Brown, Muriel Buck Humphrey, 1912-1998

<p>The archetypical political wife, Muriel Humphrey supported her husband, Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr., during a career that took him from being a clerk at his father’s pharmacy in North Dakota to a political powerbroker in the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party and national prominence in the Senate and, finally, as Vice President. When Senator Humphrey passed away in 1978, his political partner and adviser, Muriel, emerged to fill his seat and carry out his programs. As only the second Minnesota woman ever to serve in Congress, Muriel Humphrey pursued her own interests during her brief tenure, supporting an extension of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ratification deadline and advocating several programs to benefit people with developmental disabilities.</p>

<p>Muriel Fay Buck was born on February 20, 1912, in Huron, South Dakota, to Andrew and Jessie May Buck. Her father supported the family as a produce middleman, buying and selling such staples as cream, eggs, and poultry. Muriel Buck was raised in a Presbyterian home and was educated in public schools. From 1931 to 1932, she attended classes at Huron College. It was at that time that she met a young man tending counter at his father’s pharmacy, Hubert Horatio Humphrey. On September 3, 1936, Muriel Buck married Hubert Humphrey and, within a year, Muriel began helping to fund her husband’s college education at the University of Minnesota and his graduate studies at Louisiana State University. They raised a daughter and three sons: Nancy, Hubert III, Bob, and Douglas. Hubert Humphrey went on to teach political science at the University of Minnesota and at Macalester College during World War II. He also served as the state chief of the Minnesota war service program and as assistant director of the War Manpower Commission in 1943. Two years later, he launched a long and storied political career by winning election as mayor of Minneapolis. Humphrey became a powerful force in the state’s DFL. In 1948 he was elected to the first of three consecutive terms as one of Minnesota’s U.S. Senators. In 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson chose Humphrey as his running mate on the presidential ticket. After their landslide victory, Humphrey served as Vice President from 1965 to 1969.</p>

<p>Muriel Humphrey played an indirect part in her husband’s early political career, keeping a certain distance between her role as mother and Hubert’s public life, but also assisting him as an informal advisor. She recalled their talks in the kitchen: “I’d say something while taking care of my babies and later it would be part of his speech.” It was not until Humphrey’s first Senate re-election campaign in 1954 that his wife actively participated in public appearances on his behalf. From that point forward, she gradually played a more active role in her husband’s political career. When President Lyndon B. Johnson chose Hubert Humphrey as his 1964 running mate, the Wall Street Journal described Muriel Humphrey as one of her husband’s key advisers: “Not only is the relationship between Hubert and Muriel Humphrey a genuinely warm and close one, but he has particular respect for her judgments of people and common sense assessments of situations. Mrs. Humphrey has never ‘gone Washington,’ and the Vice President feels that gives added weight to her opinions.” During the term that Hubert served as Vice President, the press portrayed Muriel as a dutiful and supportive wife: an adoring grandmother who sewed children’s clothes (and her own), as well as an avid gardener. But Muriel Humphrey also logged more than 650,000 miles on campaign trips and official visits during her husband’s long political career. After his unsuccessful campaign for the presidency in 1968, Hubert Humphrey was elected U.S. Senator from Minnesota in 1970. He won re-election in 1976.</p>