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HUMPHREY, Hubert Horatio, Jr. (1911-1978)
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Senate Years of Service: 1949-1964; 1971-1978

HUMPHREY, HUBERT HORATIO, JR., (husband of Muriel Buck Humphrey), a Senator from Minnesota and a Vice President of the United States; born in Wallace, Codington County, S.Dak., May 27, 1911; attended the public schools of Doland, S.Dak., where his family had moved; graduated from Capitol College of Pharmacy, Denver, Colo., 1933 and the University of Minnesota 1939; earned a graduate degree from Louisiana State University 1940; pharmacist with Humphrey Drug Co., Huron, S.Dak., 1933-1937; assistant instructor of political science at Louisiana State University 1939-1940 and University of Minnesota 1940-1941; State director of war production training and reemployment and State chief of Minnesota war service program 1942; assistant director, War Manpower Commission 1943; professor in political science at Macalester College (Minn.) 1943-1944; radio news commentator 1944-1945; mayor of Minneapolis 1945-1948; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1948; reelected in 1954, and 1960 and served from January 3, 1949, until December 29, 1964, when he resigned to become Vice President; Democratic whip 1961-1964; known in the Senate as "the Happy Warrior"; chairman, Select Committee on Disarmament (Eighty-fourth and Eighty-fifth Congresses); elected Vice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket with Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and served from January 20, 1965, until January 20, 1969; unsuccessful Democratic nominee for President of the United States 1968; resumed teaching at Macalester College and the University of Minnesota 1969-1970; chairman, board of consultants, Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corp.; elected in 1970 to the United States Senate; reelected in 1976 and served from January 3, 1971, until his death in office; the post of Deputy President pro tempore of the Senate was created for him and he held it from January 5, 1977, until his death in Waverly, Minn., January 13, 1978; chairman, Joint Economic Committee (Ninety-fourth Congress); unprecedented sessions of the House and Senate were held in his honor in October 1977, when he was gravely ill; lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, January 14-15, 1978; interment in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minn.; posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 9, 1980.

Boise State University Library
Boise, ID
Papers: Correspondence in Frank Church papers, 1941-1984. Finding aid.
Broadcast Pioneers Library
University of Maryland Hornbake Library
College Park, MD
Papers: 122 audiotapes (1984-1977) in Westinghouse Broadcasting Company collection, 1945-1981.
California State Archives
Sacramento, CA
Oral History: Discussed in interviews with Charles A. O'Brien (1987), 115 pages; Lucien C. Haas (1989), 344 pages; Richard L. Patsey (1988), 98 pages; and Thomas M. Rees (1987), 388 pages.
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC
Papers: Correspondence in Septima P. Clark papers, 1919-1978.
Columbia University
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
New York, NY
Papers: Correspondence in Louis G. Cowan papers, 1885-1976; and Howard J. Samuels papers, 1969-1971.
Columbia University
Bakhmeteff Archive
New York, NY
Papers: Correspondence in Eugen Loebl papers, 1969-1987.
Columbia University
Oral History Project
New York, NY
Oral History: Interview (1958), 25 pages in Herbert H. Lehman project; interview (1977), 21 leaves, in John F. Kennedy project, closed; also discussed in interviews with Edward R. Annis, Carl McGowan, and Elizabeth S. Ives. Permission required to cite, quote, or reproduce.
Columbia University
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
New York, NY
Papers: In Geroid Tanquary Robinson papers, 1917-1965; Lenore Marshall papers, 1887-1980; Edward N. Costikyan papers, 1952-1985; Bennett Cerf papers, ca. 1898-1977; Jacques Barzun papers, ca. 1920-1991; Whitney M. Young papers, 1960-1977; Howard Joseph Samuels campaign papers, 1969-1971; Frederic Smedley papers, 1956-1976; Dorothy Norman papers, 1923-1978; Eugene H. Nickerson papers, 1955-1970; Louis G. Cowan papers, 1885-1976 (bulk 1952-1976); Laura Zametkin Hobson papers, 1930-1986; and Edith Altschul Lehman papers, ca. 1963-1976.
Cornell University
Rare Books and Manuscript Collections
Ithaca, NY
Papers: Correspondence in Karl D. Butler papers, 1935-1964.
Cornell University
Labor Management Documentation
Ithaca, NY
Papers: Correspondence in David Lawrence Cole correspondence, 1946-1977, and miscellaneous commissions and boards files, 1942-1976; William J. Doble Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, General Committee of the New York Central Railroad chairman's files, 1909-1962 (bulk 1931-1962); and National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees division director's records, 1939-1970.
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH
Papers: Correspondence in Bray Hammond papers, 1930-1968.
Hagley Museum and Library
Greenville, DE
Papers: Correspondence in Robert G. Dunlop papers, 1947-1972; Maurice du Pont Lee papers, 1900-1973 (bulk 1952-1972); Henry Belin du Pont papers, 1920-1970; and Crawford H. Greenewalt papers, 1928-1968.
Harvard University
Law School Library
Cambridge, MA
Papers: Correspondence in Lawrence Graham Brooks papers, 1897-1981; William Henry Hastie papers, 1916-1976 (bulk 1937-1976); and Herbert Brutus Ehrmann papers, 1906-1970 (bulk 1926-1968).
Howard University
Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
Washington, DC
Oral History: Interviewed for the Civil Rights Documentation project. Not transcribed.
Indiana State Library
Indianapolis, IN
Papers: Correspondence in Homer E. Capehart papers, 1944-1963.
Iowa State University Library
Department of Special Collections
Ames, IA
Papers: Correspondence in Alden J. Erskine papers, 1923-1977; and Iowa Farmers Union Records, 1921-1974.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
Austin, TX
Papers: 1964. 1 foot. Campaign speeches.
Oral History: August 17, 1971 (45 pages); June 20, 1977 (17 pages); and June 21, 1977 (28 pages).
John F. Kennedy Library
Boston, MA
Papers: Material on 1968 presidential campaign in Endicott Peabody papers, 1942-1976; and in Ira Kapenstein papers, 1959-1969.
Oral History: August 17, 1971. 45 pages. Furnished by Lyndon Baines Johnson Library.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers: Correspondence in Roy Wilkins miscellaneous papers, 1957-1965; and Joseph L. Rauh papers, 1913-1986 (bulk 1950-1984).
Minnesota Historical Society
St. Paul, MN
Papers: 1883-1982. Ca. 2,400 cubic feet. Correspondence, speeches, clippings, legislative files, trip files, campaign files, photographs, portraits, and memorabilia from career as mayor, senator, and vice president. A small portion is restricted. Finding aid available online.
Additional Papers: In Robert E. Hansen papers, 1914-1979; Myron William Thatcher papers, 1923-1977; James M. Youngdale papers, 1932-1981; George B. Leonard papers, 1876-1957; Jeri Rasmussen papers, 1962-1987; David Kunst papers, 1970-1990; Minnesota governor tapes and films, 1955-1961; William J. Connell papers, 1959-1972; Max Kampelman papers; Michael C. O'Donnell campaign papers; Carl Solberg research files; Herbert J. Waters papers; microfilm of files in Lyndon Baines Johnson Library relating to Humphrey; photocopies of FBI files relating to Humphrey; Betty Hayenga papers; Geri M. Joseph papers, 1946-1988; Hjalmar Peterson papers, 1907-1968; Earl Thomas Bester papers, 1937-1967; and many others.
Oral History: Approximately 75 interviews, 105 hours. Undertaken by the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota and Minnesota Historical Society. Includes friends, fellow workers, and family members. Permission required to cite or quote. Also two copies of interview transcripts (December 14, 1964 and March 30, 1970) relating to Humphrey's relationship with John and Robert Kennedy, conducted as part of Kennedy Library oral history project.
Mississippi State University
Mitchell Memorial Library
Mississippi State, MS
Oral History: Mentioned in an oral history in the John Stennis collection.
Moorhead State University
Northeast Minnesota Historical Center
Moorhead, MN
Papers: 10 letters in Harry Basford papers, 1948-1973; and 6 letters in William Dosland papers, 1959-1971.
Nevada Historical Society
Reno, NV
Papers: Correspondence in John V. Ciceu papers, (1962-1965).
New York City
Municipal Archives
New York, NY
Oral History: Interview in WNYC collection of broadcast recordings, 1938-1970.
Norwegian-American Historical Association
Northfield, MN
Papers: 1949-1956. 59 items. Transcripts. Newsletters, news releases, and speeches.
Providence College
Phillips Memorial Library
Providence, RI
Papers: 200 items (1965-1973) in Joseph A. Doorley, Jr. papers; correspondence in John Edward Fogarty papers, 1939-1967; and 5 items (1958-1973) in John O. Pastore papers. Finding aid.
Radcliffe College
Schlesinger Library
Cambridge, MA
Papers: In Edith Spurlock Sampson papers, 1927-1979 (bulk 1934-1979); Eleanor Clark French papers, 1968-1971; Ruth Proskauer Smith papers, 1959-1975; Anna Maria Lederer Rosenberg Hoffman papers, 1870-1983; Pauline Newman papers, 1903-1982; Edith Norse Palmer papers, 1940-1970; Mary Elizabeth Freier papers, 1797-1963 (bulk 1897-1963); and Margaret Louise Murray Blizard papers, 1929-1985.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
Hyde Park, NY
Papers: Correspondence in James H. Rowe papers, 1924-1983; and Nathan Straus papers, 1919-1961.
State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Archives Division
Madison, WI
Papers: Correspondence in Postal Union of Manhattan-Bronx records, 1958-1961, 1 microfilm reel; William J. Grede papers, 1909-1979; Wisconsin Humphrey for President Committee records, 1956-1960; Alexander Wiley papers, 1913-1967; William Morris Leiserson papers, 1901-1959; William Proxmire papers, 1945-1988; Bryson Rash papers, 1956-1973; William W. Finlater papers, 1935-1992, 21 microfilm reels; United Packinghouse, Food, and Allied Workers records, 1937-1982; James I. Loeb papers, 1937-1975; Walker Demarquis Wyman papers, 1920, 1929-1992; Howard K. Smith papers, 1941-1963; John B. Oakes papers, 1932-1969, on 6 microfilm reels; Clark Mollenhoff papers, 1936-1990; Robert Lasch papers, 1940-1991; Walter F. and Jean Kerr papers, 1929-1987; Raymond Z. Henle papers, 1883-1973; Patrick Hayes papers, 1942-1981; Todd Gitlin and Nanci Hollander papers, 1961-1970; William Theodore Evjue papers, 1905-1969; Robert Bendiner papers, 1934-1984, on 17 microfilm reels; interview in Gunnar Back broadcasts, 1930-1979; recorded speech in Harvey Kitzman papers, 1938-1972; Democratic party, Wisconsin, records, 1944-1987; John Austin Gronouski papers, 1953-1983; and Wilbur J. Cohen papers, 1930-1987.
State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Platteville Area Research Center University of Wisconsin
Platteville, WI
Papers: Correspondence in Norman Clapp papers, 1944-1989.
U.S. Senate
Historical Office
Washington, DC
Oral History: Discussed in interview (January 28, 1992) with Rein J. Vander Zee, administrative assistant to the majority whip and assistant secretary of the majority, 159 pages.
University of Colorado Libraries
Archives
Boulder, CO
Papers: Correspondence in James G. Patton papers, 1920s-1970s.
University of Georgia
Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Athens, GA
Papers: Correspondence in John L. Pilcher papers, 1953-1964.
University of Iowa Libraries
Special Collections Department
Iowa City, IA
Papers: Miscellaneous letters (1950-1970); and correspondence in Harold E. Hughes papers, 1962-1975.
University of Maryland
McKeldin Library
College Park, MD
Papers: Correspondence in Hervey G. Machen papers, 1964-1968.
University of Michigan
Bentley Historical Library
Ann Arbor, MI
Papers: Correspondence in Rebecca Shelley papers, 1890-1984; Margaret Bayne Price papers, 1918-1969; James Kerr Pollock papers, 1920-1968; Blair Moody papers, 1928-1954; Paul Blanshard papers, 1912-1974; Adelaide Hart papers, 1948-1971; Esson McDowell Gale papers, 1926-1965; LeRoy Cappaert papers, 1963-1970; Robert Angell Cooley papers, 1923-1971; and Hobart Taylor papers, 1961-1981. Finding aid.
University of Minnesota
Immigration History Research Center
St. Paul, MN
Papers: Correspondence in Leonard Pasqalicchio Order of the Sons of Italy collection, 1945-1965; and Minnesota Friends of Cyprus records, 1967-1981.
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Atkins Library
Charlotte, NC
Papers: Correspondence in Stanford R. Brookshire papers, 1960-1972.
University of Oklahoma
Carl Albert Center Congressional Archives
Norman, OK
Papers: In Oklahoma McCarthy for President committee papers, 1968; and Jack Bell papers, 1937-1940
University of Oregon
Knight Library
Eugene, OR
Papers: Correspondence in Wayne L. Morse papers, 1919-1969.
University of Texas
Center for American History
Austin, TX
Papers: In Jessica Mitford papers, 1949-1973 (bulk 1961-1973).
University of Virginia
Alderman Library
Charlottesville, VA
Papers: Correspondence in Hugh Scott papers, 1925-1983; and Woodford McClellan papers, 1969-1978.
University of Wyoming
American Heritage Center
Laramie, WY
Papers: Correspondence in Dewey Anderson papers, 1939-1975; and Earl Latham papers, 1935-1973.
Wayne State University
Walter P. Reuther Library
Detroit, MI
Papers: Correspondence in Roy Reuther papers, 1924-1971; and Catherine Gelles papers, 1937-1981.
Western Kentucky University Library
Special Collections
Bowling Green, KY
Papers: 1965-1968. 10 items. 8 items of correspondence, 2 photographs.
Yale University Libraries
Manuscripts and Archives
New Haven, CT
Papers: Correspondence in John Collier papers, 1910-1987; Chester Bowles papers, 1924-1973; Isidore Sydney Falk papers, 1918-1984; Herman Miles Somers papers, 1936-1979; Edwin Richard Weinerman papers, 1908-1970; Dean Acheson papers, 1898-1986; and John Sylvester Fischer papers, 1907-1980.
Research Libraries Information Network In addition to the institutions listed above, items are also cataloged in collections at: Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, AL; Emory University, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta, GA; Hadassah Archives, New York, NY; Harvard University Archives, Cambridge, MA; Harvard Theatre Collection, Harvard College Library, Cambridge, MA; Jewish Theological Seminary of America Library, New York, NY; Milwaukee Public Library, WI; Pace University Archives, New York, NY; Syracuse University, George Arents Research Library, Syracuse, NY; University of California, Bancroft Library, Berkeley, CA; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; University of Toledo Library, Toledo, OH; and Young Men's Christian Association of Greater New York Archives, New York, NY.

  • Amrine, Michael. This is Humphrey: The Story of the Senator. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1960.
  • Berman, Edgar. Hubert: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Humphrey I Knew. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1979.
  • Brauer, Ralph. "The Tragedy of Citizen Humphrey." Midwest Quarterly 32 (Spring 1991): 338-54.
  • Cohen, Dan. Undefeated: The Life of Hubert H. Humphrey. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1978.
  • Curtin, Mary Therese. "Hubert H. Humphrey and the Politics of the Cold War, 1943-1954." Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1986.
  • Eisele, Albert. Almost to the Presidency: A Biography of Two American Politicians. Blue Earth, MN: Piper Co., 1972.
  • Engelmayer, Sheldon D., and Robert J. Wagman, comps. Hubert Humphrey: The Man and His Dream. New York: Methuen, 1978.
  • Garrettson, Charles Lloyd, III. "Home of the Politics of Joy: Hubert H. Humphrey in South Dakota." South Dakota History 20 (Fall 1990): 165-84.
  • ___. Hubert H. Humphrey: The Politics of Joy. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1992.
  • Gorey, Hays. " `I'm a Born Optimist': The Era of Hubert H. Humphrey." American Heritage 29 (December 1977): 60-68.
  • Griffith, Winthrop. Humphrey, a Candid Biography. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1965.
  • Halamandaris, Val J. "Hubert H. Humphrey." In Profiles In Caring: Advocates for the Elderly, pp. 295-319. Washington: Caring Publishing, 1991.
  • Hall, Perry D., comp. The Quotable Hubert H. Humphrey. Anderson, SC: Droke House, 1967.
  • Haynes, John Earl. "Farm Coops and the Election of Hubert Humphrey to the Senate." Agricultural History 57 (April 1983): 201-11.
  • Humphrey, Hubert H. Beyond Civil Rights: A New Day of Equality. New York: Random House, 1968.
  • ___. The Cause Is Mankind: A Liberal Program for Modern America. New York: Praeger, 1964.
  • ___. The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics. Edited by Norman Sherman. 1976. New ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.
  • ___. "Peace and Disarmament." In The Crossroad Papers: A Look into the American Future, edited by Hans J. Morgenthau, pp. 127-40. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1965.
  • ___. The Political Philosophy of the New Deal. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1970. Humphrey's Master's thesis (Louisiana State University).
  • ___. "The Senate on Trial." American Political Science Review 44 (September 1950): 650-60.
  • ___. War on Poverty. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.
  • ___, ed. School Desegration: Documents and Commentaries. New York: Crowell, 1964.
  • Manfred, Frederick. "Hubert Horatio Humphrey: A Memoir." Minnesota History 46 (Fall 1978): 86-101.
  • Mann, Robert. The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, and the Struggle for Civil Rights. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1996.
  • Martin, Ralph G. A Man for All People: Hubert Humphrey. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1968.
  • Morgan, Iwan W. "Hubert Humphrey's Last Hurrah: The 1977 Senate Leadership Election and the Decline of the New Deal Tradition." Mid-America: An Historical Review 79 (Fall 1997): 287-317.
  • Offner, Arnold A. Hubert Humphrey: The Conscience of the Country. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018.
  • Reichard, Gary W. "Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey," Minnesota History 56 (Summer 1998), 50-67.
  • Ryskind, Allan H. Hubert: An Unauthorized Biography of the Vice President. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1968.
  • Sherrill, Robert, and Harry W. Ernst. The Drugstore Liberal. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1968.
  • Solberg, Carl. Hubert Humphrey: A Biography. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1984.
  • Stewart, John C. "Independence and Control: The Challenge of Senatorial Party Leadership." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1968. The author, an assistant to Humphrey during the mid 1960s, includes an account of Humphrey's work as floor manager of the 1964 Civil Rights bill.
  • Stuhler, Barbara. "A Tale of Two Democrats: Hubert H. Humphrey and Eugene J. McCarthy." In Ten Men of Minnesota and American Foreign Policy 1898-1968, pp. 194-251. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1973.
  • Thurber, Timothy N.The Politics of Equality: Hubert H. Humphrey and the African American Freedom Struggle. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.
  • U.S. Congress. Memorial Services Held in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, Together with Remarks Presented in Eulogy of Hubert H. Humphrey, Late a Senator from Minnesota. 95th Cong., 2d sess., 1978. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1978.
  • Wilson, Paula. "Hubert Humphrey's Civil Rights Rhetoric: 1948-1964." Ph.D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1990.
  • Zehnpfennig, Gladys. Hubert H. Humphrey, Champion of Human Rights. Minneapolis: T.S. Denison, 1966.