Claim: Hubert Humphrey helped found the DFL in the 1940s.

Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. -LRB- May 27 , 1911January 13 , 1978 -RRB- was an American politician who served as the 38th Vice President of the United States under President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1965 to 1969 . Humphrey twice served in the United States Senate , representing Minnesota from 1949 to 1964 and 1971 to 1978 . He was the nominee of the Democratic Party in the 1968 presidential election , losing to the Republican nominee Richard M. Nixon .   Born in Wallace , South Dakota in 1911 , Humphrey attended the University of Minnesota before earning his pharmacist license from the Capitol College of Pharmacy in 1931 . He helped run his father 's pharmacy until 1937 when he returned to academia , graduating with a master 's degree from Louisiana State University in 1940 , where he was a political science instructor . He returned to Minnesota during World War II and became a supervisor for the Works Progress Administration . He was then appointed state director of the Minnesota war service program before becoming the assistant director of the War Manpower Commission . In 1943 , Humphrey became a professor of Political Science at Macalester College and ran a failed campaign for mayor of Minneapolis . Humphrey helped found the Minnesota Democratic -- Farmer -- Labor Party -LRB- DFL -RRB- in 1944 , and in 1945 , became the DFL candidate for mayor of Minneapolis for a second time , winning with 61 % of the vote . Humphrey served as mayor from 1945 to 1948 , he was reelected and became the co-founder of the liberal anti-communist group Americans for Democratic Action in 1947 .   Humphrey was elected to the Senate in 1948 , the year his proposal of ending racial segregation was included in the party platform at the Democratic National Convention , where he gave one of his most notable speeches on the convention floor , suggesting the Democratic Party `` walk into the sunshine of human rights . '' He served three terms in the Senate from 1949 to 1964 and was the Democratic Majority Whip from 1961 to 1964 . During his tenure , Humphrey was the lead author of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , introduced the first initiative to create the Peace Corps , sponsored the clause of the McCarran Act to threaten concentration camps for ` subversives ' , proposed making Communist Party membership a felony and chaired the Select Committee on Disarmament .   Humphrey ran for two failed Presidential campaigns in the 1952 and 1960 Democratic primaries . After Lyndon B. Johnson inherited the presidency after John F. Kennedy 's assassination in November 1963 , he chose Humphrey to be his running mate in 1964 against Republican Barry Goldwater and the Democratic ticket was elected in a landslide in 1964 .   After Johnson made the surprise announcement that he would not seek reelection in March 1968 , Humphrey launched his campaign for the presidency the following month . Humphrey 's main Democratic challengers were anti-Vietnam War Senators Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy . Humphrey , who was loyal to the Johnson administration 's policies on the Vietnam War as Vice President , saw opposition from many within his own party and avoided the primaries to focus on receiving the delegates of non-primary states at the Democratic Convention . Humphrey 's delegate strategy succeeded in clinching the nomination , choosing Senator Edmund Muskie as his running mate . With the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and the assassination of Robert Kennedy that year , and heightened opposition to the Vietnam War , the convention saw major protests which later proved costly to Humphrey 's campaign . On November 5 , 1968 , Humphrey lost to former Vice President Richard Nixon in the general election .   Humphrey then returned to teaching in Minnesota before returning to the Senate in 1971 . He became the first Deputy President pro tempore of the United States Senate and served until his death in 1978 . Humphrey died of bladder cancer at his home in Waverly , Minnesota , and is buried at the Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis . He was succeeded by his wife of 41 years Muriel Humphrey as interim Senator for Minnesota .