Beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern with cspans the contenders series. Thats followed by archival video of his 1968 president ial campaign and push to get on the california ballot. Also, a tour of the George Wallace collection at the Alabama Department of archives and history, and the discussion of segregation and politics in the 1960s in alabama. Thats friday, beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan3. And now the contenders, our series on key political figures who ran for president and lost but who nevertheless changed political history. Over the next two hours, we feature former Vice President and minnesota senator Hubert Humphrey, who was the democratic candidate for president in 1968. This program was recorded at the Minnesota History center in st. Paul. This is American History tv on cspan3. Stay right there. [shouting] mr. Chairman, my fellow americans my fellow democrats, mr. Chairman, my fellow americans. My fellow democrats, i proudly accept the nomination of our party. This moment this moment is one of personal pride and gratification, yet one cannot help but reflect the deep sadness that we feel over the troubles and the violence which have erupted regrettably and tragically in the streets of this great city. And for the personal injuries which have occurred. Thats Hubert Humphrey accepting the 1968 democratic nomination for president at chicagos Conrad Hilton hotel where the democrats had gathered for their convention in the midst of the vietnam war while thousands of angry protesters demonstrated outside. Hubert humphrey long time minnesota senator and unsuccessful candidate for president in 1968 is the focus of this weeks the Contenders Program. And were live from minnesotas History Center. Mick caouette is the documentarian of Hubert Humphreys life. Just finished a documentary last year. Were standing in the middle of an exhibit the History Center has put on about the tumultuous year of 1968. To start our discussion about Hubert Humphrey, set the stage for people. As 68 dawned, this country was in an uproar about the vietnam war. Set the stage. Well, the vietnam war had been running for a long time at that point, probably 15 years. And the tet offensive at the end of january really set the stage for the year because it was obvious to everyone then that the war was not being won. And the North Vietnamese reached all the way to the American Embassy in saigon. President johnsons Approval Ratings just plummeted. And mccarthy had been in the race in the fall, Bobby Kennedy was joining the race, and it was just utter chaos at that point. And of course, right after president johnson resigned in the 29th of march, three days later, Martin Luther king was assassinated. The beginning of the first part of the year was terrible chaos. It was a year when people who were alive were turning on their radios every morning to wake up and there seemed to be another huge story every day. Were going to try to tell some of that story in the context of Hubert Humphreys campaign for president. Well be here for two hours. As were here, well learn more about the history of the times and the biography of senator humphrey. And part way into it, well begin taking your telephone calls so you can be part of our discussion here. Whats important for young people to understand is that whats different about the wars we fight today and the vietnam war is the draft. So this was real in a sense for American Families in a very different way than the professional army we have today. Will you talk about that . Sure, the draft was really the point at which the protest really started when the draft was instituted. And really, now people have a choice if people want to enter the military. If theyre against the war, they can stay away. In those days, there was no choice. You either went to canada or did something to get out of being drafted. And thats what caused the protests. And the other part of that, people werent able to vote until they were 21, but they were being drafted at 18. So they couldnt even vote the people out of office that were running the war. So that was that was thats probably the biggest difference. So is it fair to say that every American Family had a personal connection to this war in one way or the other . I would say pretty much. And some had two. They had someone who went to the war and someone against it in the same family. In fact, Lyndon Johnson. Robert mcnamara, his own kids were against the war, and he had antiwar protesters stay at his house. Families were broken over it. Much like the civil war, i guess. The other thing that people should understand that made this real in the way it hadnt in wars fought earlier was television. Television was bringing it into peoples living room every night. Will you talk about the effect of that . Well, it was wide open because nobody had really done any kind of television wasnt restricted. It was all brand new. And so, you know, nobody in the administration or nobody else had any control over it. The journalists were going out there and getting whatever they found. And we dont have that now. Its much more controlled in the battlefield. So we were seeing things in the living room you wouldnt see now. Actual battle scenes and people being wounded and that kind of thing. It had a profound effect on the country. It was another reason why people came out against the war, i started seeing it all the time on tv and 300 body bags were coming back every week at one point and they were showing the body bags coming back and the caskets, and it had a profound effect. It changed the average persons mind. We have to remind people that the war started before Lyndon Johnsons term. You said it had been raging for 15 years. Right. Earlier where advisers and later as troops were deployed. So Lyndon Johnsons attitude about the war was what . I think he was confused about it for a long time, but he did not want to lose it. It was really important for him to win the war. And he it colored everything he did. People tried to talk about any kind of settlement and he wouldnt do it. He was interested in winning the war. That was his and once he got into it, he didnt have a lot of options. And that was the one the only one he wanted. No other option. And that affected when he left office too. He wanted someone to come into the office that would continue his war policy and wouldnt end the war and make him a loser, basically. So Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey became teammates in 1964, following the assassination of kennedy. When Lyndon Johnson ran in his own right. What was the relationship like . And how was this period for senator humphrey . Well, the intensity of vietnam started at the exact same time he became Vice President. The tonkin gulf resolution, the tonkin gulf incident in vietnam in the summer of 64, there was a resolution in congress that lbj asked for, and it was passed. And humphrey signed on to that. He wasnt yet Vice President. As did Gene Mccarthy and others. Then the convention came later in the summer, and humphrey became Vice President. And, you know, he so he walked into the beginning of johnsons involvement with the war. Campaigned all during the fall, and they never really talked about vietnam in the campaign. The campaign was about Barry Goldwater being trigger happy and humphrey and johnson were the peace candidates and goldwater was the war candidate basically. And so, vietnam really wasnt talked about. They were talking more about nuclear in 64. In 64, yeah. They were talking more about, you know, Nuclear Annihilation than nuclear war. And so they won by a landslide. 44 of 50 states. So in the spring, when in the early part of the year when they were in office, there was another incident in pleiku in vietnam. And johnson called a cabinet sort of an ad hoc cabinet and adviser meeting and already decided to bomb North Vietnam in retaliation. And he asked people around the table what they thought of this. And everyone pretty much agreed. But humphrey said its not a good idea and backed off. And he had written johnson a memo earlier before he was Vice President saying we should not get involved, shouldnt send Ground Troops in, should not bomb. This is not a good idea both politically, for the country, people wont understand it. He spoke up again at the meeting. Johnson got angry. Humphrey went back and wrote another memo, a long detailed one and sent it to him. At that point, he was completely frozen out of any discussion of vietnam. We have our first video clips in the program to show you. First was 1964. And remember, Lyndon Johnson had been operating without a Vice President. When he came into office after the kennedy assassination. So there was a great deal of speculation going into the convention about who his choice was going to be to run in 1964. Here is the film as Lyndon Johnson announces his choice for Vice President. As the next Vice President of the United States, my close, my long time, my trusted colleague, senator Hubert Humphrey of minnesota [ cheers and applause ] democrats and most republicans in the senate voted for education legislation, but not senator goldwater. Most democrats and most republicans in the senate voted to help the United Nations in its Peace Keeping functions when it was in financial difficulty. But not senator goldwater. I couldnt help but think at that particular moment how far wed come. All of the hard work and effort that wed put in through those many years and this was a great moment in my life. Mr. Johnson said in his judgment, mr. Humphrey was the best man to be president in case anything happened to him. No longer is the vice presidency just another job. Well, that video, we should tell you, in much of the video youre going to see from mick caouettes documentary on Hubert Humphrey. The art of the possible. I want to thank you for letting you show it to our audience tonight. Lots to follow up there. First of all, the scenes of the energetic Hubert Humphrey addressing the crowd and having the crowd eating out of his hands and the cut away to Lyndon Johnson who didnt seem to share the moment. What was happening there . Well, he didnt like the spotlight being taken from him. And humphrey generally believed to be a better public speaker. He was just a little bit upset about humphrey taking the show away a little bit. But he was that way. That was Lyndon Johnson. By the way, the goldwater not senator goldwater part of that speech was written by a number of people that speech. It was written by bill moyers. He wrote that back and forth. And there was a call and response kind of thing that really kind of caught on. That was an early one, that kind of speech and worked really well. The call and response. Yeah, not senator goldwater and they would respond. It was also senator goldwater excuse me, senator humphrey had ambitions for the presidency for quite a while. He toyed with it in 52, made a real bid in 60. Here he was finally at that convention accepting the Vice President ial nomination. You could see how excited he was about the moment. He earned the nickname the happy warrior. He loved politics, right . Right. Absolutely. He loved politics. He got in trouble later for calling it the politics of joy. He was joyful about politics. Thats what he was about. He thought it was a way to better the country, to change the country. And he believed in it in a very innocent and we may think naive way, but it was really an innocent way he believed in the country, believed in the American People. Believed at all the American People at once. He really believed in our system. So he, you know, that was a way for him to change the country if he could. Well, another clip. And this is later on in 1974 when Hubert Humphrey was gathering material for his memoir and made audiotapes. And were going to use some of those throughout the program. But he talks a bit. And this is one example of the relationship you referenced and how it really became very testy between Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey as the administration wore on over vietnam. And he reflects on some of the ways that Lyndon Johnson used the powers of the office, the perks of the office to keep his Vice President under control. Lets listen. Well, there wasnt a time that i ever got a plane that i didnt have to ask for it. And believe me, if anybody would ever tell you that johnson was extravagant, it surely wasnt with his Vice President. Many times he would say to me that it was better to take a smaller plane. He said if you have a plane thats too big, too many people want to ride with you. Youll be encumbered by too many people who see theres an extra seat that hasnt been used. So from time to time on short trips, particularly up and down the atlantic seaboard, i would take a king air or a queen air, one of the smaller planes that was available. Or a twoengine convair that was a military plane. For our longer trips, we used the jet star. Never within the continental limits of the United States did we ever use air force 1 or 2 that is the fourengine jets. Those were reserved only to be reserved for me only for overseas trips. And at no time was i ever permitted to bring a newspaper man or the person of the media, radio, television, or press with me on any trip within the United States. President forbid it and i respected his command and his wish. I gather he felt that the Vice President should be heard and seen but not but not reported upon too much. Of course, Lyndon Johnson had been the majority leader in the senate when Hubert Humphrey had been serving there. These two men had a long relationship and served in leadership together. Could you talk more about how johnson used the levers of power to control Hubert Humphrey. As i was saying earlier when he had his argument with johnson about vietnam, johnson shut him out, froze him out for at least a year at that point. About any talk about vietnam or foreign policy. He cut off his privileges, he shortened his staff. At one point he tapped his phones. And he did a number of things to basically control humphrey and he didnt want him speaking out against vietnam, didnt want him speaking out against anything johnson didnt want him to speak about, basically. Wanted to keep him quiet. He had a way of calling them my planes, my boats, and johnson did this sort of possessive, you know, kind of attitude about these as if they were his and not the American Peoples. So he was very much in control of that. And humphrey dealt with it a lot. There were times he gave three or four speeches in one week and had to call to get permission for each plane for each speech that week. It was worse during that period and the freeze lasted a year and johnson sent him to vietnam. Did Hubert Humphrey talk about how he reacted to this . He had to have been unhappy. He was miserable for a long time. During this freeze in particular because johnson was basically shutting him out of the inner circle. So he was kind of on the outside. And he wasnt happy during that time because he wanted to be involved in what was going on. It was a bad time for him. But he went back he was sent to vietnam a year later and things changed in 1966. We are going to walk around this exhibit tonight and give you some sense of the exhibit thats been put together here showing the year 1968 with the focus on politics and our stops. And i wanted to remind you about your participation and about 10, 12 minutes, well start taking telephone calls. Here is how you can do it. If you live in the eastern or central time zone, our number is 2027370002. If you live in the mountain or pacific time zone, 2027370002. And we look forward to your comments here on 1978, and the year in which Hubert Humphrey was a contender for president of the United States. Why dont you walk along with me and well go to our next stop here. So how did you first get interested in H