Death of an American Original

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Frail and shockingly emaciated in his final illness, Humphrey nevertheless remained his old self, a last brave try at ebullience. Among his sickbed visitors were two friends, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Chicago civil rights leader, and Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Irv Kupcinet, who flew to Minneapolis to bid him farewell. "With all these parties we've had," quipped Humphrey, "they might as well cut back on the funeral arrangements because all the eulogies have been delivered." With characteristic generosity, he described a recent visit by Gerald Ford, who, he said, would "go down in history as the man who restored dignity to the White House." Before leaving, Jackson joined hands with the others in the room and led them in a prayer for "this very special man."

A few hours before his death, Humphrey fell into a coma. At his bedside were his wife Muriel and their four children, including Hubert Humphrey III ("Skip"), a Minnesota state senator who is running for Congress this year. On word of Humphrey's death, President Carter sent Air Force One to Minneapolis to carry his body to Washington to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. Then Humphrey will be flown back to St. Paul for funeral services, and he will be buried in Minneapolis. "I loved him as a friend and respected him as an adversary," said Gerald Ford. To honor his old political opponent, Richard Nixon made his first trip back to Washington since he resigned the presidency. At a memorial service in the Capitol rotunda, President Carter said of Humphrey: "He has been an inspiration and a conscience to us all. His greatest personal attribute was that he really knew how to love." Said Vice President Walter Mondale, Humphrey's longtime friend and political ally:

"He taught us how to live and, finally, how to die."

the future tireless and tenacious Humphrey could have been discerned in a boyhood exploit. He once astonished his father by memorizing all the drugs and their Latin names listed in the pharmacopoeia. He would obviously be prescribing for people for the rest of his life.

Humphrey was born in a room over the family drugstore in Wallace, S. Dak. "They were short of log cabins that year," he used to jest. Never mind. The drugstore served just as well in subsequent oratory. When the Humphreys moved to Doland, S. Dak., the drugstore there became an unofficial town meeting hall, presided over by the elder Hubert Humphrey, a devout prairie Democrat. Recalled the younger Humphrey: "I can never remember going to bed before midnight since I was twelve years old, except when I was sick. There was always talk, talk, talk."