Into the Bright Sunshine
Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights
Published on 13. October 2023
Book
Hardback
504 pages
978-0-19-753519-6 (ISBN)
Description
From one of the country's most distinguished journalists, a revisionist and riveting look at the American politician whom history has judged a loser, yet who played a key part in the greatest social movement of the 20th century.
During one sweltering week in July 1948, the Democratic Party gathered in Philadelphia for its national convention. The most pressing and controversial issue facing the delegates was not whom to nominate for president -the incumbent, Harry Truman, was the presumptive candidate -but whether the Democrats would finally embrace the cause of civil rights and embed it in their official platform. Even under Franklin Roosevelt, the party had dodged the issue in order to keep a bloc of Southern segregationists-the so-called Dixiecrats-in the New Deal coalition.
On the convention's final day, Hubert Humphrey, just 37 and the relatively obscure mayor of the midsized city of Minneapolis, ascended the podium. Defying Truman's own desire to occupy the middle ground, Humphrey urged the delegates to "get out of the shadow of state's rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights." Humphrey's speech put everything on the line, rhetorically and politically, to move the party, and the country, forward.
To the surprise of many, including Humphrey himself, the delegates voted to adopt a meaningful civil-rights plank. With no choice but to run on it, Truman seized the opportunity it offered, desegregating the armed forces and in November upsetting the frontrunner Thomas Dewey, a victory due in part to an unprecedented surge of Black voters.
The outcome of that week in July 1948-which marks its 75th anniversary as this book is published-shapes American politics to this day. And it was in turned shaped by Humphrey. His journey to that pivotal speech runs from a remote, all-white hamlet in South Dakota to the mayoralty of Minneapolis as he tackles its notorious racism and anti-Semitism to his role as a national champion of multiracial democracy. His allies in that struggle include a Black newspaper publisher, a Jewish attorney, and a professor who had fled Nazi Germany. And his adversaries are the white supremacists, Christian Nationalists, and America Firsters of mid-century America - one of whom tries to assassinate him.
Here is a book that celebrates one of the overlooked landmarks of civil rights history, and illuminates the early life and enduring legacy of the man who helped bring it about.
During one sweltering week in July 1948, the Democratic Party gathered in Philadelphia for its national convention. The most pressing and controversial issue facing the delegates was not whom to nominate for president -the incumbent, Harry Truman, was the presumptive candidate -but whether the Democrats would finally embrace the cause of civil rights and embed it in their official platform. Even under Franklin Roosevelt, the party had dodged the issue in order to keep a bloc of Southern segregationists-the so-called Dixiecrats-in the New Deal coalition.
On the convention's final day, Hubert Humphrey, just 37 and the relatively obscure mayor of the midsized city of Minneapolis, ascended the podium. Defying Truman's own desire to occupy the middle ground, Humphrey urged the delegates to "get out of the shadow of state's rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights." Humphrey's speech put everything on the line, rhetorically and politically, to move the party, and the country, forward.
To the surprise of many, including Humphrey himself, the delegates voted to adopt a meaningful civil-rights plank. With no choice but to run on it, Truman seized the opportunity it offered, desegregating the armed forces and in November upsetting the frontrunner Thomas Dewey, a victory due in part to an unprecedented surge of Black voters.
The outcome of that week in July 1948-which marks its 75th anniversary as this book is published-shapes American politics to this day. And it was in turned shaped by Humphrey. His journey to that pivotal speech runs from a remote, all-white hamlet in South Dakota to the mayoralty of Minneapolis as he tackles its notorious racism and anti-Semitism to his role as a national champion of multiracial democracy. His allies in that struggle include a Black newspaper publisher, a Jewish attorney, and a professor who had fled Nazi Germany. And his adversaries are the white supremacists, Christian Nationalists, and America Firsters of mid-century America - one of whom tries to assassinate him.
Here is a book that celebrates one of the overlooked landmarks of civil rights history, and illuminates the early life and enduring legacy of the man who helped bring it about.
Reviews / Votes
A strong step in rehabilitating Humphrey's image as a practical politician and civil rights activist. * Kirkus Reviews * At the 1948 Democratic Convention, Hubert Humphrey implored the Party and nation to make civil rights the cause of the 20th century. Samuel Freedman's insightful book provides a critical account of not only Humphrey's path to that moment but also of the Minneapolis leaders and activists who fought for justice in Minnesota and who shaped the man who would become one of our nation's greatest champions for equality. Freedman's book reminds us that while so much progress has been made, all of us must continue to walk 'towards that bright sunshine of human rights.' * Senator Amy Klobuchar * Sam Freedman's work consistently elevates the craft of writing and Into the Bright Sunshine is no exception. His characteristically graceful prose and meticulous research illuminate not only Hubert Humphrey's life but the promise and peril of his political moment. The result is an adroit chronicle of a giant obscured by the passage of time and a key entry in the history of American liberalism and the roots of its current predicament. * Jelani Cobb * Into The Bright Sunshine accomplishes that rare triumph of being two books at once: Freedman has crafted both a definitive biography of Hubert Humphrey so vivid that we can almost hear H.H's heart thump on the page, as well as a rigorous investigation into the moral, spiritual and political forces that have shaped the best of liberalism in America. * Eliza Griswold, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Amity and Prosperity * In a lively, eloquent, deeply human way, Samuel Freedman brings his lifelong passion for social justice to a key turning point in our still-unfinished battle for true equality. Even people like me who disagreed with Hubert Humphrey over Vietnam will come away from this book with a deepened respect for the man who dragged his reluctant party to take a stand for civil rights. * Adam Hochschild * Samuel Freedman, one of the great chroniclers of modern America, provides us with a fascinating history of racial liberalism in Cold War America, unpacking the origin story of Hubert Humphrey's pathbreaking speech at the 1948 Democratic National Convention. Capturing a pivotal moment in the history of civil rights politics, Freedman's book is a significant contribution to the literature on American politics. * Julian Zelizer, author of The Fierce Urgency of Now * Freedman enlarges the reader's understanding of Humphrey while also offering vivid, rich, and unsettling details about politics, society, racism, and antisemitism in mid-twentieth-century America...An illuminating look at an important yet overlooked facet of American history. * John Rowen, Booklist * Compelling...Freedman offers an intimate and fine-grained depiction of Humphrey's early life and fledgling political career, as well as a revealing portrait of Minneapolis, a city of both gut-wrenching racism and creative civil rights initiatives. * Aram Goudsouzian, The Washington Post * Recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. * Choice * Into the Bright Sunshine offers readers a well researched reconsideration that convincingly argues that his advocacy for civil rights helped reshape the national political landscape.... The inclusion of research in the personal and family papers only available with the Humphrey family's permission and dozens of interviews conducted by the author enhance the value of this timely work. * Andrew Harrison Baker, Journal of Southern History *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
15 figures
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 166 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
830 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-753519-6 (9780197535196)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2023
OUP eBook
€25.99
Available for download
E-Book
06/2023
OUP eBook
€25.99
Available for download
Person
Samuel G. Freedman is an award-winning professor, columnist, and author of nine acclaimed books.
Freedman was a staff reporter for The New York Times from 1981 through 1987. From 2004 through 2008, he wrote the paper's "On Education" column, winning first prize in the Education Writers Association's annual competition in 2005. From 2006 through 2016, Freedman wrote the "On Religion" column, receiving the Goldziher Prize for Journalists in 2017 for a series of columns about Muslim-Americans that had been published over the preceding six years.
As a professor of journalism at Columbia University, Freedman has been named the nation's outstanding journalism educator by the Society of Professional Journalists and received Columbia's coveted Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching.
Freedman was a staff reporter for The New York Times from 1981 through 1987. From 2004 through 2008, he wrote the paper's "On Education" column, winning first prize in the Education Writers Association's annual competition in 2005. From 2006 through 2016, Freedman wrote the "On Religion" column, receiving the Goldziher Prize for Journalists in 2017 for a series of columns about Muslim-Americans that had been published over the preceding six years.
As a professor of journalism at Columbia University, Freedman has been named the nation's outstanding journalism educator by the Society of Professional Journalists and received Columbia's coveted Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching.
Content
Prologue: Destiny's Crosshairs (1977)
Chapter One: Beyond the Meridian (1922-1931)
Chapter Two: Horse-high, Hog-tight, Bull-strong (1931-1936)
Chapter Three: A Path Lit by Women (1933-1939)
Chapter Four: The Silken Curtain and the Silver Shirt (1934-1939)
Chapter Five: The Jim Crow Car (1939-1940)
Chapter Six: Voice and Vessel (1941-1945)
Chapter Seven: An Inventory of the Soul (1945-1947)
Chapter Eight: The City of Brotherly Strife (Spring and Summer 1948)
Chapter Nine: "A Drowning Man Wants to be Saved" (Fall 1948)
Epilogue: Unfinished Business (1965-2020)
Chapter One: Beyond the Meridian (1922-1931)
Chapter Two: Horse-high, Hog-tight, Bull-strong (1931-1936)
Chapter Three: A Path Lit by Women (1933-1939)
Chapter Four: The Silken Curtain and the Silver Shirt (1934-1939)
Chapter Five: The Jim Crow Car (1939-1940)
Chapter Six: Voice and Vessel (1941-1945)
Chapter Seven: An Inventory of the Soul (1945-1947)
Chapter Eight: The City of Brotherly Strife (Spring and Summer 1948)
Chapter Nine: "A Drowning Man Wants to be Saved" (Fall 1948)
Epilogue: Unfinished Business (1965-2020)