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When radical leftists seized the DFL in the 1940s, the great Minnesota liberal, Hubert Humphrey, chased them out
The American Experiment ^ | August 20, 2020 | John Phelan

Posted on 07/16/2022 11:02:57 AM PDT by jdege

...The Farmer-Labor Party carried more than a tinge of communism, an ideology which repelled Humphrey. This presented few problems during wartime when the U.S. was allied with the Soviet Union, but when the war ended and the Cold War began the communists threw their weight behind Moscow.

Despite the Midwest’s long tradition of non-interventionism, Humphrey believed that the failure to confront Hitler earlier had encouraged eventual war and he was deeply committed to an anti-communist foreign policy, which the communist elements of the DFL opposed. “We’re not going to let the political philosophy of the DFL be dictated from the Kremlin”, Humphrey said, “You can be a liberal without being a Communist, and you can be a progressive without being a communist sympathizer, and we’re a liberal progressive party out here. We’re not going to let this left-wing Communist ideology be the prevailing force because the people of this state won’t accept it, and what’s more, it’s wrong”.

In 1946, the communists seized control of the DFL, largely by the tactic of staying at meetings until after everyone else had gone home and then electing themselves officers. At the state convention in St. Paul, Humphrey was jeered and spat upon by the communists, and his wife, Muriel, was refused entry until his police driver muscled her in. As Humphrey rose to speak, there were cries of “fascist” and “warmonger” and a sergeant at arms told him “Sit down, you son of a bitch, or I’ll knock you down”. Humphrey was unable to finish his speech. Ultimately Humphrey and his liberals were successful in wresting control of the DFL from the communists, mostly by using the old tactic of packing meetings themselves. But he would not forget his fight with Minnesota’s communists.



TOPICS: Government; Politics/Elections; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: bloggers; communism; communists; democrats; dfl; dflp; huberthumphrey; johnphelan; minnesota; nicolemitchell
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Something similar was happening nationally, when Democrat Party leaders forced FDR to choose someone other than the crypto-Stalinist Henry Wallace as his VP for the 1944 election.

Communist sympathizers, communists, and actual Soviet agents had deeply infiltrated the Democratic Party, in the 1930s. The CPUSA was funded and directed by Soviet intelligence.

The Party woke up to danger they represented, in the middle 1940s, and ejected them from mainstream politics.

(Henry Wallace ran for president in 1948 for the Progressive Party, which was another Soviet front group.)

It think we're long since past the the Dems need to do this again.

I'm just not sure who in the Party still had the guts to stand up and try.

1 posted on 07/16/2022 11:02:57 AM PDT by jdege
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To: jdege

Bookmark


2 posted on 07/16/2022 11:06:43 AM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog. )
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To: jdege

The DFL?

There was a kid in school we used to call “Darren Fat Landry”.

He had an older brother that wasn’t fat, thus the distinction.
“Fat Landry” was pronounced as a single word... “FatLandry”.

Is this about him?


3 posted on 07/16/2022 11:11:57 AM PDT by humblegunner (Ain't drownin', Just wavin'...)
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To: humblegunner

Democratic and Farmer-Labor Party


4 posted on 07/16/2022 11:15:11 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: jdege; All
Quote by Hubert Humphrey on the Second Amendment:

“Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.”

5 posted on 07/16/2022 11:21:36 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: jdege

Humphrey was also one of the founders of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), which attempted to purge the national Democrat Party of Communists.


6 posted on 07/16/2022 11:23:28 AM PDT by Publius
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To: Robert DeLong

They are losing the farmers to Trump though. I live in rocks and cows country (that’s what Gov Putz er Walz calls outstate MN) and many farms are still flying Trump flags.


7 posted on 07/16/2022 11:24:36 AM PDT by cableguymn
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To: cableguymn

Think HH would be happy to see that!


8 posted on 07/16/2022 11:26:34 AM PDT by milagro (There is no peace in appeasement! There)
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To: jdege

> It think we’re long since past the the Dems need to do this again. <

I don’t think it’s possible anymore. Back in the 1940s most Democrats were sensible and patriotic. But now the party is full of socialists, race-baiters, and social justice warriors. Any Democrat who opposes them would be smeared as a racist and a hater.

The Democrat party is a lost cause.


9 posted on 07/16/2022 11:27:30 AM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: jdege

DFL= ‘Dumb F’in Liberal’ party.


10 posted on 07/16/2022 11:28:11 AM PDT by Beagle8U ("Per DNC instructions...Joy Reid is busy packing marbles up her @$$.")
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To: cableguymn

Of that I have no doubt. Biden wants to put at least a third of them out of business, and take their land away in the process.


11 posted on 07/16/2022 11:30:36 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: jdege

The Farmer-Labor Party was actually larger than the Democrat Party, making Humphrey’s maneuvering even more surprising.

He became a popular radio news commentator, and was elected mayor of Minneapolis on a crime-fighting platform. Humphrey drew national attention for cleaning up Minneapolis, which was known for vice and corruption.


12 posted on 07/16/2022 11:40:28 AM PDT by jjotto ( Blessed are You LORD, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.)
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To: jdege

Supporting Moscow remains popular even among too many FReepers.


13 posted on 07/16/2022 11:41:07 AM PDT by MercyFlush (☭☭☭ Soviet Russia must be destroyed. ☭☭☭)
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To: jdege

Ejected them from mainstream politics when?

Alger Hiss was still very much in the mainstream until his fall, and he was allowed to make the United Nations Charter into a clone of the 1936 Soviet constitution. Never mind all the pro-European Union types, who gave Germany an undue advantage over all the other member states.

The only thing the Democratic Party did was push the most vocally pro-communist voices out. The ones who kept it hidden were allowed to continue their mission of subversion, and of course to take over the Republican Party at the same time.


14 posted on 07/16/2022 11:41:18 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: jdege

Hubert Humphrey was a socialist, not much different then a communist. Communists are in a hurry for power and use guns.
He lost 49 states when he ran for president.


15 posted on 07/16/2022 11:55:25 AM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: minnesota_bound

You’re confusing Humphrey with McGovern. Humphrey did not lose 49 states in 1968 when he ran for president.


16 posted on 07/16/2022 11:57:42 AM PDT by Publius
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To: jdege; Impy; BillyBoy; GOPsterinMA; NFHale; LS; campaignPete R-CT; AuH2ORepublican; Clemenza; ...

Humphrey was the last non-evil, non-America hating Democrat to win the Presidential nomination.


17 posted on 07/16/2022 12:14:04 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (America Owes Anita Bryant An Enormous Apology)
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To: humblegunner

What are you 11 years old? <Democratic Farm League


18 posted on 07/16/2022 12:20:33 PM PDT by atc23 (The Matriarchal Society we embrace has led to masks and mandates and the cult of "safety")
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To: Publius

You are correct. He still was a socialist.

Wiki: The Johnson-Humphrey ticket won the election overwhelmingly, with 486 electoral votes out of 538.


19 posted on 07/16/2022 12:59:14 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: minnesota_bound

Not hard to understand why


20 posted on 07/16/2022 1:00:15 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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