St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-07-27
Humphrey May
Break Precedent


called for his presence on every
possible occasion.
After We got settled in his large,
comfortable inner office, 1 asked
him: "How do you like being
Mayor?"
81 love it," Humphrey said with
sincerity that left no room for
doubt. He didn't look tired; he
didn't even look wilted.
He appears younger in person
than in newspaper photographs.
Slender and of medium coloring,
he has brown eyes that can be at
once friendly and frankly ap-
praising. He bears no more re-
semblance to the stereotyped pic
ture of a Mayor than Butch La
Guardia does, but for a different
reason, of course. The difficulty
with New York's Fiorello is that
you have to look down so far to
find him. With Mayor Humphrey,
it's getting used to the idea that
such a nice, unobtrusive young
fellow holds the reins to the govern
ment Of a city of over a half-mil-
lion people.
There's a certain firm set to Mr..
Humphreys jaw that indicates he
may have a mind of his own, a
quality that can be either a handi-
cap or a marvellous asset in the
game of politics. A great many
public officials seem to relegate it
to the junk heap after their first
six months in office.
Has Common Sense, Too
While the Mayor has a college
education, and took over the
political science department at
Macalaster College while the head
of the department was away in
1943 and IA, he is no mere in
tellectual theorist. He has enough
practical common sense to take
him out of that class.
He attended University of Min
nesota from 1929 to 1881, when the
depression interrupted his educa-
ton. He went back to his home
in South Dakota to help his father
in the latter's pharmacy business,
and also got married, returning
here in 1887 with his attractive
wife, Muriel, to finish his school
ing.
There are now three handsome
healthy-looking young Humphreys,
Robert, aged one; Hubert, aged
three, better known as Skipper;
and Nancy, aged six. Skipper"
wants everybody to know, "I'm the
widow Mayor and Daddy's the big
Mayor" For awhile it looked as if
Nancy were going to be a child
prodigy, heaven forbid, because at
the age of a year-and-a-half, she
knew all of the Presidents of the
United States by name.
With sigh of relief, the Mayor
says, "She's leveled off very nor
mally, though" Child prodigies
may be welcome compliments to
home life in some families, but not
in the Humphrey menage.
Has Ambitious Plans
Humphreys ideas, like his bound
less energy, spill out with facile
rapldity. He has his plans for the
civic welfare of Minneapolis, and
ne wants to see them put into ac-
ton at the earliest possible moment.
He likes his job as Mayor because
he's always wanted to 90 into
public service, and it's this factor
that may ultimately make him a
political power to be reckoned with.
He's not in politics for what he can
get out of it, but for what he can
contribute.
"A Mayors job is a big job, and
It's the type of job in which an
individual can prove himself" Hum
phrey believes. He would like to
go farther ahead in politics, but
right now his mind is fully &C.
cupied IL to 16 hours a day, and
ne feels if he delivers the goods,
the future will take care of itself.
In the matter of inter-race rela-
lions, Hubert Humphrey is sincere,
frank, and determined. He is no
IlIly-Come-LaCely as far as this
type of thing is concerned. In the
stack of mail on his desk were
letters from Captain John Thomas
OF Minneapolis, stationed at Camp
Lee, Va, and from Chas. W. Wash
lngton, former secretary of the
local Urban League, and now in
dustrial secretary of the Pittsburgh
Urban League. Both men are per-
sonal friends, and he respects them.
Mayor Humphrey publicly ex-
pressed his opinions on the ques-
ton of Negro rights long before
ne ever ran for political office. He