Voting for the First Time

November 7, 1972. I was a college freshman at the University of Illinois in Urbana, waiting patiently in a long line to vote for the first time.

Like many people I was unhappy that the U.S. was still involved in the war in Vietnam, even though two thirds of the ground troops had left by then. The high number of U.S. and South Vietnamese combat deaths, relentless bombing of Cambodia, thousands of civilian casualties, and the wasteland created by widespread spraying of Agent Orange had convinced me that new leadership was needed.

I cast my first vote for George McGovern with the confidence of youth, sure that others would do the same and that the war would end.

Even now it’s difficult to comprehend that the voting results for my dorm floor mirrored the national results: McGovern lost by a landslide; I was the only one of 25 girls who had voted for him.

While everyone else attended a victory party, I went to the end of the hall (there weren’t yet phones in the dorm rooms), called home and talked (actually cried) to my mom and dad about the experience. It was just so hard to believe that my fellow students felt so differently about national politics. It’s a lesson I’m still learning.

Betsy A.
Langley

Photo credits:

President Richard Nixon [left] from Biographical Directory of the United States of America, United States Senate.

Senator George McGovern [right] from Biographical Directory of the United States of America, United States Senate.