Despite the many reasons for his loss, Humphrey still blamed the protesters above all. Journalist Seymour Hersh spoke with Humphrey in 1970 just as college students were protesting the Kent State shootings and the continuation of the war. Humphrey had lingering detest for the anti-war movement, “for those kids who march around saying, ‘Hey, hey, L.B.J., how many kids did you kill today?’.” Humphrey only had two words for them, repeated in staccato to Hersh: “‘Fuck ’em, fuck ’em, fuck ’em.’” As I did my research for the book, it seemed clear to me that the protesters became both a reason and scapegoat for Humphrey’s loss, a way out of reexamining his campaign’s limits, of why he held steadfast to Cold War liberalism (to the belief that the U.S. needed to vanquish communism at all costs) when it no longer served his—or the country’s—interests.
So what does this mean for Joe Biden and 2024? Again, 2024 is not 1968—the New Deal coalition is gone, Biden faces no serious challenge from a third-party candidate, and American troops are not bogged down in a war in Southeast Asia.
But I do think that Biden is a Humphrey-like figure. Like Humphrey, who returned to the Senate in 1971 after losing the presidency (where he pushed to enact a full employment bill before dying in January 1978), Biden is now in his third act in public life; and like Humphrey, he is one of the last of a generation of Democrats. Whereas Humphrey was the last of the New Deal turned Cold War liberals, Biden is one the last Democrats in office that were shaped by Vietnam, Watergate, and “stagflation.” Similar to Humphrey, Biden has a strong labor record and a vision for a renewed welfare state—even if that vision cannot be realized out of a context of great-power competition with China.
Biden is also holding onto a war that is rapidly losing support among the American people, one that is fracturing his coalition and shaping his legacy for the worse. Indeed, Biden has choices that he needs to make between now and the election, ones similar to the choices Humphrey made. Biden has already called for a ceasefire to the Gaza war, but should he go further to distance himself from the Netanyahu government—as Humphrey distanced himself from Johnson? Will Biden revisit his vision for a pluralistic America that marked the early days of his presidency—or like Humphrey, retreat into “law and order” politics, as Biden has done with the southern border? Will Biden emphasize a domestic agenda that tackles inflation, works toward full employment, builds up the working class, and strengthens labor unions—or let foreign policy dictate domestic policy?