Skip Humphrey Explained

Skip Humphrey
Office:27th Attorney General of Minnesota
Governor:Rudy Perpich
Arne Carlson
Term Start:January 3, 1983
Term End:January 4, 1999
Predecessor:Warren Spannaus
Successor:Mike Hatch
State Senate2:Minnesota
District2:44th
Term Start2:January 2, 1973
Term End2:January 3, 1983
Predecessor2:John C. Chenoweth
Successor2:Phyllis W. McQuaid
Birth Name:Hubert Horatio Humphrey III
Birth Date:26 June 1942
Birth Place:Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Party:Democratic
Children:3
Parents:Hubert Humphrey
Muriel Humphrey Brown
Education:American University (BA)
University of Minnesota (JD)

Hubert Horatio "Skip" Humphrey III (born June 26, 1942) is an American retired politician who served as attorney general of the state of Minnesota (1983–1999) and State Senator (1973–1983). Humphrey led the Office of Older Americans as the assistant director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

A Democrat, Humphrey is a son of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and U.S. Senator Muriel Humphrey Brown. He was the Democratic nominee for governor in the hotly contested three-way election of 1998.

Early life

Hubert Horatio Humphrey III was born on June 26, 1942, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Humphrey graduated from American University, where he was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi, Beta Chi chapter, and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School.[1]

Political career

Humphrey was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1972 and served as a state senator from 1973 to 1983. He was elected Minnesota Attorney General in 1982, one of the DFL Party's most popular candidates ever in terms of popular vote. He served in the office for four consecutive terms, from 1983 to 1999.

On January 13, 1978, his father died of bladder cancer at the age of 66.

In 1988, he ran for the same US Senate seat that his father and his mother previously held, but was defeated by incumbent Independent-Republican Senator David Durenberger. After this loss he served as president of the National Association of Attorneys General, and in 1996 he was state chair of President Bill Clinton's reelection campaign.[2]

By 1998 he was again encouraged to run for higher office, and entered the DFL gubernatorial primary, winning handily in a crowded field[3] (which included another scion of an eminent Minnesota political family, Ted Mondale). In the general election, both Humphrey and Republican candidate Norm Coleman lost to the third-party candidacy of Jesse Ventura in a tumultuous race.On September 20, his mother died at the age of 86.

Political legacy

Humphrey was an enthusiastic successor of his father's New Deal-inspired political philosophy, and throughout his career he remained devoted to traditional progressive ideals as well as their more modern manifestations: "If you think that being too liberal means raising the minimum wage, advocating health care for everyone, protecting the environment, taking on the tobacco industry, enacting campaign finance reform, and putting more cops on the streets, then guess what? That's what Minnesotans want."[4] One of his most passionately held principles was his opposition to tobacco and its powerful political lobby: in 1999, the World Health Organization awarded him the Director-General's Prize for outstanding global contribution to tobacco control.[5]

Personal life

While a student at American University, Humphrey met Nancy Lee Jeffery, the daughter of a US Navy captain. The two were married while spending the summer of 1963 in Europe.[6] The Humphreys are the parents of three children, including Hubert H. "Buck" Humphrey IV, who ran for Minnesota Secretary of State in 2002, losing by three percentage points to Republican nominee Mary Kiffmeyer.

Humphrey was a senior fellow at the University of Minnesota, where he taught public health policy and law,[7] and was also Senior Vice President at Tunheim Partners, a Minnesota-based communications and public affairs firm.[8] Beginning in 2004, Humphrey served as the president of the Minnesota chapter of the AARP,[9] and later was a member of the Board of Directors of the National AARP.[10] In October 2011, Humphrey was appointed the assistant director of the Office of Older Americans at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.[11]

Electoral history

1998

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Minnesota Legislators Past & Present – Legislator Record (Retrieved August 15, 2010).
  2. GAO; Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, October 28, 1996 (Retrieved August 15, 2010).
  3. CNN: Minnesota primary results, September 15, 1998. (Retrieved August 15, 2010).
  4. Kamber, Victor (2003). Poison Politics: Are Negative Campaigns Destroying Democracy?; Basic Books, New York City; . See p.270: "As Hubert Humphrey III, son of HHH and now Minnesota's attorney general, said...."
  5. Prominent tobacco control activist receives prize . World Health Organization . May 27, 1999 . November 17, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131031072557/http://www.who.int/inf-pr-1999/en/pr99-29.html . October 31, 2013 .
  6. Solberg, Carl (1984). Hubert Humphrey: A Biography; Borealis Books, St. Paul MN; . See p.234: "In the summer of 1963... Hubert H. Humphrey III was also traveling to Europe... In August, Humphrey wrote his son's old headmaster: 'Skip has returned from Europe and believe it or not, he has married a very lovely young lady here in Virginia – Nancy Lee Jeffery. They were married in Europe so they could enjoy a little honeymoon there. We are very happy at the whole situation.'"...
  7. Web site: Faculty Biography: Hubert H. Humphrey III, J.D. . Regents of the University of Minnesota . 2010 . University of Minnesota . Umn.edu . https://web.archive.org/web/20100711200209/http://www.sph.umn.edu/epi/faculty/faculty.asp?x5=humph018 . July 11, 2010 . November 6, 2015 .
  8. Web site: Skip Humphrey to head AARP Minnesota . 2004 . Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal.
  9. News: Wolfe . Warren . January 9, 2004 . Skip Humphrey to lead state AARP . https://web.archive.org/web/20181119204114/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-112031542.html . dead . November 19, 2018 . Star Tribune . Minneapolis, MN . November 17, 2016. HighBeam Research.
  10. Web site: AARP Leadership Profile: Hubert H. Humphrey III . 2008 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20110326031018/http://www.aarp.org/about-aarp/leadership/info-2010/Hubert_Humphrey.html . March 26, 2011 . dead . November 17, 2016 .
  11. Book: 2013 . Financial Security Issues Facing Older Americans . Washington, D.C. . U.S. Government Printing Office . 3 .