When Hubert Humphrey became the mayor of Minneapolis in June of 1945 at age 34, he used the office as a bully pulpit to change the face of a troubled city. After confronting organized crime, restructuring the police department, and creating the nation's first enforceable fair employment law, he staged a heroic battle against racism and anti-Semitism in city policies and practices. This would begin his life-long crusade for civil and human rights. As his reputation spread throughout the country, he was recruited to speak at the 1948 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, where his courageous words changed the Democratic Party and signaled the beginning of the modern civil rights movement.
