The Vice-Presidency: A Gruntled Man

An old friend saw Vice President Hubert Humphrey hurrying across the White House grounds. "Yes, Virginia," he cried with a whoop of laughter. "There is a Vice President." Hubert stopped as if he had been struck by lightning, finally managed a weak grin and hurried on.

Washington was filled with such wisecracks last week, mostly as a result of President Johnson's failure to name Humphrey to the official U.S. delegation attending the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill. Johnson himself was obviously smarting about the gossip that he and his Vice President are not getting along. Asked about the Churchill funeral at his press conference, he reacted petulantly.

"I am glad to have the press reactions and reactions abroad on the protocol involved in connection with funerals," he said. "I had served as Vice President for three years, and it had never occurred to me and I never had it brought to my attention so vividly that it was the duty and the function of the Vice President to be present at all official funerals. In the light of your interest and other interests, I may have made a mistake by asking a Chief Justice to go and not asking the Vice President. I will bear in mind in connection with any future funerals your very strong feelings in the matter and try to act in accordance with our national interest."

"Why, I Enjoy That." Hubert himself is the most gruntled of men, and he even manages to make a joke about all the talk. "There is," he quips, "less to this than meets the eye." Indeed he insists that he has never been happier, worked harder, or been given greater responsibilities.

On a fairly typical day last week, Humphrey dropped by the White House at 8 a.m., conferred with Presidential Aide Bill Moyers, then went to his desk in the Executive Office Building across the street. There he talked with a West German industrialist and Brazil's Archbishop Helder Pessoa Camara before dashing back to the White House to huddle with Johnson and Senate leaders about legislative plans and programs. Next, Humphrey was off to the Hill to preside over the opening of the day's Senate session ("You keep hearing people say that presiding over the Senate is a dull job. Why, I enjoy that"), then to speak to a meeting of students, next to the Statler Hilton to address a luncheon of the Advertising Federation of America, back to his office for an afternoon of paper work, and finally into bib and tucker for the White House dinner at which he was one of the honored guests.

At that dinner, the President toasted him: "The office of the Vice President is now held by a man who has long been in the forefront of America's mighty effort to lead the world toward lasting peace, a man who is valuable to our nation and invaluable to me, Hubert Humphrey."

The valuable invaluable man sits in on all Cabinet and National Security Council meetings, spends two or three nights a week in informal confabs with the President, is consulted (even though his advice is not always followed) on all major foreign policy matters, played an important part in drafting Johnson's farm message last week.