Together with McGovern at the Garden

The stark political contrast between George McGovern and Richard Nixon was obvious to the White House staff even in the days when Nixon's standing in the polls was barely even with, and sometimes lower than, Senator Edmund Muskie's. In Madison Square Garden, then, on June 14, a celebration of moral purity is held. "Together with McGovern at the Garden", it is called. Activists who began to sympathize with the grievances and dilemmas of Middle Americans—and in the McGovern campaign there were many—were uncertain what political shape to give the anger and aspiration they encountered. Nixon offered traditional Democrats the reassurance of an able, bold, tough leader—but, most of all, opposition to what McGovern had come to symbolize. Unbelievably, McGovern not Nixon was made the central issue of 1972. McGovern had not adequately defended himself against this possibility. McGovern used the symbol of being "different" from other politicians.