'Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr.' (
May 27,
1911 –
January 13,
1978) was the thirty-eighth
Vice President of the United States, serving under President
Lyndon Johnson. Humphrey twice served as a
United States Senator from
Minnesota, and served as Democratic
Majority Whip. He was a founder of the
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and
Americans for Democratic Action. He also served as
mayor of
Minneapolis,
Minnesota, 1945–1949. In 1968, Humphrey was the nominee of the
Democratic Party in the
United States presidential election but narrowly lost to the
Republican nominee,
Richard M. Nixon.
In a renowned speech, Humphrey told the
1948 Democratic National Convention, "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
Wallace,
Codington County,
South Dakota. He was the son of Hubert Humphrey, Sr. and Ragnild Kristine Sannes, who was
Norwegian.
[1] Humphrey spent most of his youth in the small town of
Doland, South Dakota on the Dakota prairie. His father was the town
pharmacist 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
Huron, South Dakota, where he hoped to improve his fortunes. As a result of the family's financial struggles, Hubert had to leave the
University of Minnesota 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
Denver, Colorado, and spent the years from 1930 to 1937 helping his father run the family drugstore. He was a brother of
Phi Delta Chi, 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
doctorate in
political science 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
Louisiana State University in 1940, serving as an assistant instructor of political science there. One of his classmates was
Russell B. Long, a future senator from
Louisiana. He then became an instructor and graduate student at the University of Minnesota from 1940 to 1941 (joining the
American Federation of Teachers), and was a supervisor for the
Works Progress Administration (WPA). Humphrey would soon become active in
Minneapolis politics, and as a result he never finished his
Ph.D..
Marriage and family
In 1934 Hubert began dating
Muriel Buck; she was a bookkeeper and graduate of local
Huron College. They were married in 1936 and remained married until Humphrey's death nearly 42 years later. They had four children:
Hubert Humphrey III, 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
Chevy Chase, Maryland, a suburb of
Washington, D.C.. In the 1960s Hubert and Muriel used their savings to build a lakefront home in
Waverly, Minnesota, some forty miles west of
Minneapolis.
City and state politics (1942–1948)
During
World War II, Humphrey tried twice to join the
armed forces, but was rejected both times due to a
hernia. 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
Macalester College in
St. Paul 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
mayor of
Minneapolis. 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
Democratic and
Farmer-Labor parties of
Minnesota to form the
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). When in 1945 Minnesota
Communists attempted to seize control of the new party, Humphrey became an engaged
anti-Communist and led the successful fight to oust the Communists from the DFL.
After the war, he again ran for
mayor 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
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) and for reforming the Minneapolis
police force. Previously, the city had been declared the
antisemitism capital of the country and the small
African-American 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
bigotry in all its forms.
The 1948 Democratic National Convention
The national Democratic Party of 1948 was split between
liberals who thought the federal government should assertively guarantee
civil rights for non-whites and
southern conservatives who thought the states should be able to choose what civil rights their citizens would enjoy (the "
states' rights" position).
At the
1948 Democratic National Convention, the
party platform reflected this division and contained only platitudes in favor of civil rights. Though the incumbent President
Harry S Truman 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
1944 Democratic National Convention plank on civil rights.
A diverse coalition opposed this tepid platform, including anti-communist liberals like Humphrey,
Paul Douglas and
John Shelley, 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
racial segregation. The minority plank called for federal legislation against
lynching, 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
Bronx, who promised the votes of northeastern delegates to Humphrey's platform,
Jacob Arvey of
Chicago, and
David Lawrence of
Pittsburgh. 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
Mississippi and one half of the
Alabama delegation walked out of the hall. Many Southern Democrats were so enraged at this affront to their "way of life" that they formed the
Dixiecrat party and nominated their own presidential candidate, Governor
Strom Thurmond of
South Carolina. 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
Republican opponent,
Thomas E. Dewey. 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.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian
David McCullough 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
United States Senate in
1948 on the
DFL ticket, and he took office on
January 3,
1949. Humphrey's father died that year, and Humphrey stopped using the "Jr." suffix on his name. He was re-elected in
1954 and
1960. His colleagues selected him as
majority whip in 1961, a position he held until he left the
Senate on
December 29,
1964 to assume the vice presidency. During this period, he served in the
81st,
82nd,
83rd,
84th,
85th,
86th,
87th, and a portion of the
88th Congress.
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
liberal causes (such as
civil rights,
arms control, a
nuclear test ban,
food stamps, and humanitarian
foreign aid), and for his long and witty speeches. During the period of
McCarthyism (1950–1954), Humphrey was accused of being "soft on
Communism," despite having been one of the founders of the anti-communist liberal organization
Americans for Democratic Action, having been a staunch supporter of the Truman Administration's efforts to combat the growth of the
Soviet Union, and having fought Communist political activities in Minnesota and elsewhere. In 1954 Humphrey proposed to make mere membership in the
Communist Party a felony — a proposal that failed. He was chairman of the
Select Committee on Disarmament (
84th and
85th Congresses). As Democratic
whip in the Senate in 1964, Humphrey was instrumental in the passage of the
Civil Rights Act 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
Democratic presidential 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
1956 Democratic National Convention, 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
John F. Kennedy in the primaries. Their first meeting was in the
Wisconsin 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
Roman Catholic, and that
Protestants actually supported Humphrey. As a result, Humphrey refused to quit the race and decided to run against Kennedy again in the
West Virginia primary. Humphrey calculated that his midwestern populist roots and Protestant religion (he was a
Congregationalist) would appeal to the state's disenfranchised voters more than the
Ivy League 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
Protestant 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.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., 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.
[2]
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
1964 Democratic National Convention,
Lyndon Johnson kept the three likely vice presidential candidates, Connecticut Senator
Thomas Dodd, fellow Minnesota Senator
Eugene McCarthy, 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.[3]
In
1964, 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
Vice President Humphrey bust
Humphrey took office on
January 20,
1965. 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
war in Vietnam. 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
Germany, Humphrey indirectly earned fame during an April 1967 visit when some
hippies, 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 "
assassins" and "ten little
Oswalds" in some widely-read right-leaning German newspapers; this characterization sparked riots by
left-wing student activists. The well-known left-wing
journalist Ulrike Meinhof wrote in the
Konkret 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...
napalm 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
New Hampshire primary Johnson was nearly defeated by Senator
Eugene McCarthy of
Minnesota; McCarthy had challenged Johnson on an anti-war platform. A few days later Senator
Robert Kennedy of
New York also entered the race on an anti-war platform. On
March 31,
1968, a week before the
Wisconsin primary, where the polls predicted a loss to McCarthy, President
Lyndon B. Johnson 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
labor unions and other Democratic groups that were troubled by young antiwar protestors and the social unrest around the nation. Humphrey avoided the primaries 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
California 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
Richard J. Daley, Humphrey and his
running mate,
Ed Muskie went on to easily win the Democratic nomination at the
party convention in
Chicago,
Illinois. Unfortunately for Humphrey's presidential chances, outside the convention hall there were riots and protests by thousands of
antiwar demonstrators, some of whom favored
Eugene McCarthy,
George McGovern, 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
Alabama Governor
George Wallace, a Southern Democrat whose veiled
racism and militant opposition to antiwar protestors attracted millions of Northern and Midwestern
blue-collar votes that would otherwise have probably gone to Humphrey.
Humphrey lost
the 1968 election to
Richard M. Nixon. 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
George Wallace of
Alabama. 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
Tom Lehrer 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
liberals and
progressives 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
Robert F. Kennedy and
Martin Luther King, Jr. 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.
Post-Vice Presidency (1969–1978)
Teaching and return to the Senate
After leaving the Vice-Presidency, Humphrey utilized his talents by teaching at
Macalester College and the
University of Minnesota, and by serving as chairman of board of consultants at the
Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
Initially he had not planned to return to political life, but an unexpected opportunity changed his mind.
Eugene McCarthy, a DFL U.S. Senator from
Minnesota who was up for re-election in
1970, 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
January 3,
1971. He was re-elected in
1976, 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
92nd,
93rd,
94th, and a portion of the
95th Congress.
In 1972, Humphrey once again ran for the Democratic nomination for president. He was defeated by Senator
George McGovern in several primaries, and was trailing in delegates at the
1972 Democratic National Convention in
Miami Beach, Florida. 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
California primary violated procedural reforms intended to produce a better reflection of the popular vote, the reason that the
Illinois 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
1976, 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
Jimmy Carter 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
Rep. Augustus Hawkins of
California, Humphrey authored
Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, 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
Federal Reserve Board to try to produce those goals when making policy decisions.
Humphrey ran for
Majority Leader after the 1976 election but lost to
Robert Byrd of
West Virginia. The Senate honored Humphrey by creating the post of
Deputy President pro tempore of the Senate for him. On
August 16,
1977, Humphrey revealed his terminal cancer to the public. On
October 25,
1977, he addressed the Senate, and on
November 3,
1977, Humphrey became the first person other than a member or the president to address the
House of Representatives in session.
President Carter honored him by giving him command of ''
Air Force One'' for his final trip to Washington on
October 23. 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
Waverly, Minnesota, he lay in state in the rotunda of both the
U.S. Capitol and of the
Minnesota State Capitol. His body was interred in
Lakewood Cemetery,
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Humphrey's wife,
Muriel Humphrey, 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
Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate
Greek-letter fraternity established for African American males.
He was awarded posthumously the
Congressional Gold Medal on
June 13,
1979 and the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.
Buildings and institutions named for Humphrey
★ The Hubert H. Humphrey Terminal at
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport
★ The
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome domed stadium in Minneapolis
★ The Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps Center in St. Paul, Minn.
★ The
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the
University of Minnesota and its building, the Hubert H. Humphrey Center
★ The Hubert H. Humphrey Building of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington
★ The
Hubert H. Humphrey Bridge carrying
FL S.R. 520 over the
Indian River Lagoon between
Cocoa and
Merritt Island in
Brevard County, Florida
★ The Hubert H. Humphrey Middle School in
Bolingbrook, Illinois.
★ The Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services in Los Angeles, CA.
Personal life
Humphrey and his family officially held membership in Minneapolis' First Congregational Church, now affiliated with the
United Church of Christ. However, he also attended
United Methodist congregations in Minneapolis and suburban Washington, D.C.
He was Married to
Muriel Humphrey 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'
| 'Hubert Humphrey' (D) (inc.) 67.5% |
| Gerald W. Brekke (R) 25% |
| Paul Helm (I) 6.6% |
'1970 Minnesota United States Senatorial Election'
'1968 United States Presidential Election'
'1960 Minnesota United States Senatorial Election'
| 'Hubert Humphrey' (D) (inc.) 57.5% |
| P. Kenneth Peterson (R) 42.2% |
'1954 Minnesota United States Senatorial Election'
| 'Hubert Humphrey' (D) (inc.) 56.4% |
| Val Bjornson (R) 42.1% |
'1948 Minnesota United States Senatorial Election'
| 'Hubert Humphrey' (Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor) 59.9% |
| Joseph H. Ball (R) (inc.) 39.7% |
See also
★
Politics of Minnesota
★
US Congressional Delegations from Minnesota
★ Humphrey's
son and
grandson are also
Minnesotan
politicians.
★ In the sit-com ''
Growing Pains'', the youngest son is named Benjamin ''Hubert Horatio Humphrey'' Seaver, though his full name is used only when he's being yelled at. The parents are confirmed Democrats.
★ In the movie ''
Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas'', while Raoul Duke is beating on the white Cadillac, he yells "you people voted for Hubert Humphrey, and you killed Jesus."
Hunter S. Thompson who wrote the book the movie was based on, was very critical of Humphrey in one of his other works, ''
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72''.
Notes
1. RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project
2. Hubert Humphrey: A Biography, , Carl, Solberg, Borealis Books, ,
3. The Man Who Quit Kicking the Wall
4. Municipal Building Commission: City Hall and Courthouse timeline
References
★ Berman, Edgar
[1]. ''Hubert: The Triumph And Tragedy Of The Humphrey I Knew''. New York, N.Y. : G.P. Putnam's & Sons, 1979. A physician's personal account of his friendship with Humphrey from 1957 until his death in 1978.
★ Cohen, Dan. ''Undefeated: The Life of Hubert H. Humphrey''. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1978.
★ Garrettson, Charles L. III. ''Hubert H. Humphrey: The Politics of Joy''. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993.
★ Humphrey, Hubert H. ''The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics''. Garden City, N. Y. : Doubleday, 1976.
★ Mann, Robert. ''The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights''. New York, N.Y. : Harcourt Brace, 1996.
★ Solberg, Carl. ''Hubert Humphrey: A Biography''. New York : Norton, 1984.
★ Taylor, Jeff. ''Where Did the Party Go?: William Jennings Bryan, Hubert Humphrey, and the Jeffersonian Legacy''. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2006.
★ Thurber, Timothy N. ''The Politics of Equality: Hubert H. Humphrey and the African American Freedom Struggle.'' Columbia University Press, 1999. Pp. 352.
External links
★
★
University of Texas biography
★
Complete text and audio of Humphrey's 1948 speech at the Democratic National Convention - from AmericanRhetoric.com
★
Complete text and audio of Humphrey's 1964 speech at the Democratic National Convention - from AmericanRhetoric.com
★
Account of 1948 Presidential campaign - includes text of Humphrey's speech at the Democratic National Convention
★
Transcript, Hubert H. Humphrey Oral History Interview,
August 17,
1971, by Joe B. Frantz, Internet Copy, LBJ Library. Accessed
April 3,
2005.
★
Information on Humphrey's thought and influence, including quotations from his speeches and writings.
★
Hubert H. Humphrety at the Macedonian Baptist Church, San Franciso, 23 May 1972 Photographs by Bruce Jackson of Humphrey on his last campaign.
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