Nation: Death of an American Original

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The rush, the scope, the energy of the Great Society was a perfect reflection of Humphrey as well as of Johnson; they were the ideal team to guide an innovative domestic Government. But they were distracted and eventually overwhelmed by the war in Viet Nam. As the conflict drew increasing liberal criticism, so too did the Vice President. He also grew doubtful about the war, but he had to defend it to the hilt in public. Otherwise, Johnson would have cut him dead and, after choosing not to run again in 1968, L.B.J. would not have supported Humphrey for President. Many liberals never forgave Humphrey for this loyalty to a lost cause or for having the temerity to differ with them.

By the time the 1968 convention arrived, the Vice President was the sworn enemy of a vocal and sometimes violent segment of the Democratic Party. Even while Humphrey was exuberantly kissing the TV set that announced his nomination, the demonstrators outside his hotel were locked in combat with the Chicago cops. "The whole environment of politics had come apart," he said later. "I mean it had become polluted and destroyed and violent." He rewrote his acceptance speech with the aim of calming passions and restoring a semblance of unity. "I literally prayed that I could get a hold of that audience and not have them walk out on me because of the humiliation of it. the incredible humiliation." He held his audience, but he sank in the polls, starting the campaign 15 percentage points behind his Republican opponent Nixon.

Humphrey waged a gallant uphill battle. Many members of his party had written him off as a hopeless case, and antiwar liberals sat on their hands and sniped at him. But his ebullient, heart-on-the-sleeve campaigning, in contrast with Nixon's plodding, uncommunicative style, made it a horse race. Humphrey was gaining in the polls and lost a squeaker. Had the election been held a day or two later, he might have had the momentum to overtake Nixon. With his usual candor, Humphrey admitted that he could not bring himself to read about Richard and Pat Nixon descending the White House stairway to the strains of Hail to the Chief.

In another rebound two years later, Humphrey was elected to the Senate with a walloping plurality. He returned to the wars with undiminished zest and the accumulated experience of three decades in politics. As an elder statesman, he quickly gravitated to a leadership position. He tried again for the presidency in 1972, but was mowed down by the New Left juggernaut behind George McGovern.

Totally absorbed in politics, Humphrey never had much time for other interests, always excepting his family. He was not much of a sports man, but he loved to go out fishing on the lake by his Waverly home with some of his ten grandchildren. Or he might take family or friends out for a spin in his Model A Ford. Driving no faster than 25 m.p.h., he would chortle: "Now I wanta tell you, you'd better hang on tight because old Barney Oldfield here doesn't slow down for corners." But he invariably, lawfully did.