South Dakota honors the late Senator George McGovern Friday; his funeral starts at 1 p.m. central time. Thursday night, dignitaries from across the U.S. paid tribute to the man who dedicated his life to public service.
During more than two hours of memorial to McGovern, nine people took to a lectern to share their memories. One of those is U-S Vice President Joe Biden. In a 25 minute address, Biden calls McGovern a hero.
"His egalitarian sense of fairness, his instinct for decency, transformed my party, unrelated to the war – opened it to women, young people, minorities. He is the father of the father of the modern Democratic party. Your father is the father of the modern Democratic party," Biden says.
The vice president says thousands of people are alive because of McGovern’s staunch and passionate opposition to the war in Vietnam.
McGovern died Sunday at the age of 90.