Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights with Samuel Freedman

The Preamble

Sharon McMahon

Government, History, Storytelling, Education

4.9 • 15.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2023

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today, Sharon sits down with author, journalist, and educator, Samuel Freedman, to discuss a man who has arguably gotten too little credit in the Civil Rights Movement: former VP Hubert Humphrey. There would be no Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 60s without the groundwork that was laid in the 1940s. The battles Humphrey faced overlap with many of the same battles being fought now: Against white supremacy, “America First” policies, and Christian Nationalism.

What inspired a very “vanilla guy” to care so deeply about these issues in the early 1900s, when it was not politically popular? What planted the seeds of his deep interior life and shaped the value system he had since childhood? In his book, “Into the Bright Sunshine,” Freedman shares unknown stories of what influenced Humphrey as an adolescent, and makes the case that Humphrey’s impact in the Civil Rights movement was pivotal in American history.

Special thanks to our guest, Samuel Freedman, for joining us today.

Host/Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon

Guest: Samuel G. Freedman

Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friends, welcome, delighted to have you joining me today.
0:08.2	My guest is Sam Friedman, and this was such a treat.
0:12.0	I think you're just going to absolutely love this conversation.
0:14.6	We're talking about somebody maybe you've never heard of, but without his efforts, the
0:20.3	civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s would not have been possible.
0:25.9	Hubert Humphrey, so let's dive in.
0:30.5	I'm Sharon McMahon, and here's where it gets interesting.
0:36.0	I am very excited to be chatting with Sam Friedman today.
0:39.8	Thank you so much for being here.
0:41.2	It's an honor and a real pleasure to be with you Sharon.
0:43.8	Well, of course, you know, I saw your new book into the Bright Sun Shine on a release list
0:49.4	and I was like, that's interesting.
0:51.0	What is that about?
0:52.0	And then when I started reading about it, of course, I had to pre-order it.
0:55.3	Of course, I had to read it.
0:56.6	It is about a person who has gotten, in my estimation, too little credit in the civil
1:02.0	rights movement, and of course, a minnesota.
1:04.9	So first of all, let's talk about who was Hubert Humphrey.
1:08.8	Yeah, I think people are divided into two camps these days about Hubert Humphrey.
1:13.5	There are those roughly my age and older, and I'm 67 now, whose memory of Humphrey is
1:21.4	as this disgraced, reviled person towards the end of his career, the person who has won
1:26.9	in Johnson's Vice President, supported the Vietnam War, the person who narrowly lost
	...

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