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Plunging into the South, where as recently as four years ago local politicians could entertain Humphrey only at the risk of their careers, he was warmly welcomed at Oxford, Miss., and Jackson, Tenn. More than 2,000 University of Mississippi students turned out at 11 p.m. to greet Hubert and Muriel at the airport. Next morning he presided at a breakfast for 300 white and black Mississippi leaders—politicians, businessmen, Negro leaders, union chiefs. "Can we not be neighbors instead of strangers in this country?" he demanded of his audience. "The same nation that learned how to split the atom ought to learn how to split the difference between black and white." On the Ole Miss campus, he told 4,500 listeners: "I'll take my stand, as I always have, on equal opportunity—and that means an integrated delegation [to the National Democratic Convention] from Mississippi." He also offered some understanding of the white South's feeling of persecution: "I know there are a lot of people who would rather point at you than look in the mirror." At both appearances he won loud applause.
"Slumism." At Jackson, where Governor Buford Ellington greeted him effusively, Humphrey spoke of his hope to "guarantee every American child an educational minimum wage." This would include preschool training for all, health and nutritional services in areas that need it, year-round schooling where necessary, a high national standard for teachers' salaries.
A new attack on "slumism," he told TIME Correspondent Lansing Lament, was necessary to get rid of "islands of welfarism." The antipoverty program must be refocused on a few high-priority needs, such as jobs. He believes some form of guaranteed annual income is desirable. The artificial division between core cities and their suburbs must be ended. Alternatives must be found to the dreary "grey cemeteries" of public housing. "The modern American city must become a cluster of neighborhoods where the fullness of life is available to everyone." New relationships between local and federal governments must be developed.
For the moment, Humphrey is short on details; he has months of campaigning in which to elaborate. He promises a restrained campaign, one that will not infringe on his official duties. But what is restrained by Humphrey's lights is manic by most metabolic standards, and the line between politicking and incumbency may prove too fine for the naked eye. As chairman of the President's Council on Youth Opportunity* and a promoter of programs to create jobs for Negroes in private enterprise, Humphrey is already busy announcing expanded plans, among them a 30% increase in summer jobs for ghetto youths this year, new factories in Brooklyn and Los Angeles to employ 2,400. "Whatever we do," he declared, "more needs to be done."