[Hubert Humphrey]

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr., a U.S. senator from Minnesota and the 38th vice president of the United States, was born in Wallace, South Dakota. After working briefly as a pharmacist, he taught at Macalester College, and was elected mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He first came to national attention as an advocate of a strong civil rights plank in the Democratic presidential platform of 1948. That same year, Humphrey was elected to the U.S. Senate. Although well known for his oratory skills and impressive legislative record, Hubert Humphrey was perhaps best loved as the "Happy Warrior" for his generosity, irrepressible spirit, and lack of ruthlessness. A passionate reformer, he supported nuclear disarmament, social welfare programs, and the interests of farmers and small businesses.

Humphrey served in the Senate until 1964, when he was elected vice president on the Democratic ticket with Lyndon Baines Johnson. In 1968 he ran as the Democratic nominee for president, losing narrowly to Richard Nixon in a campaign complicated by the nation's polarization over the Vietnam War. Humphrey returned to the Senate in 1971. The Senate later created the post of deputy president pro tempore for him, and when he grew gravely ill in 1977, both the Senate and the House held unprecedented sessions in his honor. After Humphrey's death in 1978, his body lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda.