He was passionate about his beliefs, he treated his peers with respect, and they dubbed him "The Happy Warrior" for his tireless advocacy of liberal causes. Hubert Humphrey was one of the great post-war leaders, and he played a central role in some of the country's most difficult issues.
Humphrey’s long career is marked above all by three key events: his pro-civil rights speech at the 1948 Democratic Convention that risked his political future; his shepherding of the 1964 Civil Rights Act through the Senate; and his near-victory in the 1968 presidential election, one of the angriest and most divisive in the country’s history.
In his new biography of Humphrey, historian Arnold A. Offner reveals previously unknown details of the vice president’s life, including his fractious relationship with Lyndon Johnson and his major achievements after returning to the Senate in 1970, including passage of the 1978 Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act, which intended to provide every able American worker with a job.
Offner is Cornelia F. Hugel Professor of History Emeritus at Lafayette College. His book Hubert Humphrey: The Conscience of the Country (Yale University Press) is available for sale and signing.
