(light music) - And this is my dad and his brother, Eugene McCarthy.

And Gene was just recuperating after a year-long bout in a rehabilitation hospital.

My dad's older brother is Eugene McCarthy, and Senator Eugene McCarthy was the senator for Minnesota for 10 years.

There was a war that was raging.

Some call it the Vietnam War.

And the people in Vietnam like to call it the American War in Vietnam.

And it was coming to a time when there was a big anti-war movement growing in this country.

This is a sort of short history lesson, but when John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Lyndon Johnson was Vice President, and he was then sworn in as president from '63 to the elections of '64.

He was then elected for the first time in 1964, and actually was elected on an anti-war platform.

So four years later, as he started to inherit this war that was going on in Vietnam, and as it continued to escalate, there had been 15,000 young soldiers who had died from '64 to '68.

And Gene felt strongly that somebody from the Democratic Party really needed to challenge Lyndon Johnson on this issue.

Bobby Kennedy seemed like the most likely person.

But at that time, Robert Kennedy said that he did not feel that it was politically smart for him to do that.

And so in the end, Gene stood up alone.

And as the poster says, he stood up alone and something happened.

And he grew this small anti-war movement into a huge national movement.

The first testing of his challenge to Lyndon Johnson was the New Hampshire primary on March 12th, 1968.

And when Gene first went to New Hampshire, they thought he'd get maybe 2% of the vote.

Most people didn't even know who he was, but there was a movement of college students that was amassed that just went door to door and knocked on every house in New Hampshire, if not once, maybe twice.

And it turned out that Gene got 45% of the vote, which was just such a surprise to everyone, including Lyndon Johnson, who was the heir apparent of the Democratic nomination.

Well I came back to Minnesota thinking I would go to Wilmer Vocational School for the spring when Gene's success with the New Hampshire primary exploded.

And I, not being a political person, I called the St. Paul office and said, "I'd like to come down and do something."

And I thought I could stuff envelopes or address letters or do something nominal to help out.

And because I had the name McCarthy and because I'm a gregarious person, I was sent out on some of the smaller events and it gave people a connection to the campaign, to the family.

But I have to have somebody come along to talk about issues because if anybody asks me about policy and issues, I was a know nothing.

I was like "Alice in Wonderland."

And I really jumped down the rabbit hole following my uncle and this crusade, this campaign, and I learned so much.

And I came out the other door Wonderland a changed person.

- [Announcer] The contemporary urban folk singers Peter, Paul and Mary.

♪ Come gather around the ♪ people wherever you are ♪ - Peter, Paul and, Mary had been supporting the campaign.

They'd been against the war for years.

Peter had written the campaign song, "If you love your country and the things for which it stands, vote for Gene McCarthy and bring peace to our land."

But they had never actually met the Senator.

Well Peter, Paul, and Mary were coming into Portland as I was flying into Portland from doing some campaigning around the state.

And the people at the campaign headquarters wanted to invite Peter, Paul, and Mary to come to the campaign headquarters after the concert.

So before blowing in the wind at the last third of the concert, Peter said, "We have somebody in the audience with us tonight with whom we share a communal effort and a common cause, and I would like to dedicate this song to her.

And she is the niece of Senator Eugene McCarthy.

And so I was asked to stand and the lights came on me.

And then following the concert, we did go back to the hotel room where Gene was.

So we sat in his hotel room in one of these kind of magical nights that happen in these kind of situations where it was Gene and Robert Lowell and Peter and Paul and Mary and myself.

After that, they went to the headquarters to sing for the campaigners.

And Peter invited me to come to dinner.

I was gonna go to California to work in the California primary, and then I was coming to New York to work in the New York primary.

So Peter gave me his number and he said, "Call me when you come to New York."

It was a connection.

At first, well, it would really have been second meeting.

And a year and a half later we were married.

And a year and a half later, we had our Bethany, who, as Peter always said, had the audacity to be born on Gene McCarthy's birthday.

And then a year and a half later, Christopher was born in the Wilmer Hospital.

So he is a Wilmer boy.

(upbeat music) Meeting Peter was another (imitating explosion) where there was a different kind of life, and not so much a life of glamour, but a life of politics and a life of social justice and a life of really putting yourself on the line for causes and people that really mattered.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7 KRAM, online at 967kram.com.

(upbeat music)