born March 29, 1916, Watkins, Minn., U.S.
U.S. politician.
He taught at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1949–59) and later the Senate (1959–71). A liberal Democrat, he became an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War . In 1968 he ran for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. His initial successes convinced Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson not to seek reelection. After losing the nomination to Hubert H. Humphrey , McCarthy decided not to run for reelection to the Senate. He made another unsuccessful attempt at the Democratic nomination in 1972 and ran unsuccessfully for president as an independent in 1976.