True Believer: Hubert Humphrey's Quest for a More Just America (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781541619579)

A celebrated historian recounts Hubert Humphrey's role as a liberal hero of twentieth-century America

Hubert Humphrey was liberalism's most dedicated defender, and its most public and tragic sacrifice. As a young politician in 1948, he defied segregationists and forced the Democratic Party to commit itself to civil rights. As a senator in 1964, he made good on that commitment by helping pass the Civil Rights Act. But as Lyndon B. Johnson's vice president, his support for the war in Vietnam made him a target for both Right and Left, and he suffered a shattering loss in the presidential election of 1968.

Though Humphrey's defeat was widely seen as the end of America's era of liberal optimism, he never gave up. Even after his humiliation on the most public stage, he crafted a new vision of economic justice to counter the yawning political divisions consuming American politics. This biography reveals a deep-dyed idealist willing to compromise and even fight ugly in pursuit of a better society. Elegantly crafted and strikingly relevant to the present, True Believer celebrates Hubert Humphrey's long struggle for justice for all.


Author: James Traub
ISBN-10: 1541619579
ISBN-13: 9781541619579
Publisher: Basic Books
Language: English
Published: 02/13/2024
Pages: 528
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.64lbs
Size: 9.46h x 6.36w x 1.39d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2023
Publishers Weekly 01/15/2024
Booklist 02/01/2024 pg. 19
Library Journal 02/15/2024 pg. 1