George McGovern’s death Sunday marked the departure of a
remarkably influential figure in American national politics.
Though remembered largely for his landslide defeat to Richard M.
Nixon in the 1972 presidential race, McGovern succeeded in
reshaping the U.S. political landscape for the next 40 years.
His losing campaign forged the modern political party. Just as
Barry M. Goldwater’s crushing defeat in 1964 mobilized a
generation of conservative activists and transformed the GOP,
McGovern’s insurgency led to the modern Democratic Party of Bill
Clinton and Barack Obama. For the South Dakotan senator
bequeathed to his party a reconstituted style of politics, a
cadre of activists and an new path to electoral victory.
McGovern’s star-crossed campaign opened up the entire U.S.
political process—he appointed, for example, the first national
party chairwoman. More important though, he created a template
for challenging the party establishment, one emulated frequently
over the next 40 years — by the Republican right