Complexities and Contraries; Essays of Mild Discontent

xii, 167, [1] pages. Inscribed by the author on the half-title page. Inscription reads To Hugh with best wishes Eugene McCarthy Dec 17, 1982. The distinguished politician wittily examines a wide range of subjects, including the presidency, social justice, arms control, the Irish character, and the press. Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916 - December 10, 2005) was an American politician from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. McCarthy sought the Democratic nomination in the 1968 presidential election, challenging incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson on an anti-Vietnam War platform. McCarthy sought the presidency five times, but never won. McCarthy, in 1948, was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until being elected to the Senate in 1958. As the 1960s progressed, McCarthy emerged as a prominent opponent of Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. McCarthy finished in a strong second place in the New Hampshire primary. McCarthy and Kennedy each won several primaries before Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968. McCarthy opposed Watergate-era campaign finance laws, becoming a plaintiff in the landmark case Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that certain provisions of federal campaign finance laws were unconstitutional.[35] McCarthy, the New York Civil Liberties Union, philanthropist Stewart Mott, the Conservative Party of New York State, the Mississippi Republican Party, and the Libertarian Party were the plaintiffs in Buckley, becoming key players in killing campaign spending limits and public financing of political campaigns. After leaving the Senate in 1971, McCarthy became a senior editor at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishing and a syndicated newspaper columnist. Among the topics addressed in this compilation are: Jimmy Carter, Celibacy, Endangered Species, Chrysler, Volunteer Army, Privacy, The Press, Irish, Baseball, Scandal, Polo, American History.…