Eagleton withdrew after revelations about his health. This election occurred during the Watergate scandal. Ultimately, former Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver replaced Eagleston as his running mate, but the damage was done. George McGovern, who tapped the late Sargent Shriver as his 1972 running mate, remembers the optimism he brought to every challenge—be it creating the Special Olympics or … Sen. George McGovern speaks to reporters at Tokyo's Imperial Hotel in September, 1971. Yes, it happened in the 1972 election when George McGovern replaced his running mate late in the campaign against Nixon. Coming into the 1972 Democratic National Convention, South Dakota Senator Joshua M. Glasser explores George McGovern’s ill-fated selection of Thomas Eagleton as his running mate in 1972. Throughout the campaign, he was perceived by the public as a well-meaning but fuzzy minded radical leftist. George McGovern's running mate changed from Thomas Eagleton to Sargent Shriver because Eagleton had problems about his psychiatric before. This made McGovern look bad to his most idealistic supporters and haunted him throughout the campaign. Sen. George McGovern, D-S.D., said Saturday he was "startled and surprised" by statements by Sen. Edmund Muskie that he would not have a black man for a running mate in next year's presidential election. At left is his running mate, Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri, and at right, convention chairman Lawrence F. O'Brien. (Sen. George McGovern got 17 electoral votes in his 1972 defeat, winning Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.) “I did my best,” Mondale said the … (Associated Press) 9 / 24. FILE - In this July 14, 1972 file photo, Sen. George S. McGovern makes his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/business/media/robert-boyd-dead.html Some undid the work of their running mate, others bolstered their ticket. George Wallace, governor of Alabama was shot by a what would be assassin during the election. In July 1972, Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern chose Thomas Eagleton as his running mate. George McGovern with running mate Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Fla., in July 1972. Photograph: Anthony Korody/Getty George McGovern, right, and his running mate, Thomas Eagleton, in 1972.