True Believer - by James Traub (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The defining moment of Hubert Humphrey's life occurred on the evening of August 29, 1968, as he rose to accept the nomination as Democratic candidate for president at the International Amphitheater in Chicago. As Humphrey recited what he hoped would be healing verses from St. Francis--"where there is hate, let me sow love"--a contingent of National Guardsman began firing tear gas at thousands of demonstrators outside. "The whole world is watching," the kids chanted--and alas for Humphrey, it was true. For years he had been revered as the foremost champion for racial justice in the U.S. Senate after forcing a 1948 vote committing the Democratic party to support for civil rights. But accepting the job of Vice President to Lyndon Johnson made Humphrey a political captive to the pro-war establishment. His shattering loss in the presidential election of 1968 exposed how weak the party of FDR and the New Deal had become. Cutting against conventional wisdom that remembers Hubert Humphrey as a political casualty of the upheavals of the 1960s, veteran journalist and historian James Traub depicts Humphrey as a political warrior who spent his career fighting for the great liberal causes of his day--civil rights above all, but also anti-poverty programs, public education and the Peace Corps. He also offers a new understanding of the great turning point in Humphrey's trajectory--the 1968 Presidential election was lost not because the hippies and mainstream parted ways, but because the white working class abandoned the New Deal coalition for a resurgent conservativism. It was an epochal political shift that Humphrey saw clearly. In his final political act, Humphrey returned to the Senate and passed an act to guarantee full employment for American workers, showing a path forward that today's Democratic party is only just beginning to embrace. This book elegantly presents the definitive life story of liberalism's most dedicated defender, and most public and tragic sacrifice. Traub's portrait of Hubert Humphrey reveals not only one man's rise and fall but the possibility of restoring the liberal dream of social democracy"--

Book Synopsis

A celebrated historian recounts Hubert Humphrey's role as a liberal hero of twentieth-century America

Hubert Humphrey was liberalism's most dedicated defender, and its most public and tragic sacrifice. As a young politician in 1948, he defied segregationists and forced the Democratic Party to commit itself to civil rights. As a senator in 1964, he made good on that commitment by helping pass the Civil Rights Act. But as Lyndon B. Johnson's vice president, his support for the war in Vietnam made him a target for both Right and Left, and he suffered a shattering loss in the presidential election of 1968.

Though Humphrey's defeat was widely seen as the end of America's era of liberal optimism, he never gave up. Even after his humiliation on the most public stage, he crafted a new vision of economic justice to counter the yawning political divisions consuming American politics. This biography reveals a deep-dyed idealist willing to compromise and even fight ugly in pursuit of a better society. Elegantly crafted and strikingly relevant to the present, True Believer celebrates Hubert Humphrey's long struggle for justice for all.

Review Quotes

"A masterful biography of Hubert Humphrey that presents him as a fascinating, three-dimensional figure, not the cardboard cutout later generations may know."--Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for the New York Times

"A brisk, engaging biography of Humphrey with an urgent underlying message for today's liberals."--New York Times Book Review

"A flattering look at a liberal political figure. Fans of American political history will appreciate this one."--Library Journal

"Compelling... Traub has rendered here a sensitive, vivid and sometimes poignant portrait of a political crusader."--Wall Street Journal

"Excellent... Brings the spirit of Humphrey's politics to life in ways that go beyond a simple tally of his achievements and failings."--Liberal Patriot

"In True Believer, Traub traces not just Hubert Humphrey's life but the rise and fall of mid-20th century liberalism with all of its courage, promise, triumphs, contradictions, compromises, limitations, and myopic insufficiencies exemplified in the talents, fortunes, and failures of one man."--New York Journal of Books

"Perceptive and beautifully written."--Air Mail

"Readers who want to dive deep into Humphrey's world will appreciate Traub's thorough reporting... It's at its best when bringing history to life with fascinating anecdotes."--Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"Deft and thoughtful... Traub argues that studying the life of Humphrey--the late mayor of Minneapolis, senator, and vice president--is instructive, cautionary, and inspiring. His thesis is correct on all three counts."--Washington Monthly

"A welcome resurrection of the life of an often-forgotten but significant political figure... An astute analysis of one of the last New Dealers."--Kirkus (Starred)

"An admiring biography of firebrand politician Hubert Humphrey."--Publishers Weekly

"In the mode of Robert Caro... This corrective, vivid biography expands readers' knowledge of Humphrey."--Booklist (Starred)

"Hubert Humphrey's life precisely overlapped the rise and fall of big-government liberalism as the dominant creed in American politics. James Traub's wise and absorbing biography of Humphrey never stints in crediting him with helping shape that political moment, and never flinches from showing how little he was able to do to resist its passing. True Believer brings to life an unjustly forgotten politician and reminds us that it is possible for a politician to be an honorable and good-hearted person."--Nicholas Lemann, author of Transaction Man

"The best biographies offer not only a portrait of a fascinating historical figure--but also a window into their era and a mirror that helps us understand our own. Traub's True Believer succeeds on all three counts. It is a riveting account of one of the greatest presidents America never had."--Yascha Mounk, author of The Great Experiment

"Traub is known as both an exemplary political biographer and an astute analyst of American liberalism. Both sets of talents are on display in True Believer, which brilliantly captures Humphrey, midcentury liberalism's most powerful public champion--with all his righteousness, decency, and hunger to improve regular people's lives, but also his struggles and failures. The triumphs and tragedy of Humphrey, Traub shows us in this compulsively readable story, are also those of liberalism itself."--David Greenberg, author of Calvin Coolidge

About the Author

James Traub has spent the last forty years as a journalist for America's leading publications, including the New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine. He now teaches foreign policy and intellectual history at NYU Abu Dhabi and writes for Foreign Policy. He has authored eight previous books on foreign and domestic affairs. He lives in New York City.