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I remember George McGovern

Posted by Kevin Fischer on Oct. 21, 2012

It was circa 1984. Somewhere north of Milwaukee, exactly where I don’t recall, a conference was held on issues related to the Vietnam War. One of the presenters was George McGovern, the extremely liberal US Senator from South Dakota who was annihilated by Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential election, carrying only Massachusetts.

“Since I was a young man, I wanted to run for the presidency in the worst possible way -- and I did," McGovern would say a year later.

Staunchly anti-Vietnam War, McGovern’s slogan in 1972 was “Come Home, America.” I covered his appearance at that early-80’s conference for WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio.

McGovern’s speech wasn’t all that riveting or inspiring. That was not his style.  

When he finished, I made my way towards him to see if I could ask him some questions.  Just ahead me was this woman who got to McGovern first.





Diane Carlson Evans made the trip to the conference from Minnesota. I heard Evans politely and respectfully correct the Democrat icon. During McGovern’s speech, at least once and maybe more, McGovern had referred to the “men” who served in Vietnam.

Turns out Evans was there, too, along with many other women nurses. In his quiet, soft-spoken manner, McGovern acknowledged his totally unintended slight.

After I interviewed McGovern, I found Evans and got to speak on tape about another story I never realized I’d get at the conference. Evans was working tirelessly to create a memorial for women who represented their country in Vietnam. I would seek her out for more interviews in the years ahead.

The Vietnam Women's Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1993.





Evans wrote comprehensively about the effort behind the memorial.

McGovern died this weekend. I rarely, if ever agreed with his far left ideologies. However he was a bona fide hero. In WWII, McGovern fkew 35 combat missions as a B-24 bomber pilot in Europe. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Assigned to the 741st Squadron, 455th Bomb Group at San Giovanni Field in Italy in September 1944, McGovern’s orders were to bomb oil refineries and other strategic locations throughout Europe. The plane he flew was named the Dakota Queen after his wife, and his first daughter, Ann, was born while he was serving in the war. McGovern was discharged in July 1945 with the rank of First Lieutenant.

McGovern served the United States with tremendous dignity. He was 90.