11.2 Historical Summary

11.2.1 Record in narrative form the main life events, activities, functions, achievements, and/or roles of the entity being described. This may include information on gender, nationality, family, and religious or political affiliations. Wherever possible, devise dates as an integral component of the narrative description. For additional guidelines and examples, see Element 2.7.

Hubert H. Humphrey was born in Wallace, South Dakota, on May 27, 1911. He left South Dakota to attend the University of Minnesota but returned to South Dakota to help manage his father's drug store early in the Depression. He attended the Capitol College of Pharmacy in Denver, Colorado, and became a register pharmacist in 1933. On September 3, 1936, Humphrey married Muriel Fay Buck. He returned to the University of Minnesota and earned a B.A. degree in 1939. In 1940 he earned an M.A. in political science from Louisiana State University and returned to Minneapolis to teach and pursue further graduate study, but he began working for the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration). He moved on from there to a series of positions with wartime agencies. In 1943, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Minneapolis and returned to teaching as a visiting professor at Macalester College in St. Paul. Between 1943 and 1945, Humphrey worked at a variety of jobs. In 1945, he was elected mayor of Minneapolis and served until 1948. In 1948, at the Democratic National Convention, he gained national attention when he delivered a stirring speech in favor of a strong civil rights plank in the party's platform. In November 1948, Humphrey was elected to the United States Senate. He served as the Senate Democratic Whip from 1961 to 1964.

In 1964, at the Democratic National Convention, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked the convention to select Humphrey as the vice presidential nominee. The ticket was elected in November in a Democratic landslide. In 1968, Humphrey was the Democratic Party's candidate for president, but he was defeated narrowly by Richard M. Nixon. After the defeat, Humphrey returned to Minnesota to teach at the University of Minnesota and Macalester College. He returned to the U.S. Senate in 1971, and he won reelection in 1976. He died on January 13, 1978, of cancer.