George McGovern

Before he was a celebrated politician, or even a college graduate, Senator George McGovern served as a B-52 bomber pilot in World War II. Based out of Italy, McGovern flew thirty-five combat missions over German-occupied Europe from 1943-44, earnig the Distinguished Flying Cross for his ingenuity in the face of adversity. After the war, Sen. McGovern returned to his family and his studies, becoming a professor of history and political science in his native South Dakota. He left the academy to enter politics full-time in 1955, beginning a decades long career by successfully bolstering the state's Democratic Party. Sen. McGovern was elected to Congress in 1956 and 1958, and then to the Senate in 1962, an office he would hold for eighteen years. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for president in 1972.