The Liberals' Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party

by Bruce Miroff

Book Overview

When George McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election, Richard Nixon's landslide victory buried more than an insurgent campaign. In resurrecting the largely forgotten story of McGovern's remarkable presidential bid, Bruce Miroff reveals how his crushing defeat produced an identity crisis for liberals torn between their convictions and the political calculations required to win elections-a dilemma for Democrats that has never gone away.

Miroff...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0700615466
• ISBN13: 9780700615469
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

I was actually there!

Having been a McGovern delegate to the l972 convention, I read this book with rapt attention. While we were in the maelstrom, it was hard to see what was really happening, but this book puts perspective on the time. I now understand why the delegates from Alabama came up to me (from NY) and said, "Why are you destroying the Democratic party?" We weren't. We were coaching it.

A Must-Read for Democrats!

I enjoyed The Liberals' Moment tremendously. The book is well-organized, clear, and most importantly, relevant to today's politics. It is relevant because it lays clear the central dilemma of the modern Democratic Party today: How do national Democratic candidates connect with the ideological passion of the party grassroots while still winning a majority in a general election? Miroff's first part of the book describes the actual 1972 campaign. The earlier 1968 Democratic presidential nomination campaign is briefly described. That contest situated George McGovern alongside Bobby Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Gene McCarthy and others as the party tries to pick up the pieces after LBJ declines to seek re-election. The book moves into the jockeying in the years before the 1972 campaign and describes the strategy and tactics of the campaign. In this, Miroff introduces us to McGovern's biography and the issues he cares most about. Two chapters are titled "The Left-Center Strategy" and "A Downward Arc." These describe the blueprints behind his 1972 campaign strategy and the successes and failures of it for both the primary and general election campaigns. The chapters also describe the chaotic Miami Beach Convention, the Eagleton affair and the principal architects and practitioners of the strategy and tactics of the campaign. A critical theme that is described is the intense campaign against McGovern by fellow Democrats that lasted into the convention itself. The attempt by Humphrey to reclaim his throne and the hostility of labor leaders all forced the campaign to fight a prolonged two-front war. The campaign was distracted from focusing on in Nixon until very late. In one sense, this made victory almost impossible in November 1972. However on the positive side, the joy of grass-roots politics comes across well. The strong showing in New Hampshire and his win in Wisconsin remind readers about the importance, and power, of idealism in American politics. The second part of the book is about the campaign's meaning. Among other topics, Miroff delves into how "radical" the campaign was. In one sense, it was radical because McGovern directly criticized the Vietnam War. The war was immoral (at least to McGovern). This kind of truth is radical. However there was also an image of radicalism that was painted by his opponents. Feminists, gays and lesbians and African-Americans found a visible place in the campaign. Their inclusion as a core, and noticeable, component of his campaign were an easy target in the culture war that was developing. The complicated relationships between important interest groups and the McGovern campaign are also described. The tension between electoral campaigns and identity politics is analyzed well: McGovern's campaign staff wanted to win while some interest groups seemed like they were more interested in representation and recognition. There is also description of the attack politics of the Nixon campaign. As Miroff states, "

Masterful and penetrating

Bruce Miroff's "The Liberals' Moment" is an in-depth look at the McGovern presidential campaign of 1972 and its aftermath. It's a reminder of that era when the decade of the 1960s was quickly running out of time, in a sense, largely ending with McGovern's colossal defeat and the impending Watergate crisis. Miroff makes no apologies for the campaign and sees it in a broader light than just the run of the last true liberal for president on a major party ticket. The author covers so many angles...all with clarity. Yes, it was a race about the war in Vietnam and ideology, and it was prompted in large part by grassroots from young people. But it was also a campaign that had an ugly flip side...one has largely forgotten the damage that Hubert Humphrey did to McGovern in the run-up to the Democratic convention in Miami Beach and the loss of "traditional" Democrats...blue-collar workers and ethnic voters. But the campaign, itself, from the Eagleton affair to the "demogrant", right up to Election Day.....we all knew McGovern would lose but for those of us who voted for him (it was my first presidential vote cast as a nineteen-year-old) this was as passionate as campaigns get. And quite rightly, as Miroff points out, that holds true for many of us today. The legacy of the McGovern campaign is covered well and Miroff balances things to a tee. He's also good at telling us what happened to all those people who were "high-ups" working for McGovern. It's fascinating when he compares McGovern to other candidates who ran in succeeding years for the presidency and how they never had a clear and succinct message. Unfortunately, we're seeing some of those same things appear in the presidential race in 2008. Finally, Miroff has a few kind words about George McGovern, himself. McGovern has never left his embrace of liberalism and I marvel when I see him now occasionally on tv.....the old warrior of the left still unapologetic and unreconstructed, saying things that make even more sense today. "The Liberals' Moment" is a fine piece of work and I highly recommend it.