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1948 – 1964
The Happy Warrior (1948 – 1964)
Minnesota elected Humphrey to the United States Senate in 1948 on the DFL
ticket, and he took office on January 3, 1949. Humphrey's father died that year,
and Humphrey stopped using the "Jr." suffix on his name. He was reelected in
1954 and 1960. His colleagues selected him as majority whip in 1961, a position
he held until he left the Senate on December 29, 1964.
In the Senate, Humphrey became known for his advocacy of liberal causes (such as
civil rights, arms control, a nuclear test ban, food stamps, and humanitarian
foreign aid), and for his long and witty speeches. During the period of
McCarthyism (1950 – 1954), Humphrey was accused of being "soft on Communism,"
despite having been one of the founders of the anti-communist liberal
organization Americans for Democratic Action, having been a staunch supporter of
the Truman Administration's efforts to combat the growth of the Soviet Union,
and having fought Communist political activities in Minnesota and elsewhere. In
1954 Humphrey proposed to make mere membership in the Communist Party a felony —
a proposal that failed. He was chairman of the Select Committee on Disarmament
(Eighty-fourth and Eighty-fifth congresses). As Democratic whip in the Senate in
1964, Humphrey was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of that
year.
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