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This is the fourth installment of our NHPRC funded project to digitize Hubert H. Humphrey's speech texts and this month we focus on the period from 1958-1960, the second term of the Eisenhower administration.

In the last months of 1957 the Soviet Union successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missiles and launched Sputniks 1 and 2, the first artificial earth satellites, into space. These events began the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States. In December of 1957 the United States failed to launch the satellite Vanguard TV3 in front of a live television audience. Only after the U.S. was successful in launching its first satellite Explorer 1 into space in late January of 1958, did Humphrey decide to address the Senate on the topic of disarmament in a 70 page speech that took four hours to deliver.

Being a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, as well as a member of the subcommittee focused on disarmament, Humphrey traveled to Geneva in late 1958 for a visit to the World Health Organization and United Nations Disarmament Committee, making stops in other European countries to encourage international cooperation for health research. During this trip Humphrey held his famous eight hour meeting with Nikita Khrushchev which he referenced in this speech and numerous others for months and years after. Humphrey described the meeting in his autobiography as a turning point in his career. "The unexpected visit was enlightening, and the resulting publicity helped give me more national prominence. But the prominence was less important than how I saw myself. I knew now that I was able to deal effectively with heads of state" (The Education of a Public Man, p. 148).

Partly because of his new confidence Humphrey decided to enter presidential primaries in a few states to challenge Senator John F. Kennedy for the Democratic Party nomination. The Kennedy's, however, were a powerful family whose political and economic ties gained certain advantages. They had a lot more money to spend, a better organization, and a lot of relatives to send on the campaign trail. In this 1960 speech in Madison, Wisconsin Humphrey admitted that "there are times when I envy the campaign of my adversary. It seems to have plenty of glamor - and it certainly has plenty of Jack."

After losing the Wisconsin primary, and then again the West Virginia primary to Kennedy, Humphrey endorsed Adlai Stevenson on July 13, 1960 in this speech at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Two weeks later, however, Humphrey was campaigning for his own re-election to the Senate and had fully endorsed the Kennedy/Johnson ticket. Realizing that Kennedy had strengths that he did not, Humphrey also recognized that Kennedy needed him and his support to win against Nixon. Joining forces with Kennedy and Johnson allowed Humphrey to promote proposals that were important to him, such as the Peace Corps, an idea first introduced in 1957 that garnered little support, then broadened in 1959, and finally outlined in the presidential primaries of 1960 in speeches such as this one on Polka Day in New Ulm, Minnesota. The Peace Corps became a reality in 1961 with the election of President Kennedy and Kennedy's own brother-in-law R. Sargent Shriver was appointed its first director.

Even as Humphrey gained further national and international attention, his crusade for civil rights continued. In May of 1959 Humphrey introduced another series of bills that addressed issues left out of the 1957 legislation. He continued to speak at events including this speech at the 50th anniversary convention of the NAACP in support of civil rights and to encourage people not to lose hope. Like the first, the second civil rights bill focused only on the protection of voting rights and appropriations for administrative agencies. While the 1960 legislation did not enact substantive change, it prompted Humphrey to believe more could be achieved under the Kennedy administration.

These speech texts, as well as all of Humphrey's speeches from 1941-1960 are linked to the inventory of his Speech Text Files. More of Humphrey's speeches will be made available each month throughout this project. Look for the years 1961-1963 in January!

This project was awarded the support of a $46,000 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) administered by the National Archives.

Learn more about how the NHPRC helps preserve records of enduring national historical value and promotes their public access and interpretation through archival and documentary programs.