George McGovern, a former U.S. lawmaker best known for a devastating defeat in the 1972 presidential election, has died. He was 90.

McGovern passed away on Sunday in his native South Dakota. Family members say he had been suffering from a “combination of medical conditions” that had worsened. He was recently admitted to hospice care.

McGovern served terms as a Democratic Congressman and a Senator between 1957 and 1981.

In 1972, he campaigned on a platform opposing the Vietnam war as he challenged then-President Richard Nixon. He suffered one of the most severe defeats in a U.S. presidential election, winning a majority of votes in only one of the 50 U.S. states and in the District of Columbia.

In a 2006 interview with VOA, McGovern said his views on the Vietnam War were shaped by the time he spent as a combat pilot during World War Two.

“I came out of that war, especially after the atomic bomb was set off — destroying two great cities in Japan — with the feeling that we have got to do something to halt this kind of barbaric enterprise. So, I think almost from the end of World War Two, I have been doing what I can to settle our disputes with other countries, where possible, without going to war.”

McGovern said he saw parallels between the Vietnam War and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“I think it was a great mistake to go into Vietnam, a country that was no threat to the United States and wanted nothing much other than to be recognized as a legitimate government. It was a mistake to go into Iraq, another country that was no threat to us and had nothing to do with the 9-11 attack. Our leaders, some of them, seem to think we are fighting terrorism in Iraq. I think we're causing it.”

Later in his life, McGovern served a lecturer, teacher and the United Nations Global Ambassador on World Hunger.