Hubert Humphrey Recordings

Hubert Humphrey
(1911 – 1978)

Presidential Election 1960When people today are asked about Hubert Humphrey, today's people from Generation X on down would not be able to pick him out in a crowd. For one thing, he was a decent man in politics, something the United States is not familiar with these days. This collection will acquaint Hubert Humphrey with the listener.

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. was born on May 27, 1911 in a room over his father's drugstore in Wallace, South Dakota. Most of Humphrey's childhood was spent on the South Dakota prairie in Doland. This was a town with a population of 600 inhabitants. While living in Doland, Hubert Humphrey, Sr. Served as the town's mayor and a town councilman, in addition to being the local druggist. In addition, Humphrey, Sr. Served briefly in the South Dakota State Legislature and as a delegate at both the 1944 and 1948 Democratic National Conventions. Because of family struggles with money, Hubert Humphrey had to quit school at the University of Minnesota after one year. He enrolled in a two year program at Capital College of Pharmacy in Denver and completed the licensure program in six months. After he earned his pharmacy license, Humphrey returned home to help his father run the family drugstore. To supplement their income for the store, both Humphreys came up with an unusual idea to attract customers. They would manufacture medicine for both hogs and humans. After the public heard of this service Humphrey's was known as the Farmers' Drugstore. Some of the concoctions that the Humphreys produced were Humphrey's BTV (Body Tone Veterinary), Humphrey's Chest Oil, and Humphrey's Sniffles. In later years Humphrey said of Humphrey's Sniffles as a substitute for Vick's Nose Drops. He said that the difference between the two was that Vick's was made of mineral oil and Humphrey's was made of vegetable oil base. To give it a little added help was that Humphrey also put in their medicine benzocaine so that if the sniffles were not gone, the afflicted person felt it less.

Humphrey did not really enjoy being a pharmacist and still wanted to achieve his dream of getting a doctorate in political science and becoming a college professor. The unhappiness seemed to be manifested by stomach pains and fainting spells, although the doctors could not find anything wrong with him. His father tried everything, even offering Humphrey a partnership in the store, but that wasn't enough. Hubert told his father that he was near physical illness due to the work, the dust storms, and the conflict between his desire to do something and be somebody and his loyalty to his father. His father replied by saying, "Hubert, if you aren't happy then you ought to do something about it."  Hubert Humphrey returned to the University of Minnesota in 1937 and earned his BA in 1939. In 1940, he earned a master's degree from Louisiana State University by being an assistant instructor of political science. One of his students was a future US Senator and colleague in that body; Russell B. Long. From 1940 to 1941, Humphrey returned to the University of Minnesota where he became an instructor and doctoral student. He joined the American Federation of Teachers and was a supervisor for the WPA. In 1940, Humphrey debated on the merits in favor of Franklin Roosevelt against Malcolm Moos on the merits in favor of Wendell Willkie on a Minneapolis radio station. It was then that Humphrey became involved in Minneapolis politics and never finished his PhD.

During the Second World War, Humphrey tried three times to join the military. The first two times were in the US Navy, but he was rejected due to color blindness. He tried a third time in 1944, but this time for the US Army. Again, he was rejected due to double hernia, color blindness, and calcification of the lungs. During his political career, and in particularly during the Vietnam War, Humphrey would be labeled a draft dodger. So to do his part for the war effort Humphrey headed up various wartime agencies in Minnesota. He was also a professor teaching political science at Manchester College at St. Paul, Minnesota. It was here that he created an International Debate Department. The topics that this department focused on were the international politics of World War II and the creation of the United Nations. After leaving Manchester College, Humphrey became a news commentator for a Minneapolis radio station. He would do that work until 1945 when he decided to run for mayor of Minneapolis.

Hubert Humphrey made his first bid for elective office in 1943 by running for mayor of Minneapolis. Despite his poor funding, he still managed to receive 47 percent of the vote. Politics was always in Hubert Humphrey's blood. He had dreams of one day being president of the United States, as it was stated in books that for much of Humphrey's life he was short on cash to live on and that his relentless drive to attain the White House seemed like one long losing struggle to raise enough campaign funds to get there. So he put himself out there the hard way. He worked on Franklin Roosevelt's 1944 re-election campaign. In that same year he was a key player in merging the Democratic Party and the Farm Labor Party in Minnesota to create the Democratic Farm Labor Party. By 1945, the DFL was almost seized by Minnesota Communists. Humphrey became a strong Anticommunist and as a result was successful in leading the fight to oust the Communists from the DLF.

When he was elected and became mayor of Minneapolis in 1945; Humphrey knew that this was the most antisemitic city in the country at the time. He was determined to clean up crime in the city due to racism and as mentioned; antisemitism. He appointed a friend and neighbor, Edwin Ryan to become the city's new police chief. As Humphrey said, he needed a police chief whose integrity and loyalty that were above reproach. Humphrey and Ryan had disagreements when it came to labor, but they still worked well together. Humphrey made it clear, "I want this town cleaned up and I mean I want it cleaned up now, not a year from now, or a month from now, right now." He continued to tell his police chief, "You take care of the law enforcement. I'll take care of the politics." As mayor from 1945 to 1948, Humphrey would gain national attention as an Anticommunist by becoming a founder of the liberal organization known as Americans for Democratic Action. He would be known for fighting all forms of bigotry. To combat racial and religious bigotry, the Mayor formed the Council on Human Relations and formed a municipal version of the Fair Employment Practice Committee. This would make Minneapolis one of the few cities in the country prohibiting racial discrimination in the workplace. This work would be rewarded when he spoke at the 1948 Democratic National Convention where civil rights was a plank on the Democratic Party Platform that Harry S Truman ran on and southern Democrats walked out in protest nominating Strom Thurmond to run for president on the newly formed Dixiecrat Party ticket.

As the 1948 Democratic National Convention started there already having a split over civil rights. Northern Democrats wanted the federal government to protect racial civil rights and Southern Democrats wanted the states to be able to enforce racial segregation within the borders of the southern states. Just two years earlier, President Harry S Truman had shelved his civil rights commission to avoid angering the Southern Democrats. Hubert Humphrey, the DFL candidate for the US Senate in Minnesota had a different idea. In the Progressive Magazine, Mayor Humphrey wrote that "the Democratic Party must lead the fight for every principle in the report. It is all or nothing." A minority plank was added to the Party Platform calling for antilynching legislation, desegregation of public schools in the south, and an end to discrimination in the workplace based on skin color. In a speech to the Convention on civil rights, Humphrey declared, "To those who say, my friends, to those who say that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say that we are 172 years too late." After his speech, the Convention voted to add a pro-civil rights plank by a vote of 651 and one half to 582 and one half. This is thanks to Hubert Humphrey and his allies. After that vote, half of the Alabama delegation and the Mississippi delegation walked out of the Convention. They created their own Dixiecrat Party and nominated the South Carolina governor, Strom Thurmond as their nominee. It was the goal of the Dixiecrats to take away southern states from Harry Truman and thus lose the election. In addition, the hope was that the President would be so defeated that the Democratic Party would never again aggressively court the issue of a pro-civil rights plank in the Party Platform. As David McCullough said years later, Hubert Humphrey probably did more to get Harry Truman elected President other than Harry Truman himself.

As a candidate for the US Senate, Hubert Humphrey earned the endorsement of Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan. He defeated Senator Joseph H. Ball becoming the first Democrat to be elected to the US Senate in Minnesota since before the Civil War. He would be re-elected again in 1954 and in 1960 before resigning in December 1964 to assume the office of Vice President in January 1965.

In 1956, the Democratic Party nominated for a second time Governor Adlai Stevenson to go up against President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard M. Nixon in a rematch. The only thing missing from this rematch was Stevenson's selection of a new running mate. Governor Stevenson decided in a surprise move that he would throw the selection of a running mate to the delegates at the Convention. That led to several interested candidates scrambling for one day to solicit for the delegates' votes. Among these candidates were Senator Albert Gore, Sr., Senator Estes Kefauver (the eventual nominee), Senator John F. Kennedy, and Senator Hubert Humphrey. The latter received on the first ballot 134 votes and that dropped to 74 votes on the second ballot. In the end, it really became a race between Kefauver and Kennedy. For a while, Kennedy was within striking distance of the win but when Favorite Son candidates started directing their supporters to shift their votes to Kefauver it was done. It was probably for the best for Jack Kennedy because had he been the running mate then he would be blamed for Stevenson's eventual loss due to his Catholicism. History might have been different in 1960, and Hubert Humphrey was what today we would call a top tier candidate along with John Kennedy as a candidate for President for the Democratic Party.

The year 1960 would be a precursor of how campaigns are funded, but before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of corporations being considered the same thing as people and money being the same thing as free speech. Only in 1960, it would be Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.'s money getting his second son elected. As Harry Truman said later on, "How many fathers do you know who can buy their sons West Virginia?" The first major contest in the 1960 Democratic Primary was in Wisconsin. If Senator Humphrey could defeat Senator Kennedy in this campaign he felt that it would weaken and slow down the Kennedy campaign. But the well organized and well funded Kennedy campaign defeated the energetic but poorly funded Humphrey campaign. The next big test would be in West Virginia. Humphrey was feeling the pressure by declaring that he felt like an independent merchant competing against a chain store. In the West Virginia Primary, Humphrey spent $23,000.00 compared to the Kennedy bankroll of $1.5 million. Accusation later came out that the Kennedys bribed local sheriffs and elected officials to vote for Kennedy. The campaign was over for Hubert Humphrey and he ran for a third term for the United States Senate.

When he became president in 1961, President Kennedy referred to many programs thought up by Hubert Humphrey. Among them were the Peace Corps and late in the Kennedy administration the Civil Rights Act. After the assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963, Senator Humphrey did everything he could for the next year to make himself available to President Lyndon B. Johnson. As the Presidential Election of 1964 was underway, there was speculation of whom the President would choose as his running mate. Some believed that LBJ would choose a Cabinet member like Robert F. Kennedy or Robert McNamara. In the end, he left the Cabinet alone a chose Senator Hubert Humphrey to be his running mate. The Johnson Humphrey ticket would defeat the (Barry) Goldwater (William) Miller ticket in the greatest landslide victory to that time. After the Election and meeting with President Johnson, the Vice President-Elect took a two week vacation. While on vacation there were interviews conducted where Humphrey went on record as saying that he had not discussed with the President what his role as Vice President would be. He also stated that national campaigns should be reduced by four weeks. After his return, Humphrey was summoned to the Oval Office to talk about a memo written by George Reedy. Johnson had accused Humphrey of alleging that the President would be dead within six months due to an already acquired fatal heart disease. Johnson went on to tell Humphrey that he was developing a publicity machine extraordinaire because of his always wanting to get his name in the papers. Johnson would end up giving Humphrey the assignment of giving assistance to governmental civil rights programs.

On January 20, 1965, Hubert Humphrey was sworn in as Vice President, filling a 14 month long vacancy. He was your typical Vice President, publicly supporting President Johnson, particularly on Vietnam and privately disagreeing with President Johnson some times, particularly on Vietnam. Vice President Humphrey was playing the part of a good soldier.

President Johnson had all of the intention of running for a second four year term in 1968. Constitutionally he was eligible to do so, per the 22nd Amendment as he only served the last 14 months of President Kennedy's term. But, there was a Primary challenge when Anti-war Candidate Eugene McCarthy; Hubert Humphrey's fellow Minnesota Senator and later his predecessor to the United States Senate decided to run against the Establishment Candidate, Lyndon Johnson. McCarthy made a very strong second place showing in the March 12, 1968 New Hampshire Primary. Four days later, Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York threw his hat into the ring. This proved Johnson's worst fears so on March 31, 1968 he withdrew from the campaign instead devoting the next ten months to bringing peace to Vietnam by negotiating a bombing halt before the November 5th Election. With two Anti-war Candidates in Kennedy and McCarthy, the Democrats needed an Establishment Candidate. Vice President Humphrey was that heir apparent. He would travel around the country visiting such places as Kent State University where during his speech to the student body a group of black students walked out. It was reminiscent of white southern Democrats walking out during his speech on civil rights at the 1948 Democratic National Convention.

Then, on June 5, 1968, after winning the California Democratic Primary Senator Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down. He died 25 hours later of his wounds. Both Hubert Humphrey and Gene McCarthy suspended their campaigns through the funeral out of respect. Then it was off to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. In addition to the riots outside, inside was just as rowdy. Hubert Humphrey was nominated to run for President and Senator Edmond Muskie of Maine was nominated for Vice President.

As the fall campaign was getting underway so was a new school year. At Hamilton College and its sister college; Kirkland College in Clinton, New York a romance was starting. Tom Vilsack, a future Iowa governor from 1999 to 2007, Barack Obama's secretary of agriculture from 2009 to 2017, and Joe Biden's secretary of agriculture from 2021 to the Present was in the mutual cafeteria for the two schools. Vilsack saw a girl by the name of Christie Bell from Mount Pleasant, Iowa whose brother; Tom Bell, Jr. would later be a staffer with Hillary Rodham later Hillary Clinton on the Watergate Committee in 1973 and 1974. Vilsack finally mustered up the courage to go up and talk with Christie. He was really thinking about what he would say to her upon their first meeting and when he spoke, the first question that came to mind was about the Presidential Election of 1968. He looked at her and asked, "Are you a Humphrey supporter or a Nixon supporter?" Christie replied by saying, "Humphrey, of course." Tom would then declare that they could talk.

It seemed like negotiations between the United States and North and South Vietnam to halt bombing activities were going as well as could be expected. In October 1968 the President requested a conference call with Humphrey, Former Vice President Nixon, and Governor (George) Wallace to brief the three candidates on the negotiations. Johnson also explained what can and cannot be said. But that didn't stop Nixon from pressuring North and South Vietnam to hold off until after the Election to negotiate. In recorded telephone conversations you can hear President Johnson talking to Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois about Nixon and what he had done. Johnson went so far as to accuse Nixon of treason to which Senator Dirksen responded with, "I know."

After eight years of Democratic rule in the White House, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew barely defeated Hubert Humphrey and Ed Muskie. Hubert Humphrey was out of politics come 1969, or so one might think.

In 1970, Senator McCarthy was retiring from the US Senate after 12 years. This left the door open for an open Senate seat. Enter Former Vice President Hubert Humphrey. After being nominated by the DFL he went on to defeat Republican Congressman Clark McGregor on November 3, 1970 with 57.75 percent of the vote. Six years later, on November 2, 1976, Humphrey would beat Independent Republican, Professor Jerry Brekle, and American Paul Helm with 67.51 percent of the vote. In 1977 after failing to be elected Senate Majority Leader the Senate created the position of Deputy President Pro Tempore. This position was created with Hubert Humphrey in mind. The verbiage of the position states that any former president or former vice president serving in the Senate is entitled to this position. The office is strictly honorary and ceremonial with the compensation being the same as the President Pro Temore, the Senate Majority Leader, and the Senate Minority Leader. Since Hubert Humphrey, the position has be vacant.

Sadly, on January 13, 1978, Senator Hubert Horatio Humphrey passed away as a result of bladder cancer. Even while in the hospital in his final weeks of life, Senator Humphrey would travel from room to room cheering up patients by telling jokes and just listening to their stories. He called Former President Nixon to personally invite him to his funeral. Nixon did attend.

Hubert Humphrey leaves behind a legacy of true liberal causes in the areas of civil rights and labor rights. In addition, he leaves behind a fond memory of a hard working as well as a good and decent man who only wanted to leave the world better than when he found it.

This collection will take you back to a time where government worked for the many and not the few. This collection will take you back, like Joe Biden, Bob Dole, and Ted Kennedy to an era known as the Last Great Senate which Hubert Humphrey left all too soon from.