# Muriel Humphrey *American politician; second lady of the United States (1965–1969) and appointed U.S. senator from Minnesota (1978)* Muriel Fay Humphrey Brown (née Buck; February 20, 1912 – September 20, 1998) held a seat in the [[United States Senate]] from Minnesota in 1978. She was appointed to the vacancy created by the death of her husband, [[Hubert Humphrey]].[^1][^2] Hubert Humphrey served as [[Vice President of the United States]] from January 1965 to January 1969, the period in which she was second lady.[^3][^2] Her Senate service ran from late January 1978 to the special election of November 7, 1978, and David Durenberger succeeded her.[^1] Wikipedia's account identifies her as the first woman to serve as a U.S. senator from Minnesota.[^2] The record carried here documents one public office for her, and she held it by appointment to a vacancy.[^1] In the Minnesota record she appears in one at-issue entry and in the context of her husband's federal enactments. The most prominent of these is his floor management of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], whose [[Title VII]] is the statute under which the [[United States Department of Justice]] sued the State of Minnesota in January 2026.[^4][^5][^6] ## Who She was born Muriel Fay Buck in Huron, South Dakota. Her parents were Andrew E. Buck and Jessie Mae Pierce, and she attended Huron College.[^2] She was twenty-two and keeping books for a living when she met Hubert Humphrey in 1934. The two married on September 3, 1936.[^2] Her husband later did graduate work at Louisiana State University, and she joined him there and worked as a typist in the university's Department of Government.[^2] They had four children: [[Hubert H. Humphrey III]], Nancy, Robert, and Douglas.[^2] Wikipedia records that she advised her husband informally once he entered politics. It also records that she first appeared with him on the campaign trail in his second Senate race.[^2] His first office was mayor of [[Minneapolis]], where he was inaugurated on July 2, 1945. He then served in the Senate and as vice president.[^7][^3] During his 1960 bid for the presidential nomination she gave speeches for him in Wisconsin.[^2] As second lady she sat on the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities from 1966 to 1969 and convened meetings of women in the [[Democratic Party (United States)]]. Her papers are catalogued at the [[Minnesota Historical Society]].[^2] The University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the *Star Tribune* have each published remembrances of her.[^8][^9] ## When - **February 20, 1912**: born in Huron, South Dakota.[^2] - **1934**: meets Hubert Humphrey. **September 3, 1936**: the two marry.[^2] - **Mid-1950s to 1964**: the family's primary residence is a house it built in Waverly, Minnesota. They keep it as their main home until the 1964 vice-presidential election.[^2] - **1960**: campaigns in Wisconsin during her husband's presidential primary run, which he lost to John F. Kennedy.[^2] - **January 1965 to January 1969**: second lady while Hubert Humphrey is vice president.[^3][^2] - **1966 to 1969**: member of the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.[^2] - **1968 to 1971**: makes public appearances in her husband's 1968 presidential campaign. After losing that election he runs for the Senate in 1970 and returns to it in January 1971.[^2] - **January 13, 1978**: Hubert Humphrey dies of bladder cancer, aged 66.[^2] - **Late January 1978 to November 7, 1978**: holds the Senate seat by appointment until the special election. David Durenberger succeeds her.[^1] - **1981**: marries Max Brown, a friend from childhood.[^2] - **September 20, 1998**: dies. Max Brown died in 2004, aged 93.[^2][^1] ## Where She was born in Huron, South Dakota, and lived in Louisiana during her husband's graduate study.[^2] From the mid-1950s until 1964 the family's principal home was in [[Waverly]], a small community west of Minneapolis.[^2] ## In the at-issue record At-issue entry AI-Humphrey-073 records her appointment in late January 1978 and her service to November 7, 1978.[^1] The entry states that "A Senate seat passed from a Wright County household to the same Wright County household by gubernatorial appointment." It adds that the project's corpus records this "without a claim attached."[^10] The entry rests on a single press source, a *Washington Post* report dated January 26, 1978. That report is not among the linked sources here. The validated research dossier from which the entry is drawn lists her residence at Waverly during her Senate term as unverified.[^1] Wikipedia places the family's primary residence at Waverly only through the 1964 election.[^2] The entry's anchor link is a March 2025 White House presidential action on election integrity. That action does not itself document the 1978 appointment.[^10] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - **Hubert H. Humphrey** (Democrat): mayor of Minneapolis from July 2, 1945.[^7] He was a U.S. senator from Minnesota, then vice president from 1965 to 1969, and returned to the Senate from 1971 until his death in 1978.[^3][^2] - **[[Walter Mondale]]**: appointed by Governor Rolvaag on December 30, 1964, to the Senate seat Hubert Humphrey vacated to become vice president.[^11] - **Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III** (DFL), her son: served as [[Minnesota Attorney General]] from 1983 to 1999.[^12] On November 3, 1998, he lost the three-way governor's race to [[Jesse Ventura]] (Reform Party). Coleman (R) was the third candidate.[^13] ### What The Senate Historical Office records the following about the Civil Rights Act of 1964: - In March 1964, Hubert Humphrey was the Democratic floor manager for the bill.[^14] - He and Senator Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) worked out a bipartisan compromise on Title VII.[^4] - The Senate passed the bill 73–27 on June 19, 1964.[^4] President [[Lyndon Johnson]] signed the Act on July 2, 1964.[^15] It was enacted as Pub. L. 88-352.[^16] [[Executive Order 11246]] is dated September 24, 1965.[^17][^18] The project's time table records that it was drafted after a review by Humphrey that recommended enforcement by the Labor Department.[^17] The project's claim records describe him as a co-architect of the order. The order's own text is the primary source for its date and terms.[^18] On January 14, 2026, the Department of Justice issued release No. 26-21. It was titled *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's "Affirmative Action" Regime*. The release states that Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the case as a matter of general public importance.[^5] The complaint is [[United States v. State of Minnesota (0:26-cv-00273)]], filed in the District of Minnesota and brought under Title VII. It cites [[Minn. Stat. § 43A.191]] eight times. Among the passages cited is the requirement in subdivision 3(c) that an agency explain why it hired a non-affirmative candidate.[^6] The release and the complaint document the filing. The sources cited here record no disposition.[^5][^6] In *[[Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services]]*, 605 U.S. 303 (2025), the Supreme Court held that Title VII's disparate-treatment provision "draws no distinctions between majority-group plaintiffs and minority-group plaintiffs." The Court rejected the Sixth Circuit's heightened "background circumstances" rule.[^19] The U.S. government has used "regime" for governments it opposes. For example, the [[Iraq Liberation Act]] of 1998 states a policy of supporting efforts to remove "the regime headed by Saddam Hussein." The project's catalogue of U.S.-government "regime" usages (*[[How Minnesota Got Here]]*, note 40) finds Minnesota the only U.S. state so described.[^20][^5] The record carried here does not connect Muriel Humphrey to Title VII, Executive Order 11246, or § 43A.191. Her 1978 Senate term is the only federal office documented for her.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Historian, *Muriel Humphrey* (People detail) — her congressional service record; dates of service as recorded in the validated dossier HHH_Waverly_Apex_Dossier_2026-09-02.md §V. https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15464 [^2]: Wikipedia, *Muriel Humphrey* (rev. 1380158760, retrieved Oct. 27, 2026) — birth, family, marriage, residence, political activity, second marriage, death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_Humphrey [^3]: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, *Hubert H. Humphrey* (Bioguide H000953) — Senate and vice-presidential service; Civil Rights Act floor manager. https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/H000953 [^4]: U.S. Senate Historical Office, *Civil Rights Act of 1964* — Humphrey–Dirksen compromise on Title VII; Senate passage 73–27 on June 19, 1964. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/CivilRightsAct1964.htm [^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's "Affirmative Action" Regime*, release No. 26-21 (Jan. 14, 2026) — title; Attorney General's certification of general public importance. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-department-justice-files-lawsuit-against-minnesotas-affirmative-action-regime [^6]: U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, *Complaint, United States v. State of Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-00273 (D. Minn. filed Jan. 14, 2026) — Title VII claims; eight citations of Minn. Stat. § 43A.191, including subd. 3(c). https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1423361/dl [^7]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Hubert H. Humphrey* (research guide) — inauguration as mayor of Minneapolis, July 2, 1945. https://libguides.mnhs.org/hhh [^8]: Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, *Remembrance of Muriel Humphrey* — institutional remembrance. https://www.hhh.umn.edu/news/remembrance-muriel-humphrey-wife-hubert-humphrey-was-political-leader-her-own-right [^9]: *Star Tribune*, *Remembering Muriel Humphrey* — news remembrance. https://www.startribune.com/remembering-muriel-humphrey-a-happy-warrior-in-her-own-right/467319603 [^10]: The White House, *Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections* (presidential action, March 2025) — anchor link of at-issue entry AI-Humphrey-073; does not itself document the 1978 appointment. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/preserving-and-protecting-the-integrity-of-american-elections/ [^11]: Wikipedia, *Walter Mondale* — appointment by Gov. Rolvaag to Humphrey's Senate seat, Dec. 30, 1964. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mondale [^12]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III* (legislator profile) — Minnesota Attorney General 1983–1999. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?id=10484 [^13]: Minnesota Secretary of State, *Historical Election Data* — 1998 general election for governor. https://www.sos.state.mn.us/election-administration-campaigns/data-maps/historical-election-data/ [^14]: U.S. Senate, *Proponents Build a Strategy for Success* (landmark legislation essay) — Humphrey named Democratic floor manager, March 1964. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/landmark-legislation/civil-rights-act-of-1964/proponents-build-a-strategy-for-success-essay.htm [^15]: National Archives, *Civil Rights Act (1964)* (milestone document) — signed July 2, 1964. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/civil-rights-act [^16]: U.S. Government Publishing Office, *United States Statutes at Large*, vol. 78, p. 241 (1964) — text of Pub. L. 88-352. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-78/pdf/STATUTE-78-Pg241.pdf [^17]: National Archives, Office of the Federal Register, *Executive Order 11246* (Sept. 24, 1965) — order and date. https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11246.html [^18]: U.S. Department of Labor, OFCCP, *Executive Order 11246* — the order as administered by the Labor Department. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/executive-order-11246 [^19]: Supreme Court of the United States, *Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services*, 605 U.S. 303 (2025) — holding on majority-group plaintiffs under Title VII. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1039_c0n2.pdf [^20]: U.S. Government Publishing Office, *Iraq Liberation Act of 1998*, Pub. L. 105-338 — "the regime headed by Saddam Hussein." https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-105publ338/pdf/PLAW-105publ338.pdf