The Bright Sunshine

"Hubert Humphrey may have sinned in the eyes of God, as we all do, but according to those definitions of Gandhi's, Hubert Humphrey was without sin."


 * ~ President Jimmy Carter

Hubert Humphrey is generally regarded as one of the most influential politicians of the 20th Century and can be credited for moving the Democratic Party from the Right to the Left. Humphrey came to national prominence during the, where he gave a speech declaring his support for civil rights and urged the Democratic Party to "get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights." The DNC would adopt civil rights on their platform, which led to Dixiecrat launching a segregationist third party bid. Humphrey would go on to be elected to the Senate in 1948 and win reelection in 1956. Humphrey's dream was always to become President of the United States. He made his first attempt in 1960, managing to only win the South Dakota and Washington, D.C. primaries.

Following the in Dallas on November 22, 1963 and with Vice President Lyndon Johnson becoming President, the issue of civil rights came into the spotlight of American politics. Humphrey would work tirelessly to get the Civil Rights Act through the House and Senate amid a filibuster by Senator's Strom Thurmond and Richard Russell. Humphrey would even come into conflict with President Johnson over him cutting Voting Rights from the Civil Rights Bill. Humphrey's effort would pay off, as he would be nominated to be President Johnson's running mate in the 1964 election.

This timeline will explore a world where then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey managed to defeat former Vice President Richard Nixon in the 1968 presidential election (thanks to a change in the Vice President's campaign strategy) and the effects Humphrey could have as President.