It was 1972, to a plot 30 in the morning when George Mcgovern delivered his acceptance speech. A few months later, he would lose badly to president Richard Nixon. Tonight, the candidacy and legacy of George Mcgovern. We are live from the mcgovern museum in mitchell, south dakota. Joining us is provincial author scott farris. It was 2 30 when he delivered the acceptance speech in miami. Why . It was emblematic of the whole Mcgovern Campaign, which was it was an insurgent campaign run against the establishment. What happened was, as you heard from senator mcgovern, he was very strong on the issue of vietnam. One of the things about senator government senator mcgovern as one of the most influential who ran for the presidency who was not successful, he went after the vietnam issue. He spoke about that war in ways no patinkin that had ever spoken about war before. No president president ial candidate had ever spoken about war before. It was Strong Language that unsettled lots of americans and caused them to worry about how he would win the war. It was an insurgent campaign to end the war against the democrats. There was a lot of conflict there that eventually lead over to the convention. There were some issues with the california delegation. There were issues with who he would choose for his widespread initial running mate. The convention got out of hand. When it was time to discuss his nomination, it was up to a plot 30 in the morning. Instead of speaking before sending 5 million americans, he only spoke to about 50 million americans 75 million americans, he only spoke to about 15 million americans. We are going to do a deep dive into the 1972 campaign and the convention. Joining us here from our studios in washington is Jules Witcover, a veteran political reporter who covered the Mcgovern Campaign for the Los Angeles Times. Featured prominently in the book the boys on the bus about the Media Coverage of that campaign. What is the atmosphere at the convention in 1972 . Exhaustion. Exhaustion. [laughter] mcgovern gave the speech so late because flights continued to go on over various issues on the platform including the war in vietnam even though the platform had been adopted. It actually played out the next morning when his staff met to choose a Vice President or to decide who should be Vice President. It was done in an unsettling way to the. I am sure we get to it in this discussion. It led to probably the most disastrous part of the Mcgovern Campaign, which was the selection of the Vice President ial nominee. In the Convention Hall that night, are the people with him . Are they still there . It is 2 30 in the morning. What the mcgovern dollars at the convention had never been to a convention the mcgovern followers at the convention had never been to a convention before. The support was initiated by mcgovern himself on the commission. A lot of people there had never been to any convention and had not been involved much in politics. It was a great experience for them. At any convention, staying up until 2 00 in the morning is very unusual. What is not unusual is that he gave that very important speech so early in the morning. We will talk about the reforms that led to those people at the convention. Lets go back to the mcgovern museum in mitchell, south dakota. What is happening in our country at this time that leads to the triumph of an antiwar candidate to win the nomination for the Democratic Party . The great political legacy of George Mcgovern changed the complexion of the modern Democratic Party. Before the governor, the democrats had built the new deal coalition, an amalgam of urban catholics and jews and organized labor. By 19681972, because of divisions that were exposed by the division over vietnam, senator mcgovern was one of those in the Democratic Party who said the party needed to reform or else it would die. He saw the party was losing white populace to seven white republicans over civil rights. They saw the moving out to the suburbs and saw that organized labor was shrinking again influence and size. He looked over the Political Landscape and saw opportunities for growth by reaching out for minority groups that had been ignored by both parties. Reaching out to hispanic americans. Reaching out to women. Reaching out to the youth vote. 1972, because of the 26 amendment, with the first time 18yearold could vote in the United States. He put together the new Politics Coalition to create his ruling democratic majority. Coming out of the 1968 convention, he chaired a commission on reform, changing the changing the delegate Selection Process heavily. He was very proactive in bringing women and minorities into the party. The winners are also losers. Organized labor presented that their influence was going to diminish. It was a very wild ride because of the reforms mcgovern was able to put through the party. He had the advantage of an insurgent. He was the first anti establishment handed it to win political favor. It caught the establishment off guard. As his success built up, it caught a lot of attention with the democrats. It was a very tumultuous year for the Democratic Party in 1972. The republicans were solidifying around Richard Nixon. Nixons probably the high point of the nixon presidency was 1972 when he went to china among other things. We will talk more about that as well later on. Part of senator mcgoverns acceptance speech on that night in 1972 was about reforming the Democratic Party. He also takes aim at the Republican Party and what they are doing at their convention, which is being held shortly after the democrats, also in miami. Take a look. We have had our fury and frustrations in this past month and at this convention. Frankly, i welcome the contract with the empty events which will undoubtedly take place in miami next month. [applause] we chose this struggle. We reformed our party. We let the people in. [applause] so we stand today, not as a collection of back room and strategist, not as a tool of itt or any other special interest. [applause] scott farris, George Mcgovern in 1972 saying we let the people in. Take us back to the 1968 convention when Hubert Humphrey gets the nomination. Draw a clear connection for our viewers between the 1968 convention and mcgovern winning in 1972. Lets go back to 1967. This is when the Antiwar Movement is starting to pick up steam. It was very frustrating to president lyndon johnson. The continued to believe america could achieve a victory in vietnam the antiwar activist start shopping for an alternative to johnson, someone who could challenge johnson in the primary, which is really unprecedented. When you think about prior to 1968 when a party tried to challenge a sitting president was 1912 when former president , theodore roosevelt. Even a former president could knock off could not knock off a sitting president for the nomination. They searched for a number of people. They approached senator mcgovern and he declined. Senator mccarthy of minnesota decided to run as an antiwar candidate. When he entered the New Hampshire primary in 1968, he had a very strong showing against brother that johnson. He did not win, but he got enough votes that it may johnson aware he was getting he would have a tough time getting the renomination. Center Robert Kennedy, predicted thes brother, also entered the president ial contest. President kennedys brother, also entered the president ial contest. At that point, Vice President humphrey still supported the war policies of the Vice President johnson. Senator kennedy, of course, was assassinated in june. That left only senator mccarthy to be the insurgent candidate. Senator kennedys followers expected mcgovern to enter at as a token candidate at the end. Mcgovern did run a token presidency. Ultimately, the nomination went to yemen Hubert Humphrey, which infuriated the Antiwar Movement. Not only did he want a single primary, he did not enter a single primary. The Democratic Party was still being run by the big city political bosses, by the political machine. They wanted to have the process more open, to have underrepresented constituencies like minorities, like the young brought into the process. They wanted the process opened up so it was not in secret caucuses in peoples homes, but where anybody could participate. The disillusion with however humphrey was selected in 1968 put pressure on the Democratic Party to reform. In trying to appease the insurgents, humphrey suggested reforms to the party. But with the background. It was the humphrey nomination back out raised the reformers and caught them to demand fundamental outraged the project out raised the reformers and caught them to demand fundamental change. What is the mood like at the 1968 convention . It was a much more tumultuous convention than the 1972 convention because the party itself was so divided over the war and personalities. That is the year in which there were riots in the streets of chicago the Police Department repressed them to the point that it was called a police riot. There was a big fight that the antiwar forces lost that generated tremendous heat. It continued through the convention. Even after the nomination of humphrey, i remember i was there. Humphrey was a very sad figure at his own celebratory moment. He knew was going on out in the street and all before of the convention. And out on the floor of the convention. That was my experience of the most destructive, but also the most exciting convention in my time. Compare how humphrey was chosen at the nominee in 1968 to four years later the way mcgovern is chosen. A lot of it had to do with the floor rules. In 1968, they were selected as they had been for years by appointment, party bosses, or governors. If you were a party official, you got a free ticket to the 1968 convention by nature of your influence or as an officeholder. In 1972, those people who wanted to get to the convention had to run as delegates, supporting one of the primary candidates. Some supported ed muskie, the establishment candidate, and he had all of those officeholders pulling for him. When his campaign disintegrated, the or left out of the Convention Hall. So many new people had never been to a convention. They filled the seats of the high and mighty who went to the convention in 1968. Jules witcover, covering the 1968 and 1972 conventions for the Los Angeles Times. We are uncovering George Mcgovern, our 13th contender in our 14 week series. Back at the mcgovern museum as scott farris, president ial author. He wrote about roosevelts campaign in 1972. They will take your questions and comments. We will get your phone calls in a little bit. 202rn central time, coscall 7370001. Mountainpacific time call 202 7370002. How did he get involved in the mcgovernfrazier convention. Despite all the chaos, humphrey closed the gap on nixon in 1968. It was a very close campaign. A lot of irregulars said they had come very close in 1968. The insurgents said this was the last gasp of a dying political machine. Humphrey was trying to unite the party. He decided to throw a bone to the insurgents by appointing a commission on delegate selection reform. They needed to look for several qualifications. One, did they have credibility with the insurgents . I also wanted somebody who was loyal to the party, who would make it worth it for the regulars. Mcgovern, unlike mccarthy, had also been concern mcgovern had actually campaigned for humphrey. He never broke from the party. The third thing they were looking for is they were worried that the people would look at this as a way to manipulate the process to ensure the nomination. Everyone was so short George Mcgovern would not be a viable candidate in 1972, he seemed like an obvious choice. He could not manipulate the system because his candidacy was a long shot. He was appointed to the commission to be the chair. There were about two dozen members. People say how were they able to push these reforms through . The people who would most likely be opposed to reform, particularly organized labor, work cut out of the process. The commission was dominated by those who intended to open up the process while the old regulars did not think it was worth bothering with the, they did not think anything would come of it. Will or the actual reforms . The most significant what were the actual reforms . The message dividend thing the encouraged most states to use primaries instead of caucuses. If you did have a caucus, you were required to make it open and wellpublicized and publicly available a lot of times previously that you were a party official, you automatically have a chance to be a delegate. A lot of time those Party Delegates would name others. They would pick whomever they wanted to take. Sometimes the decision was made a year before the convention. They try to open up the process to make it more boater responsive. They also try to do away with the winnertakeall format of primaries and the tip proportional to give insurgent candidates a better chance to build teams and overtake an establishment candidate. Most controversially, i suppose, is they decided on a passive approach of no discrimination against anybody who would like to be a delegate. They adopted a very proactive delegations had to reflect the makeup of the states party by general gender, ethnicity, race, age. I tried to get more women, minorities, and youth into the process. The party was striving for reasonable representation of those groups. After mcgovern left and a different chair took over, the Commission Adopted a significant quota that the representation should be equal to the states population. Those that was the basic just of reforms by the commission. Do the reforms stick to day . They very much do. They were derided by conservatives and republicans as a quota system democrats were adding this quota as an affirmative action program. Alternately, but parties have adopted these reforms. Primaries are now a report primaries are now referred to as caucuses and they are widely publicized. Its to go to a republican convention, 50 of the delegates are going to be female. That was a radical idea back in 1968. Let me give you a couple of quick numbers to give you a sense of how things change. In 1968, only party of the democratic delegates were women. In 1972, 40 were women. In 1972, 12 13 were at africanamericans. There was a change in what the Party Looks Like and it was very dramatic. Scott farris, the impact to date is there a longterm impact . We are heading into the 2012 president ial election with the iowa caucus coming up soon. Reforms help non establishment candidates get a foothold. If you have good ground and a lot of dedicated volunteers will show up at the caucuses and primaries, you can overcome the disadvantages. As republicans have followed suit, i believe this is the first year that republicans will have no winnertakeall primaries. New gingrich is filling the role of the insurgent candidate this year. The establishment candidate is mitt romney. Newt gingrich is benefiting from reforms first initiated by George Mcgovern back in 1972. These reforms have broaden participation. They have stayed with us in both parties, much as the democrats. Gary hart was George Mcgoverns 1972 Campaign Manager. Here is what he had to say about the democratic primary reform efforts. A think the history will show that he helped save the democratic i think history will show that he helped save the Democratic Party simply by chairing the mcgovern Reform Commission. By his insistence on the Democratic Party truly becoming a Democratic Party. Because of his efforts and the efforts of many of you, the convention of 1972, as interesting as it was, helped save the Democratic Party and helped open the doors for young people, women, minorities, and people who had come up to that time, then shut out. It is fashionable for people to say there is not much difference between the parties, but there really is. There is a necessity for a Democratic Party and the kind of Democratic PartyGeorge Mcgovern envisioned and helped create. What is your reaction, Jules Witcover or . Jules witcover . Mcgoverns role was a critical role. I go back to before 1968. I can remember in 1960 when john kennedy was running. He, his aide, and speech writer would get on an airplane, fly around, and visit governors and mayors who were so empowered but you could pick up the nomination that way. Not with the people, but with the officials and politicians. Jules witcover, what was it like to see these new faces in 1972 and Going Forward