The Hawk at the Helm
Henry M. Jackson was not your ordinary Democrat. Scoop, as he was dubbed, was an outsider and a loner. He stood alone to his steadfast support of the ever unpopular Vietnam War. He stood alone in his opposition to busing, weapons limitations, and the DEA. He was criticized for his conservative rhetoric and his bourbon approach. Nevertheless, he remained an active and engaging member of the party. He was Kennedy’s first VP choice in 1960 over Johnson, ran for President in 72' and 76', was again considered as a possible number two pick in 1972 and 76', and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; Scoop was widely regarded of one of the most influential statesmen of his time. His influence remains alive and well.
One of Jackson’s most notable positions was his opposition to the anti-war new left movement of the 1960s. Jackson supported the war long after the rest of his party abandoned him for the hippie opposition. Marooning him as the sole devil’s advocate in his own party. Jackson became unpopular with the liberal east; destroying his 76' campaign. Jackson’s black sheep character was unappealing to many but especially appealing to some.
By 1972 years of a counter-counterculture had been brewing. Bourbon Democrats were strong supporters of the war in Indochina, seeing it as a defensive measure to stop the spread of communism. These staunch anti-communists ruled the Democratic Party since the 1920s. These pro-war, conservative, old-guard politicians came to the antithesis of the growing anti-war, social liberal, young New Left. One example of the Old Guard’s antipathy towards the growing leftist force was the unions. Max Shachtman and George Meany were both prominent leftists. Shachtman was a Trotskyist theorist while Meany was one of the founders and President of the AFL-CIO. They had worked for years within the Democratic Party. They’re machine-controlled vast swaths of the ever-important blue-collar vote. By 1972 their grip weakened.
George McGovern’s odyssey to the 1972 Democratic Convention was one that defied the odds. A little known South Dakotan Senator had beat behemoths and arrived in Miami Beach a deity. Not everyone was happy with his ascent to fame. The union bosses of Tammy Hall felt their grip loosening. They arrived in Miami imaging the long-haired, drug-using, foul-smelling dopes that comprised the McGovern coalition ruling their party. They looked for solutions, they looked for alternatives. They found Scoop.
Jackson took his hat back out of the ring early in 72'. He lacked the nationwide recognition needed to get the nod. He was christened as nothing more but a Dixiecrat remnant with little hope of a nomination. He remained an active opponent of McGovern and his New Left wave. He was chosen to break it. The Anybody But McGovern Movement (ABMGM) spearheaded by Jimmy Carter was formed to stop McGovern where it mattered, the convention.
Jackson started to vilify McGovern before the convention. He falsely labeled McGovern as the Acid, Amnesty, and Abortion candidate. In reality, McGovern was, in reality, only an advocate of amnesty to Vietnam veterans. Nevertheless, the name stuck. McGovern became ever unpopular on the day of the nomination process. With the obstructionist work by the ABMG committee, the process took all day and continued into the night.
They continued to place any alternative candidate they could find on the ballot until they exhausted all their choices. Then they did the same with the Vice Presidential nomination process. In his haste to get a VP nominee and the delegates growing restless McGovern failed to find an establishment Democrat to agree to be his number two. All of them were scared off by the activism showed by Jackson and his Old Gaurd coalition. At last, McGovern settled on a young and little known senator, Thomas Eagleton.
Eagleton was improperly vetted in the chaos of the disrupted convention. He was placed on the ballot last second as the ABMG committee placed Jackson’s own name to counter. Eagleton was confirmed by the weary convention hall with Jackson becoming the runner up. A tired and defeated looking McGovern gave his acceptance speech at 3 AM. The slow start of the campaign seemed hopeless. Little thought it could become hopeless still.
What the McGovern campaign failed to learn about Eagleton was his past history with mental illness. Word leaked to the press weeks later that Eagleton was admitted into hospitalization for shock therapy in the past and failed to disclose as such to the campaign. After initially saying he was behind Eagleton “1000%” McGovern dropped him from the ticket. The chaos of the Eagleton affair destroyed his already struggling campaign. A campaign the eventually ended in a landslide loss.
Though not apparent at the time, Jackson’s contribution to the chaos of the 72' convention was directly responsible for the fall of the McGovern machine. His actions signified to beginnings of a split from the Democratic Party. After the 72' elections more and more bourbon Democrats defected to the Republican Party. This includes some on the ABMG committee. And, while Jackson refused to leave his party, he did start a movement. His hawkish foreign policy coupled with a strong social view of how the country ought to be created an entirely new movement in American politics.
Neoconservatives as they are called mostly defected to the Republicans by the 90s with the exception of some moderates such as Joe Liberman. They came to become a driving force in the Republican Party. They formed the foundation of the foreign affairs policy of every President from Reagan to Obama. They came into the national spotlight with their contributions to the Iraq and Afghani wars. They remain the established caucus and streamline ideology of Republicans and Democrats alike. They form the very foundation of America on the world stage. For better or worse they have changed the course of American and world history.
All because of Scoop.
