Eugene McCarthy

In 1944, Eugene McCarthy married Abigail Quigley. The couple had five children. He left his wife in 1969 after 24 years of marriage, but the two never divorced. It was rumored that he had an affair with prominent columnist and journalist Shana Alexander. However author Dominic Sandbrook who wrote McCarthy’s biography stated that McCarthy had a long-term relationship with CBS News correspondent Marya McLaughlin.

He suffered from Parkinson's disease during his later years and died at the age of 89 on December 10, 2005.

St. John's University honored McCarthy by establishing the Eugene McCarthy Distinguished Public Service Award in his name in 2009.

Eugene Joseph McCarthy was born on March 29, 1916, in Watkins, Minnesota, to Anna and Michael J. McCarthy as one of their four children. His father was a postmaster and cattle buyer.

He attended St. Anthony's Catholic School in Watkins and studied in Saint John's Preparatory School (Collegeville, Minnesota) from where he graduated in 1931.

Then he furthered his education from Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota and the University of Minnesota. He taught in various public schools while working on a master’s degree at the University of Minnesota which he earned in 1939.

He was appointed as a professor of economics and education at St. John's in 1940 and held this position until 1943. Then he went on to serve as a civilian technical assistant in the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department in 1944.

After the war he returned to teaching and took up a position as an instructor in sociology and economics at the College of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota in 1946, eventually becoming chairman of the sociology department.

During this time he also became active in politics and ran successfully for a membership in the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in 1948 and won the election to the United States House of Representatives.

In 1958, he won election to the U.S. Senate, and served as a member of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, among other roles. He was one of the original co-sponsors of the Immigration Act of 1965, something he later regretted. As the senator he also became a member of the Board of Advisors of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

As a politician, he was strongly opposed to the Vietnam War which had been going on since 1955, and by 1967 McCarthy had become an outspoken critic of the war. Several others were also opposed to the war and had taken to marching in Washington in protest. The anti-war stance was negatively impacting President Lyndon Johnson's popular and political support.

Eugene McCarthy is best remembered for being a leader of the anti-war movement in America who dared to challenge incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 1968. His stance against the Vietnam War made him very popular and played a major role in forcing Johnson out of the presidential race.