By Miles Rodriguez
"A 1968 opinion poll revealed that more college students identified with Che Guevara (20%) than with any of the 1968 presidential candidates" and in 1970, "the New York Times reported that four out of ten college students - nearly three million people" - thought a revolution was necessary in the US."
These quotes are taken from Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals turn to Lenin, Mao and Che, a new book by Max Elbaum, published by Verso Books, capturing the revolutionary mood of the 1968 generation of youth and students. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
According to this article in New York magazine http://www.revolutionintheair.com/reviews/dynamic.html on Howard Dean and the "netroots" which begins by relating the phenomenal success of the direct mail appeals for McGovern in the early which were sent to subscribers to Ramparts, my sense of the appeal of McGovern, contra Carrol Cox, wasn't so much to the radical left which he and Gary Hart cleverly demobilized (like the "Clean for Gene, " kids for Eugene McCarthy in '68 mobilized by Allard Lowenstein) was far more among upper class left-liberals and the "good government/student council" liberals in the anti-war movement like Sam Brown, who Carter later appointed to run VISTA, IIRC.
Having just looked at issues of Ramparts on microfilm from the 70's, there was great skepticism among the writers, editors and readers about McGovernism...and letters from such as Stew Alpert supporting the Symbionese Liberation Army.
That article in New York notes the insularity of the left-liberals who supported McGovern (I always giggle when remembering Paulene Kael after the landslide vs. McGovern, "How could this have happened?! Everyone I know voted for McGovern!") One could very easily say the same about the contemporary "anti-war movement". That over a hundred Democrats in the House of Representatives are in the, "Out of Iraq Caucus, " isn't due to "The Movement, " but, old fashioned American "isolationism" And this time, there isn't, and won't be, whatever YF fantisizes, a unified NLF of Iraq to project ones illusions onto as a revolutionary alternative to the Occupation.