Hubert Humphrey (1911-1978)/biography

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. (, –, ) was the thirty-eighth , serving under President. Humphrey twice served as a from, and served as Democratic. He was a founder of the and. He also served as of, , 1945–1949. In 1968, Humphrey was the nominee of the in the  but narrowly lost to the  nominee,.

In a renowned speech, Humphrey told the, "The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadows of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights," winning support for a pro-civil-rights plank in the Party's platform.

Early years
Humphrey was born in, ,. He was the son of Hubert Humphrey, Sr. and Ragnild Kristine Sannes, who was. Humphrey spent most of his youth in the small town of on the Dakota prairie. His father was the town and a community leader; he served as Doland's mayor and as a town council member. In the late 1920s a severe economic downturn hit Doland; both of the town's banks closed and Humphrey's father struggled to keep his drugstore open. After his son graduated from Doland's high school, Hubert, Sr. left Doland and opened a new drugstore in the larger town of, where he hoped to improve his fortunes. As a result of the family's financial struggles, Hubert had to leave the after just one year to help his father in the new drugstore. He quickly earned a pharmacist's license from the Drew College of Pharmacy in, and spent the years from 1930 to 1937 helping his father run the family drugstore. He was a brother of, a professional pharmaceutical fraternity and also Alpha Phi Alpha. Over time the "Humphrey Drug Company" in Huron became a profitable enterprise and the family was able to prosper again.

However, Hubert did not enjoy working as a pharmacist, and his dream remained to earn a in  and become a college professor. In 1937 he returned to the University of Minnesota and earned a bachelor's degree in 1939. He also earned a master's degree from in 1940, serving as an assistant instructor of political science there. One of his classmates was, a future senator from. He then became an instructor and graduate student at the University of Minnesota from 1940 to 1941 (joining the ), and was a supervisor for the (WPA). Humphrey would soon become active in politics, and as a result he never finished his.

Marriage and family
In 1934 Hubert began dating ; she was a bookkeeper and graduate of local. They were married in 1936 and remained married until Humphrey's death nearly 42 years later. They had four children:, Nancy, Robert, and Douglas. Through most of his years as a U.S. Senator and Vice-President his home was located in a modest middle-class housing development in, a suburb of. In the 1960s Hubert and Muriel used their savings to build a lakefront home in, some forty miles west of.

City and state politics (1942–1948)
During, Humphrey tried twice to join the , but was rejected both times due to a. Instead, he served in an administrative capacity in a variety of wartime government agencies; he also worked as a college instructor. In 1942 he was the state director of new production training and reemployment and chief of the Minnesota war service program. In 1943 he was the assistant director of the War Manpower Commission. From 1943-1944 Humphrey was a professor in political science at in  and from 1944-1945 he was a news commentator for a Minneapolis radio station.

In 1943, Humphrey made his first run for elective office, for of. Although he lost, his poorly-funded campaign still captured over 47% of the vote. In 1944, Humphrey was the one of the key players in the merger of the and  parties of  to form the  (DFL). When in 1945 Minnesota s attempted to seize control of the new party, Humphrey became an engaged and led the successful fight to oust the Communists from the DFL.

After the war, he again ran for of Minneapolis and won the election with 61% of the vote. He served as mayor from 1945–1949. He was re-elected in 1947 by the largest margin in the city's history to that time. Humphrey gained national fame during these years by becoming one of the founders of the liberal anti-communist (ADA) and for reforming the Minneapolis  force. Previously, the city had been declared the capital of the country and the small  population of the city encountered numerous instances of racial discrimination. Humphrey worked hard to end these examples of racism, and his tenure as mayor would be famous for his efforts to fight in all its forms.

The 1948 Democratic National Convention
The national Democratic Party of 1948 was split between who thought the federal government should assertively guarantee  for non-whites and   who thought the states should be able to choose what civil rights their citizens would enjoy (the "" position).

At the, the reflected this division and contained only platitudes in favor of civil rights. Though the incumbent President had already issued a detailed 10-point Civil Rights Program calling for aggressive federal action on the issue of civil rights, he gave his backing to the party establishment's platform that was a replication of the  plank on civil rights.

A diverse coalition opposed this tepid platform, including anti-communist liberals like Humphrey, and, all of whom would later become known as leading progressives in the Democratic Party. These liberals proposed adding a "minority plank" to the party platform that would commit the Democratic Party to a more aggressive opposition to. The minority plank called for federal legislation against, an end to legalized school segregation in the South, and ending job discrimination based on skin color. Also strongly backing the liberal civil rights plank were Democratic urban bosses like Ed Flynn of the, who promised the votes of northeastern delegates to Humphrey's platform, of , and  of. Although viewed as being conservatives, these urban bosses believed that Northern Democrats could gain many black votes by supporting civil rights, and that losses among anti-civil rights Southern Democrats would be relatively small. Though many scholars have suggested that labor unions were leading figures in this coalition, no significant labor leaders attended the convention, with the exception of the heads of the Congress of Industrial Organizations Political Action Committee (CIOPAC), Jack Kroll and A.F. Whitney.

Despite aggressive pressure by Truman's aides to avoid forcing the issue on the Convention floor, Humphrey chose to speak on behalf of the minority plank. In a renowned speech, Humphrey passionately told the Convention, "To those who say, my friends, to those who say, that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are 172 years too late! To those who say, this civil rights program is an infringement on states' rights, I say this: the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights!" Humphrey and his allies succeeded; the pro-civil-rights plank was narrowly adopted.

As a result of the Convention's vote, the and one half of the  delegation walked out of the hall. Many Southern Democrats were so enraged at this affront to their "way of life" that they formed the party and nominated their own presidential candidate, Governor  of. The goal of the Dixiecrats was to take several Southern states away from Truman and thus cause his defeat. The Southern Democrats reasoned that after such a defeat the national Democratic Party would never again aggressively pursue a pro-civil rights agenda. However, this move actually backfired. Although the strong civil rights plank adopted at the Convention cost Truman the support of the Dixiecrats, it gained him important votes from blacks, especially in large northern cities. As a result Truman won a stunning upset victory over his opponent,. Truman's victory demonstrated that the Democratic Party no longer needed the "Solid South" to win presidential elections, and thus weakened Southern Democrats instead of strengthening their position. -winning historian has written that Humphrey probably did more to get Truman elected in 1948 than anyone other than Truman himself.

The Happy Warrior (1948–1964)
Minnesota elected Humphrey to the in  on the  ticket, and he took office on,. Humphrey's father died that year, and Humphrey stopped using the "Jr." suffix on his name. He was re-elected in and. His colleagues selected him as in 1961, a position he held until he left the  on,  to assume the vice presidency. During this period, he served in the, , , , , , , and a portion of the.

Initially, Humphrey's support of civil rights led to him being ostracized by Southern Democrats, who dominated most of the Senate leadership positions and who wanted to punish Humphrey for proposing the successful civil rights platform at the 1948 Convention. However, Humphrey refused to be intimidated and stood his ground; his passion and eloquence eventually earned him the respect of even most of the Southerners. Humphrey became known for his advocacy of causes (such as, , a , , and humanitarian ), and for his long and witty speeches. During the period of (1950–1954), Humphrey was accused of being "soft on ," despite having been one of the founders of the anti-communist liberal organization, having been a staunch supporter of the Truman Administration's efforts to combat the growth of the , and having fought Communist political activities in Minnesota and elsewhere. In 1954 Humphrey proposed to make mere membership in the a felony — a proposal that failed. He was chairman of the ( and  Congresses). As Democratic in the Senate in 1964, Humphrey was instrumental in the passage of the  of that year. Humphrey's consistently cheerful and upbeat demeanor, and his forceful advocacy of liberal causes, led him to be nicknamed "The Happy Warrior" by many of his Senate colleagues and political journalists.

Presidential and Vice-Presidential ambitions (1952–1964)
As one of the most respected members of the U.S. Senate, Humphrey ran for the  nomination twice before his election to the Vice Presidency in 1964. The first time was as Minnesota's "favorite son" in 1952, where he received only 26 votes on the first ballot; the second time was in 1960. In between these two presidential bids, Senator Humphrey was part of the free-for-all for the vice-presidential nomination at the, where he received 134 votes on the first ballot and 74 on the second.

In 1960, Humphrey ran again for the Democratic presidential nomination against fellow Senator in the primaries. Their first meeting was in the primary, where Kennedy's well-organized and well-funded campaign defeated Humphrey's energetic but poorly-funded effort. Kennedy's attractive brothers, sisters, and wife combed the state looking for votes, at one point Humphrey memorably complained that he "felt like an independent merchant running against a chain store." Kennedy won the Wisconsin primary, but by a smaller margin than anticipated; some commentators argued that Kennedy's victory margin had come almost entirely from areas that were heavily, and that actually supported Humphrey. As a result, Humphrey refused to quit the race and decided to run against Kennedy again in the primary. Humphrey calculated that his midwestern populist roots and Protestant religion (he was a ) would appeal to the state's disenfranchised voters more than the and Catholic millionaire's son, Kennedy. But Kennedy led comfortably until the issue turned to religion. When asked why he was quickly losing ground in polls, one adviser explained to Kennedy, "no one knew you were a Catholic then."

Kennedy chose to engage the religion issue head-on. In radio broadcasts, he carefully repositioned the issue from one of Catholic versus to tolerance versus intolerance. Kennedy appealed to West Virginia's long-held revulsion for prejudice and placed Humphrey, who had championed tolerance his entire career, on the defensive; Kennedy attacked him with a vengeance. , the son of the former President, stumped for Kennedy in West Virginia and raised the issue of Humphrey's failure to serve in the armed forces in World War II (Humphrey had tried to serve but had been rejected for medical reasons). Humphrey, who was short on funds, could not match the well-financed Kennedy operation; Humphrey traveled around the state in a cold, rented bus while Kennedy and his staff flew around West Virginia in a large, modern, family-owned airplane. There were also accusations (both by Humphrey and numerous historians) that the Kennedys "bought" the West Virginia primary by paying bribes to county sheriffs and other local officials to give Kennedy the vote, however these accusations have never been conclusively proven. Kennedy defeated Humphrey soundly, winning 60.8% of the vote in that state. That evening, Humphrey announced that he was no longer a candidate for the presidency. By winning the West Virginia primary, Kennedy was able to overcome the belief that Protestant voters would not elect a Catholic candidate to the Presidency and thus sewed up the Democratic nomination for President.

Humphrey did win the South Dakota and District of Columbia primaries, which JFK did not enter. At the 1960 Democratic Convention he received 41 votes even though he was no longer an active presidential candidate.

At the, kept the three likely vice presidential candidates, Connecticut Senator , fellow Minnesota Senator , and Humphrey, as well as the rest of the nation in suspense before announcing Humphrey as his running-mate with much fan-fare, praising Humphrey's qualifications for a considerable amount of time before announcing his name.

The following day Humphrey's acceptance speech overshadowed Johnson's own acceptance address:

Hubert warmed up with a long tribute to the President, then hit his stride as he began a rhythmic jabbing and chopping at Barry Goldwater. "Most Democrats and Republicans in the Senate voted for an $11.5 billion tax cut for American citizens and American business," he cried, "but not Senator Goldwater. Most Democrats and Republicans in the Senate—in fact four-fifths of the members of his own party —voted for the Civil Rights Act, but not Senator Goldwater."

Time after time, he capped his indictments with the drumbeat cry: "But not Senator Goldwater!" The delegates caught the cadence and took up the chant. A quizzical smile spread across Humphrey's face, then turned to a laugh of triumph. Hubert was in fine form. He knew it. The delegates knew it. And no one could deny that Hubert Humphrey would be a formidable political antagonist in the weeks ahead.

In, the Johnson/Humphrey ticket won overwhelmingly, garnering 486 electoral votes out of 538. Minnesota voted for the Democratic ticket; only five Southern states and Goldwater's home state of Arizona supported the Republican ticket.

The Vice Presidency
Humphrey took office on,. As Vice President, Humphrey was controversial for his complete and vocal loyalty to Johnson and the policies of the Johnson Administration, even as many of Humphrey's liberal admirers opposed Johnson with increasing fervor with respect to Johnson's policies during the. Many of Humphrey's liberal friends and allies over the years abandoned him because of his refusal to publicly criticize Johnson's Vietnam War policies. Humphrey's critics later learned that Johnson had threatened Humphrey — Johnson told Humphrey that if he publicly opposed his Administration's Vietnam War policy, he would destroy Humphrey's chances to become President by opposing his nomination at the next Democratic Convention. However, Humphrey's critics were vocal and persistent - even his nickname, the Happy Warrior, was used against him. The nickname referred not to his military hawkishness but rather to his crusading for social welfare and civil rights programs.

In, Humphrey indirectly earned fame during an April 1967 visit when some , armed with what looked like a bomb, planned to cause trouble at the place Humphrey was to speak. However, the "bomb" contained nothing but pudding, and the plan was foiled by the police. The would-be vandals were dubbed "s" and "ten little " in some widely-read right-leaning German newspapers; this characterization sparked riots by student activists. The well-known left-wing  wrote in the  at the time; "It is thought rude to throw custard pies at politicians, but not to welcome politicians who have villages wiped out and cities bombed... yes, custard, no." This "pudding assassination" thus became an early defining moment of the German part of the May 1968 movement, many of whose leaders moved into national politics later.

The 1968 Presidential election
As 1968 began it looked as if President Johnson, despite the rapidly-increasing unpopularity of his Vietnam War policies, would easily win the Democratic nomination for a second time. Humphrey indicated to Johnson that he would like to be his running mate again. However, in the primary Johnson was nearly defeated by Senator  of ; McCarthy had challenged Johnson on an anti-war platform. A few days later Senator of  also entered the race on an anti-war platform. On, , a week before the , where the polls predicted a loss to McCarthy, President  stunned the nation by withdrawing from his race for a second term. Humphrey immediately re-evaluated his position, and then announced his presidential candidacy in late April 1968. Many people saw Humphrey as Johnson's stand-in; he won major backing from the nation's and other Democratic groups that were troubled by young antiwar protestors and the social unrest around the nation. Humphrey avoided the primaries (and/or was too late to enter them) and concentrated on winning delegates in non-primary states; by June he was seen as the clear front-runner for the nomination. However, following his victory over McCarthy in the primary, it appeared that if Kennedy could unite the forces opposed to the Vietnam War that he could possibly beat Humphrey for the nomination. However, the night of the California primary, Senator Kennedy was assassinated. With the support of Mayor, Humphrey and his , went on to easily win the Democratic nomination at the  in ,. Unfortunately for Humphrey's presidential chances, outside the convention hall there were riots and protests by thousands of, some of whom favored , , or other "anti-war" candidates. These antiwar protestors - most of whom were young college students - were attacked and beaten on live television by Chicago police. Humphrey's inaction during the riots, and the turmoil within the Democratic Party, created divisions that Humphrey was never able to overcome in the general election, despite a vigorous and forceful campaign. Humphrey was also hurt by the third-party campaign of former Governor, a Southern Democrat whose veiled  and militant opposition to antiwar protestors attracted millions of Northern and Midwestern  votes that would otherwise have probably gone to Humphrey.

Humphrey lost to. His campaign was hurt in part because Humphrey had secured the presidential nomination without entering a single primary. In later years, changes to the party rules made such an outcome virtually impossible. During his underdog campaign, Humphrey grew on voters, who saw a kind of transparent decency as well as a mind that quickly grasped complicated issues. Starting out substantially behind Nixon in the polls, he had almost closed the gap by election day. Humphrey lost the election by 0.7 % of the popular vote: 43.4% (31,783,783 votes) for Nixon to 42.7% (31,271,839 votes) for Humphrey, with 13.5% (9,901,118 votes) for of. In the electoral college Humphrey carried 13 states with 191 electoral votes, to Nixon's 32 states and 301 electoral votes, and Wallace's 5 states and 46 electoral votes (270 were needed to win).

While he was Vice President, Hubert Humphrey was the subject of a satirical song by songwriter/musician entitled "Whatever Became of Hubert?" ("I wonder how many people here tonight remember Hubert Humphrey. He used to be a senator..."). The song addressed how some s and felt let down by Humphrey, who had become a much more mute figure as Vice President than he had been as a senator. The song goes ''"Whatever became of Hubert? Has anyone heard a thing? Once he shone on his own, now he sits home alone and waits for the phone to ring. Once a fiery liberal spirit, ah, but now when he speaks he must clear it. ..." ''

Immensely admired by associates and members of his staff, Humphrey could not break loose from the domination of Lyndon Johnson. The combination of the unpopularity of Johnson, the Chicago riots, and the discouragement of liberals and African-Americans when both and  were assassinated during the election year caused him to lose to a candidate many thought less qualified to be president.The war that Humphrey was saddled with in the Johnson Administration continued until the mid-1970s.

Teaching and return to the Senate
After leaving the Vice-Presidency, Humphrey utilized his talents by teaching at and the, and by serving as chairman of board of consultants at the  Educational Corporation.

Initially he had not planned to return to political life, but an unexpected opportunity changed his mind. , a DFL U.S. Senator from who was up for re-election in, realized that he had only a slim chance of winning even re-nomination (he had angered his party by opposing Johnson and Humphrey for the 1968 presidential nomination), and declined to run. Humphrey won the DFL nomination and the election, and returned to the U.S. Senate on,. He was re-elected in, and remained in office until his death. In a rarity in politics Humphrey served as a Senator by holding both seats in his state (Class I and Class II). This time he served in the, , , and a portion of the.

In 1972, Humphrey once again ran for the Democratic nomination for president. He was defeated by Senator in several primaries, and was trailing in delegates at the  in. His hopes rested on challenges to the credentials of some of the McGovern delegates. For example, the Humphrey forces argued that the winner-take-all rule for the primary violated procedural reforms intended to produce a better reflection of the popular vote, the reason that the  delegation was bounced. The effort failed, as several votes on delegate credentials went McGovern's way, guaranteeing his victory.

Humphrey also briefly considered mounting a campaign for the Democratic nomination from the Convention once again in, when the primaries seemed likely to result in a deadlock, but ultimately decided against it. At the conclusion of the Democratic primary process that year, even with having requisite number of delegates needed to secure his nomination, many still wanted Humphrey to announce his availability for a "draft" movement. However, he did not do so, and Carter easily secured the nomination on the first round of balloting. What wasn't known to the general public was that Humphrey already knew he had terminal cancer.

Deputy President pro tempore of the Senate (1976–1978)
In 1974, along with of, Humphrey authored , the first attempt at full employment legislation. The original bill proposed to guarantee full employment to all citizens over 16 and set up a permanent system of public jobs to meet that goal. A watered-down version called the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act passed the House and Senate in 1978. It set the goal of 4 percent unemployment and 3 percent inflation and instructed the to try to produce those goals when making policy decisions.

Humphrey ran for after the 1976 election but lost to  of. The Senate honored Humphrey by creating the post of of the Senate for him. On, , Humphrey revealed his terminal cancer to the public. On, , he addressed the Senate, and on , , Humphrey became the first person other than a member or the president to address the in session. honored him by giving him command of  for his final trip to Washington on. One of Humphrey's speeches contained the lines "It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped," which is sometimes described as the "liberals' mantra."

Humphrey spent his last weeks calling old political acquaintances on a special long-distance telephone his family had given him. He also placed a call to his former foe in the 1968 presidential election, Richard Nixon, only to learn the depressed state of the Nixons. Disturbed by this, he called back to Nixon to invite the former president to his upcoming funeral, which Nixon accepted. After his death at home in, he lay in state in the rotunda of both the and of the. His body was interred in,.

Humphrey's wife,, was appointed by the state governor to finish her husband's term in office.

Honors
In 1965, Humphrey was made an Honorary Life Member of, the first intercollegiate  established for African American males.

He was awarded posthumously the on,  and the  in 1980.

Buildings and institutions named for Humphrey

 * The Hubert H. Humphrey Terminal at
 * The domed stadium in Minneapolis
 * The Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps Center in St. Paul, Minn.
 * The at the  and its building, the Hubert H. Humphrey Center
 * The Hubert H. Humphrey Building of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington,D.C.
 * The carrying  over the  between  and  in
 * The Hubert H. Humphrey Middle School in.
 * The Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services in Los Angeles, CA.
 * The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, which fosters an exchange of knowledge and mutual understanding throughout the world.
 * The Hubert H. Humphrey Auditorium at Doland High School in Doland, South Dakota.

Personal life
Humphrey and his family officially held membership in Minneapolis' First Congregational Church, now affiliated with the. However, he also attended congregations in Minneapolis and suburban Washington, D.C.

He was Married to for over 41 years at the time of his death at the age of 66. They had three children. His widow remarried to Republican Max Brown in 1979. She then took the name of Muriel Humphrey Brown. Mrs. Brown passed away in 1998 at the age of 86 with her husband and children at her side.

Electoral history
1976 Minnesota United States Senatorial Election

1970 Minnesota United States Senatorial Election

1968 United States Presidential Election

1960 United States Presidential Election

1960 Minnesota United States Senatorial Election

1954 Minnesota United States Senatorial Election

1948 Minnesota United States Senatorial Election