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Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy (March 29, 1916 – December 10, 2005) was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.
In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first candidate to challenge incumbent Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, running on an anti-Vietnam War platform. The unexpected vote total he achieved in the New Hampshire primary and his strong polling in the upcoming Wisconsin primary led Johnson to withdraw from the race, and lured Robert Kennedy into the contest. Vice President Hubert Humphrey (a fellow Minnesotan) also entered the race after Johnson's withdrawal, ultimately defeating McCarthy handily at the party's nominating convention. After leaving the Senate in 1971, McCarthy would unsuccessfully seek the presidency four more times. He died in 2005.
Eugene McCarthy in "The Fillmore Shoggoth"[]
The fact that Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy, and Hubert Humphrey were in a three-way battle for the "soul" of the Democratic Party in the Spring of 1968 was seen as a "portent".
Another such portent was an iceberg that had broken from the Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf in 1966 and floated north, successfully arriving on the San Francisco coast in the Spring of 1968.
| Political offices (OTL) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Edward Devitt |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 4th congressional district 1949-1959 |
Succeeded by Joseph Karth |
| Preceded by Edward John Thye |
United States Senator from Minnesota 1959-1971 |
Succeeded by Hubert Humphrey |
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