Supersalesman for the Great Society: Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, 1965-1969

When President Lyndon B. Johnson picked Hubert H. Humphrey to be his running mate in the 1964 presidential election, the senate majority whip carried impeccable progressive credentials. The Minnesota senator had been involved in almost every postwar achievement of American liberalism, from the Peace Corps program to civil rights issues and from Medicare to arms control issues. In all these projects, he was known among liberals and throughout the nation as a political campaigner, legislative tactician and an incessant persuader. Humphrey had developed a strong liberal following and fostered goodwill among his colleagues in the Senate. The liberal senator of Minnesota wanted in 1964 to use the stepping stone of a successful vice presidency to further his goal of one day becoming the president of the United States. Humphrey expected to exert a strong influence on the national policy making process in the administration of Lyndon Johnson. Relying on his own credentials and abilities and through his personal friendship with Lyndon Johnsonestablished earlier when they served together in the Senate-he was confident he could overcome the built-in frustrations of