Muriel Humphrey

Infobox Senator
name=Muriel Humphrey


jr/sr= United States Senator
state= Minnesota
term_start= January 25, 1978
term_end= November 7, 1978
preceded=Hubert Humphrey
succeeded=David Durenberger
office2= Second Lady of the United States
term_start2= January 20, 1965
term_end2= January 20, 1969
preceded2=Lady Bird Johnson
succeeded2= Judy Agnew
date of birth= birth date|1912|2|20|mf=y
place of birth= Huron, South Dakota
dead=dead
date of death= death date and age |1998|09|20|1912|02|20
place of death= Minneapolis, Minnesota
nationality=American
party=Democratic
spouse= Hubert Humphrey (1936–1978) (until his death),
Max Brown (1979–1998) (until her own death)
children= Hubert III, Nancy, Robert, and Douglas
religion=

Muriel Fay Buck Humphrey Brown (February 20, 1912 – September 20, 1998) was the wife of Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Following her husband's death, she was appointed to his seat in the United States Senate. She later remarried and took the name Muriel Humphrey Brown.

Early life and education

Humphrey was born Muriel Fay Buck in Huron, South Dakota, daughter of Andrew E. Buck and his wife, the former Jessie Mae Pierce. She attended Huron College and met Humphrey in 1934, when she was working as a bookkeeper. They married on 3 September 1936, saying, "It was love at first waltz". ["Hopefuls' Helpmates", Time, 24 November 1958] They had four children: Hubert III, Nancy, Robert, and Douglas.

Political life

Humphrey was appointed as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party by the governor of Minnesota to the Senate vacancy caused by the death of her husband, and served from January 25, 1978 to November 7, 1978 in the 95th Congress. She was the first spouse of a former Vice President to serve in Congress as well as the first woman to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate. She was not a candidate for the special election for the remaining term. "It was the most challenging thing I've done in my whole life," she said. Twenty-eight years later, Amy Klobuchar, a fellow DFLer, would become the first woman to be elected to the United States Senate from Minnesota.

Looking back at her political life, Humphrey reflected "There's something I've been wanting to say for a long time. I'm a liberal and I'm proud of it. In fact, I was probably a little more liberal than Hubert was. I just wanted to say that." While in office, and after, she pressed for the right for women to choose to have an abortion and worked towards legislation for the rights of the mentally disabled. [New York Times obituary [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E5D81330F932A1575AC0A96E958260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/D/Deaths%20(Obituaries) here] ]

Second marriage

In 1979, Humphrey married Max Brown, a friend from childhood. "I don't live a life of politics any more," she said after her second marriage. "Max and I have so much fun. We have a wonderful companionship that Hubert and I didn't have, couldn't have. We were so busy and it was so official almost all the time." [Olson, Rochelle, "Muriel Humphrey Brown, senator, widow of HHH, dead at 86", Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 21 September 1998]

Death

When Humphrey died, she was survived by her husband of 19 years and her children, who were at her side when she died at the age of 86. She is interred in Lakewood Cemetery [Find a Grave [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5493 here] ] in Minneapolis, Minnesota, next to her first husband, Hubert H. Humphrey.

External links

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000956a Congressional bioguide]

References