Nation: Death of an American Original

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All his life Humphrey subscribed to the gospel of social uplift. Though a Congregationalist, he was not a regular churchgoer; he figured he would be judged by his deeds. "I was taught that religion is something you live every day, and not just for Sunday," he explained. If anything brought him closer to God, he felt, it was the birth of his first granddaughter, Vicky, a mongoloid child, now 17. "Why us?" he thought. "We couldn't understand why. But out of that experience came a whole new sense of values for our family. This little girl taught us more love than all the Sunday school teaching I've had. I began to really understand what it means to love and be loved."

Then came a blow that brought him perhaps still closer to God. In 1973 growths on his bladder were diagnosed as possibly cancerous, and he was bombarded with radiation—a treatment that was as searing as the disease. "It was the most terrible experience of my life," he said. He seemed to make a recovery and announced his availability for the presidency in 1976, but for the first time he was unwilling to submit to the grueling primary fights. The prize went to a newcomer named Jimmy Carter. Just before the election, the doctors discovered that Humphrey did have cancer, and his bladder was removed, along with much of the old vitality. He looked aged and wan, though his eyes still danced and his tongue was not stilled.

He loyally supported Carter in the Senate and gave him some sage advice straight off the drugstore shelf. When Carter pledged to balance the budget and cure inflation and unemployment all at once, Humphrey told him that if he succeeded, "we're gonna get you a brand new book in the Bible. You're gonna have one all your own." He cautioned the President not to quarrel too much with Congress. "The Republicans will put it out that Democrats do not know how to govern." The President, said Humphrey, should use television as much as possible. "TV is the key. People don't want to read, not even the weather report." Carter, the Senator insisted, must inspire Americans the way Franklin Roosevelt did. "You have to have people saying of Jimmy Carter, That's my man.' "