50 years ago: McCarthy stuns political world in NH presidential primary

50 years ago, on March 12, 1968, Minnesota's Democratic U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy stunned the political world when he gained 42 percent of the vote in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire presidential primary election. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced by the end of the month that he would not run for re-election.

McCarthy is best known for his 1968 presidential campaign, which was the subject of a 2006 Minnesota Public Radio News documentary. Based on archival recordings, the audio documentary offers insight into McCarthy's personality and the disconnect between the candidate and his supporters.

Sen. Eugene McCarthy was a witty intellectual with a passion for poetry who represented Minnesota for several decades in Congress. He died in 2005 at the age of 89. His political legacy will forever be defined by 1968, when McCarthy turned his opposition to the Vietnam War into a crusade for the presidency. "The McCarthy Tapes" takes us back to the 1968 campaign through the audio recordings of the McCarthy archive at the University of Minnesota's Elmer L. Andersen Library

"The McCarthy Tapes" was produced by MPR News reporter Tim Pugmire.