Special On Hubert H. Humphrey's Life And Death; The MacNeil/Lehrer Report; Humphrey Obituary

ROBERT MacNEIL: Good evening. The body of Senator Hubert Humphrey, who died last night, is lying in state in the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington this evening, and thousands of citizens are filing by to pay their respects. The Senator died of cancer at his home in Waverly, Minnesota, surrounded by his family. In his long, graceful and good-spirited struggle with the disease, Mr. Humphrey had attracted an unusual outpouring of admiration and affection from official Washington and the nation. Tonight, a memoir to the man whose life in politics inspired such feelings. Jim?

JIM LEHRER: Robin, tender flakes of light snow were falling this morning when Hubert Humphrey returned to Washington, a city that was as much his town as Waverly, Minnesota. He came aboard the President`s plane, Air Force One, arriving at Andrews Air Force Base shortly before noon. His coffin was taken by motorcade to the Capitol, where he made so many remarks and left so many marks.

The Capitol rotunda is open now and will remain open all night for people - - any and all people who wish -- to come and pay their last respects. Tomorrow morning there will be a special memorial service there at the Capitol. President Carter and Hubert Humphrey`s old friend and Minnesota political compatriot, Vice President Walter Mondale, will attend; so will the country`s two living ex-Presidents, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon, the man who defeated Humphrey for President in 1968.Afterward the coffin will travel. again on Air Force One to Minnesota, to lie in state at the capitol building in St. Paul; then on Monday, a funeral service and burial in Minneapolis. Robin?

MacNEIL: Hubert Humphrey always said that two things shaped his life: his father, a small-town druggist who gave his children a sense of wonder about the United States; and the times he grew up in. The terrible pain the Depression inflicted on the lives around him created images he never forgot. After school years heaped with successes, Humphrey found his vocation on a trip to Washington. He fell in love with the nation`s capital. Getting back there to work in government became a burning goal; he studied political science, and was working as a local official in the Roosevelt administration when he got his first political chance. In 1943 fortune and Humphrey met one another in front of the Nicolette Hotel in Minneapolis in an encounter that changed his life." Two labor leaders stopped me and said, `How would you like to run for mayor?`

Just like that." Humphrey finished second, but launched his political career. The second time he ran for mayor, 1945, he won with a landslide victory to become one of the youngest mayors of a major city at the age of thirty-four. He took up the office pledging to clean up the vice, corruption and organized crime that had taken over Minneapolis. He immediately tackled the crime problem with a tough police chief and a larger force. Next he went after the city`s financial problems, reduced the city debt, while building more schools, hospitals and parks. And then he launched into the first phase of a civil rights and labor career that was to last a lifetime. He personally began the fight against job discrimination that led to the first fair employment practices law in Minneapolis. In 1948 Humphrey took that fight to the Democratic Convention, to the country as a whole. In a move that split the party and caused the Dixiecrat walkout, Humphrey stood before the Convention and called on the party to throw itself behind the pursuit of civil rights for all, in a speech that was to become history.

HUBERT H. HUMPHREY: Because of my profound belief that we have a challenging task to do here, because good conscience, decent morality demands it, I feel I must rise at this time to support a report, the minority report, a report that spells out our democracy, a report that the people of this country can and will understand and a report that they will enthusiastically acclaim on the great issue of civil rights. To those who say that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them, we are 172 years late (Cheers.) To those who say that this civil rights program is an infringement on states rights, I say this: the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadows of states rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights(Cheers.)

MacNEIL: "It was one of the great weeks of my life," Humphrey wrote later. "I didn`t-make much of a speech, maybe 800 words, about ten pages long, but I said a lot of the things I`d wanted to say for a long time, things I`ve said again and again since." The reform mayor decided to try for Washington. He became the first Democrat ever to go to the Senate from Minnesota. The joy of the victory, however, was short-lived. Humphrey recalled years later the pain of arriving in Washington, a man unprepared for the reaction to his strong stand on civil rights, nearly twenty years before the country as a whole would finally accept a civil rights act. Humphrey wrote that he found himself met with bitterness and antagonism. Walking past a group of Southern Senators, he heard Senator Richard Russell call out, "Can you imagine the people of Minnesota sending that damn fool down here to represent them?" "I was treated," wrote Humphrey, "like an evil force that had seeped into sanctified halls. It was a very difficult time for me. "Humphrey found himself ignored by many who should have been his colleagues; found himself initially even without an office, while other new Senators were treated with respect and hospitality.

He decided, nonetheless, to continue his drive for civil rights that was to last the next twenty years. He never stopped until a bill finally passed. "I fought for that civil rights bill for a long time," he mused before his death, "and very often it was a lonely fight. Many times I`d be on the Senate floor talking about it, and there might be only one or two people supporting me. But I knew we were going to win that one. In the long run, I think that what we did with civil rights is the most important thing in my public life, because it opened up opportunities for millions of people." It may have been the most important; it certainly was not to be the only issue that Humphrey fought for throughout his thirty years in the Senate. He took up labor`s battle for full employment and better wages.

He fought for Medicare, the SALT agreements, Food for Peace, the Peace Corps, the Headstart program, the Job Corps, disarmament; and he assumed .a leadership role that brought him to the head of each fight and to the national consciousness again and again. When President Kennedy signed the nuclear test ban treaty of 1963, he handed a pen to Humphrey. "Hubert," he said, "this is your treaty, and it better work." As Humphrey rose in the eyes of the public in the early 1950`x, he was again and again mentioned as a possible candidate for the Vice Presidency, and then the Presidency. In 1956 he broke precedent by formally announcing for the Vice Presidential nomination. Finally, on December 30, 1959, Humphrey announced his intention to run for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. His opponent for the nomination was a young Irish Catholic politician, John F. Kennedy, a man of great charm and wealth. And Humphrey said later, "I knew the odds were against me. One bookie put them fifty to one." Following his bitter defeat in the West Virginia primary, Humphrey withdrew. He moved to support Kennedy. In 1961 Humphrey was elected Senate Majority Whip, and resumed his role as the leading spokesman in the Senate for arms control, medical aid to the needy, and aid to education. Initially, in 1964, he steered the civil rights bill through the Senate, marshalling enough votes to end a three-month filibuster and thus ensure its passage. `The day that it passed," said Humphrey, "is one of the landmarks of my life."

In 1964 the Democratic National Convention, with Lyndon Johnson as its Presidential nominee, nominated Humphrey as Vice President. It brought him, as Humphrey later wrote, "a long way from the day that Richard Russell called me a damn fool."

HUMPHREY: Mr. Chairman, Mr. President, my fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans. I proudly and humbly accept your nomination.(Cheers, applause.) I pledge to this Convention, I pledge to our great President, to all the American people my complete devotion to this task to prove once again that the Democratic Party deserves America`s affections and that we are indeed the arty of hope for the American people.(Cheers, applause.)

MacNEIL: It was to be a mixed blessing, as Humphrey reflected years later with his former White House colleague, Bill Moyers. The job of Vice Presidency itself had its problems, and so did working for Lyndon Johnson.

HUMPHREY: He`s the most complex man I suppose I`ve ever known in public life. There were times when Ladybird would leave town and he`d get lonesome and he`d call up and say, "Get out of bed, I want you to have breakfast with me." And he went out of his way to be nice to Muriel. I think you know that he always was very nice to Muriel. And you know, to be a Vice President of the United States, to be honored at a state dinner, as the President did, was great; and when I traveled abroad every so often -- sometimes he`d be very worried that I was going to do the wrong thing. But on the trip I remember, to Europe, particularly, in `67, he thought I did a good job. And when I came back you would have thought I was a conquering hero, Caesar returning. They had the guard out and the troops out, the band out when we landed at the White House lawn; it was just marvelous, and then sometimes when I`d come back from the Far East there wouldn`t be anybody out. You remember those times at cabinet meetings? When he thought he`d maybe hurt me somewhere before he`d tell the cabinet

I was the greatest Vice President that the country had ever had, and he`d give you an embrace like a bear hug, you know. Everything was in capital letters with Lyndon Johnson, it was in large figures; he was a large man. And then he could be tough, and he could actually be real mean to you. But by and large, Bill, my relationships with that man were about as good as you can have between a President and a Vice President. I want you to know that most Vice Presidents and Presidents don`t have a good relationship, and you know why.

BILL MOYERS: (Laughing.) The incumbent....

HUMPHREY: The incumbent is the king, he doesn`t want anybody around who contests with him, and if you don`t learn how to walk one step behind and keep your self under control, if you show yourself to be anywhere near a dynamic or an attractive personality in any way, you are suspect. And his staff helps make him suspect, too, because the man is there, the people are feeding him information; and besides that, he`s very sensitive.

MOYERS: He was. (Laughing.)

HUMPHREY: And this man in particular was exceedingly sensitive. He was almost paranoid about leaks in government, you know, and he was the biggest leak in the crowd.

MOYERS: I never will forget the time that a story appeared in the Minneapolis paper which we subsequently found out came from another source, but he thought for two weeks that you, because it was Minneapolis, you`d given Chuck Bailey that story.

HUMPHREY: Absolutely.

MOYERS: And he ordered us not to speak to you.

HUMPHREY: Oh, I know. I`d be put in the doghouse in the cooler, the deep freeze. I`m a living example that a man can be in the deep freeze for at least two weeks and still live.

MacNEIL: Humphrey`s good humor, however, would do nothing for the heartbreak and agony that history dealt both him and the country: the Vietnam War. During the first week of February 1965, the Viet Cong blew up an American billet near Pleiku. Nine Americans were killed and 140 wounded. America began to bomb North Vietnam. The war escalated in a piece of American history still freshly and painfully clear in the memories of most today. The military situation deteriorated ... and escalated. While Johnson`s advisors for the most part urged him on, Humphrey dissented, personally and privately, and the citizenry dissented publicly. Marches and bitter demonstrations to end the war ripped the capital. Humphrey flew to Saigon as Johnson`s liaison, time and again espousing the administration`s philosophy, but becoming more distraught, as were the American people themselves.

On March 31, 1968, President Johnson announced that he would not run again, leaving Humphrey as the obvious candidate, and with the personal decision of whether to continue to support the administration position on the war.

HUMPHREY: There were times that I had gone to the President about it, in September and in July even. The President was deeply involved in the war, but I think you must keep in mind that he desperately wanted peace; he was trying every way that he knew to get it. I can still think about him and see him there in the cabinet room with his head in his hands looking over the maps and reading the cables, and he tried so many ways`-through the Vatican, through the Canadians, through the British, through the Poles. He sent missionaries and emissaries all over, trying to get peace, and there was no way. There was no way to get peace under the terms of continuing the conflict.

When I came to him in July with a proposal that I said that I might want to surface if I became the nominee, and maybe even before the Convention, he frankly was furious with me, because it was a proposal of phased withdrawal.

MOYERS: What did he say?

HUMPHREY: Well, Bill, I`ve kind of kept this private, but you and I worked there and you know of my affection for the President and for Mrs. Johnson. I remember what he said. He said, "You know, I have two son-in-laws over there. And your proposal would leave them at the mercy of the enemy." And he became very personal about it. And I said, "Well, Mr. President, this is nothing but a proposal; I wanted to talk with you about it. I do not intend to do anything that will impair your efforts to find an honorable end to this war and to gain peace."

Also, on another occasion, I remember that he said to me, "Hubert, anybody can get a headline; and you can get a headline by some proposal that you`ll make that`s different than what this administration is pursuing. But I can get you peace. And if we get peace, you have won this election." Well, that was pretty hard to resist, and I knew he was struggling for peace. Averell Harriman, Cyrus Vance were in Paris, two of our finest citizens, two of our best people, and I had to be very careful that I didn`t say anything during that critical period that would jeopardize their efforts, that would show a break in the administration. I don`t think people realized that it was a very tenuous time.

MacNEIL: It was a decision, a display of loyalty, that many would later feel to have been a costly one. With the aid of old friends such as protege Fritz Mondale, and Fred Harris, he began to seek the nomination, while both Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy did the same. In one of the most violent struggles for the nomination, with Kennedy gunned down by an assassin and dissenters battling with police in Chicago, Humphrey emerged asking for a renewed spirit in the country, for the politics of joy, of happiness, and asked in good humor for the help of all.

HUMPHREY: And so, my friends and fellow Americans, facing and knowing the hard realities of the office, yet also knowing the potential for good which lies within it, I shall seek the nomination of the Democratic Party...

CROWD: We want Humphrey! We want Humphrey! We want Humphrey! We want Humphrey!

HUMPHREY: Like it or not, you have him. (Laughter and applause from crowd.)

HUMPHREY: Yes, as I said, I shall seek the nomination of the Democratic Party for the Presidency of the United States. My credentials? Well, they may be stated rather simply: of a loving family; teacher; mayor of my city; Senator from my state; Vice President of my country; grateful husband; proud father; believer in the American n dream and the concept of human brotherhood.

(Applause and cheers.)

MacNEIL: Some found it a wry, hapless moment for a country so racked by dissent. Humphrey won the nomination, but the bitterness of the Convention remained. In one of the closest elections in our history, Humphrey ran against Richard Nixon at the head of a Democratic Party torn internally, associated in the minds of many with the war and the protests they wished to forget. In the end, the country turned to Nixon, to the hope that another party in power would bring us together. Humphrey conceded defeat to Nixon.

HUMPHREY: I have sent the following telegram just a few moments ago to Mr. Nixon, and it reads as follows: According to unofficial returns, you are the winner in this election. My congratulations. Please know that you will have my support in unifying and leading the nation. This has been a difficult year for the American people. I`m confident that if constructive leaders of both our parties join together now, we shall .be able to go on with the business of building the better America we all seek in the spirit of peace and harmony. Signed, Hubert H. Humphrey.

I have done my best. I have lost, Mr. Nixon has won. The democratic process has worked its will, so now let`s get on with the urgent task of uniting our country.

MacNEIL: Years later, Humphrey said that" in a lifetime of thousands of speeches and millions of words, those were the hardest ones I`ve ever had to speak. Had we done things differently, we might have won. I think we would have. But why," Humphrey added, "waste time on regrets, when there is so much else to remember.` Humphrey went back to Minnesota to teach, and toured the country, speaking. In 1971 he returned to the Senate. He had, he said, enjoyed that quieter period, but "the pull of Washington, the need, I suppose, to resurrect my previous career and reputation were too great." He returned to offer his support to his party, to the labor movement, full employment, equal rights. In 1976 he was once again urged to seek the Presidency, but he finally declined. Once again he offered his assistance to anew President, Jimmy Carter.

Any further ambitions had been diminished by the cancer, first detected in 1968, treated by chemotherapy, then by surgery in October 1976. In 1977 he was defeated for the post of Senate Majority Leader by Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. But Senate Democrats, wishing to show their respect for their colleague, voted him a new title, Deputy President pro tempore of the Senate, from which he could act as a liaison with the new President. In the fall he returned to his home in Waverly, Minnesota for more treatment. And this time President Carter asked if he might fly him back to his "real home" -- Washington, D.C. Humphrey accepted with a smile. "For at least twenty years," he joked, "I`ve been trying to get on Air Force One." Humphrey landed with his usual buoyant spirits unchanged behind a gaunt face. He waved and called out "Never give up, and never give in." And his colleagues in the Senate embraced the man who had become known as "the Happy Warrior." He spoke to them on the Senate floor. "I`ve been known throughout my life to be an optimist, sometimes a foolish optimist. But I say to my critics, I`m optimistic about America." Shortly before his last bouts with chemotherapy and his final return to the Senate, Humphrey reflected on the years before, the victory he was never to win, and the relative quietude that surrounded him at the last.

HUMPHREY: I was talking to Muriel the other night, and we`ve been in the campaign every year since `52; in `52 I worked for Stevenson.`56 I traveled all over this country for Stevenson. In the meantime, I ran for the Senate again in `54, and then I ran for the Senate again in `60; I ran in the primaries of `60 with Kennedy, got beat; I ran for Vice President in `64; I ran for President in `68; I ran for the Senate in `70; and I ran in the primaries in `72, the Presidential primaries. What a joy it is this time not to be running I`m working, I`m doing, but I`m not running. I`m not running for something, I`m not running after somebody, I`m not running away from anything, I`m just in there doing what I want to And I`ll tell you something: I feel better physically, emotionally than anytime in my life.

MacNEIL: Was he at peace with himself, or simply telling himself that?

HUMPHREY: I`m as peaceful as a man of my nature can be. I`m not, you know, the most peaceful man....

MacNEIL: As columnist Joseph Kraft wrote, watching him on the day of his tribute in the Senate, "Neither in the Senate nor in the country shall we see his like soon again, if ever." More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle wrote that a man`s worth should be measured by the amount of himself that he`s given to his people. By that measurement there are probably few Americans, whatever their politics, who would not rate Hubert Humphrey`s worth very high. He is clearly a lifetime of giving himself to his people.