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The two Populists from the heartland who arrived in the Senate on the same day in 1949 have been personally closer than most Presidents and Vice Presidents. "My political tutor, my friend," says Humphrey. "We are married to each other," says Johnson. That Johnson wants him to be President has become increasingly evident. The President has appointed George Ball—a Humphrey supporter who shares the Vice President's view that the U.S. must pay more attention to European affairs —as U.N. Ambassador. "It's the first appointment of the Humphrey Administration," said one State. Department official, anticipating that Ball will succeed Dean Rusk if Humphrey is elected.
While a formal presidential endorsement of Humphrey's candidacy at some point would hardly be surprising, Johnson will probably consider it tactically advisable to withhold it for the time being. Humphrey's main task now, in addition to hunting delegates, is to establish his identity as a candidate who happens to be Vice President rather than as a Vice President handpicked for succession and bound to existing policies. If the Johnson Administration prospers in the next few months, Humphrey cannot help benefiting from the success; if it does not, close identification could only hurt.
Hubert Humphrey has been yearning for the presidency for far longer than he has been teamed with Lyndon Johnson. Despite his ritual talk about continuity, Humphrey's presidency might be quite unlike Johnson's.
A Humphrey regime would probably be frenetic in its scatteration of ideas—and of money, too, if Humphrey's admitted "looking at the stars" is to be reduced to practical programs. It would be a highly carbonated Government, abubble with exhortation and dialogue, far more open, homely and susceptible to public gaffes than any since the reign of Harry Truman (who is honorary chairman of the United Democrats for Humphrey). A Humphrey Administration might lack the grace of John Kennedy's tenure, but it would also eschew the dourly divisive Johnsonian mood. For Humphrey is a believer in "the politics of happiness, the politics of joy." As he promised even before announcing his candidacy: "We may not win, but we'll sure have a heck of a good time trying"—which is one capacity he has demonstrated beyond doubt.
* Humphrey's other official assignments, in addition to being President of the Senate and a member of the Cabinet and the National Security Council: liaison man to local governments; chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the National Aeronautics and Space Council, the Peace Corps Advisory Council, the National Council on Marine Resources and Engineering Development, the National Council on Indian Opportunity, the Special Task Force on Travel USA; honorary chairman of the National Advisory Council to the Office of Economic Opportunity; regents board member of the Smithsonian Institution; member of the Commission for the Extension of the U.S. Capitol.
* Humphrey is indeed unusually lachrymose. He publicly wept, among other occasions, when he lost his bid for the vice-presidential nomination in 1956 and when he lost the West Virginia primary in 1960.