Running Mate
Most polls showed McGovern running well behind incumbent President Richard Nixon, except when McGovern was paired with Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. McGovern and his campaign brain trust lobbied Kennedy heavily to accept the bid to be McGovern's running mate, but he continually refused their advances, and instead suggested U.S. Representative (and House Ways and Means Committee chairman) Wilbur Mills of Arkansas and Boston Mayor Kevin White. Offers were then made to Hubert Humphrey, Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff and Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale, all of whom turned it down.
McGovern and his campaign staff felt that a Kennedy-style figure to balance the ticket: a Catholic, big city-based leader with strong ties to organized labor and urban political machines. McGovern informed Kennedy that he was seriously considering Kevin White, who had informed McGovern he was available. But the Massachusetts delegates threatened to boycott the convention hall if the choice was White, who as a Edmund Muskie supporter had fought sharply with the McGovern slate during the primary. White was dropped.
Finally, the vice presidential slot was offered to Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri. Eagleton was relatively unknown to many of the delegates. This, along with the inexperience of many of the delegates who were wary after the protracted infighting, caused the vice presidential balloting to become almost a farce. The delegates insisted on nominating eight candidates for Vice President, including not only Eagleton but also Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska, former Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody, and Frances "Sissy" Farenthold of the Texas state House. Farenthold was the first-ever serious female candidate for the Democratic Vice President nomination.
By the time the roll call finally began, the delegates were in a prankish mood, casting ballots for people not involved in politics, deceased persons, non-American persons or even fictional characters. Such ballots were cast for Martha Beall Mitchell, CBS-TV's Roger Mudd, Mao Zedong, and the fictional Archie Bunker.
Eventually, Eagleton secured the nomination but the last-day-of-school atmosphere of the proceedings dragged out the process. When Eagleton was at last confirmed, it was 1:40 am This delay forced the acceptance speeches of the candidates to be given well past the television prime time hours and probably hurt the McGovern campaign by not creating the so-called "convention bounce."
Several days after the convention, it was revealed that Senator Eagleton had been hospitalized for depression and had electric shock treatment. He was also rumored to be more than a social drinker and had what many considered too close ties to the Kansas City Pendergast machine. McGovern stood behind his choice and stated that he was behind Senator Eagleton "1000 percent". The news media and many political pros, especially in the Democratic Party, lobbied hard for his removal from the ticket.
Eventually, McGovern felt compelled to accept Senator Eagleton's resignation from the ticket. The episode had placed McGovern in a "no-win" situation. If he kept Eagleton, the selection did not look good for the decision-making ability of the McGovern team, while if he removed Eagleton, he appeared to be weak and vacillating. Since this incident, front-running presidential candidates have developed short lists of potential running mates and have meticulously performed background checks.
McGovern chose Sargent Shriver as his running mate a few weeks later. The McGovern-Shriver ticket went on to one of the greatest defeats in American political history.
Read more about this topic: 1972 Democratic National Convention
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