If ever a campaign was snakebit, it was George McGovern's 1972 run for the White House.
His first pick as vice president was Thomas Eagleton. That was the first big and final mistake.
Eagleton, a senator from Missouri, was brought onto the ticket without much research. Soon after it became public knowledge that Eagleton had received electroshock therapy in the previous decade. The McGovern camp stood by their man until the end of July when Eagleton stepped down from the ballot.
At that point McGovern turned to Sargent Shriver, a Kennedy-in-law, who'd been a big part of both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. McGovern was done as Republicans were able to raise questions about his decision making abilities.
But we aren't done with Eagleton. In the spring of 1972 an unnamed Senator was quoted by journalist Robert Novak as saying "The people don’t know McGovern is for amnesty, abortion and legalization of pot." McGovern was forever known as the candidate of "amnesty, abortion and acid." After Eagleton's death in 2007 Novak credited the quote to the Missouran.
He lost in a landslide in the general election to Richard Nixon. McGovern returned to South Dakota, served another term in the Senate before the Reagan Revolution and ran for the White House once again in 1984 but got out of the race after New Hampshire. He later served as ambassador to the U.N., wrote a book and was a vocal critic of the Bush administration.
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