George McGovern Former U.S. Senator Joins Crusade To End World Hunger in Three Decades by John Shaw George McGovern first reflected on the problem of global hunger more than 50 years ago when he was a young American soldier in Europe. Based in Italy during the last two years of World War II, McGovern saw a devastated nation with hungry people scrounging through garbage cans in search of food. The images of those people and the anguish of that time have never left him. This experience ignited a lifelong quest to use creative public policies to feed hungry people around the world. McGovern, a former U.S. senator and Democratic nominee for president, returned to Italy in 1998 to serve as the American ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture agencies. From his post in Rome, McGovern is working hard on what is now the consuming passion of his professional life: to win support for a bold, idealistic strategy to end global hunger within three decades. ìWhen I look at the worldís problems, so many of them seem intractable, almost insolvable. But not hunger. Hunger is a political condition. We can end hunger, not tomorrow, but we can do it by 2030,î he said in an interview at the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, D.C. ìThat gives us three decades to achieve what would surely be the greatest victory in world history. I can think of no investment that would profit the international community more than erasing hunger from the face of the earth,î he added. McGovern, now 78, is a kindly, courtly man with a modest manner, Back in Washington on a tour to promote his book, ìThe Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time,î he is determined to focus attention on widespread hunger and to build support for an effort to eliminate this scourge. A native of South Dakota who grew up during the drought and depression days of the 1930s, McGovern has an extensive background in agriculture, politicsóand the politics of agriculture. McGovern studied history at Dakota Wesleyan University before leaving school to enlist as a pilot during World War II. McGovern flew 35 combat missions over Germany, Austria and other parts of Eastern Europe and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor. After the war, McGovern completed his undergraduate degree, earned his doctorate in history at Northwestern University and then returned to South Dakota for a position as a college professor. In addition to teaching, McGovern helped build the Democratic Party in his state. He was elected to Congress in 1956 and served for two terms. President John F. Kennedy selected him to be the first director of the U.S.ís Food for Peace program. McGovern won rave reviews for his creative and energetic work in using American surplus crops to help hungry people in other nations. He vividly recalls a meeting with Pope John XXIII who praised him for following the Biblical injunction to feed the hungry. McGovern was elected to the Senate in 1962 and served there for three terms. He was the Democratic Partyís candidate for president in 1972 but lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon. He said he still thinks about his defeat and replays decisions he made during the campaign. But McGovern is proud of his effort, especially his firm opposition to the war in Vietnam. He believes he has been vindicated by history. ìI said what I believed and accept that the country was not ready to hear it. Of course, it hurt to lose, but every time I walk through an airport people come up to me and say they voted for me in 1972, and theyíre still proud of that vote,î he said. ìOf course, if all of these people had actually voted for me I would have won,î he added with a smile. After his defeat McGovern returned to the Senate and resumed his career as an active and respected lawmaker. For a decade, he chaired a special committee to examine nutrition issues and helped pass laws that transformed nutrition and food assistance in the United States. Collaborating with key senators such as Robert Dole and Edward Kennedy, McGovern wrote legislation to expand food stamps and school breakfast and lunch programs. He also helped create the highly regarded Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program that provides nutritious food and counseling to low-income pregnant and nursing mothers and their infants. ìNext to my long fight in the Senate to end Americaís involvement in the Vietnam War, the thing Iím most proud about is my work as chairman of the Select Committee on Nutrition. That was the committee that literally revolutionized food assistance in the United States in the 1970s. It laid the foundation for a scientifically and humanely sound nutrition policy for the American people,î he said. McGovern lost his Senate seat in 1980 and moved back into private life. He lectured on college campuses, wrote several books and served as the president of the Middle East Council. He and his wife, Eleanor, settled into a comfortable life in Washington. Then several top officials in the Clinton administration, led by his former speechwriter, Sandy Berger, asked him to represent the United States to the U.N. Food and Agricultural agencies in Rome. ìAt first, I wasnít sure I wanted to take the job. My wife and I discussed it for two or three months,î he said. ìI thought it might be a dead-end job, the sort they give to defeated former presidential candidates to get them out of the country. But I finally decided to take it. And after I had been there for a year or so, I began to see the possibilities of the job. I got very excited about it,î he added. McGovern represents the United States to the World Food Program that runs a food assistance program, the Food and Agriculture Organizationówhich focuses on long-term assistance to farmers in the developing worldóand the International Fund for Agriculture Development, which provides low interest loans for agriculture and rural development projects. He relishes his return to food and nutrition issues and says he wants to use his experience in the United States to craft international programs that help nations that are struggling with malnutrition. McGovern is a strong advocate of a universal school lunch program. He said there are 300 million hungry children across the world, and 130 million of them donít attend school regularly. ìThe one thing we can do is to provide a universal school lunch. Weíre going to get that done. Iím convinced itís a doable, practical goal. It will feed these kids and serve as a magnet to get them to come to school,î he said. Contemplating a broader agenda, McGovern reviewed the deliberations of the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome and was intrigued by its call to reduce the number of chronically hungry in the world from the current level of about 800 million to 400 million by 2015. He then proposed the more ambitious goal of eliminating global hunger by 2030. McGovern said it is cheaper to end hunger than to allow it to continue. He cited a World Bank report that estimates malnutrition each year causes the loss of 46 million years of productive work at a cost of $16 billion. McGovern said the world community can end hunger by spending about $6 billion annually above current levels. The goal of ending hunger by 2030 should be endorsed by the White House, the U.S. Congress and the UN General Assembly, he said. McGovern said the effort should include a universal school lunch and a global WIC program. It should also set aside food rese rves for emergencies, create an international Farmers Corps in which experienced farmers help the developing world improve farm production, food processing and food distribution. The program, he said, should take advantage of high-yield, scientific agriculture, including genetically modified crops, to increase production. McGovern describes the problem of hunger and offers his solutions in his new book, ìThe Third Freedom.î He said there was a need for a brief book to explain the issues associated with global hunger. It took him about a year to write the bookóduring evenings, on weekends and while traveling. He hopes it will serve as a vehicle to build the case for an aggressive attack on hungeróin the key U.N. agencies in Rome, in capitals around the world and in the United States. ìWe need to get other nations to join us. I see my job in Rome as to persuade my fellow ambassadors and delegates to the logic of this proposal. Then weíve got to persuade the Congress and the Bush administration this is a good idea. I think we can sell the Congress and the administration on that,î he said. Secretary of State Colin Powell has asked McGovern to remain at his post in Rome and he has agreed to stay. McGovern wants to discuss his program to end global hunger later this year with Powell, Treasury Secretary Paul OíNeill and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. ìIím not going to be satisfied until we have all three of them on board. And I want President Bush on board as well,î he said. McGovern said he views his current work as a high calling and the perfect conclusion to a career that began as a soldier in Europe. Iím living the old Biblical injunction to beat swords into plowshares,î he said. McGovern said he will argue for his agenda on both humanitarian and practical grounds. ìHunger keeps a lot of potentially magnificent people from reaching their potential. There is such an enormous loss if we have 800 million people, nearly one-seventh of the people in the world, who are struggling with hunger,î he said. ìI doubt we can end war or stop bigotry or solve global warming or end the AIDS crisis. But I do know we can end hunger on this planet at a reasonable cost. So if we cannot solve all of humanityís problems, let us resolve to solve at least one by the year 2030óhuman hunger.î John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.