I'm just a tad biased when it comes to McCarthy. I wrote his campaign song and worked on his behalf from the primaries on. I think RFK understood the issues, but I think McCarthy 'meant' it. The voting records of both Humphrey and McCarthy with regard to civil rights were very good--exceptional, in fact. That particular set of primaries and the end result in Chicago, 1968, were the end of both belief in the so-called democratic process in the US and and belief by many that voting could ever change anything for the better. Of course, the war dragged on for five more years. Nixon, while good in terms of his China policy, was a devious sonuvabitch, and his eventual resignation--read resign or be impeached--left a seriously bad taste in the mouths of Democrats, Republicans and voters of both persuasions. At the least, it caused people to question the Electoral College, and people still question its usefulness today.

I would point out that while opposition to the war had got many 'folkies' involved, the reality is that less than 5% of American people were involved in antiwar protest. It wasn't until the body bags started being returned to small town America that the tide of opposition to the war grew.

I think the nail in the peace platform really happened after the murder of Martin Luther King because so many lost all faith in America as a land of the free. People of colour had a man who was not afraid to stand up, and people saw what happened to people who stood up.

Today, those who voice opposition to 'the machine' face a similar fate although it's not bullets now, it's economic strangulation. The difference in manner of death is purely cosmetic.

That's my take on it, anyway, GfS. Thank you for asking.