Halsey McGovern, his wife Marguerite had six children
McGovern was born in Nashville, Tenn., and he grew up in Atlanta, Ga. He was a freight rate specialist, initially for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in Atlanta and later as a private consultant in Washington, D.C. Beginning in 1952, he published the monthly newsletters Letter and Epistle expressing his viewpoints on a variety of political issues, particularly his opposition to communism. The scrapbooks include newspaper and magazine articles and letters to editors and politicians voicing McGovern's support for Senator Joseph McCarthy and others who charged that the government was infiltrated and manipulated by communists and their allies. His writings in opposition to the United Nations, the Korean War, racial integration, and civil rights cultivated supporters whose letters and printed material are also contained in the scrapbooks. Among these were leaders of the Catholic church and other religious and political organizations, including the Congress of Freedom, Friends of Senator McCarthy, John Birch Society, Fighting Homefolks of Fighting Men, and Defenders of the American Constitution.
The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories
Halsey McGovern papers
Repository: Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
The papers of John Halsey McGovern (1886-1983) span the years 1945-1983 and include newsletters, a booklet, and scrapbooks.
Halsey McGovern sat down at his typewriter in Northwest Washington to begin one of the most heartbreaking tasks a father could face.
A telegram had arrived three days earlier--on Feb. 12, 1951--to say McGovern's son Bob had died leading a valiant charge in combat in Korea. Now his father set out to break that news to his son Jerome, who was in Korea with another Army division.
"Only those of us here in the family fully realize how badly this news will sadden you, Jerome," the 65-year-old traffic consultant typed. " . . . I am sure that you will act like the fine man you are. . . . May God bless you and protect you, is the sincerest wish of your old Dad."
As his father wrote those words, Jerome already was dead--struck down while rallying his platoon as it rushed up a desolate hill in the face of withering enemy fire. The letter came back to the McGoverns' Petworth home stamped "missing in action."
They went out to Korea together, they came home together, and now, after a double funeral, they lie side-by-side in rest--which is the way I believe they would have liked it, had they known that things were to turn out as they have," Halsey McGovern wrote in a letter a few days later.
Halsey McGovern buried his boys side by side at Arlington and made front-page news across the nation when he rejected the honors awarded them. Halsey McGovern--embittered by the national indifference to the Korean War--refused to accept either medal.
For Halsey McGovern, his sons' sacrifice boiled down to the words he wrote that are inscribed on their shared headstone in Arlington:
To their conscience they were true
And had the genius to be men
2nd Lt. Francis Jerome McGovern
October 4, 1929
Washington, D.C.
February 10, 1951
Silver Star
Purple Heart
1st Lt. Robert Milton McGovern
January 24, 1928
Washington, D.C.
January 30, 1951
Congressional Medal of Honor
Purple Heart
For his heroic action Robert was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest wartime distinction. Francis, called by his middle name, Jerome, was awarded the Silver Star, another high medal for valor. Broken-hearted by the loss of his two sons within days of each other, the distressed father refused to accept either award. The story of the McGovern brothers brought the war home to Washington, but it exploded into national controversy two months after the funeral, when the Army nominated Bob McGovern for the Medal of Honor.
"I don't think Truman is worthy to confer honors on my boys, or anyone's boys," he told reporters. Several members of Congress offered to present the medals, but McGovern turned them down, saying the matter was closed.
Although he lived to be 97, he never wavered on that point. In a letter to relatives, he acknowledged that the citation that accompanied Bob's medal "will make you proud of him and of all the American kids who die and have died over there."
In a letter to the Army turning down the medals, Halsey McGovern wrote that the failure of the U. S. government to support the troops in the field by an all-out war effort “sears the soul.”
In 1990, seven years after Halsey McGovern's death, the surviving McGovern siblings asked the Army to issue the medals, and they were presented to St. John's. The school is planning a new display for the medals and intends to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the McGoverns' death, a spokesman said.
McGovern was born in Nashville, Tenn., and he grew up in Atlanta, Ga. He was a freight rate specialist, initially for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in Atlanta and later as a private consultant in Washington, D.C. Beginning in 1952, he published the monthly newsletters Letter and Epistle expressing his viewpoints on a variety of political issues, particularly his opposition to communism. The scrapbooks include newspaper and magazine articles and letters to editors and politicians voicing McGovern's support for Senator Joseph McCarthy and others who charged that the government was infiltrated and manipulated by communists and their allies. His writings in opposition to the United Nations, the Korean War, racial integration, and civil rights cultivated supporters whose letters and printed material are also contained in the scrapbooks. Among these were leaders of the Catholic church and other religious and political organizations, including the Congress of Freedom, Friends of Senator McCarthy, John Birch Society, Fighting Homefolks of Fighting Men, and Defenders of the American Constitution.
The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories
Halsey McGovern papers
Repository: Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
The papers of John Halsey McGovern (1886-1983) span the years 1945-1983 and include newsletters, a booklet, and scrapbooks.
Halsey McGovern sat down at his typewriter in Northwest Washington to begin one of the most heartbreaking tasks a father could face.
A telegram had arrived three days earlier--on Feb. 12, 1951--to say McGovern's son Bob had died leading a valiant charge in combat in Korea. Now his father set out to break that news to his son Jerome, who was in Korea with another Army division.
"Only those of us here in the family fully realize how badly this news will sadden you, Jerome," the 65-year-old traffic consultant typed. " . . . I am sure that you will act like the fine man you are. . . . May God bless you and protect you, is the sincerest wish of your old Dad."
As his father wrote those words, Jerome already was dead--struck down while rallying his platoon as it rushed up a desolate hill in the face of withering enemy fire. The letter came back to the McGoverns' Petworth home stamped "missing in action."
They went out to Korea together, they came home together, and now, after a double funeral, they lie side-by-side in rest--which is the way I believe they would have liked it, had they known that things were to turn out as they have," Halsey McGovern wrote in a letter a few days later.
Halsey McGovern buried his boys side by side at Arlington and made front-page news across the nation when he rejected the honors awarded them. Halsey McGovern--embittered by the national indifference to the Korean War--refused to accept either medal.
For Halsey McGovern, his sons' sacrifice boiled down to the words he wrote that are inscribed on their shared headstone in Arlington:
To their conscience they were true
And had the genius to be men
2nd Lt. Francis Jerome McGovern
October 4, 1929
Washington, D.C.
February 10, 1951
Silver Star
Purple Heart
1st Lt. Robert Milton McGovern
January 24, 1928
Washington, D.C.
January 30, 1951
Congressional Medal of Honor
Purple Heart
For his heroic action Robert was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest wartime distinction. Francis, called by his middle name, Jerome, was awarded the Silver Star, another high medal for valor. Broken-hearted by the loss of his two sons within days of each other, the distressed father refused to accept either award. The story of the McGovern brothers brought the war home to Washington, but it exploded into national controversy two months after the funeral, when the Army nominated Bob McGovern for the Medal of Honor.
"I don't think Truman is worthy to confer honors on my boys, or anyone's boys," he told reporters. Several members of Congress offered to present the medals, but McGovern turned them down, saying the matter was closed.
Although he lived to be 97, he never wavered on that point. In a letter to relatives, he acknowledged that the citation that accompanied Bob's medal "will make you proud of him and of all the American kids who die and have died over there."
In a letter to the Army turning down the medals, Halsey McGovern wrote that the failure of the U. S. government to support the troops in the field by an all-out war effort “sears the soul.”
In 1990, seven years after Halsey McGovern's death, the surviving McGovern siblings asked the Army to issue the medals, and they were presented to St. John's. The school is planning a new display for the medals and intends to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the McGoverns' death, a spokesman said.
Halsey McGovern, his wife Marguerite had six children
McGovern was born in Nashville, Tenn., and he grew up in Atlanta, Ga. He was a freight rate specialist, initially for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in Atlanta and later as a private consultant in Washington, D.C. Beginning in 1952, he published the monthly newsletters Letter and Epistle expressing his viewpoints on a variety of political issues, particularly his opposition to communism. The scrapbooks include newspaper and magazine articles and letters to editors and politicians voicing McGovern's support for Senator Joseph McCarthy and others who charged that the government was infiltrated and manipulated by communists and their allies. His writings in opposition to the United Nations, the Korean War, racial integration, and civil rights cultivated supporters whose letters and printed material are also contained in the scrapbooks. Among these were leaders of the Catholic church and other religious and political organizations, including the Congress of Freedom, Friends of Senator McCarthy, John Birch Society, Fighting Homefolks of Fighting Men, and Defenders of the American Constitution.
The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories
Halsey McGovern papers
Repository: Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
The papers of John Halsey McGovern (1886-1983) span the years 1945-1983 and include newsletters, a booklet, and scrapbooks.
Halsey McGovern sat down at his typewriter in Northwest Washington to begin one of the most heartbreaking tasks a father could face.
A telegram had arrived three days earlier--on Feb. 12, 1951--to say McGovern's son Bob had died leading a valiant charge in combat in Korea. Now his father set out to break that news to his son Jerome, who was in Korea with another Army division.
"Only those of us here in the family fully realize how badly this news will sadden you, Jerome," the 65-year-old traffic consultant typed. " . . . I am sure that you will act like the fine man you are. . . . May God bless you and protect you, is the sincerest wish of your old Dad."
As his father wrote those words, Jerome already was dead--struck down while rallying his platoon as it rushed up a desolate hill in the face of withering enemy fire. The letter came back to the McGoverns' Petworth home stamped "missing in action."
They went out to Korea together, they came home together, and now, after a double funeral, they lie side-by-side in rest--which is the way I believe they would have liked it, had they known that things were to turn out as they have," Halsey McGovern wrote in a letter a few days later.
Halsey McGovern buried his boys side by side at Arlington and made front-page news across the nation when he rejected the honors awarded them. Halsey McGovern--embittered by the national indifference to the Korean War--refused to accept either medal.
For Halsey McGovern, his sons' sacrifice boiled down to the words he wrote that are inscribed on their shared headstone in Arlington:
To their conscience they were true
And had the genius to be men
2nd Lt. Francis Jerome McGovern
October 4, 1929
Washington, D.C.
February 10, 1951
Silver Star
Purple Heart
1st Lt. Robert Milton McGovern
January 24, 1928
Washington, D.C.
January 30, 1951
Congressional Medal of Honor
Purple Heart
For his heroic action Robert was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest wartime distinction. Francis, called by his middle name, Jerome, was awarded the Silver Star, another high medal for valor. Broken-hearted by the loss of his two sons within days of each other, the distressed father refused to accept either award. The story of the McGovern brothers brought the war home to Washington, but it exploded into national controversy two months after the funeral, when the Army nominated Bob McGovern for the Medal of Honor.
"I don't think Truman is worthy to confer honors on my boys, or anyone's boys," he told reporters. Several members of Congress offered to present the medals, but McGovern turned them down, saying the matter was closed.
Although he lived to be 97, he never wavered on that point. In a letter to relatives, he acknowledged that the citation that accompanied Bob's medal "will make you proud of him and of all the American kids who die and have died over there."
In a letter to the Army turning down the medals, Halsey McGovern wrote that the failure of the U. S. government to support the troops in the field by an all-out war effort “sears the soul.”
In 1990, seven years after Halsey McGovern's death, the surviving McGovern siblings asked the Army to issue the medals, and they were presented to St. John's. The school is planning a new display for the medals and intends to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the McGoverns' death, a spokesman said.
McGovern was born in Nashville, Tenn., and he grew up in Atlanta, Ga. He was a freight rate specialist, initially for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in Atlanta and later as a private consultant in Washington, D.C. Beginning in 1952, he published the monthly newsletters Letter and Epistle expressing his viewpoints on a variety of political issues, particularly his opposition to communism. The scrapbooks include newspaper and magazine articles and letters to editors and politicians voicing McGovern's support for Senator Joseph McCarthy and others who charged that the government was infiltrated and manipulated by communists and their allies. His writings in opposition to the United Nations, the Korean War, racial integration, and civil rights cultivated supporters whose letters and printed material are also contained in the scrapbooks. Among these were leaders of the Catholic church and other religious and political organizations, including the Congress of Freedom, Friends of Senator McCarthy, John Birch Society, Fighting Homefolks of Fighting Men, and Defenders of the American Constitution.
The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories
Halsey McGovern papers
Repository: Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
The papers of John Halsey McGovern (1886-1983) span the years 1945-1983 and include newsletters, a booklet, and scrapbooks.
Halsey McGovern sat down at his typewriter in Northwest Washington to begin one of the most heartbreaking tasks a father could face.
A telegram had arrived three days earlier--on Feb. 12, 1951--to say McGovern's son Bob had died leading a valiant charge in combat in Korea. Now his father set out to break that news to his son Jerome, who was in Korea with another Army division.
"Only those of us here in the family fully realize how badly this news will sadden you, Jerome," the 65-year-old traffic consultant typed. " . . . I am sure that you will act like the fine man you are. . . . May God bless you and protect you, is the sincerest wish of your old Dad."
As his father wrote those words, Jerome already was dead--struck down while rallying his platoon as it rushed up a desolate hill in the face of withering enemy fire. The letter came back to the McGoverns' Petworth home stamped "missing in action."
They went out to Korea together, they came home together, and now, after a double funeral, they lie side-by-side in rest--which is the way I believe they would have liked it, had they known that things were to turn out as they have," Halsey McGovern wrote in a letter a few days later.
Halsey McGovern buried his boys side by side at Arlington and made front-page news across the nation when he rejected the honors awarded them. Halsey McGovern--embittered by the national indifference to the Korean War--refused to accept either medal.
For Halsey McGovern, his sons' sacrifice boiled down to the words he wrote that are inscribed on their shared headstone in Arlington:
To their conscience they were true
And had the genius to be men
2nd Lt. Francis Jerome McGovern
October 4, 1929
Washington, D.C.
February 10, 1951
Silver Star
Purple Heart
1st Lt. Robert Milton McGovern
January 24, 1928
Washington, D.C.
January 30, 1951
Congressional Medal of Honor
Purple Heart
For his heroic action Robert was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest wartime distinction. Francis, called by his middle name, Jerome, was awarded the Silver Star, another high medal for valor. Broken-hearted by the loss of his two sons within days of each other, the distressed father refused to accept either award. The story of the McGovern brothers brought the war home to Washington, but it exploded into national controversy two months after the funeral, when the Army nominated Bob McGovern for the Medal of Honor.
"I don't think Truman is worthy to confer honors on my boys, or anyone's boys," he told reporters. Several members of Congress offered to present the medals, but McGovern turned them down, saying the matter was closed.
Although he lived to be 97, he never wavered on that point. In a letter to relatives, he acknowledged that the citation that accompanied Bob's medal "will make you proud of him and of all the American kids who die and have died over there."
In a letter to the Army turning down the medals, Halsey McGovern wrote that the failure of the U. S. government to support the troops in the field by an all-out war effort “sears the soul.”
In 1990, seven years after Halsey McGovern's death, the surviving McGovern siblings asked the Army to issue the medals, and they were presented to St. John's. The school is planning a new display for the medals and intends to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the McGoverns' death, a spokesman said.
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