( CNN ) -- Former presidential nominee and Sen. George McGovern has been admitted to a hospice in Sioux Falls , South Dakota , a spokeswoman for the facility said Monday . `` The family of Sen. McGovern wishes to extend their gratitude and appreciation for the many prayers and well wishes and requests complete privacy at this time , '' said Lindsey Meyers , spokeswoman for Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center . McGovern , 90 , is best known for his unsuccessful 1972 campaign for president as the Democratic nominee against incumbent Republican Richard Nixon . In 1972 , McGovern was selected as the Democratic Party nominee for president on a platform that included ending the war in Vietnam at a time when the country was torn over U.S. involvement there . Opinion : When candidates said 'no ' to debates . `` Let us resolve that never again will we send the precious young blood of this country to die trying to prop up a corrupt military dictatorship abroad , '' he said to applause at the Democratic convention in Miami Beach . `` We mentioned Vietnam . That tore the Democratic Party in half , '' McGovern told CNN in 2006 . `` You were either a hawk or a dove . You -- you were n't allowed to be neutral . '' But the campaign started out poorly . He selected as running mate Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri after a background check that did not turn up the fact that Eagleton had been treated for mental illness , a fact that was revealed soon thereafter . Eagleton withdrew and McGovern then tapped Sargent Shriver , a brother-in-law of John F. Kennedy and U.S. ambassador to France . The pair ended up losing in a lopsided vote for incumbent Richard Nixon , with the McGovern ticket earning only 17 electoral votes -- from Massachusetts and the District of Columbia -- to Nixon 's 520 . He represented South Dakota in the U.S. Senate and House before and after his presidential campaign , leaving the daily foray of politics after losing his 1980 bid for a fourth Senate term . Concessions complicated in contentious campaigns . McGovern has remained active since , including an appointment by then-President Bill Clinton as an ambassador to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and a 2001 appointment as the U.N. 's first global ambassador for hunger . He met his wife , Eleanor , while at Dakota Wesleyan University in 1941 , before he joined the Army . He flew 35 combat missions as a B-24 bomber pilot in Europe , and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross . The McGoverns had five children , but one of their daughters died in 1994 . Eleanor died in 2007 . In April : McGovern hospitalized in Florida . 2011 : McGovern taken to hospital after fall . CNN 's Carma Hassan contributed to this story .
Senate ran for president in 1941 against Richard Nixon . He served 35 terms in the McGovern , representing Miami Beach . No details were released about his condition .