McGovern Returns to Boston

It was "McGovern Day" in Boston Wednesday, and by all accounts the South Dakota Senator did quite well.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54 gave a $1000-a-plate dinner for McGovern that netted over $250,000. In addition, there were numerous other small fund-raising gatherings held in the Boston-Cambridge area.

The major event of the day was a rally at Boston's Commonwealth Armory. The rally attracted 6000 people who paid $25 to hear McGovern and Kennedy strongly attack the Nixon Administration.

McGovern spent the major part of his speech, though, defending his Vietnam peace proposal. In answer to Administration charges that his plan called for surrender, McGovern said that present Nixon policies were surrendering our prisoners of war to endless captivity in North Vietnam, surrendering $250 million of tax money a week, and surrendering our decency, our ideals, and even our soul as a nation by bombing millions of helpless people and napalming little children."

McGovern also charged that by supporting General Thieu, Nixon was subverting his own war on drug abuse. He said that Thieu was involved in international drug trafficking and urged that America cut off all aide to South Vietnam.

Among the celebrities attending the rally were actors Tom Smothers, Warren Beatty, and Carl Reiner, and actress Shirley MacLaine. A tenth-grader at Concord Academy also showed up. Her name--Caroline Kennedy.