|
(Continued from page 29)
On," referred to their 1972 tour as "virtually a McGovern roadshow, with every concert offering voter registration booths and Democratic propaganda."
• Neil Young wrote "War Song," a jagged rocker with a hopeful chorus, "There's a man says/he can put an end to war." Ushers at a Madison Square Garden show, which starred Simon & Garfunkel and Dionne Warwick, included Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Paul Newman and Gene Hackman. Tina Turner, "Mama" Cass Elliot and Judy Collins were among the singers at another Garden concert, "Star Spangled Women."
• Lennon, who had emigrated from England to New York the year before, had been radicalized through his marriage to the artist Yoko Ono and through his friendships with Abbie Hoffman and Rubin. He was writing militant chants such as "Power to the People" and was anxious to help bring down the hated Nixon. By late 1971, he and Rubin were planning an all-star tour and voter registration drive. The idolized ex-Beatle probably could have had his pick of fellow rockers to join him.
• Republican officials were worried. "If Lennon's visa were terminated, it would be a strategic counter-measure," read a memo prepared for Nixon's attorney general, John Mitchell. The administration began a long effort to deport the British native, based on a 1968 drug bust in London. Tied up in immigration proceedings, afraid that he was being followed and possibly in physical danger, Lennon called off the tour. But he remained a McGovern believer, and, Rubin would later explain, was sure that the Democrat would win as the singer and others gathered on election night.
• "This is it?!" Lennon raged as the results came in. "This is IT?!"
•
UN official says McGovern was tireless advocate
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- The director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says the world has lost a tireless advocate for the hungry with the death of George McGovern.
• Jose Graziano da Silva says McGovern's work helped give millions of the world's poorest children a proper nutritional foundation.
• McGovern died Sunday at age 90. The former South Dakota senator and 1972 presidential candidate worked throughout his life to help the hungry. President John F. Kennedy in 1960 named him head of the Food for Peace program, which sends U.S. commodities around the world.
• From 1998 to 2001, McGovern was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. In 2000 he and former Sen. Bob Dole created a (Continued on page 31)
|
|
