Question: Who was the Democratic Party presidential nominee that lost to Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential election?
Context: Following Republican nominee Donald Trump's presumed electoral college victory in the United States presidential election of 2016, a group of computer scientists, cyber security experts, and election monitors raised concerns about the integrity of the election results.  They urged the campaign staff of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who had conceded the campaign on November 9, to petition for a recount in three key states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.  When the Clinton campaign declined to file for recounts, Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein agreed to spearhead the recount effort on November 23, on the grounds that unspecified "anomalies" may have affected the election's outcome.  The Clinton team subsequently pledged to support the recount efforts "in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides."  President-elect Trump and his supporters filed legal motions in all three states to prevent the recounts.  Two other states were the subject of recount bids that were separate from Stein's efforts in the Rust Belt states: American Delta Party/Reform Party presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente filed for a partial recount in Nevada on November 30, and three Florida citizens filed for a complete hand recount in their state on December 6. The United States presidential election of 1972, the 47th quadrennial presidential election was held on Tuesday, November 7, 1972.  The Democratic Party’s nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, who ran an anti-war campaign against Republican incumbent President Richard Nixon, but was handicapped by his outsider status, limited support from his own party, the perception of many voters that he was a left-wing extremist and the scandal that resulted from the withdrawal of vice-presidential nominee Thomas Eagleton. The 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses were a series of electoral contests organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the Democratic National Convention held July 25–28 and determine the nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.  The elections took place within all fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories and occurred between February 1 and June 14, 2016.  An extra 716 unpledged delegates (712 votes) or "superdelegates", including party leaders and elected officials, were appointed by the party leadership independently of the primaries' electoral process.  The convention also approved the party's platform and vice-presidential nominee.  The Democratic nominee challenged other presidential candidates in national elections to succeed President Barack Obama at noon on January 20, 2017, following his two terms in office. The presidency of Richard Nixon began on January 20, 1969, when Nixon was inaugurated, and ended on August 9, 1974, when he resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office, the first U.S. president ever to do so.  He was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford, who had become vice president nine months earlier, following Spiro Agnew's resignation from office.  A Republican, Nixon took office after the 1968 presidential election, in which he defeated Hubert Humphrey, the then–incumbent Vice President.  Four years later, in 1972, he won reelection in a landslide victory over George McGovern. Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician.  He served as the 47th Governor of New York from 1943 to 1954.  In 1944, he was the Republican Party's nominee for President.  He lost the 1944 election to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the closest of Roosevelt's four presidential elections.  He was again the Republican presidential nominee in 1948, but lost to President Harry S. Truman in one of the greatest upsets in presidential election history.  Dewey played a large role in winning the Republican presidential nomination for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952, and helped Eisenhower win the presidential election that year.  He also played a large part in the choice of Richard M. Nixon as the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956. The 2016 Libertarian Party presidential primaries and caucuses allowed electors to indicate non-binding preferences for the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate.  These differed from the Republican or Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses in that they did not appoint delegates to represent a candidate at the party's convention to select the party's nominee for the United States presidential election.  The party's nominee for the 2016 presidential election was chosen directly by registered delegates at the 2016 Libertarian National Convention, which ran from May 26 to 30, 2016.  The delegates nominated former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld. George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American historian, author, U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 presidential election. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime is a book by political journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin about the 2008 United States presidential election.  Released on January 11, 2010, it was also published in the United Kingdom under the title Race of a Lifetime: How Obama Won the White House.  The book is based on interviews with more than 300 people involved in the campaign.  It discusses factors including Democratic Party presidential candidate John Edwards' extramarital affair, the relationship between Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his vice presidential running mate Joe Biden, the failure of Republican Party candidate Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign and Sarah Palin's vice presidential candidacy. The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960.  The Republican Party nominated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, while the Democratic Party nominated John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.  The incumbent President, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible for re-election after being elected the maximum two times allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment; he was the first President denied the choice to run for a third term by that amendment.  This was the first presidential election in which residents in Alaska and Hawaii were able to participate, as both had become states in 1959. George McGovern, a Democratic Party politician from South Dakota, was first elected to the United States House of Representatives to represent South Dakota's 1st congressional district in 1956.  He was re-elected in 1958, before making an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate in 1960 against Republican incumbent Karl Earl Mundt.  After serving in the John F. Kennedy administration as director of the Food for Peace program, McGovern ran again for the Senate and narrowly prevailed over appointed Senator Joseph H. Bottum.  In 1968, McGovern unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention and was re-elected to the Senate over former Governor of South Dakota Archie M. Gubbrud.  In 1972, McGovern was successful in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, but lost the election in a landslide to incumbent President Richard Nixon.  McGovern was re-elected to the Senate in 1974 over Vietnam War veteran Leo K. Thorsness, but lost re-election in 1980 to then-U.S. Representative James Abdnor.  McGovern made a final unsuccessful run for president in United States presidential election, 1984.
Answer: George McGovern