Streisand / LIVE 

This concert was a political fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern’s campaign.  He was running against the Republican incumbent, President Richard Nixon with a platform that appealed to many Americans: withdrawal from the Vietnam war; reduction in defense spending; and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. 

Actor Warren Beatty, a passionate supporter of George McGovern, masterminded the entire concert and convinced Streisand to perform; Lou Adler produced the show.

“Since the arts have the ability to raise funds and at times I can organize well, I did it,” Beatty told the press “It's a whole group of artists, independent and intelligent people, getting together on the same bill behind McGovern, the man with the immaculate slate. I'm not saying people like Carole King, Quincy Jones or Barbra Streisand couldn't sell out a concert like this on their own, but having them together is why we know we'll sell out.”

At this time, too, Streisand had been pursuing Beatty to play Hubble Gardner in The Way We Were.  The picture would begin filming in September 1972.

“I wasn't doing live performances then, but Warren is very persuasive and impressive, as a matter of fact,” Streisand recalled in 2008 at Warren Beatty's American Film Institute salute. “He masterminded everything from the invitations to getting famous people to be ushers ... After all the insecurity and stage fright, I was really glad that Warren made me perform because it was for a man I truly admire.”

Pictured: Barbra and her manager, Marty Erlichman, confer during rehearsals.

The evening was a triumph for McGovern, raising over $300,000 for his presidential campaign. This concert was followed by several more across the country, all organized by Warren Beatty, but with different performers (Streisand only sang for this one).

George McGovern recalled, “It was perfect ... [Streisand] just took that place by storm.” 

Historically, Richard Nixon won the 1972 presidential election with 60.7% of the popular vote. The Watergate scandal, in which Nixon’s reelection campaign funds were used to pay burglars to break into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., arrived in 1973. Richard Nixon resigned his presidency on August 9, 1974.

Streisand explained in 1995 that McGovern “would have made a better President than Richard Nixon. I'm disappointed that I've read so little in defense of McGovern. Was McGovern countercultural? This son of a Republican Methodist minister has been married to the same woman for 51 years and flew 35 combat missions in World War II.”

One interesting result of this concert was that Streisand was added to President Richard Nixon’s “enemies list” of major political opponents. She told writer Robert Scheer in 1993, “I was on Nixon's enemies list because I supported Gene McCarthy in 1968 and raised funds for Daniel Ellsberg in the Pentagon Papers trial. Then I did a concert for George McGovern … I was operating off my instincts, doing what I felt right as a citizen. I'm not a full-time activist. I've always been pro-choice, for the equality of women, for the protection of the environment. That’s why I have a foundation to fortify my beliefs. That’s how I give back. That's how I raise my voice.”

Barbra Streisand fans have often asked if there will ever be a home video of Barbra’s Forum concert.

The truth is that it was not filmed – only its audio was recorded, and that album is still available from Columbia Records.

Back in the 1970s, they simply did not film everything like they do nowadays. Only newsreel footage of Barbra’s last number exists, as well as George McGovern and the other performers coming on stage at the end of the concert. The news cameramen were only permitted to film the most newsworthy footage, and that was McGovern on stage with the stars.

Photo:  Screen cap of the Forum audience from some of the newsreel footage.