Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy was an atypical politician, a former college professor with a witty, erudite speaking style. His surprising 1968 presidential campaign turned him into a spokesman for a generation angry about the war in Vietnam.
McCarthy, 89, died in his sleep Saturday at an assisted living home in the Georgetown neighborhood where he had lived for the past few years, said his son, Michael.
A Minnesota Democrat, McCarthy challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination during growing debate over Vietnam, leading to Johnson’s withdrawal from the race and forcing the Democratic Party to take McCarthy’s antiwar message seriously.
The former senator, who ran for president five times, wrote poetry in his spare time and was the author of several books.
Well, I’m sure he meant well.