George McGovern, Richard Nixon Challenger, Dies

Former US Senator George McGovern, who stood as the Democratic presidential candidate against Richard Nixon in 1972, has died, aged 90.

He was in a hospice in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and slipped out of consciousness three days ago.

A liberal standard-bearer, Mr McGovern was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, but lost to Nixon by a landslide.

He was first elected to Congress in 1956. During the Second World War, he served as a US Air Force pilot.

After four years in the House of Representatives, he served in the Senate for South Dakota from 1963 to 1981.

At the time, he was seen as a leading voice of the Democratic party’s liberal wing.

Mr McGovern was admitted to hospice care “with a combination of medical conditions, due to age, that have worsened over recent months”, his family said in a statement earlier this month.