Nineteen-hundred sixty-eight, the year of the soixante-huitards, was a year that will remain in our collective memory for generations to come. In the latter part of 1967 Bill Coffin and Abraham Heschel organized a march in Washington, D.C. intended to amplify the voice of the clergy and to make clear to the American people why war in Vietnam was both unnecessary and immoral. War on behalf of South Vietnam was thought by many non-American countries to be counter to the decolonization agreed to following WWII.   And observers such as Eisenhower had warned against over-interpreting the “domino theory,” a clever but unconvincing argument that was being seized on at  home at home to justify a “whatever it takes” mentality.

After the day’s scheduled activities had ended, and the clergy were reassembling on the plaza to continue greeting one another and to continue singing, word spread quickly through the crowd that Sen. Eugene McCarthy, had been approached and might be interested to run for president.  There were also reports that Secretary of Defence McNamara had concluded that US bombing of the North was not working. And he had made his case to the President. That November, LBJ accepted McNamara’s resignation. The”Tet offensive” followed.  It was perhaps the most consequential military encounter of the war.  Right from the start it was very confusing.  It came in two versions, one version from Gen. Westmoreland, and one from Walter Cronkite.  The problem the General faced was that Cronkite’s version came with pictures, pictures that gave the lie to the claims of the generals.  In March,1968, speaking before a live national audience, LBJ announced he would not seek re-election.

To a growing population of citizens, McCarthy felt like a god-send. He was clearly different, different from his colleagues (only five senators had voted to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin resolution). He wasn’t all wrapped up in himself as a senator. He had a life. He was a poet, philosopher, athlete. His demeanor was thoughtful, reflective, even ( and this was not in his favor) indecisive. He had personally urged Bobby Kennedy to run on several occasions.

The first major test would be the primary in chronically conservative New Hampshire.  “The winner” was the virtual certainty (How wrong we were.)that the November election would now provide the nation’s voters an antiwar option. NH’s democratic delegates were grateful. Unlike Bobby Kennedy, a politician born into a family of politicians, McCarthy had to work at politics. He was more at home in Minnesota farm country and Catholic seminary than in Washington DC where life for him bordered on the metaphysically painful and where his decision to break through the political inertia and act the leader came at significant cost.   Kennedy, on the other hand, had seen a restless electorate in New Hampshire, and he was savvy enough not to dismiss the possibility that an antiwar movement starting in NH could steamroll itself all the way to Chicago.  Bobby announced he would run.