May 27 is the 100th anniversary of the birthday of Hubert Horatio Humphrey. Jesse Walker has brought an interesting tribute by Rick Perlstein to my attention. It’s a perceptive analysis, as far as it goes.
It’s not complete, though, because in many ways we live in a very Humphreyesque world. Proudly wearing the Santa Claus label, HHH would certainly be happy with our proliferation of “caring” federal programs and their attendant red ink. Never having met a war he didn’t like, he would enthusiastically sign on to the various “humanitarian” military interventions. Even the Republican Party is dominated by a coalition of Rockefeller liberals (pragmatists) and Humphrey liberals (neocons).
Perlstein is wrong to disparage the Drugstore Liberal book by Sherrill and Ernst. Issued during the 1968 campaign, it’s a witty look at the unpleasant side of modern liberalism. To me, Humphrey compares unfavorably to a less-secular, less-statist, more-traditional, and more-authentic liberal like William Jennings Bryan.
Still, Humphrey had his good points—more personal than political. He was a cut above most of his political contemporaries, in terms of honesty and idealism. Often misguided and self-deluded, he was still a far better man than FDR or LBJ . . . or that darling of more recent Humphreyesque governance: Dick Cheney.
Thanks for the tribute, of sorts, to Hubert Humphrey. He certainly was a cut above most of his political contempories on both sides of the aisle. I find it curious, however, that you don’t say a word about one very important issue on which he was a cut above virtually every conservative intellectual or politician of his day. At a time when conservative intellectuals like Russell Kirk and William Buckley (indeed, virtually every conservative intellectual of which I’m aware) staunchly opposed desegregration and efforts to give blacks the basic rights of citizenship, including the right to vote, Humphrey was a true hero.
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