Former senator, presidential candidate McGovern dies at 90

Former U.S. Sen. George McGovern, a diehard liberal perhaps best remembered for his failed presidential run in 1972, died at a hospice in Sioux Falls, S.D. He was 90.

“Senator George McGovern was a proud public servant and a humble man of great character,” U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement. “In Congress, he stood for America’s farming families and our middle class, and on behalf of peace. As our nominee for President, he strongly spoke out against the war in Vietnam and he was a proud voice for Democratic values, and indeed, American values. Throughout his lifetime, he led on behalf of progress, compassion, and generosity.”

A World War II veteran, McGovern served three terms in the U.S. Senate. In 1972, he ran for the nation’s top office against incumbent President Richard Nixon; McGovern won only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia as Nixon amassed 520 electoral college votes to McGovern’s 17.

“George believed deeply in public service. It defined him as a Senator and as a man,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement. “And he never stopped serving for his entire life – whether it was his courage in World War II, his time in Congress, or his fight to eliminate hunger at home and abroad.”