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Trump’s tumbling veepstakes no match for George McGovern's
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 Date: November 8, 2016 |
Winner: Donald Trump (R) Hillary Clinton (D) • Jill Stein (G) • Gary Johnson (L) • Vice presidential candidates |
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July 7, 2016
By Jim Barnes
It’s been a busy week for the Donald Trump veepstakes.
While he was accompanying Trump on the campaign trail on Tuesday, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker let the presumptive Republican presidential nominee know that he did not want to be his running mate. Corker later told reporters at The Washington Post and CNN that he didn’t think he was suited for the cut-and-thrust campaign role that a vice presidential candidate usually performs. On Monday, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst met with Trump, presumably as part of the review process to be considered as his ticket-mate. On Wednesday, Ernst told Politico she had “a lot more to do in the United States Senate” and that “Iowa is where my heart is.” According to Politico, Ernst “all but removed herself” from Trump’s VP search.
Not everyone is saying “no thanks.” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich joined Trump at a rally in Cincinnati on Wednesday night and sung the New York developer’s praises. Trump returned the favor and coyly told the audience, "In one form or another, Newt Gingrich is going to be involved with our government." Gingrich has given every indication that he’d happily accept an invitation to join Trump on the GOP ticket.
But the number of folks who have seemingly taken themselves out of the running is getting to be pretty long list, longer than any since the one that 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern had to deal with. Maybe that’s fitting—Trump’s unexpected triumph in the GOP nominating contest rivals McGovern’s upset victory.
Forty-four years ago next week, McGovern beat back the last-ditch attempt on the convention floor in Miami by the Democratic establishment to deny him the party’s nod. After he was formally nominated on Wednesday, McGovern’s first call went to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to see if he might accept the vice presidential nomination. It wasn’t the first time McGovern had broached the subject with Kennedy, who again, turned McGovern down. Still recovering from the Chappaquiddick tragedy and scandal, which had badly damaged his personal reputation, the political scion begged off. (Before the convention began, McGovern had also reached out to gauge the potential interest of two of his 1972 primary rivals, Maine Sen. Ed Muskie and Minnesota Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey. Both said they weren’t.)
The next morning, after the unsuccessful overture to Kennedy, McGovern met with his senior advisors to commence the frantic hunt for a running mate. The convention rules required McGovern to identify his choice by 4:00 PM that afternoon. The exact sequence of McGovern’s sales calls that day is a bit unclear, but drawing on his own recollection and books like Theodore H. White’s Making of a President 1972 and Joshua M. Glasser’s The Eighteen-Day Running Mate it was a chaotic process. McGovern attempted to contact another Kennedy family member, Sargent Shriver (who was married to Eunice Kennedy), but since he was traveling to the Soviet Union, that was unsuccessful.
McGovern then phoned Minnesota’s other Senator, Walter F. Mondale, a Humphrey protégé. Mondale said no. McGovern had better luck with his next target, Boston Mayor Kevin White, a favorite of McGovern’s campaign manager, Gary Hart. McGovern said, “I’d like to have you with me,” and White said he was willing. McGovern said he wanted to make a few more “routine calls” and would get back to White.
At some point, a query was made to Connecticut Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, and he turned down the opportunity to run for vice president. (Ribicoff was getting married that summer and he was reluctant to upend his personal life with a national campaign.) The Democratic standard bearer wanted to call Kennedy back to see how he’d feel about putting another Massachusetts politician on the ticket who wasn’t a member of the state’s leading Democratic clan.
Here the recollections of the two principals differ: Kennedy said he didn’t object to White, but McGovern and his aides recalled Kennedy “hitting the ceiling” over the idea. When liberals in the Massachusetts delegation got wind of the idea that White might be McGovern’s running mate, some started to rebel. White fell out of the mix.
Next, McGovern reached out another close Senate friend, Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. Nelson said no. Finally, 15 minutes before the 4:00 PM deadline, McGovern rung up Missouri Sen. Thomas Eagleton, who had been recommended to the nominee by Kennedy, Mondale and other pols. Although there were rumors that Eagleton had had some mental health issues, McGovern, almost desperate to find a running mate, tapped the Missouri Senator for the job. Eighteen days later, after the full history of Eagleton’s mental health—including electro-shock therapy—became known, Eagleton was pushed off the ticket.
That set off another round of calls by McGovern to find a replacement. Again, McGovern reached out to Kennedy, Ribicoff and Humphrey. Again, all three said no. A call was made to a new prospect, Florida Gov. Rubin Askew, who was on his way to a long-planned family vacation. He said no. McGovern then made another run at Muskie. Muskie said he wanted to talk the idea over with his wife first. Realizing that he needed a back-up option, McGovern then contacted Shriver. Would he accept a vice presidential nomination if Muskie turned it down? With Kennedy’s backing, Shriver said yes. After Muskie got back to McGovern declining his offer, the Democrats finally had a ticket—approved at a special meeting of the Democratic National Committee—that would go on to lose 49 states in the general election.
While a number of Republicans have taken themselves out of consideration to be Trump’s running mate (you can at least add Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich to the list, whose public comments have strongly discouraged the idea), it’s pretty unlikely that the 2016 GOP presidential nominee is going to have as chaotic a search as McGovern did—admittedly, not a very high standard. But the McGovern VP saga is a cautionary tale that it’s never a good idea to rush the vetting process or make the decision in the hothouse environment of a convention.
James A. Barnes is a senior writer at Ballotpedia who has covered every Democratic and Republican national convention since 1984. He will be in Cleveland and Philadelphia for Ballotpedia in July.
See also
- Possible vice presidential picks, 2016
- Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
- Republican National Convention, 2016
