Former Democratic Senator and Congressman of South Dakota George McGovern passed away on October 21st. Though best known as the anti-war Democratic Presidential candidate in 1972, WOLA admired Sen. McGovern’s long-standing commitment to addressing hunger at home and abroad and his support for human rights as a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy. Appointed by President John F. Kennedy to the Food for Peace program, McGovern became a pioneer in the fight to end world hunger and played an integral role in the establishment of the United Nations World Food Program. McGovern was appointed as the ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture by President Bill Clinton and later received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his life-long commitment to eliminating world hunger. WOLA was honored that Sen. McGovern participated in a WOLA delegation to El Salvador in 2005 that celebrated the lives of the four American church women who were killed in El Salvador in 1980 at the beginning of that country’s civil war. McGovern is remembered for his progressive spirit and his never-ending drive to make the world a better place for all. Here’s a commentary that Senator McGovern and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) wrote after that trip.
To read Congressman James McGovern's statement at George McGovern's funeral, please click here.
Photo by Scott Clarkson (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
