Senator Eugene J. McCarthy, a former college professor, significantly influenced American politics through his 1968 presidential campaign, which galvanized anti-Vietnam War sentiment among the youth. Born in Watkins, Minnesota, McCarthy served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and then in the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971. His challenge to President Lyndon Johnson in the 1968 Democratic primaries revealed deep divisions within the party regarding the Vietnam War, ultimately leading to Johnson's decision not to seek reelection. McCarthy's campaign paved the way for Robert Kennedy's candidacy and highlighted the shifting political landscape of the era.
PREREQUISITESPolitical historians, students of American politics, and individuals interested in the evolution of anti-war movements in the United States will benefit from this discussion.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/10/mccarthy.obit.ap.ap/index.htmlWASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy was an atypical politician, a former college professor with a witty, erudite speaking style. His surprising 1968 presidential campaign turned him into a spokesman for a generation angry about the war in Vietnam.
McCarthy, 89, died in his sleep Saturday at an assisted living home in the Georgetown neighborhood where he had lived for the past few years, said his son, Michael.
McCarthy challenged Lyndon Johnson in the 1968 campaign, and prompted Johnson to reconsider.Born in Watkins, Minnesota, where he attended the public schools, he was a 1935 graduate of St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, McCarthy earned his master's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1939. He taught in the public schools of Minnesota and North Dakota from 1935 to 1940, when he became a professor of economics and education at St. John's, working there from 1940 to 1943.
He was a civilian technical assistant in the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department in 1944 and an instructor in sociology and economics at St. Thomas College, St. Paul, Minnesota from 1946 to 1949.
Representing Minnesota's Fourth Congressional District, McCarthy served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1958.
He went on to serve in the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971, and was a member of (among other committees) the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A resident of Woodville, Virginia in later life, Eugene McCarthy died in a Georgetown retirement home on December 10, 2005.
Robert Kennedy then stepped forward as the Democratic nominee, but was then assassinated June 5, 1968. Hubert Humphrey then challenged Richard Nixon in the presidential election, and the rest is history.When McCarthy scored 42% to Johnson's 49% on March 12, 1968, it was clear that deep division existed among Democrats on the war issue. By this time, Johnson had become inextricably defined by Vietnam, and this demonstration of divided support within his party meant his reelection (only four years after winning the highest percentage of the popular vote in modern history) was unlikely. On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced he would not seek reelection.