Index of University Press Releases

Nov. 7, 2007

35 years later, McGovern workers say
campaign had important impact
Seth Tupper - The Daily Republic

Bruce Miroff, right, author of "The Liberals' Movement: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party," chats with George McGovern Tuesday during the McGovern Conference at Dakota Wesleyan University, Mitchell. The conference examined the legacy of McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. (Laura Wehde/Republic)

The 1972 George McGovern presidential campaign ended in defeat 35 years ago this week, but a panelist at Tuesday’s McGovern Conference said the campaign showed him that “a 23-year-old kid can change history.”

The 23-year-old kid was Tom Southwick. On the night of the ’72 Iowa precinct caucuses, he was picked to run unofficial election results from a phone bank, where the results were being called in by precinct captains across the state, to a throng of reporters waiting to write the results into their news stories.

Southwick knew that legendary New York Times correspondent Johnny Apple had a midnight deadline, and that the other reporters were watching to see what Apple would write.

“Just mysteriously, I don’t know how it happened,” Southwick deadpanned Tuesday to the McGovern Conference audience, “but the results that were favorable to Sen. McGovern showed up very quickly. The results that were favorable to Sen. (Ed) Muskie took just a little longer to get over there.”

When Apple wrote his story, Southwick recalled, Apple “pounded out, and I quote, ‘George McGovern did surprisingly well in the Iowa precinct caucuses last night.’ And that was on the front page of the New York Times.”

Thanks in part to the help of Southwick and thousands of young campaign workers like him, McGovern, a Mitchell native and Dakota Wesleyan University alumnus, went on to win the Democratic nomination. McGovern lost the general election to Richard Nixon but left a legacy that hundreds gathered to examine and celebrate Tuesday at DWU’s Sherman Center in Mitchell.

The theme of this year’s McGovern Conference was “The ’72 Campaign: A Living Legacy.” Southwick was one of three 1972 campaign workers who participated in the day’s first event, a panel discussion titled “What a Difference it Made in My Life.”

Southwick today is senior vice president of public relations and government relations for Starz LLC. He has worked as a journalist and as press secretary to Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts.

Southwick told the audience Tuesday that he is “enormously, profoundly, deeply proud” that he worked for McGovern in 1972.

“I cannot imagine what the Nixon people tell their children,” Southwick said to laughter from the audience, “that they worked to re-elect Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew.”

The day was not entirely devoted to liberal or Democratic views. The schedule of presentations included one by Donald Critchlow, author of “The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History.” Other topics included the McGovern campaign’s legacy and the Black Panther Party. The day concluded with the 85-year-old McGovern’s response to the presentations.

The theme of the day, and of the morning panel discussion, was the lasting impact of the 1972 campaign. Panelist Teresa Petrovic, who served in several capacities with McGovern and was most recently director of stewardship and development for Visitation Church, said the campaign launched the lives and careers of many.

“Where else at 21 can you be the press secretary in Massachusetts?” Petrovic asked rhetorically, recalling her days in the McGovern campaign. “Campaigns give you that opportunity. I’m sure there are others, but that was my opportunity, and I ran with it.”

Mary Fifield said she “had hair down to my knees and looked about 12” while working as a press aide for the McGovern campaign. She went on to a career as a network television producer and today runs her own consulting company.

“What did I put into the McGovern campaign way back in 1972? Everything,” Fifield said. “And what did it give me in return? Everything.”