February 3, 1969
President Humphrey Dies of Bladder Cancer [1]
The happy warrior has fought his last battle. President Humphrey passed away last night at the age of 57. He reportedly died around 4 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, shortly after he had lapsed into a coma. It was not until yesterday that his doctors said that his condition was critical and his aides acknowledged its seriousness. [2]
Upon the news of Humphrey’s death, Edmund Muskie was sworn in as the 38th President at the Vice Presidential residence at the Naval Observatory. Under the 25th Amendment, the Vice President automatically assumes the role of the President upon his death, much as President Johnson assumed the Presidency after President Kennedy’s assassination a little more than five years ago. After being sworn in, Muskie was immediately escorted to the White House by the Secret Service, closely followed by a throng of reporters.
President Muskie’s first order of business was to give a brief televised speech to the American people informing them of the passing of the President. “He had an incurable optimism about the future,” Muskie said of Humphrey. “He refused to look at the past, refused to concede that any setback was a defeat. And…I remember something he said: that people did not turn away from those who were defeated. His attitude about life was made up of courage (he demonstrated that; we don't have to debate that), faith in the future, but above all, he believed as, I think to a greater degree than Thomas Jefferson did, that the average citizen, if given a full opportunity to enhance his own capabilities and to use them, could govern himself and could shape the future. He believed anything could be done that we wanted to do and believed could be done.” [3]