A Sad Farewell To Two Of The More Decent People Of Our Times

By Doug Draper

Their deaths at age 90 this October 19^th and 21^stare a reminder that as cynical as many of us may have become about those haunting the halls of government, we have had voices of courage, compassion and decency in public life.

It is almost a sad comment on Canada that most of the obituaries on Lincoln Alexander, who was born in Toronto and later became a proud citizen of Hamilton, Ontario, began with the fact that he was the country’s first black member of parliament and cabinet, and later became Ontario’s and the country’s first black lieutenant-governor.

Perhaps to the surprise of younger generations of Canadians in their teens and 20s today, whose life experience includes a black president in the White House and growing numbers of people of colour serving at all levels of government in both countries, Lincoln Alexander’s ascension to high office in the 1960s and 70s was a major breakthrough in race relations.

Alexander’s breaching of racial barriers came at a time when we Canadians, north of a 49^thparallel where we were more often pointing down south as if we were occupying the moral high ground and all of the racial bigotry was occurring down there where at least Americans were dealing with it more openly for all of the world to see. As someone who came of age in the1950s and 60s, I well remember people in Canada with nice Anglo-Saxon names like mine using some of the most off-colour language (usually more quietly, in the confines of their own homes) to describe people of colour, Jewish people and people of European descent.  So Alexander’s achievements were profound given that.

It would be a great disservice not to look past the colour barrier though to the hard work and dedication Alexander brought to the positions he held over the his decades of public service, not to mention his own drive to combat discrimination against others. In an excellent obituary on him, published this past October 20 in the Globe and Mail, we were reminded that Alexander, while serving as a cabinet minister in Conservative government of Joe Clark in 1979, broke away from many in his caucus to support a Liberal bill against hate language. “Are you saying that you can call my son or daughter a nigger and that is free speech,” he asked as he persuaded other members of his party to support the bill. 

Alexander also openly opposed any return of capital punishment in Canada and went on during his time as a lieutenant-governor and beyond to advocate for better services for seniors and people living in poverty. His brand of courage and compassion was also a hallmark of the public life of the other individual I wish to pay tribute to here – the late U.S. Senator for South Dakota, George McGovern.

During the 1960s, McGovern, a decorated Second World War bomber pilot, was one of the first politicians of any stature in his country to begin to question and eventually oppose the war the United States was then waging in Vietnam. He was once famously quoted saying; “I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.”

A strong supporter of Robert F. Kennedy when he was running for president in 1968 with a promise to end the War in Vietnam – a campaign that ended in tragedy with Kennedy’s assassination – McGovern went on to win his Democratic Party’s nomination for a presidential run in 1972 on a vow to bring American troops home as soon as he took office.

For a number of reasons that included news that his vice-presidential running mate Thomas Eagleton had a history of mental illness and a Democratic Party badly divided at the time between hawks and doves, he lost in a landslide of votes that went to Republican incumbent Richard Nixon. During the campaign, some of McGovern’s opponents took to calling him a “war wimp” despite his brave combat record.

In recent days, since the circulation of news a week ago that McGovern was on his death bed, even some of his old detractors admitted that, in retrospect, he was right in his stance against that war and it is sad to think of how many thousands of young Americans and Vietnamese would be alive today had he won the presidency and carried through with his promise to bring the war to an immediate end.

McGovern had a reputation for being one of the most progressive, liberal members of the U.S. government, and remained a strong voice for social justice for racial minorities, the poor and others facing bad treatment until his final days. Through the last decade, he was also an outspoken opponents of the U.S. war in Iraq. As recently as last year, he warned against extremist views in the Republican Party in his last book, ‘What It Means To Be A Democrat’.

I could go on and on about this great man who my parents once had the pleasure to meet on a visit to Washington but I will leave the final words to a journalism colleague from Montreal and friend of mine, Lawrence Pinsky.

In a brief note this October 21, Lawrence wrote; “I always loved this guy. One of few politicians I ever would have wanted to meet. I know you feel that way about RFK. For me it was McGovern. …”

“He was a straight shooter and would have been a great president at that time. … I saw McGovern interviewed many times and I could only view him as an inspiration each time. He had an unusual ability to combine huge intelligence with compassion, startling insight, egalitarianism, honesty, huge administrative capability and a true caring for the common man.”

“The last time I saw him interviewed was about two years ago. He was still as sharp as ever. When I heard the CBC documentary I was thinking that he was really getting on and how long could it be before we lost another special one.”

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