Summary: With Democrats in disarray, George McGovern writes the party’s new rules for choosing presidential candidates — and then uses those rules to launch a dark horse bid for the nomination.
Episode Bibliography
Books:
The Quiet Revolution, by Byron Shafer, 1983
Nixonland, by Rick Perlstein, 2008
The Liberals’ Moment, by Bruce Miroff, 2007
McGovern: a biography, by Robert Sam Anson, 1972
Right from the Start, by Gary Hart, 1973
The Long Shot, by Gordon Weil, 1973
Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy, by Boston Globe staff, 2009
Articles:
New York Times, “Floor Fight Due on Delegate Rule,” August 1968
New York Times “Poll Finds Muskie Leads Democrats, May 1970
Nevada Daily Mail, “Jimmy the Greek Picks Muskie,” August 1971
New York Times, “Senate Defeats ‘End War’ Move by Vote of 55-39,” September 1970
New York Times, “Is He Really Serious About Becoming President? Yes.,” May 1971
New York Times, “Senate, 55 to 42, Defeats McGovern-Hatfield Plan,” June 1971
New York Times, “Kennedy, in Gallup Poll, Widens Lead Over Muskie to 5 Points,” December 1971
Christian Science Monitor, “Nixon's 'Secret Plan' That Never Was,” December 1997
Washington Post, “Barry Goldwater, GOP Hero, Dies,” May 1998
The Atlantic, “The Democrats’ Dilemma,” January 2010
Mitchell Republican, “At Birthday Celebration, McGovern Recalls Events Around Democratic Nomination,” July 2007
POLITICO, “Why They Mattered: Frank Mankiewicz,” December 2014
The New Republican, “What Democrats Still Don’t Get About George McGovern,” February 2016
BBC News, “Moratorium Day: The Day that Millions of Americans Marched,” October 2019
Studies:
Patrick Hagopian, European Journal of American Studies, The ‘Frustrated Hawks,’ Tet 1968, and the Transformation of American Politics, December 2008
American War Library, Vietnam War Allied Troop Levels 1960-73
National Archives, Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty
Shanto Iyengar and Masha Krupenkin, The Forum, Partisanship as Social Identity; Implications for the Study of Party Polarization, 2018
Brookings, Reforming the Presidential Nomination Process, 2009
Sam Rosenfeld, Harvard University dissertation, A Choice, Not an Echo: Polarization and the Transformation of the American Party System, 2014
Thomas Holbrook and Scott McClurg, American Journal of Political Science, The Mobilization of Core Supporters: Campaigns, Turnout, and Electoral Composition in United States Presidential Elections, October 2005
Corwin Smidt, American Journal of Political Science, Polarization and the Decline of the American Floating Voter, October 2015
Oral Histories:
Miller Center, George McGovern Oral History
Nixon Library, George McGovern Oral History
Historical speeches, news footage, and other archival tape excerpted in the episode were gathered from:
Archive of American Television
CSPAN
Dakota Wesleyan University
G. William Jones Film and Video Collection, Southern Methodist University
Internet Archive
Vanderbilt Television News Archive