(9 of 10)
Johnson also owes it to Humphrey. The Vice President has cheerfully taken on every conceivable chore, social, ceremonial and substantive, political and diplomatic, that Johnson has thrown at him. Along with Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Humphrey has been one of the most persistent champions of the Administration's Viet Nam policy, even though his advocacy cost Humphrey dearly among his fellow liberals. Humphrey has been accused of being Johnson's "water boy," of playing Robin to the President's Batman, of "betraying the liberal movement," of being more militaristic than the generals. The latest attack came last week from Robert G. Sherrill, who is publishing an acerbic book on Humphrey to follow his acerbic book on Johnson. In a foretaste published in the Nation, Sherrill implies that Humphrey unconsciously doubts his own masculinity, calls him a "weeping hawk,"* a "pudgy huckster," and impugns his commitment to any abiding convictions.
Fairer critics concede that Humphrey's position on Viet Nam is consistent with the Vice President's longstanding views on Communism and international security. Many liberals remain good friends. Former Senator Paul Douglas insists that Humphrey has suffered "no corruption of his spirit. He is still the essentially progressive nontotalitarian liberal." Douglas also argues that Humphrey has been instrumental in liberalizing Lyndon. "It has not been a one-sided affair," he says. Even Dr. Benjamin Spock, a leading antiwar activist, pronounces Humphrey the best of the three candidates, except on Viet Nam, and says that he mistrusts Kennedy's "ambition."
"I support what I believe to be in the best interests of my country," says Humphrey. "That is why I support the President. If I felt I could not, I would either keep silent or I would resign." (The only Vice President who quit was John C. Calhoun, who left the Jackson Administration in 1832 to battle for states' rights in the Senate.)
Triple A-Plus. Only on rare occasions has Humphrey let slip the merest hint of differences with the White House. Once in a while, his old logorrheic fervor would earn Johnson's displeasure, as when in 1966 he commented on urban riots: "With rats nibbling on my children's toes, I might lead a pretty good revolt myself." He also called for a "Marshall Plan" for the cities when the White House was playing down big new spending programs. But generally he disagreed with few Administration policies. On Viet Nam, Humphrey has pressed for greater social reform, fewer grand search-and-destroy missions.
His usual practice has been to keep whatever dissenting views he had for private sessions with the President. Even in meetings of the Cabinet and the National Security Council, Humphrey felt, disagreement would only invite leaks. Johnson has repaid Humphrey with the highest of praise both in public and private. "When I look back at what I did when I was Vice President," Johnson told a recent Cabinet meeting, "I'd have to give myself a grade of B or B-minus. But when I think how Hubert Humphrey has performed, I'd have to give him a triple A-plus."