United States Senate

WASHINGTON. D.C. 20810

January 15, 1971

My Dear Friend:

You are one of a number of people whose help I am asking in the most important effort any American can ever undertake.

After mailing this letter to you, I will, on Monday, January 18, declare to the Nation my candidacy for the office of President of the United States.

In so doing, and in writing you to inform you of my decision, I am deliberately breaking political precedent in several ways.

It is unprecedented for a presidential candidate to make a formal declaration almost two full years before the next presidential term begins.

It is unprecedented for such a declaration of intent to be made in a letter to thousands of potential supporters across the country.

And it is unprecedented for the candidate himself to invite the many thousands who respect his positions on the major issues to help finance the organization of his campaign headquarters and staff.

But I am taking these unusual steps because these are unusual times.

But I am taking these unusual steps because these are unusual times.

I am making my intentions known now because the times call for the greatest forthrightness and the clearest commitment.

Today’s issues need to be defined and addressed now --- fully and honestly --- so that the voters of America can make the judgement of 1972 with the benefit of a considerable period of testing and deliberation.

The stakes are two great, our national problems are too grave, to ask our people to make that judgement hastily in the last weeks before the election, while the bands are playing and the crowds are roaring.

Because the present Administration has deepened the sense of depression and despair throughout our land, the Democratic nominee in 1972 will in all probability be the next President.

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for this reason, he should be chosen carefully from the various contenders only after meeting, in a broad range of public forums, the most critical tests of character, performance, and understanding.

I am prepared to submit my record and myself to that kind of critical comparison and test.

Having campaigned successfully twice for Congress and twice for the United State as a Democrat in my heavily Republican native state of south Dakota, I seek the presidency with the confidence that I can be nominated and elected.

I seek the presidency with the conviction that I can provide the sense of history, the toughness of mind and resolve, and the spirit of deep compassion which this highest office demands.

I seek the presidency because I believe without reservation in the American promise and because I can no longer tolerate the diminishing of that promise.

The remarkable architects of the Declaration of independence and the Constitution of the United States endowed this nation with founding ideals that have never been surpassed.

These ideals --- grounded in the Jedeo-Christian ethic --- affirm the sacredness of each individual and the bonds that bind him to his fellow creatures.

I can neither add to nor detract from these enduring principles . Indeed, they constitute my philosophy of government.

But in this decade, as we approach the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence --- the beginning of a revolution devoted to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” --- we need a second American revolution.

Not a revolution of violence, but a quiet determination to square our nation’s policies and priorities with the ideals of our founding documents.

In fact, I believe this is our only hope for avoiding the ugly violence that now tempts many desperate people.

We cannot reconcile the deep divisions in our society by merely patching over them. We can only reconcile them by instituting the reforms so urgently needed and persuading the majority of the American people to accept them.

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I want to lead our nation along this path of reconciliation and rededication.

And although the Democratic Party in fortunate, as it always has been, in possessing a wealth of leadership talent, I believe that I am uniquely qualified to meet the special requirements of today.

There were, I believe, two factors that cost our party the presidency in 1968.

The first was the war in Vietnam.

The second was the conviction of many Democrats that our party was not responsive in 1968 to their views and concerns.

I have sought to the best of my ability to meet both of these central challenges to our party and our nation.

As you are undoubtedly more aware than most, my major energies since coming to the Senate in 1963 have been directed to ending the war in Southeast Asia, reducing our excessive military outlays, and developing a positive foreign policy that would create the conditions necessary for peace.

As a young bomber pilot in World War II, I vowed that if I survived the war I would devote the balance of my life to the cause of peace. I have kept that pledge and will keep it no matter what else transpires.

It was the pursuit of peace that led me into graduate studies in history, government, and international relations at Northwestern University.

It was the conditions of peace I sought to convey to my students when I assumed my professorship at dakota Wesleyan University.

I sought the works of peace as a U.S, Congressman from 1956 to 1960, and as President Kennedy’s Food for Peace Director in 1961 and 1962.

And beyond my personal grief, it was my commitment to peace that led me to mourn with special sorrow the deaths first of President Kennedy, and then of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King in that tragic spring of 1968.

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Since 1968, I have been carrying on the fight against President Nixon’s needless prolongation of the war in Vietnam.

In addition, I have given my energy to the revitalization and reconciliation of the Democratic Party.

It has been my privilege to serve as Chairman of our party’s Commission on party Structure and Delegate Selection.

That Commission, in accordance with the institutions from the last national convention, has developed guidelines to insure that every Democrat will be given a “full, meaningful, and timely opportunity” to participate in the selection of our presidential candidate in 1972.

I believe that these guidelines, when fully implemented, will go a long way toward healing the deep wounds our party suffered at the 1968 convention.

And I believe that my nomination as our party’s presidential candidate offers the best chance of heading off a fourth-party movement by Democrats still fuming with impatience over the mistakes of past leadership.

These Democrats --- and you may be one of them --- have always known exactly where I stand. They know that I have opposed these mistakes longer and more consistently than any other presidential prospect in our party.

At the same time, I want, and I believe I enjoy, the respect and good will of all other elements of our party leadership.

My dream and my goal is to unite our party and lead it to victory without giving up one inch of my own integrity and total commitment to the ideals of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for all Americans. I am certain it can be done.

Undoubtedly I will be frequently advised to soft-pedal the passionate concern I have expressed as a Senator for our poor, our neglected sick, our hungry, our minority citizens with black or brown or red skins, our troubled young people.

But as much as I welcome advice, this is advice that I cannot and will not accept. I intend to be as completely forthright as a presidential candidate as I have been as a Senator.

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I believe the times demand this. I believe the people want it. And I know that I must do it.

I believe that the next President of the United States must possess and demonstrate this kind of quiet inner strength.

Our intervention in Vietnam’s civil war was not an act of national strength but rather a drifting with the tide of old ideas and illusions.

President Nixon’s failure to pull us out of the Vietnam quicksand promptly and decisively is not an act of strength, but rather reveals a lack of the strength needed to face up to the enormity of our error and the seriousness of our predicament.

Vietnamization is not a formula for ending the killing in Vietnam, It is a clear design to keep the war going by ending criticism in the United States. It is merely prolonging the bad dream from which our nation is attempting to awake.

To arouse our people and lead them back along the path of true peace will take the kind of strength and clarity that President Lincoln exhibited during another time of grave national error, the error of permitting human slavery in our midst.

I say now what he said then: “We must disenthrall ourselves.”

And I am inspired by the profile of courage he exhibited as a young Congressman, when he gambled and lost his seat in the House of Representatives by daring to speak up against the immorality of our war with Mexico.

Another great American president, Franklin Roosevelt, told us nearly forty years ago, during our last great national crisis, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Today, in this winter of our discontent, our greatest enemy is not fear but despair.

I believe that this despair stems from the fact that our great and powerful nation has wandered so far away from its ideals that it has almost lost the way.

An America which launched its own independence with “a decent respect for the opinions of mankind” now wastes its blood and substance in the jungles of Southeast Asia in open defiance of the common sense of the civilized world.

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An America founded on a belief in the sacredness of life now endangers the very basis of life by polluting the air, water, and land which sustains us, We are standing in garbage up to our knees while hurling rockets to the moon.

An America whose early pioneers opened the doors of Harvard College six years after landing at Massachusetts Bay now is led to believe that we cannot afford adequate funding to strengthen our schools.

An America founded on the belief that “all men are created equal” has been so slow to grant full equality to its racial minorities that it is driving some among them to acts of desperate and self-destructive violence.

An America whose dollars were once so sound they were recognized as a standard around the world now finds that its dollars are so weakened by “guns and butter” inflation that even working Americans find it hard to afford butter, to say nothing of meat on the table for dinner.

An America of law is cursed by rising crime, dangerous neighborhoods, and an underworld drug traffic that is jeopardizing the future even of children in grade school.

An America with a Constitution that placed its war-making power in an elected Congress now finds that power wrested away by the CIA, the Pentagon, and impetuous chief executives.

An America which has always renewed itself through the vigor and idealism of its youth now finds many of our most sensitive and turning to drug addiction, exile, or dangerous fantasies of domestic guerilla warfare.

And an America which has prided itself on the opportunities for individual fulfillment now has millions of working men and women who are trapped in unrewarding jobs, or can’t even find a job because the demand for their particular skill has disappeared.

I want to provide a second chance for these latter Americans, through a peacetime G.I. Bill which will make it possible for any American to go back to school and get the additional training he wants or needs.

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I want to provide a second chance for all Americans who feel that they have somehow been left behind and forgotten.

I want to provide a second chance for America itself to realize the dreams embodied in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

I want to dispel the heavy smog of despair that is choking our usual optimism and social vigor.

Many people will say that I don’t have a chance. And it is true that, standing alone, I would not.

But together, you and I have the best chance of all. If you will join with me now, I pledge that we will make that chance.

To fulfill that pledge, I need sufficient funds to staff and operate campaign headquarters and start bringing my case to the people all across the country throughout 1971.

I am confident that this 1971 effort will generate sufficient additional support to enable me to mount a successful campaign in 1972.

But the time to start is now.

In the ancient wisdom of Ecclesiastes, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

I believe this is a time to heal. A time to build up. A time to cast away the stones of war, and gather together stones for building. A time to speak. A time for love, not hate. A time for peace.

If you agree, won’t you join hands with me now?

Very sincerely yours,
George McGovern

P.S. If by accident you received an extra copy of this letter, please pass it on to a friend.