Did George McGovern publicly support Jimmy Carter in 1976?
Upvote:2
No, but nobody was asking him to either.
I haven't been able to dig up much about Carter endors*m*nts in 1976, other than that there weren't many. There was a prominent "ABC" (Anybody But Carter) movement, chiefly driven by the fact that he was a moderate white southerner, and thus unlikely to be supported by the base during the general election. His performance in the primaries proved otherwise.
During the general election, support from popular Democrats is typically helpful as surrogates (its a big country, and the candidate can't be everywhere), but McGovern wasn't all that popular after losing so badly. Nobody was seeking out his support for anything.
As to why McGovern would feel like voting for Ford, one thing that strikes me reading though that interview transcript is this later part:
MCGOVERN: Could I also add one -- could I add one thing?
KING: Yes.
MCGOVERN: Larry, I supported the pardon for President Nixon. I suppose I was the person that suffered more from the cover-up of Watergate while I was running against Mr. Nixon than anyone else. But I supported that idea of a pardon even before President Ford granted it.
I called Barry Goldwater and asked him, at 6:00 one morning in the summer of '74, what would you think of you and I on a bipartisan basis calling for a pardon for President Nixon? He wasn't enthusiastic about it.
The pardon of Nixon was in fact the single biggest issue of the 1976 Campaign.* Its quite likely Ford lost the election over this issue.
If there had been a flat out referendum on the pardon, I think its fair to say McGovern would have voted for it. For many people the Presidential election of 1976 was in fact a referendum on just that, as Ford hadn't done much else of note, and it was the biggest issue. So being a supporter of the pardon himself, it isn't hard to see that McGovern would feel he had to vote for Ford just as a matter of political coherence. However, as a prominent Democrat, he couldn't say that publicly during the election, because then he'd become an issue.
So here's what he said publicly at the time of the pardon (Bangor Daily news 1974):
It is difficult to understand granting immunity to Mr. Nixon while committing his subordinates to prison. On the other hand, the Constitution clearly does give President Ford authority to grant reprieves and pardons.
This was taken as a criticism at the time, but was pretty mild considering what others were saying, and that he was in fact the aggrieved party. You could even argue that his criticism was that Ford hadn't pardoned more people.
* - This is the first election I remember well, and IMHO the linked Wikipedia page actually underplays how important it was.
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