The first primary between the two was on 5 April in Wisconsin, where Humphrey was a well-known campaigner who enjoyed support among union members and farmers. Kennedy, who enjoyed the advantages of personal wealth and a glamorous image. Humphrey's chances of winning the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination rested on a strong showing in the primaries. His foreign policy credentials were enhanced by a highly publicized meeting with the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev in late 1958.

Humphrey had reason to harbor national ambitions-he was well-regarded in Washington, D.C., for his expertise in labor, farm, and civil rights issues. In 1956 he was considered as a running mate by the Democratic presidential nominee, Adlai Stevenson,Īlthough Stevenson chose Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee instead. He became a protégéof Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, who sharpened his skills at compromise. When his legislative battles for civil rights and labor law reform failed, he adopted a more conciliatory approach. Senate from Minnesota.Īt first Humphrey was seen as a brash, confrontational liberal by his fellow senators. That same year, he became the first Democrat ever elected to the U.S. Humphrey gained national attention in 1948 for his passionate speech on behalf of civil rights at the Democratic National Convention. In 1943 he made an unsuccessful bid to become the mayor of Minneapolis two years later, he won. From 1941 to 1945 he served as the state director of war production training and reemployment and as the assistant director of the War Manpower Commission. In 1940 Humphrey joined the faculty of Macalester College in Saint Paul and edged toward a political career.

On 3 September 1936 he married Muriel Fay Buck, who became his lifelong partner (and, briefly, his successor in the U.S. in 1940 before taking a job as the director of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) program training teachers in Duluth, Minnesota. in political science at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis– Saint Paul in 1939, Humphrey pursued graduate studies at Louisiana State University in Baton He gained a childhood interest in politics from his father, a Democrat who served as Doland's mayor in the 1920s.

The son of Hubert Humphrey, Sr., a pharmacist, and Christine (Sannes) Humphrey, a housewife, Humphrey was raised in Doland, a small town in South Dakota, along with his older brother and two younger sisters. senator and vice president who became identified with activist social legislation and aggressive policies during the Vietnam War, prior to narrowly losing the presidency to Richard M.

13 January 1978 in Waverly, Minnesota), U.S.

Hubert Humphrey by Carl Solberg