programs at our websites. you can join in the conversation on social media sites. >> now lessons from the 1968 presidential race and the candidacy of hubert humphrey. c-span's washington classroom is a partnership with the washington center and george mason university. this week they focus on the historic 1968 presidential campaign and specifically on the democratic nominee. mitt is the producer of the documenta documentary, and he joined the class from humphries home state of minnesota. this semester's class is focused on the road to the white house with a look at the issues and events shaping the current campaign as well as historical perspectives from past presidential elections. this is one hour. >> to my students part of the washington center here in washington, d.c. and from george

mason, we want to welcome to the class mitt kohen and he's talking about hubert humphries specifically. thank you for being with us chls. >> thank you. >> let me begin whether the year began with the ted offensive and the decision by lyndon johnson not to seek another term in march of 1968. both of those events really had had a huge impact on the politics of that year and hubert humphries decision to run for the presidency. >> right the. ted offensive, while it really wasn't a victory for north in the end because they were able to reach the -- reach saigon and reach the enemy. it appeared for all practical purposes to look like a victory for the north vietnamese, and it just devastated johnson had been telling people for months and years that we were doing well

there. that just negated everything he had been saying. so they -- it was just a terrible blow to his popularity. he just crashed after that. gene mccarthy had already been out, you know, campaigning against the war and against johnson and then along came kennedy, bobby kennedy, and all of this just sort of caused him to just basically give it up and say, you know, i need to be out of this. and the reason he quit was there are a lot of different ideas about it, but some say he was not healthy. others thought that he felt he couldn't win the war and couldn't do any good. maybe he couldn't win the election, his re-election. so no one really knows what those reasons were. humphries was shocked because

johnson had -- when he -- when he read this over tv in a letter to people. sort of a thing that he had written, and in the morning he called -- that day that he left, he called humphreys and told him to come over in the morning and showed him a letter and said there's two endings to this and didn't tell him which one it was. humphries went to mexico on a trip and found out that he had left the presidency. humphrey didn't have any idea. he was in total shock. he thought he was going to run again as vice president. they misunderstood in the hotel he was in in mexico that he had just resigned and left that day. they thought humphrey was president at that moment. obviously they found out later. he took a little while i-a few weeks to actually throw his hat in the ring, because he knew what he was up against with the war, which is in the film. we kind of explore that. he knew it was going to be

really tough because he would inherit the vietnam war. so it took him until late april before you began to campaign. he didn't join any of the primaries because it was so late. that's how he got started. >> let me put a couple of issues on the table. first of all, the new hampshire primary because many people looking back think gene mckartsy won the primary. in fact, he received 40% of the vote compared to 50% for lyndon johnson. why was that considered a loss for the president? >> well, because it was such a high percentage to an incumbent president. that was really unusual, and his popularity was on the rise. they were worried about the coming primaries, he might win one. if you can beat an incumbent president in your own party in a primary or get that close in the vote, then it's a real threat to the president. i just -- you know, there was -- i don't know in modern times if thaelgts been done to be that

close. so that was -- you know, that was a real fair thrown into lyndon johnson. it may be just something that put the -- it might have been the last straw. he might have had other reasons he didn't want to run again. anyway, that was a close call is what it was. >> what i'd like to do is put a couple of moments from 1968 into perspective and have you react to these moments that led to humphrey's decision to seek the presidency. you talked about the speech that president johnson delivered from the oval office march 31st, 1969. an announced that sunned the administration, stunned the vice president but the country at the very end of the speechl in which lyndon johnson was talking about the war in vietnam. here's what he had to say. >> 52 months p aand 10 days agon a moment of tragedy and trauma, the duties of this office fell

upon me. i asked then for your help and god's that we might continue america on its course, binding up our winds, healing our history, moving forward in new unity to clear the american agenda and to keep the american commitment for all of our people. united we have kept that commitment, and united we have enlarged that commitment. through all time to come, i think america will be a stronger nation. a more just society. a land of greater opportunity and fulfillment because of what we have all done together in

these years of unparalleled achievement. our reward will come in the life of freedom and peace and hope that our children will enjoy through ages ahead. what we won when all of our people united just must not now be lost in suspicion and distrust and selfishness. politics among any of our people. and believing this as i do, i have concluded that i shouldn't permit the presidency to become involved in the partisan divisions that are developing in this political year.

with americans' sons in the field far away, with america's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day. i do not believe that i should devote an hour of our day, of my time, to my personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office. the presidency of your country. accordingly, i shall not seek and i will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president. >> president lyndon johnson in march of 1968.

mick, the fact lyndon johnson did not tell his vice president what he was going to say that evening, what does that tell you about the relationship between the two? >> well, i think it tells you more about johnson than anything else, because he didn't tell anybody. i don't think he told his wife. their relationship had its problems, but that wasn't emblem mattic of it i guess. johnson was secretive about things. i'm not sure johnson knew what he was going to do. the other ending was he would continue to be president and work towards peace in vietnam. he made this decision rather late, and so -- i don't know if it's found me, i'm not sure. i know humphrey was told not to tell his wife about any of it, tell muriel about any of the meeting with johnson in the

morning. so he was pretty surprised whether it happened. >> in terms of the time line, that announcement took place on march 31st. it was just a couple of days later, april 4th, 1968, in which reverend martin luther king was shot in memphis, tennessee, and it was that evening that senator bobby kennedy, who was running for the democratic nomination had this to say in indianapolis. i want to show you. i'm going to ask isaiah and libby at the washington center to come back and get their reaction to what senator robert f. kennedy had to say that evening. >> i have some very sad news for all of you, and i think sad news for all of our fellow citizens and people who love peace all over the world. that is that martin luther king was shot and was killed tonight in memphis, tennessee. martin luther king dedicated his

life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. he died in the cause of that effort. on this difficult day and in this difficult time for the united states, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are, what direction we want to move in. for those of you who are black, considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible, you can be filled with bitterness and with hatred and a desire for revenge. we can move in that direction as a country in greater polarization, black people amongst blacks, the white amongst whites filled with hatred toward one another.

or we can make an efforts as martin luther king did to understand and to comprehend and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land with an effort to understand compassion and love. >> the evening of april 4th, 1968. let me go to isaiah and libby from the washington center. just a quick comment and your reaction to what you heard from senator kennedy that evening. >> i just think the question he asked, what kind of nation are we is really emblematic. during the '60s there was a group of people that had their dreams murdered, martin luther king was murdered, he was later murdered and medgar evans was murdered, what kind of nation

are we killing our own future? >> thank you. libby, your thought. >> i think i would have to aagree with everything he just said really. >> mick, as you look at all the events that happened in 1968, clearly one of the most tumultuous in american history. >> absolutely. you know, robert kennedy and jack kennedy were not -- as roger wilkins called them reluctant civil rights workers. they were sort of dragged into it. weren't really into it before they became president and attorney general. bobby kennedy grew, and he was dealing with a death in his own family just a short, short time earlier. so it was -- it was a -- for him it was very personal. >> and then, of course, two

months and one day later in june 1968 bobby kennedy, who won the california primary, a lot of expectations as to what that democratic convention was going to look like in chicago, he was at the ambassador hotel shortly before he was assassinated himself. here's what he had to say in declaring victory in california. >> i'm very gratel s that i rec all of you worked on behalf in agricultural areas of the state as well as in the cities.s well as in the suburbs. it indicates quite clearly what we can do here in the united states. the vote here in the state of state of south dakota. here's the most urban states of any of the states of your union, south dakota is the most rural states, and we were able to win them both. i think we can end the divisions in the united states.

what i think is quite clear is that we can work together in the last nalganalysis and what's go on in the united states over the period of the last three years, the divisions, the violence, the disenchantment with our society, the division between the blacks and white and poor and more affluent and the age groups and war in vietnam. we can start to work together, and we're a great country and selfish country and compassionate country. i intend to make that my basis for running. >> and, of course, just a couple minutes later robert kennedy was shot and then later died. if you can talk about the politics that evening, set the stage for what the democratic party was facing moving ahead to the summer convention in chicago. >> well, they were facing dozens of different things, but one of the things that was going on

with bobby kennedy is he was becoming popular among the general public. what was different in those days was that the candidate was really nominated by the delegate count, and humphrey really had that down. i don't think kennedy would have gotten that unless something really radical changed. he also had, you know, lyndon johnson did not like bobby kennedy, so he would have in that regard probably helped humphrey are all the delegates. i think that he wouldn't have -- people believe he would have gotten the nomination, but i don't think so. actually, the humphrey people and the kennedy people had met, and they agreed because bobby kennedy was a party man -- agreed that if humphrey won the nomination, bobby kennedy would support him and vice versa. humphrey often believed bobby kennedy wouldn't have been killed and that he had gotten

the nomination, humphrey got the nomination, he would have won because of the support of bobby kennedy. >> so let's talk about your fabulous documentary, hubert h. mumpary, the art of the possible. i want to share with the students one of many moments from your work. this is at the convention in chicago summer of 1968. >> this moment is one of personal pride and gratificat n gratification, yet one cannot help but reflect the deep sadness that we feel over the troubles and the violence which have erupted regrettably and tragically in the streets of this great city. for the personal injuries which

have occurred. [ applause ] surely we have now learned the lesson that violence breeds counter-violence, and it cannot condoned whatever the source. >> i believe that the republican candidate -- i believe the republican candidate owes it to the people to come out of the shadows. >> if you one time have had human excrement thrown at you by a protester, it makes every other protester the enemy.

>> so as you hear his speech in chicago and reflect on your work in that documentary and some of the protests that he faced as the anti-war sentiment was growing to a creshendo from the summer and fall of 1968, what did you take away from your resear research? >> it was so complicated. i found that humphrey who believed to be able to protest, he would be the first one to support, say, the "opccupy" movement. he believed in those things. he believed in the right of free speech. he was more upset about the language used at him and people were throwing urine and whatever else at him. it was that part of it he didn't

like. he didn't mind the protests. he handled it well, but those things were too much for him. it was kind of misdirected in a sense, because he had nothing to do with creating the war or continuing it even. he sort of inherited it. because he wouldn't come out and speak against it, he was now the person in charge of the war to many people. now, the other thing is that there are so many things that he faced that year, and that's what we tried to outline in the film. there is a general consensus for thin that la anyone that lived in that time, but the pressures against him were so strong and there's so many pressures that he -- it wasn't a sense of courage. it was a sense of if i don't -- if i do this, if i come out against the war, i might lose the presidency. so he was trying to find a way to win, and at the same time, you know, work the war issue.

and everyone around him agrees and he said himself that only a month or two after he would have been elected, had he been elected president, he would have ended that war. of course, with nixon elected it went on seven years and 24,000 more soldiers died. it's a turning point in our history. >> one of the things we're trying to do in this class is give student a sense of the dynamics in american politics. as we look at 1968 and the demonstrations taking place in the streets of chi ati-war prot fighting the fact being drafted in the war but also questioning what the war was all about. give us a sense of the mood of the country in a year that also resulted as we talked earlier in the assassination of two leading political figures, dr. king and senator kennedy. >> well, the two assassinations and the violence at the convention and all the things that happened that year, i try

to -- for those of us that lived through it, we tried to explain what it was like. the closest thing was the day after 9/11. it was total chaos, and you didn't know what was going to happen next. i think that all the candidates, humphrey, johnson, all them worried about their own lives because it was just -- you didn't know what was going to happen next. it felt like the government was out of ro felt like as bill moy the country was having a national nervous breakdown. as far as the protests go, it ramped up when the draft kicked in. that's when young people -- if young people now would realize if the iraq war was going on it and they didn't agree with it and told they would have to go, the protest would be a lot stronger. that's really what caused the major protests in the '60s, was that so many of us were young and told we have to go to a war

that some of us didn't believe in. you know, we didn't have a choice. there's a choice now, and that changed the dynamic of the protest movement. >> i'm going to turn to my colleague in a moment. describe the chashlracteristics hubert humphrey and the politics of nixon and the politics of 1968, mick. >> wow. well, hubert humphrey was in many ways the opposite -- the complete opposite of richard nixon. he was a kind and generous plan and a man who was very much a non -- although he was a partisan politician personally, he was loved by everybody in the senate. nixon, on the other hand, was -- there was a lot of suspicion surrounding nixon to put it kindly. a lot of people didn't like him. colleagues and a lot of people didn't trust him. i think that it was almost the opposite relationship with their

colleagues that they had, and people were surprised that nixon did as well they did. people that worked with him and around him. so i don't know. it's a case -- it's early years of public perception being almost more important than who the people were. the public perception against humphrey was so strong it really became something quite different. people perceived him as someone quite different than he really was. with nixon, nixon appeared confident and in charge and you know he was -- he looked different than he turned out to be, obviously, with watergate. >> let me just share one ad from 1968 called the voting booth. it really goes to the essence of the democratic strategy as they try to coelesce that new deem. here's how the humphrey campaign tried to use that in 1968.

>> a lot of democrats have done for you? let's think about it. your kids are getting a better education today because democrats have given schools needed federal aid. when school is out, your kids won't have do wandto wander the streets. democrats have paved the way to get good summer jobs. you have more money for luxuries because democrats worked hard to push through a higher minimum wage. you don't have to worry about supporting your mother today, and she need not worry about being a burden on you thanks to social security and medicare. quite an accomplishment? you know it. you only heard a minute's worth. what have the democrats ever done for you and yours? think about it. >> one of the many spots from

the 1968 campaign. let me turn to bob lichtner. >> actually, i have two kwis from my students. one is a what if question, and another is a what did it all mean question. can you identify yourselves and ask a question. >> sure. my question is how different do you think this nation would be in he we called hubert humphrey a former president of the united states? >> wow. the difference would be so profound that it's almost impossible to know. there would be no richard nixon and the war would have ended sooner and no watergate. until the time of -- it really started with johnson, but we had a whole different attitude towards our president than he we do now. nixon sort of finished it off after johnson started it. really created a negative image of the president. that would have been different,

and i don't know what would have happened after that. all of the things that happened since carter and reagan and all of those kinds of things, bush and all the rest would have not been there. it would have been a whole different world, but he would have been a more positive force for the country. he would have been a more loved president than richard nixon. that's to start with. >> let's have george mason ask another question. >> if you could describe hubert humphrey's legacy regarding presidential politics and what mistakes can today's presidential contenders hope to avoid when looking back on humphrey's failed campaign? >> wow. good questions. humphrey -- i don't know. his legacy in regard to presidential politics i'm not sure other than the campaign of '68 and what it might mean

towards running for president. but his legacy is more in what he did in the senate, which was some 1100 bills over ten years. as bill moyer says in our film, if you breathe clean air, if you drink clean water, if you vote when you couldn't vote before, you owe something to hubert humphrey. it's that legislation that really is his legacy. he also wanted to be president, and he was never shy about it. he just admitted he wanted to be president forr for all the righ reasons, i have to say. then what can be learned from that campaign maybe is that -- well, one thing is learned. this was the early days of money in campaigns. the kennedy campaign really started that whole process of money in campaigns, large money, and humphrey didn't have any. so he didn't -- he had none, and he basically borrowed money into

october when he finally made a speech sort of against vietnam, the vietnam war, coming home from the vietnam war. he began to raise money then, but until that time he had no tv advertising. the lesson can be learned from that that you especially in day and age of ridiculous money in plans that you need to be prepared and have a plan and have money. part of why he didn't have any of this is because of the '68 convention. he had nobody backing him up. nobody supporting him. the party didn't support him. after coming out of the convention nobody wanted to help him. that's one thing to be learned, that you need to have a plan, and these days you have to have the money. it doesn't seem to work any other way, and it's uncomfort. that's the way it seemed to be. >> the title of your film, the art of the possible, why did you select that? >> because of his legislation.