1969 – 1978
Post-Vice Presidency (1969 – 1978)
Teaching and return to the Senate
After leaving the Vice-Presidency, Humphrey kept busy by teaching at Macalester
College and the University of Minnesota, and by serving as chairman of board of
consultants at the Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
Initially he had not planned to return to political life, but an unexpected
opportunity changed his mind. Eugene McCarthy, a DFL U.S. Senator from Minnesota
who was up for re-election in 1970, realized that he had only a slim chance of
winning even re-nomination (he had angered his party by opposing Johnson and
Humphrey for the 1968 presidential nomination), and declined to run. Humphrey
won the DFL nomination and the election, and returned to the U.S. Senate on
January 3, 1971. He was re-elected in 1976, and remained in office until his
death. In a rarity in politics Humphrey served as a Senator by holding both
seats in his state (Class I and Class II).
In 1972, Humphrey once again ran for the Democratic nomination for president.
He was defeated by Senator George McGovern in several primaries, and was
trailing in delegates at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach,
Florida. His hopes rested on challenges to the credentials of some of the
McGovern delegates. For example, the Humphrey forces argued that the
winner-take-all rule for the California primary violated procedural reforms
intended to produce a better reflection of the popular vote, the reason that the
Illinois delegation was bounced. The effort failed, as several votes on delegate
credentials went McGovern's way, guaranteeing his victory.
Humphrey also briefly considered mounting a campaign for the Democratic
nomination from the Convention once again in 1976, when the primaries seemed
likely to result in a deadlock, but ultimately decided against it. At the
conclusion of the Democratic primary process that year, even with Jimmy Carter
having requisite number of delegates needed to secure his nomination, many still
wanted Humphrey to announce his availability for a "draft" movement. However, he
did not do so, and Carter easily secured the nomination on the first round of
balloting. What wasn't known to the general public was that Humphrey already had
terminal cancer.
