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| Source:American Speeches- Minneapolis, Minnesota Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey, at the 1948 Democratic National Convention. |
"Hubert Humphrey gave this speech supporting civil rights, causing 35 delegates from Mississippi and Alabama to walk out of the 1948 Democratic National Convention. Humphrey urged the Democratic Party to "get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights". When President Truman endorsed this civil rights plank, governor of South Carolina Strom Thurmond helped organize the walkout of delegates into a separate party. The party Thurmond formed was called the "Dixiecrats" and it's racist slogan was "Segregation Forever!".
From American Speeches
To know that Hubert Humphrey was a great man, all you have to do is look at or watch his 1948 Democratic National Convention speech on civil rights and to know that he was also ahead of his time.
To know that Hubert Humphrey was a great man, all you have to do is look at or watch his 1948 Democratic National Convention speech on civil rights and to know that he was also ahead of his time.
Just look at or listen to Hubert Humphrey's civil rights speech and this was even before he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Humphrey wasn't in Congress at all when he gave this speech (House or Senate) but a 1948 U.S. Senate candidate.
And also to know how far ahead of his time he was, the civil rights movement didn't exist at all in the late 1940s at least as a national movement. But to a large extent at least on civil rights, Humphrey wasn't governed by what was popular at the time when he was the Deputy Leader of the U.S. Senate in 1964 and pushing the civil rights laws then.
Civil rights was still not very popular in this country and Senator Humphrey in 1964 probably already knew and Lyndon Johnson certainly knew that passing civil rights laws was going to hurt the Democratic Party in the South and thats exactly what happened.
Leadership is not about what's doing what is popular at the time but what's the right thing to do at the time. And thats exactly what Hubert Humphrey did with this civil rights speech in 1948. And what he did in his entire career in Congress in the 1940s, 50s and 60s and civil rights is just an example of that.
Leadership is not about what's doing what is popular at the time but what's the right thing to do at the time. And thats exactly what Hubert Humphrey did with this civil rights speech in 1948. And what he did in his entire career in Congress in the 1940s, 50s and 60s and civil rights is just an example of that.
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