The Politics of Equality: Hubert Humphrey and the African American Freedom Struggle, 1945-1978 / Edition 1

by Timothy Thurber

Overview

Timothy N. Thurber explores the links between Senator Hubert Humphrey's policies on racial justice and economic reform. Thurber investigates Humphrey's legislative agenda in the context of the tensions between the class-based politics of the New Deal to which Humphrey wished the party to return and the rights-based politics that eventually came to dominate the Democratic platform. Although Humphrey is often associated with the civil rights movement, Thurber shows that he stood out in his commitment to achieving racial equality through means of economic reform, an approach that was not readily embraced by the Democratic Party.Thurber begins by tracing Humphrey's early life, and goes on to detail the rise of his political career, his lifelong commitment to the New Deal goal of economic equality, and his legislative agenda as a senator. From the Fair Employment Practices law, to the triumphant passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, to more radical recommendations—such as a Domestic Marshall Plan—Humphrey became concerned with how structural changes in the economy effected African Americans.Thurber uses Humphrey's career not only to explore the intersection of race, class, and politics in the second half of this century but also to reveal the trajectory of Democratic politics in the postwar era as the party faced the increasingly difficult task of maintaining the New Deal coalition. Hubert Humphrey's agenda of racial justice through economic reform-its triumphs and its failures-represents for Thurber the precarious position of liberalism and a road still not taken.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231110471
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	01/11/1999
Series:	Columbia Studies in Contemporary American History
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	0.83(w) x 6.00(h) x 9.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Timothy N. Thurber teaches American history at the State University of New York at Oswego.

Table of Contents

1. Race and Reform in Minneapolis
2. Into the National Arena
3. FEPC: Stalemate in the Senate
4. Desegregation, Voting Rights, and the Elusive Search for Consensus
5. A Moment of Triumph: The 1964 Civil Rights Act
6. Preserving the New Deal coalition: The Politics of Race in 1964
7. Civil Rights Enforcement and the Assaults on Liberalism
8. Order and Justice: The Politics of Race in 1968
9. Jobs and the FAiled Search for an Interracial Coalition

What People are Saying About This

Steve Gillon

A wonderful book about a fascinating figure. This gracefully written narrative not only adds new dimension to our understanding of Hubert Humphrey, it tells a much larger story of the travail of postwar liberalism: its noble ambitions, its contradictions, and its ultimate surrender to conservatism. The Politics of Equality represents political biography at its very best.

— Steve Gillon, University of Oklahoma

Editorial Reviews

Timothy N. Thurber's book is a fine contribution to the growing body of scholarship reevaluating, yet again, the history of American liberalism...Thurber is unusually good at showing how politics and government actually work.

Leo P. Ribuffon Historical Review

Timothy N. Thurber's book is a fine contribution to the growing body of scholarship reevaluating, yet again, the history of American liberalism...Thurber is unusually good at showing how politics and government actually work.

American Historical Review - Leo P. Ribuffo

Timothy N. Thurber's book is a fine contribution to the growing body of scholarship reevaluating, yet again, the history of American liberalism...Thurber is unusually good at showing how politics and government actually work.

— Leo P. Ribuffo

American Historical Review

A wonderful book about a fascinating figure. This gracefully written narrative not only adds new dimension to our understanding of Hubert Humphrey, it tells a much larger story of the travail of postwar liberalism: its noble ambitions, its contradictions, and its ultimate surrender to conservatism. The Politics of Equality represents political biography at its very best.

Steve Gillon

Timothy N. Thurber's book is a fine contribution to the growing body of scholarship reevaluating, yet again, the history of American liberalism...Thurber is unusually good at showing how politics and government actually work.

Leo P. Ribuffo