The Nation: The Other McGovern on the Stump

Dear Eleanor,

Needless to say, I treasure your words, but do not jeopardize your credibility or mine by making me sound too good. I have, as you know, a generous measure of faults, weaknesses and errors. As De Gaulle once said: "Every man of action has a strong dose of egotism, pride, hardness and cunning. But all those things will be forgiven him, indeed, they will be regarded as high qualities, if he can make them the means to achieve great ends." I confess to all the faults De Gaulle describes. I only hope they can be turned to worthwhile ends.

Love, George

ABOUT all George McGovern and his wife Eleanor know of each other these days is what they read in the papers. On the go almost daily, she has been campaigning for George very nearly as hard as he has been, and that magniloquent letter to her was a gentle chiding for her flow of superlatives in several speeches that he had read in the local press.

Last week was typical for the candidate and his wife, as they each crisscrossed Ohio, their paths never intersecting. Eleanor visited a nursing home, cut the ribbon for a new campaign headquarters, spoke with young campaign workers and gave rousing talks to win over party stalwarts. The towns rolled by—Ashtabula, Painesville, Warren—and at each stop she made short, cogent speeches of her own devising and in her thoroughly professional style. She stands cool and poised before crowds and speaks in smooth sentences, with none of the fumbling "and-uhs" of an amateur. She looks her audiences squarely in the eye and, without script or notes, convincingly makes her case for George McGovern. Invariably, she exits to applause.

Barely five feet tall and only 93 Ibs., Mrs. McGovern, with wide sky-blue eyes, clean good looks and tousled hair, looks younger than her 50 years. She met George in their native South Dakota after besting him in a high school debating match. After 28 years of marriage, the debates go on and they swap points of views across the dinner table. She thinks their discussions may be changing his mind on total amnesty for Viet Nam draft evaders. "I feel that young men, on being granted amnesty, should be required to give a couple of years' service to the country, as conscientious objectors are doing. I think they would want to make a contribution," she explains. "George is wavering on this, and the other day I heard him mention my suggestion in answer to a question. Maybe I've convinced him."

Mrs. McGovern says she has sensed that voters now look for more from candidates' wives. "I think the wives want to talk more about the issues, and it's expected of them. People ask me about everything: my husband's alternative defense budget, unemployment, everything. When I told George about the kind of questions I get, he said, 'I wish they'd ask me about the defense budget —I'd like to talk more about it.' "