He was elected to the US House of Representatives 1948 and to the US Senate 1958. An early opponent of the Vietnam War, he ran for president 1968. Although his upset victory in the New Hampshire primary forced incumbent L B Johnson out of the race, McCarthy lost the Democratic nomination to Hubert Humphrey. Born in Watkins, Minnesota, USA, McCarthy received a master's degree in economics from the University of Minnesota and became active in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party. After another unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1972, he returned to private life, concentrating on writing and lecturing.
