'Into the Bright Sunshine' spotlights the achievements of LBJ VP Hubert Humphrey (Dave Davies; Fresh Air podcast)

Samuel G. Freedman says Humphrey's better-known political failures have overshadowed some important achievements in his early years in politics, when he fought bigotry in Minneapolis and played a critical role in getting the Democratic Party to embrace civil rights in the 1948 presidential election. 

Freedman says Humphrey's powerful speech at the 1948 party convention, when a group of southern states threatened to bolt and formed their own party, helped lead to a critical realignment that allowed Democrats to win national elections in part by appealing to Black voters rather than segregationists in the South. 

Sam Freedman is a veteran journalist, author of nine previous books and a longtime professor of journalism at Columbia University. 

His new book is "Into The Bright Sunshine: Young Hubert Humphrey And The Fight For Civil Rights." Well, Samuel Freedman, welcome back to FRESH AIR.

Interview: 

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190500995/into-the-bright-sunshine-spotlights-the-achievements-of-lbj-vp-hubert-humphrey