McGovern to speak at Sandoz Society conference

McGovern’s address will be entitled “A Time for War, A Time for Peace.” The theme of this year’s meeting is “The Tom Walker,” a novel written by Mari Sandoz in 1947 that deals with the aftermath of war and war’s effects on society.

McGovern, 83, was a B-24 pilot in Europe during World War II, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. He is frequently described as one of the nation’s leading statesmen. He was invited to speak at the conference by Dr. Ron Hull of Lincoln, long-time president of the Sandoz Society and once a student of McGovern at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D.

McGovern served in the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota 1957-61 and in the U.S. Senate 1963-80. He was the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in 1972. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000 and was appointed the United Nations global ambassador on world hunger in 2001.

He has written 10 books and an spoken at more than 1,200 colleges and universities around the world.

The conference will continue on Friday, March 31 with a full day of sessions on various military topics scheduled in the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Society on the Chadron State College campus. The topics will include “The War at Home in the West,” “Collateral Damage: Domestic Violence in The Tom Walker,” “Prisoners of War in the West,” “Hitler’s Boys in the Heart of Nebraska” and “Army Posts on the Northern Plains, 1965-1948.”

Dr. Michael Cartwright, a professor of English at Chadron State and a long-time leader in the Sandoz Society, will give a history of the organization during a dinner Friday evening.

A tour of the Dawes County Historical Museum south of Chadron is planned for Friday afternoon while a tour of Fort Robinson west of Crawford is scheduled for Saturday morning.

More information is available by calling the Sandoz Center at Chadron State College at 308-432-6401. Reservations may be made online at www.marisandoz.org.