The Welder

For years national Democratic leaders dreamed of welding the U.S. farm and labor votes together in a solid, dependable--and unbeatable--unit of the Democratic Party. They were never quite able to make it stick. But this month's elections indicate that the dream may have come true in at least one state. The state: Minnesota. The welder: U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey.

Running as a Democrat-Farmer-Laborite against a worthy Republican opponent, Humphrey won re-election by a thumping 118,000 votes. He carried with him the entire Farmer-Labor ticket, including his own protege, Orville Freeman, who will be Minnesota's first non-Republican governor in 16 years.

Even more impressive was Humphrey's success in holding on to his strong labor support and slashing deeply into Republican farm strength. A case in point was normally Republican Freeborn County, a black-soil dairy-farm center near the Iowa border. In Albert Lea (pop. 13,500), which has a meat-packing and a milk-processing plant along with some light industry, Humphrey took 54% of the vote. He lost the more fashionable residential precincts, but carried the industrial wards by about 2 to 1. And he received the votes of some 57% of the county's farmers. The Freeborn County pattern was repeated time and again across Minnesota on Election Day.

Hodgepodge. Humphrey emerged from his big win as the undisputed master of an efficient, solidly constructed organization in a state long known for hodgepodge politics. The Populist movement took root and flourished in Minnesota. So did the Knights of Labor and the Working People's Nonpartisan League (of which North Dakota's Senator Bill Langer is a vestige). The state went to the Bull Moosers in 1912. This political history left Minnesota populated by political independents, with a leaning toward "progressivism." One result: Minnesota's governors, e.g., Harold Stassen, 1939-43, have often been difficult to distinguish from Democrats. Another result is Minnesota's habit of electing babes in the north woods: Stassen was governor at 31; Freeman is 36; Humphrey was mayor of Minneapolis at 33 and a U.S. Senator at 37.

When Hubert Humphrey took over the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in 1944, he determined to capitalize on progressivism and to capture the independents. Humphrey swept out the old leaders of the party, largely a mangy crew of spoilsmen and Reds, and built his own organization. He works at politics 365 days a year. Every letter received by his office is answered within 48 hours. Every winner of a prize at state and county fairs gets a personal letter of congratulations from Humphrey. (A recent recipient: the daughter of Humphrey's Republican opponent in this year's campaign.) When Mrs. Mike Holm, Republican secretary of state, wanted to visit Washington, she wrote both Humphrey and Minnesota's G.O.P. Senator Edward Thye, asking them to arrange hotel reservations. Humphrey replied by return mail: Mrs. Holm's request had been carried out. Weeks later, she had still not heard from Thye.

High Fences. Humphrey came to Washington in 1949 as one of the most bumptious, uncompromising young New Dealers ever to set foot on the Senate floor. He had just helped drive two Southern states from the Democratic National Convention by his absolute insistence on an all-out civil-rights plank. Mere mention of his name was enough to set Southern Democrats to gnashing their teeth.

Now the dean of Senate Southerners, Georgia's Walter F. George speaks fondly of Humphrey as "a very promising young man." What he means is that Humphrey, at 43, has mellowed considerably, is willing to live and let live in order to keep Democrats working together. He has toned down his civil-rights talk. The Humphrey-type liberals have given up--at least temporarily--their all-out drive for complete repeal of Taft-Hartley.

Back in Washington last week, with his fences built high at home, Humphrey was making the noises of a political statesman. "We've got to learn how to live with other people if we're going to win as a party," he said of his fellow liberals. "It's no great service to the party to be stubborn and dogmatic in one's views." Then he adds: "The old New Dealer's sole idea was to 'get it done,' and the devil take the methods. Today, liberals are more concerned with protecting procedural rights and the use of proper constitutional methods."

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