Choosing Muskie

Choosing Muskie

LBJ pledges his support for Hubert Humphrey's running mate in 1968

Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey Jr. called President Johnson to inform him that he had chosen Sen. Edmund S. Muskie [D–Maine] to be his running mate. Humphrey asked if the President would attend the Democratic National Convention, and Johnson said he would not, suggesting that if he did, he would get in the way and distract attention from Humphrey’s nomination.

Date: Aug 29, 1968
Participants: Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert H. Humphrey Jr.
Conversation Number: WH6808-05-13341

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(President Johnson): Hello?
(Hubert H. Humphrey Jr.): Mr. President?
(President Johnson): Yes, my friend.
(Humphrey): Well, Mr. President, I did a little praying, I did a little walking, I did a little thinking, and I decided, despite everything, I'd go with [Edmund S.] Muskie [D-Maine].
(President Johnson): Let's go.
(Humphrey): And he and I . . . sort of talked it out. I think it's the right thing.
(President Johnson): That's good enough for me. I'll do all I can to help, my friend.
(Humphrey): God bless you.
(Editor's Note): Thirty-eight seconds excised by the National Archives and Records Administration in accordance with the deed of gift.
(President Johnson): Well, the only important thing is—
(Humphrey): He'll be loyal.
(President Johnson): —for you to be sure that that's who you can go to. You got to have a wife and a vice president that you don't have to worry about, and I've had that blessing, and you know it, and if that's your decision, that's mine.
(Humphrey): Thank you, Mr. President.
(President Johnson): God bless you, and keep in touch with me.
(Humphrey): Are you coming in with us tonight?
(President Johnson): I don't much think so, Hubert. I would—if there's anything in the world I could do to help, I'd do it, but I feel this way about it: that . . . it's run well. You've got a good platform. You got a good candidate. I couldn't do anything except just come in and kind of divide and share and try to . . . Well, I think it's your day and that you ought to have—anywhere I can go and any place I can do anything, or any of my people or my staff or family, we want to do it. But I don't want glory, and if I did, I'd be running.