Hubert H. Humphrey

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American politician from Minnesota who was one of the leaders of the liberal side of the Democratic Party. He was a well-respected senator who served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States from 1964 through 1968. When Johnson declined to seek reelection in 1964, Humphry was nominated after a tumultuous convention in Chicago to be the party's candidate. Starting well behind in the race because of his perceived ties to the highly polarizing Vietnam War, he nevertheless closed the gap in the final weeks and only lost very narrowly to the Republican nominee, Richard Nixon. He returned to the Senate in 1972 and served till his death six years later. He also made an unsuccessful attempt at the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1972.