Humphrey Has Long Sought Top Office

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30531, 28 August 1964, Page 11

Humphrey Has Long Sought Top Office

(N.Z P.A. -Reuter— Coparioht' NEW YORK, August 27. Senator Hubert Humphrey, long regarded as one of the most liberal members of the United States Congress, has sought the nation’s top offices for many years.

He broke an unwritten rule of American politics in 1956 when he declared he was interested in winning the Democratic nomination for VicePresident. In 1960, he campaigned actively for the Presidential nomination and lost considerable political prestige when swept aside early in the race by the then Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy.

At 53, Hubert Humphrey has wide experience in national and foreign affairs, and a solid reputation as a political manager. As early as 1948 he was leading the drive for strong civil rights legislation, which he helped push through Congress this year as deputy majority leader in the Senate.

In recent weeks, the Minnesota Senator aware of distrust among big business leaders at his reputation as a trusted ally of labour, farmers and the Liberal “eggheads” who backed Adlai Stevenson, has made strenuous efforts to win the confidence of the business community.

In meetings with bankers and businessmen in Chicago, New York and Washington during July and August, he has projected his role as that of a moderate who regards the Government’s role in commerce as that of an umpire, rather than a reformer. As Democratic chief whip, Senator Humphrey managed the controversial Civil Rights Bill through the Senate, against the filibuster of Southern members. With his record on the civil rights issue, he is unpopular in the South and can expect little support there. First Fight His first national prominence came on the civil rights question in 1948 when, as Mayor of Minneapolis and candidate for the Senate for the first time, he fought at the Democratic national convention for a strong anti-discrim-ination plank in the party platform. A big, somewhat paunchy man, with little grey in his receding hair, Humphrey has a reputation as a compulsive talker. It has been said, that he will make a speech at the drop of a hat —and even drop the hat himself, if need be. His 1960 Presidential bid was propelled by headlines he received in 1958 over what was arranged as a routine in-

terview with Mr Khrushchev by the American Senator visiting Moscow. The interview lasted eight hours, and Senator Humphrey created a headline-catching air of secrecy as he declined to talk to reporters about it until he had reported to President Eisenhower. In 1957 he also had a widely publicised interview with President Nasser of Egypt. Hubert Horatio Humphrey was born on May 27, 1911, in Wallace, South Dakota. His father, a pharmacist, was the descendant of a Welsh sea captain. His mother, the former Christina Sannes, had been born in Christiansand, Norway, but came to America as a child.

r Young Hubert Humphrey • enrolled at the University of Minnesota, but because of t family financial troubles dur- ' ing the depression, changed ;to a pharmacy course and I after graduation, worked in t his father’s store. By 1937 he had saved > enough money to return to I the University of Minnesota: I he graduated with a degree in political science and then ' instructed at Louisiana State i University while earning his j master’s degree. ■ Hubert Humphrey married i his childhood sweetheart, ■ Muriel (“Bucky”). Buck, who I has worked with him in his , political campaigning. They i have three sons and one daughter.