Written by Heroic moments are infrequent in presidential politics.
Fifty years ago this week, Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota was an unlikely hero as he launched a quixotic candidacy to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from President Lyndon Johnson.
The Vietnam War was the catalyst for McCarthy’s announcement of his candidacy on Nov. 30, 1967 in the Senate Caucus Room. It didn’t seem like much of an announcement. McCarthy didn’t refer directly to his own candidacy and mentioned how he wished someone else had taken on the task. Other liberal politicians courted by anti-war activists that fall, including Robert Kennedy, had rebuffed pleas to run. READ MORE »