TITUSVILLE, Fla. — In his 88 years, George McGovern has served as a U.S. senator and made a run for the presidency. And now he can say he has jumped out of an airplane, too.
McGovern, a Democrat who represented South Dakota in the Senate from 1963 to 1981, celebrated his 88th birthday Monday morning by skydiving in Florida.
He said his tandem jump was dedicated to increasing awareness of people who are starving around the world, particularly children.
He told the Florida Today newspaper that he hoped people would contact their congressional representatives to encourage them to increase funding to fight hunger.
McGovern on Sunday told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader that he had wondered what it was like to jump from an airplane since his days as an Army combat pilot in World War II. He said there were several times that he lost engines or parts of his plane while flying over Germany and was close to bailing.
McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election to Richard Nixon.
