Hundreds Turn Out For McGovern Prayer Service
by Associated Press
October 25, 2012 7:26 PM
A prayer service to honor former U.S. Sen. and three-time presidential candidate George McGovern has started at a church in Sioux Falls.
McGovern, the former Democratic presidential candidate, died Sunday at age 90.
Vice President Joe Biden received a standing ovation at the start of the prayer service.
Former state Sen. Scott Heidepriem thanked Biden for coming to South Dakota and honoring McGovern, at which point the hundreds of people in attendance stood up and clapped.
McGovern and Biden are former Senate colleagues. Biden is among the political dignitaries expected at a Thursday evening prayer service.
The founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center says George McGovern will go down in history for his fight against the Vietnam War.
Morris Dees spoke about the former U.S. senator during a prayer service Thursday night.
Dees says McGovern made one of the most courageous speeches by any politician in 1970. That's when McGovern stood in front of his fellow senators and said each of them "reeks of blood" for the many young men dying in the Vietnam War.
McGovern was staunchly opposed to the war and campaigned on a promise to end it during the 1972 presidential election.
McGovern lost in a historic landslide to Richard Nixon in 1972.
McGovern's funeral is set for Friday.
*Photo Courtesy: Associated Press
