Fighting the Good Fight John Bartlow Martin and Hubert Humphrey’s 1968 Presidential Campaign

Abstract

Hoosier journalist and author John Bartlow Martin played an important role as advance campaign staff and speechwriter in several post-World War II Democratic presidential campaigns, including those of Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, and George McGovern. Historian Ray E. Boomhower, Martin’s biographer, focuses here on Martin’s role in the campaign of Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey. Martin’s private notes and memos offer perspective on the tumultuous Chicago convention of August 1968, President Lyndon Johnson’s complicated role in that convention, and the considerable limitations faced by Humphrey and his campaign staff. Boomhower also offers perspective on the life and work of a significant figure in Democratic Party politics for more than three decades.