[ George McGovern and Newfoundlands ]
McGovern (1992 - 2012) was an American Air Force pilot and politician, serving in both the House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate. He was the Democratic Party's candidate for President of the United States in 1972, losing to Richard Nixon.
McGovern and his wife Eleanor owned two Newfoundlands (at different times): Atticus, named after the lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, and Ursa, Latin for "bear."
Atticus got a mention in the New York Times during McGovern's unsuccessful run for the presidency. In the "Notes on People" section of July 22, 1972, appeared this note and photo:
There was Senator George McGover, the Presidential candidate, whispering in the ear of a passenger who was refusing to get aboard his chartered plane in Washington. Finally, one of the Senator's sons-in-law, Wilbur Mead, lugged aboard the plane Atticus, the McGovern's black Newfoundland dog. (17)
Atticus was also mentioned briefly in an August 25, 1972, New York Times article about life in the McGovern household during the time George McGovern was campainging for the presidency: "Inside, two-year-old Timothy scampered around with Atticus, a black Newfoundland dog."
When Atticus died at the age of 13, McGovern wrote a moving eulogy for his beloved pet, published in the Washington Post on February 7, 1982; you can read it here.
Atticus was also the subject of a light-hearted story by the noted political political columnist Mary McGrory; you can read that article here.
Ursa got press as well, as you can see in this story about Ursa and McGovern at work.
Ursa even made her way into the Congressional Record, the official record of the proceedings of the U. S. Congress, when a Massachusetts congressman read into the record a tribute to Eleanor McGovern, written by Jill Callison and originally published in the Sioux Falls Argos Leader on May 15, 2005.You can read the entire tribute here, but the sole reference to Ursa is below:
Last week, the McGoverns took off on a three-day trip to reach their summer home in southwestern Montana, in the shadow of the Bitterroot Mountains.
The trip takes three days, Eleanor McGovern says, to make it easier on the pets, an 8-year-old Newfoundland named Ursa and a 1-year-old tortoiseshell cat found on the highway. Its name, she admits with a trace of embarrassment, is Kittycat.
Ursa, they say, is George's dog. But the nurturing Newfie proved her loyalty about three years ago. Eleanor McGovern had fallen, breaking her leg in two places. She dragged herself to her bedroom but was unable to reach the phone. Ursa curled herself around the prone woman for 24 hours, until help arrived.
McGovern with his Newfoundland "Ursa"
photo credit: Tom Dempster
