Humphrey entered the race too late to participate in any primaries, and relied on "
favorite son" candidates to help him win delegates. He also lobbied for endorsements from powerful bosses within the Democratic Party, which provided him with necessary delegates. This traditional approach was criticized by the other candidates, who hoped to win the nomination from popular support. Robert Kennedy was
assassinated in June 1968, leaving McCarthy as his only opponent, until the
1968 Democratic National Convention, when Senator
George McGovern of South Dakota ran as the successor of Kennedy. Humphrey won the party's nomination at the Convention on the first ballot, amidst riots in
Chicago. He selected little-known Senator
Edmund Muskie of
Maine as his
running mate.
During the general election, Humphrey faced former Vice President
Richard Nixon of
California, the
Republican Party nominee. Nixon led in most polls throughout the campaign, and successfully criticized Humphrey's role in Vietnam, connecting him to the unpopular president and the general disorder in the nation. Humphrey experienced a surge in the polls in the days prior to the election, largely due to incremental progress in the peace process in Vietnam and a break with the Johnson war policy, but was defeated by Nixon on Election Day.
Background[edit]
Hubert Humphrey was first elected to public office in 1945 as
Mayor of Minneapolis. He served two, two-year terms, and gained a reputation as an anti-Communist and ardent supporter of the
Civil Rights movement.
[1] He gave a rousing speech at the
1948 Democratic National Conventionarguing for the adoption of a pro-Civil Rights plank, exclaiming "The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of
states' rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of
human rights."
[2] That same year, he was elected to the United States Senate, where he worked closely with
Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. Humphrey's persona and tactics in the Senate led to his nickname of "The Happy Warrior".
[3] Contemporaries noted that he succeeded in politics because of a likable personality and ability to connect with voters on a personal level.
[4]
Humphrey first entered presidential politics in
1952 running as a favorite son candidate in Minnesota. In
1960, he mounted a full-scale run, winning primaries in
South Dakota and
Washington D.C., but ultimately lost the Democratic nomination to future President
John F. Kennedy. In
1964, Humphrey was tapped as the running mate of President Lyndon Johnson, who went on to win in a landslide victory over Republican
Barry Goldwater. As Vice President, Humphrey oversaw turbulent times in America, including race riots and growing frustration and anger over the large number of casualties in the Vietnam War. President Johnson's popularity had plummeted as the election grew closer.
[5]
Lyndon Johnson campaign[edit]
Prior to Humphrey's run, President Lyndon Johnson began a campaign for re-election, entering his name in the first-in-the-nation
New Hampshire primary for March 1968. Late in 1967, building upon anti-war sentiment, Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota entered the race with heavy criticism of the President's Vietnam War policies.
[6] Even before McCarthy's entrance, Johnson grew concerned about a challenge. He confided to Democratic Congressional leaders that an opponent could pull the support of
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dr.
Benjamin Spock, defeating him in New Hampshire, and forcing his withdrawal from the race; similar to Senator
Estes Kefauver's 1952 challenge to President
Harry Truman, which likely caused Truman not to seek re-election.
[7]
Humphrey (left) and President Lyndon Johnson (center) discuss the
Vietnam War.
Humphrey was assigned the task of campaigning for Johnson, and was described in the
Associated Press as the "administration's strongest advocate on Vietnam" policy.
[8] The task became difficult following the
Tet Offensive, which despite being a tactical victory, resulted in the deaths of thousands of American and South Vietnamese soldiers.
[9] The offensive included an invasion of the
United States Embassy in Saigon,
[10] which led many Americans to believe that the North Vietnamese were stronger than had been reported, and that the war was not nearing an end. From this point, most Americans either believed that the war should be escalated to completely destroy the enemy or that all American troops should be withdrawn from Vietnam to prevent the use of any more resources for the "hopeless task".
[11] McCarthy decried the handling of the war, and declared that "the Administration's reports of progress are the products of their own self-deception."
[12] The Johnson campaign tried many tactics to negate the war's detractors before the New Hampshire primary, including the circulation of the slogan, "the communists in Vietnam are watching...don't vote for fuzzy thinking and surrender".
[13] Despite polls that placed McCarthy around 10% to 20% in the state, he won 42.2% of the vote, slightly below Johnson's 49.4%,
[14] and the result was hailed as a "moral victory" for McCarthy.
[15] Soon afterwards, inspired by the result, Senator Robert Kennedy of New York entered the race,
[16] despite previously announcing that he would not challenge the President for the nomination.
[17] Humphrey tried to encourage Johnson to be more involved in the campaign, but the President seemed uninterested. He delayed meetings with Indiana Governor
Roger Branigin to arrange a favorite son "stand in" for the campaign, and neglected to hire the campaign's 1964 campaign manager
Larry O'Brien, despite Humphrey's insistence. But Humphrey was able to convince Johnson to speak to the influential
National Farmers Union in Minneapolis, ahead of the Wisconsin Primary.
[9]
In late March, polls suggested that McCarthy would likely win the Wisconsin Primary.
[9] Around this time, Johnson decided to drop out of the race. When he informed Humphrey of his decision, the Vice President urged Johnson to remain as a candidate. Johnson replied that it was not in the best interest of the nation to mix the partisan politics of a presidential election with the ongoing Vietnam crisis, and that if elected, he probably would not be able to complete the term since the men in his family usually died in their early sixties.
[18] A week prior to the primary, on March 31, the President
publicly announced that he would not seek nor accept the Democratic Party nomination,
[19] thus setting the stage for a Humphrey presidential run.
[20]
Announcement[edit]
Democrats United for Humphrey
After Johnson's withdrawal, Humphrey was hit with a barrage of media interest and fanfare. His aides
Max Kampelman and Bill Connell began to set up an organization and held meetings with Humphrey and his advisors, encouraging him to start a campaign.
[21] Humphrey set up offices for preparation, and unsuccessfully courted Larry O'Brien as campaign manager. O'Brien explained that his loyalties lied with the
Kennedy family, leaving Humphrey undecided on whom to hire. Connell added lawyer and former DNC Treasurer Richard McGuire, who established the temporary campaign headquarters at his law firm. Eventually, Humphrey decided to embrace the youth of politics,
[22] adding Senators
Fred R. Harris and
Walter Mondale, who agreed to lead the Democrats United for Humphrey organization. Harris was put in charge of winning delegates, and Mondale prepared for the convention, helping to keep an organization in place.
[23] Kampelman, Connell and McGuire questioned Humphrey's decision to hire the Senators, explaining that they had no organizational experience. Humphrey worried about his organization in the state of Iowa, but Harris and Mondale assured him that what would be lost in the state would be made up in Maryland.
[24] The campaign believed they could build a coalition of southern and border state Democrats as well as Union and Civil rights leaders to win the nomination. Mondale and Harris also desired to add a few anti-war liberals to the coalition.
[25] Meanwhile, Humphrey's office constantly received calls urging him to announce. Congressman
Hale Boggs and Senator
Russell Long, both of Louisiana, warned Humphrey that if he did not declare his candidacy soon, Kennedy would secure the nomination.
[26] Labor leader
George Meany also called for Humphrey to announce immediately, but when Humphrey explained that he did not want to rush into a campaign, Meany called President Johnson to demand that Humphrey announce. Johnson refused, and never explicitly asked Humphrey to run.
[27] Governors
Harold Hughes of Iowa and
Philip H. Hoff of Vermont, each advised Humphrey to resign as Vice President to separate himself from Johnson, but he declined.
[28] Before the official announcement, Humphrey met with Johnson and discussed the future. The President advised Humphrey that his biggest obstacle as a candidate would be money and organization, and that he must focus on the Midwest and
Rust Belt states in order to win.
[26]
After weeks of speculation, Humphrey finally announced his candidacy on April 27, 1968, in front of a crowd of 1,700 supporters in Washington D.C.
[29]chanting "We Want Hubert". He delivered a twenty-minute speech,
[24] broadcast throughout the nation on television and radio
[29] that had been in preparation for four days after Johnson's withdrawal.
Labor Secretary W. Willard Wirtz, White House staffers
Harry McPherson and Charles Murphy, and journalists
Norman Cousins and
Bill Moyers all contributed to the speech.
[24] In the speech, Humphrey proclaimed that the election would be about "common sense, and a time for maturity, strength and responsibility."
[29] He set his goals at not simply winning the nomination but winning in a way that would "unite [the] party"
[29] so he could then "unite and govern [the] nation."
[29] He argued that his campaign was "the way politics ought to be...the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose, the politics of joy."
[24] His entrance occurred too late in the process to qualify for ballot access in the primaries.
[29]
Campaign developments[edit]
As the campaign got underway, Humphrey tried to position himself as the
conservative Democrat in the race, hoping to appeal to Southern delegates. Republicans, feeling that the Vice President may be the nominee, began to attack him, describing his positions as socialistic and reminding voters that
Southern Democrats once considered him a "wild-eyed liberal." Democrats conceded this point but argued that compared to McCarthy and Kennedy, Humphrey was conservative.
[30] He immediately made an impact on the polls, rocketing to number one among Democrats in the beginning of May with 38%, ahead of both McCarthy and Kennedy.
[31] An internal struggle within the campaign between the new politics of Mondale and Harris, and the old politics of Connell, Kampelman and Maguire, sometimes disrupted the organization of staffers in different states. Humphrey ordered Connell to not circumvent Mondale and Harris on campaign decisions, but the clashing continued throughout the campaign. The older faction referred to Mondale and Harris as "boy scouts".
[32]
At the Indiana primary, Humphrey began the strategy of using "favorite son" candidates as surrogates for his campaign, and to weaken his opponents. Governor Roger Branigin stood in for Humphrey in Indiana, and placed second, in front of McCarthy but below Kennedy.
[37] Senator
Stephen M. Young of Ohio stood in for the Vice President in Ohio, and won the primary.
[38] He won his largest share of delegates during a six-week period after May 10, when the Vietnam War was briefly removed as a campaign issue due to the delicate peace talks with Hanoi.
[32] Later in May, he gained 57 delegates from Florida, as favorite son candidate Senator
George Smathersdefeated McCarthy in the Florida primary with 46% of the vote.
[39] Humphrey also picked up delegates from
Pennsylvania, following an endorsement from Philadelphia Mayor
James Hugh Joseph Tate,
[36] and collected delegates from leaders in New York, Minnesota, Montana, Utah, Delaware and Connecticut.
[40] The other candidates criticized this tactic, and accused Humphrey of organizing a "bossed convention" against the wishes of the people.
[41]
The next month, Humphrey's rival Robert Kennedy was assassinated in
Los Angeles, prompting the Vice-President to return to his home in Minnesota and "think about the next stage."
[42] Humphrey was shaken by the event, and took two weeks off from campaigning. He met with President Johnson, and the two talked about "everything"
[43]during a three-hour meeting. The assassination all but guaranteed Humphrey the nomination. He commented that he "was doing everything I could to win the nomination...but God knows I didn't want it that way."
[44] A large number of Kennedy delegates switched to Humphrey, but he lost money from Republican donors concerned about a Kennedy nomination,
[44] and popular opinion polls shifted in favor of Senator McCarthy.
[45] In fact, Humphrey was booed before 50,000 people on June 24 at the
Lincoln Memorial as he was introduced at a Solidarity March for civil rights.
Drew Pearson and
Jack Anderson described the response as ironic, given that Humphrey was booed at the 1948 Democratic National Convention after advocating a civil rights plank.
[46] He tried to defend his record against the liberal detractors,
[47] but often encountered anti-war protesters and hostile crowds while campaigning.
[41] At the end of June, Republican Senator
Mark Hatfield of Oregon assessed the race, arguing that Humphrey would be the party's nominee for president but criticized him for being too closely aligned with Johnson's policies.
[48] Humphrey asked for Johnson's permission to deviate from the administration's position on the war for a plan that included a bombing halt and drawback of forces,
[49] but Johnson refused, explaining that it would disrupt the peace process
[10] and endanger American soldiers. He relayed to Humphrey that the blood of his son-in-law who was serving in Vietnam, would be on his hands if he announced the new position.
[49]
In July, Humphrey criticized McCarthy for simply complaining about the war effort and offering no plan for peace.
[50] Afterwards, McCarthy challenged Humphrey to a series of debates on an assortment of issues including Vietnam. The Vice-President accepted the invitation but modified the proposal, requesting there be only one debate prior to the Democratic National Convention.
[51] However, the one-on-one debate never occurred, largely due to the
Eastern Bloc invasion of
Czechoslovakia, and the insistence from other candidates that they be included.
[52] At the end of the month, Humphrey began to court Senator
Edward Kennedy of
Massachusetts as a possible running mate, hoping the young Senator would increase his chances of winning the support of liberals, and alleviate the criticism spawned from his connections to Johnson.
[53] Kennedy declined. Humphrey also asked Larry O'Brien, who had been named as chairman of the
Democratic National Committee, to be his campaign manager. O'Brien privately believed that Humphrey could not win in the general election, but joined because he felt "sympathy for Humphrey and the problems he faced."
[54] He publicly predicted that the race would come "down to the wire".
[54]
As former Vice President Richard Nixon gained the Republican Party nomination, Humphrey held what he thought was a private meeting with 23 college students in his office. There, he candidly discussed his thoughts about the political climate, unaware that reporters were also in the room and that his statements would become public. Humphrey remarked that youths were using the Vietnam War as "escapism" and ignoring domestic issues. He stated that he had received thousands of letters from young people about the Vietnam War but received zero about
Head Start as part of the program designed for poor preschool children began to expire, which he saved with a tie-breaking Senate vote.
[55]As the national convention approached with Humphrey's likely nomination, the war continued to divide the party and set the stage for a battle in Chicago,
[56] Humphrey hoped to move the convention to
Miami to escape a vitriolic venue, but President Johnson vetoed the idea.
[43]
Democratic National Convention[edit]
Just prior to the convention, Senator
George McGovern of South Dakota entered the race, casting himself as the standard-bearer of the Robert Kennedy legacy.
[57] As the
1968 Democratic National Convention started, Humphrey stated that he had more than enough delegates to secure the nomination, but commentators questioned the campaign's ability to hold on to the delegates. The Texas delegation announced frustration at the McCarthy campaign's attempts to change procedures, and declared that they might renominate President Johnson as a result. Observers noted that Humphrey's delegates were supporters of Johnson, and could follow suit. Meanwhile,
protests and sleep-ins were held in the streets and
parks of Chicago, forcing
MayorRichard J. Daley to order federal troops into the city.
[58] Eventually, 6,000 federal troops and 18,000 Illinois National Guardsmen were outside the convention, defending the premises.
[59] A televised debate was held featuring Humphrey, McCarthy and McGovern. Humphrey hoped to unite the party during the debate, affirming his support for peace in Vietnam, but his challengers were received better by the crowd, drawing more applause.
[60]
Humphrey won the party's nomination on the first ballot after a two-hour debate among delegates the next day,
[61] defeating McCarthy 1759.25 to 601. McGovern finished in third with 146.5,
[62] and gave a lukewarm endorsement of Humphrey, asking him to be "his own man".
[63] McCarthy refused to make an endorsement,
[64] although he privately confided to Humphrey that his supporters would not understand if he immediately showed his support.
[49]Humphrey also narrowly won the party plank in support of the Vietnam War, although his officials pleaded with Johnson to accept a compromise with the doves, which he refused.
[10] The results caused the protests to intensify, prompting the use of
tear gas, which Humphrey could smell in his hotel room.
[61] He also received six death threats.
[65] The tactics used to quell the protests were criticized by certain Democrats as being excessive.
[10] During his acceptance speech, Humphrey tried to unify the party, stating "the policies of tomorrow need not be limited to the policies of yesterday."
[65] He asked former Republican candidate
Nelson Rockefeller to be his running mate, but he declined.
[66] Several other names were mentioned to Humphrey during the convention. Texas Governor
John Connally was suggested by a delegation of southern Democratic governors,
[67] but the Governor himself suggested Vietnam ambassador
Cyrus Vance. O'Brien and Fred Harris appeared to suggest themselves for the position,
[68] and adviser Connell also suggested Harris, although Max Kampelman favored former
Peace Corps director
Sargent Shriver.
[69] Humphrey instead decided on Senator and former Governor Edmund Muskie of Maine, who had been his preferred choice.
[65] Observers noted the selection of the Senator, active in civil rights and labor and on neither side of the war issue, was a move to appeal to liberals while not upsetting establishment Democrats.
[65] Republican nominee Richard Nixon congratulated Humphrey on his victory as the general election campaign began.
[70]
General election[edit]
Humphrey-Muskie campaign logo
As the general election got underway, the largest hurdle for the campaign was finances. Polling numbers showed Humphrey trailing Nixon, causing donations to decrease. President Johnson refused to use the power of his office to help raise money, although many speculated that the tardiness of the Convention, scheduled to coincide with Johnson's birthday, contributed to the issue. To stay afloat, several loans were made, which eventually accounted for half of the $11.6 million used by Humphrey throughout the general election. Campaign workers decided that no money would be spent on radio or television advertising until the final three weeks of the election.
[71] In September, President Johnson showed his support for Humphrey by giving what was described as the strongest endorsement of the campaign when he asked Texas Democrats to throw their support behind the Vice President.
[35] However, Johnson did not give his official endorsement until an October 10 radio address.
[72] Meanwhile, Humphrey campaigned in New York where he labeled Nixon a "
Hawk,"
[35] stati
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