MURIEL HUMPHREY

'Muriel Fay Buck Humphrey Brown' (February 20, 1912–September 20, 1998) was the wife of Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Following her husband's death, she was appointed to his seat in the United States Senate. She later remarried and took the name 'Muriel Humphrey Brown'.

Contents

Early life and education

Political life

Second marriage

Death

External links

References

Early life and education

She was born 'Muriel Fay Buck' in Huron, South Dakota, daughter of Andrew E. Buck and his wife, the former Jessie Mae Pierce. She attended Huron College and met Humphrey in 1934, when she was working as a bookkeeper. They married on 3 September 1936, saying, "It was love at first waltz".^[1] They had four children: Hubert III, Nancy, Robert, and Douglas.

Political life

She was appointed as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party by the governor of Minnesota to the Senate vacancy caused by the death of her husband, and served from January 25, 1978 to November 7, 1978 in the 95th Congress. She was the first spouse of a former Vice President to serve in Congress as well as the first woman to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate. She was not a candidate for the special election for the remaining term. "It was the most challenging thing I've done in my whole life," she said. Twenty-eight years later, Amy Klobuchar, a fellow DFLer, would become the first woman to be elected to the United States Senate from Minnesota.

Second marriage

In 1979, she married Max Brown, a friend from childhood. "I don't live a life of politics any more," she said after her second marriage. "Max and I have so much fun. We have a wonderful companionship that Hubert and I didn't have, couldn't have. We were so busy and it was so official almost all the time."^[2]
Her second husband was a life-long, hard-core Republican.

Death

When she died, she was survived by her husband of 19 years and her children, who were at her side when she died at the age of 86.. She is interred in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota, next to her first husband, Hubert H. Humphrey.

External links

★ Congressional bioguide

References

1. "Hopefuls' Helpmates", Time, 24 November 1958
2. Olson, Rochelle, "Muriel Humphrey Brown, senator, widow of HHH, dead at 86", Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 21 September 1988