Gentle Senator, Presidential Hopeful Empowered U.S. Antiwar Movement

Within three years, the war in Vietnam had begun to sap the president's popular and political support. In October 1967, thousands of demonstrators marched on the Pentagon to protest the escalating conflict. Just over a month later, on Nov. 30, McCarthy announced he would demonstrate his opposition to Johnson by challenging him in the 1968 Democratic presidential primaries.

For a few months that year, McCarthy "stood at the flash point of history with a book of matches in his hand," journalist Jim Naughton said in 1987. But McCarthy's failure to capitalize on the opportunity presaged his other quixotic presidential campaigns, in 1972, 1976, 1988 and 1992. He was never again taken seriously as a candidate.

He became increasingly critical of the two-party system and openly scornful of traditional politicians and campaign tactics. In 1984, he described Democratic presidential nominee Walter F. Mondale as a man with "the soul of a vice president." He had supported Ronald Reagan for president in 1980, arguing that anyone was better than Democrat Jimmy Carter.

After Sept. 11, 2001, he said the United States was partly to blame for ignoring the plight of the Palestinians. "You let a thing like that fester for 45 years, you have to expect something like this to happen," he told the Associated Press. He also told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that President Bush was an amateur and that he could not bear to watch the inauguration.

After leaving the Senate, McCarthy moved to Rappahannock County, Va., where he lived alone in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He wrote books, a folksy newspaper column and some poetry. One of his favorites he called "Lament of an Aging Politician."

I have left Act I, for

involution

And Act II. There, mired in

complexity

I cannot write Act III.

He strongly objected to the 2004 book "Eugene McCarthy: The Rise and Fall of Postwar American Liberalism," by British historian Dominic Sandbrook, calling it "awful . . . almost libelous." The book took a dim view of McCarthy's political legacy as a serial crusader.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said last night: "Gene's name will forever be linked with our family. In spite of the rivalry with Bobby in the 1968 campaign, I admired Gene enormously for his courage in challenging a war America never should have fought. His life speaks volumes to us today as we face a similar critical time for our country."

His wife, from whom he was separated but never divorced, Abigail Quigley McCarthy, died in 2001.

A daughter, Mary McCarthy, died in 1990.

Survivors include three children, Ellen McCarthy of Bethesda, Margaret McCarthy of Takoma Park and Michael McCarthy of Seattle; a brother and sister; and six grandchildren.