In 1968, Warren Hearnes was running for his second term as Governor. William “Bill” Morris was his Lt. Governor running mate. The state was solid Democrat so they for sure were going to win. Hubert Humphrey was one of the candidates for President, and so was Bobby Kennedy. The deals started flying at our state convention. If our delegates would select Humphrey over Kennedy, which we did, and if Humphrey won the Presidency, he would name Warren Hearnes the Secretary of Education. Hearnes had done more for education in Missouri than any Governor in the state’s history. He had changed the state formula and funneled money into higher education. The University even named an auditorium after him. Humphrey also promised Delton Houchins, an attorney from Clinton who was State Chairman of the Democratic Party that he would name him Chairman of the National Democratic Party.
I was Bill Morris’ campaign co-ordinator and used this scenario, that when Humphrey appointed Hearnes Secretary of Education as Lt. Governor, Morris would be our next Governor. This made it a lot easier to get support for Morris and raise money for his campaign. Hearnes and Morris had no problem winning as Governor and Lt. Governor in November. There was just one problem. Hubert Humphrey and Edmond Muskey lost the race for President and Vice President to Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew.
To make matters worse for the Missouri Democrats, and to show how the best laid plans can go haywire, Humphrey lost to Nixon in this state, which at that time was solid Democrat, by almost exactly 20,000 votes. The reason Humphrey lost was all the rednecks and union construction workers who normally vote Democrat all voted for the third party candidate, George Wallace, who received 200,000 votes.
Humphrey who was still head of the Democratic Party refused to appoint Houchins as National Chairman. All the Missouri Democrats’ big plans went down the tube because the voters had the last say.
Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com
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