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1976 – 1978
Deputy President pro tempore of the Senate (1976 – 1978)
In 1974, along with Rep. Augustus Hawkins of California, Humphrey authored
Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, the first attempt at full employment
legislation. The original bill proposed to guarantee full employment to all
citizens over 16 and set up a permanent system of public jobs to meet that goal.
A watered-down version called the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act passed
the House and Senate in 1978. It set the goal of 4 percent unemployment and 3
percent inflation and instructed the Federal Reserve Board to try to produce
those goals when making policy decisions.
Humphrey ran for Majority Leader after the 1976 election but lost to Robert Byrd
of West Virginia. The Senate honored Humphrey by creating the post of Deputy
President pro tempore of the Senate for him. On August 16, 1977, Humphrey
revealed his terminal cancer to the public. On October 25, 1977, he addressed
the Senate, and on November 3, 1977, Humphrey became the first person other than
a member or the president to address the House of Representatives in session.
President Carter honored him by giving him command of Air Force One for his
final trip to Washington on October 23. One of Humphrey's speeches contained the
lines "It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government
treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the
twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the
sick, the needy and the handicapped," which is sometimes described as the
"liberals' mantra."
Humphrey spent his last weeks calling old political acquaintances on a special
long-distance telephone his family had given him. After his death at home in
Waverly, Minnesota, he lay in state in the rotunda of both the U.S. Capitol and
of the Minnesota State Capitol. His body was interred in Lakewood Cemetery,
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Humphrey's wife, Muriel Humphrey, was appointed by the state governor to finish
her husband's term in office.
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