assisted Warren Beatty with his production of Together for McGovern, which filled Madison Square Garden and reunited Nichols and May, Simon and Garfunkel, and Peter, Paul and Mary.

As Senator, McGovern had previously sponsored a bill, submitted by the National Welfare Rights Organization, for $6,500 guaranteed minimum income per year to families, based on need.

In August 1971 Harris polling amid a growing economic crisis, Muskie came out on top of incumbent Nixon if the election had been held that day.

[9] Established Washington press figures such as Walter Lippman and Jack Germond did not think McGovern had a chance of winning, proclaiming him "too decent" a man, not strong enough for a combative campaign, and too reflexively liberal.

Helen Gahagan Douglas, a former California Congresswoman who was the first victim of Nixon's Dirty Tricks in the 1950 Senate race came out of retirement to fight hard for me.

[28] On June 24, 1972, Neil Young and Graham Nash with the Stray Gators released "War Song" as a single in support of McGovern's campaign.

In the South, Wallace drew support based on a long history as an ardent segregationist and was well known for his actions to prevent racial integration of the University of Alabama.

Recognizing that such a result would deprive McGovern the nomination, the McGovern Campaign vigorously backed a challenge to delegates from Chicago who were controlled by Mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daley, arguing that the slating of those delegates prior to the primary violated National Slating Guidelines, which required attempts at diversity.

Much to their surprise, he continually refused their advances, and instead suggested such figures as House Ways and Means Committee chairman Wilbur Mills of Arkansas and Boston Mayor Kevin White.

[36][37] Nevertheless, McGovern and his staff felt that a Kennedy-style figure was needed to balance the ticket: an urban Catholic leader with strong ties to organized labor and other working-to-lower middle class constituencies.

In addition to Eagleton, the delegates insisted on nominating seven other candidates for vice president, including Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska, former Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody, and Farenthold.

By the time the roll call finally began, the delegates were in a prankish mood, casting ballots for the fictional Archie Bunker, Martha Beall Mitchell, New Mexico Lt.

He initially concealed the fact that he was on Thorazine, a powerful antipsychotic; when he did disclose his use of the medication, he noted that it couldn't be discovered by the press because it was issued under his wife's name.

Though many people still supported Eagleton's candidacy, an increasing number of influential politicians and columnists questioned his ability to handle the office of Vice President.

Kennedy, Muskie, Humphrey and Ribicoff again declined the nomination, as did recent Democratic National Committee Chair and former Postmaster General Larry O'Brien and Florida Governor Reubin Askew.

Nixon's level of personal involvement with the burglary was never clear, but his tactics during the later coverup would eventually destroy his public support after the election and lead to his resignation.

The Vietnam issue, which remained the one McGovern was most passionate about, did not work for him overall; a majority of the electorate thought that Nixon was a strong leader who would secure "peace with honor".

[50] By 1972, Nixon's strategy of Vietnamization had resulted in the withdrawal of most U.S. troops, without appearing to have given in to the Communists, and thus popular dissatisfaction with the war did not accrue to McGovern's benefit.

"[27] In his telegram to Nixon conceding defeat, McGovern wrote, "I hope that in the next four years you will lead us to a time of peace abroad and justice at home.

[71] Actors Dennis Weaver and Candice Bergen presided over an Election Eve rally at Long Beach Airport in California attended by 25,000 people.

In their 2002 book The Emerging Democratic Majority, political scientist Ruy Teixeira and journalist John Judis referred to demographic trends favoring the Democratic Party, such as the party's advantage with women and racial minorities, as "George McGovern's Revenge," as many of those trends had their roots in McGovern's 1972 campaign.