On the torrid afternoon of July 6, 1948, Hubert Humphrey departed one kind of inferno to plunge into another. He was bound for Philadelphia, site of the impending Democratic National Convention, where the sweltering weather provided the fitting backdrop to a heated convention. The Democratic convention of 1948 promised to be morose and volatile all at once. The glum mood reflected the failure of liberal insurgents in the party, Humphrey included, to oust the incumbent president, Harry Truman, from the ticket. His speech at the Philadelphia convention, imploring delegates to “get out of the shadow of states’ rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights,” convinced a decisive majority of the delegates.

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Persons: Hubert Humphrey, Humphrey, Harry Truman, segregationists, Truman, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “, ”, Thomas Dewey Organizations: Democratic, Convention, Democratic Party Locations: Minneapolis, Philadelphia, America