Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916 – December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. McCarthy sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1968 election, challenging incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson on an anti-Vietnam War platform. McCarthy unsuccessfully ran for U.S. president four more times.
For other people named Gene McCarthy, see Gene McCarthy (disambiguation).
Eugene McCarthy
December 10, 2005 (aged 89)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
5
- Academic
- author
- editor
United States
Military Intelligence Division
Born in Watkins, Minnesota, McCarthy became an economics professor after earning a graduate degree from the University of Minnesota. He served as a code breaker for the United States Department of War during World War II. McCarthy became a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (the state affiliate of the Democratic Party) and in 1948 was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1958. McCarthy was a prominent supporter of Adlai Stevenson II for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960, and was himself a candidate for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination in 1964. He co-sponsored the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, though he later expressed regret about its impact and became a member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
As the 1960s progressed, McCarthy emerged as a prominent opponent of Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. After Robert F. Kennedy declined the request of a group of antiwar Democrats to challenge Johnson in the 1968 Democratic primaries, McCarthy entered the race on an antiwar platform.[1] Though he was initially given little chance of winning, the Tet Offensive galvanized opposition to the war, and McCarthy finished in a strong second place in the New Hampshire primary. After that, Kennedy entered the race, and Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection. McCarthy and Kennedy each won several primaries before Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968. The 1968 Democratic National Convention nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Johnson's preferred candidate.
McCarthy did not seek reelection in the 1970 Senate election. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 but fared poorly in the primaries. He ran in several more races after that but was never elected to another office. He ran as an Independent in the 1976 presidential election and won 0.9% of the popular vote. He was a plaintiff in the landmark campaign finance case Buckley v. Valeo and supported Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election.
Early life[edit]
McCarthy was born in Watkins, Minnesota. He was the son of a deeply religious Catholic woman of German ancestry, Anna Baden McCarthy, and a strong-willed man of Irish descent, Michael John McCarthy Jr.,[2][3] a postmaster and cattle buyer.
McCarthy grew up in Watkins with his parents and three siblings. He attended St. Anthony's Catholic School in Watkins, and spent hours reading his aunt's Harvard Classics.[1] He was influenced by the monks at nearby St. John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and attended school there, at Saint John's Preparatory School, from which he graduated in 1932.[4] He also went to college at Saint John's University, graduating in 1935. McCarthy earned his master's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1939. He taught in public schools in 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.[5]
While at St. John's, he coached the hockey team for one season.[6]
In 1943, considering the contemplative life of a monk, he became a Benedictine novice at Saint John's Abbey.[1] After nine months as a monk he left the monastery, causing a fellow novice to say, "It was like losing a 20-game winner".[7] He enlisted in the Army, serving as a code breaker for the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department in Washington, D.C. in 1944.[8] He was then an instructor in sociology and economics at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1946 to 1949.[5]
U.S. House of Representatives[edit]
McCarthy became a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. In 1948 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives with labor and Catholic support,[9] representing Minnesota's 4th congressional district until 1959. He became the leader of young liberals, predominately from the Midwest, called "McCarthy's Marauders".[10]
In 1952 he engaged Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy (no relation) in a nationally televised debate in which he parodied the Senator's arguments to "prove" that General Douglas MacArthur had been a communist pawn.[10] In 1958 he was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Publishing[edit]
After leaving the Senate in 1971, McCarthy became a senior editor at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishing and a syndicated newspaper columnist.[50] In the 1960s he began writing poetry, and his increased political prominence led to increased interest in his work. "If any of you are secret poets, the best way to break into print is to run for the presidency", he wrote in 1968.[10] He published a collection of poetry in 1997, Cool Reflections: Poetry For The Who, What, When, Where and Especially Why of It All (ISBN 1-57553-595-5).
Personal life[edit]
McCarthy and his wife, Abigail Quigley McCarthy, had five children, Christopher Joseph (April 30, 1946 – April 30, 1946), Ellen Anne, Mary Abigail (April 29, 1949 – July 28, 1990), Michael Benet, and Margaret Alice.
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In 1969, McCarthy separated from his wife after 24 years of marriage, but the two never divorced. The children stayed with their mother after the separation.[52] According to McCarthy biographer Dominic Sandbrook, McCarthy was involved in a romantic relationship with CBS News correspondent Marya McLaughlin[53] that lasted until McLaughlin's death in 1998.[54]
Death and legacy[edit]
McCarthy died of complications from Parkinson's disease at age 89 on December 10, 2005, in a retirement home in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., where he had lived for the previous few years.[46] Former President Bill Clinton gave his eulogy.
Following his death the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University renamed their Public Policy Center the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy.[55] The Democratic party memorialized his death during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, on August 28, 2008. The memorial included pictures of several prominent Democrats who had died during the four-year period since the 2004 Convention displayed on a large screen. During McCarthy's tribute, the screen displaying his photograph mistakenly left off his first name but included his middle name, calling him "Senator Joseph McCarthy"; Joseph McCarthy was a notable Republican Senator from Wisconsin famous for his anti-Communist campaigning and sparring with journalist Edward R. Murrow.[56]
In 2009, his alma mater, St. John's University, honored McCarthy by establishing the Eugene McCarthy Distinguished Public Service Award.[57]
McCarthy's files as U.S. congressman (Democratic Farmer-Labor) from Minnesota's 4th district (1949–1959) and as U.S. senator from Minnesota (1959–1971) are available at the Minnesota History Center for research. They include executive files, general files, legislative files, personal files, political and campaign (including senatorial, vice presidential, and presidential) files, public relations files, sound and visual materials (with photographs), and speeches.[58]