Eleanor McGovern Is Dead

If you’ve ever read any of the books of 1972 Democratic Presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator George S. McGovern, you know the amount of love and affection he had for his wife Eleanor (nee Stegeberg). She was one of a pair of twins on his college campus, a cheerleader, and she’d tied for the high score with him on a current events test. They were married on Halloween, 1943 while he was on a three-day pass from bomber flight school, and spent their first night at his parent’s house before he had to report back for duty.

Eleanor McGovern died Thursday at 85.

Last year, I bought a copy of McGovern’s autobiography Grassroots which. oddly enough, is inscribed: “For Eleanor, from her friend, George McGovern.”