European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 the stars and stripes january 1978 John Roche Nice Guys can finish 1 Humphrey proved m the Case of Hubert Humphrey the usual order was reversed his Wake began six months before he left while this was a wonderful precedent who will Ever forget his Boyish Joy at his recep Tion by the House of representatives it makes it difficult to taut about Humphrey As he always called himself without repeating 15 besides As the Irish put the worst offence against the dead is to lie about some extravagant things have been and count on it right now a dozen vultures Are preparing exposes of the real thus it is worthwhile to stand Back a curb an abiding sense of personal and in Walton Hamiltons classic phrase promote Humphrey from immortality to for Over a Quarter of a Century i was a close Friend of Hubert we were in intimate Contact from during which i drafted his key foreign i columns comments policy speeches and had the delicate task of handling personal crises Between Lyndon Johnson and his vice some even accused me of being the Svengali who convinced pacifist Hubert to sup port the Vietnam an insult to his intelligence and let us explore the Johnson Humphrey relationship for the Light it throws on Huberts organized american liberalism never trusted As i wrote in if he announced swords were to be made from it would be treated As a payoff to the Texas Plo share Indus thus when Humphrey went on the 1964 it seemed an Omen that liberalism would be represented at the top of the gov lbs made the usual noises about upgrading the vice presidency a tape4 most recently played for Fritz Mondale and with his usual extra a he  appoint a Federal mar shall in Guam without Clearing it with in january in a burst of Ca lbs gave Hubert copies of his secret task Force reports on proposed new programs and asked for Independent Cri i read two in my area of compe flunked one and gave the other b huh genially forwarded my caustic com ments to the White Boom the demanded All reports Back in he also yanked from under Humphrey a new Agency set up to Monitor civil rights in the course of this period a presidential Flunky told Hubert to keep that Bastard Roche out of Washington Humphreys reaction to and a Host of similar provides insight into the schizophrenia which afflicted him and sed him to be accused of he was immensely Loyal to lbs he used to say i have a constituency of he desperately wanted the vice Pes idiocy for reasons which escaped a number of us and Johnson gave it to combined with his loyalty was a compulsive distaste Tor he could Iwuh an abstract Tensive of Brilliant but forgive Gross acts of personal betrayal by sup posed this became increasingly True As the vietnamese War heated american in originally supported by Ameri cans for democratic action of which we were both former National chairmen became and Antiwar liberals turned on Humphrey for supporting for accused us of Selling out Liberal principles when in fact the organization had switched the attack was highly personalized and i filed away names hoping someday i could do them a bad turn Humphrey invited them to dinner it was this temperamental aversion to harsh personal relations that created Many problems with who believed in keeping your friends and enemies in Sepa rate after a Nasty attack on Hubert by some Liberal the vice presi Dent would invite him Over for a personal inevitably he would accurately criticize some aspect of the Vietnam War and a Story would emerge sources close to huh reveal be and president at Odds on thels would Send lbs up the be would instruct a Liberal minded aide to Tell Humphrey to keep his big Mouth the aide would deliver the message huh would in turn go to make a Long Story at lbs re quest i would go to the White House to Huberts office under a White Flag to negotiate a Hubert  stay mad at John son either several times i got madder on his behalf than he Durocher was Humphrey was a Nice Guy who came in first when it counts in the hearts of americas Oisin the the victims of racism and millions and it is Nice to know when some of us unforgiving christians reach our probable Hubert Humphrey will be there sending Down cold god rest his ebullient Al  William my experiences with Hubert Humphrey were but one of them presses the the Forward compartment on the pan am 747 was very nearly i think there were Only eight or 10 of but when the movie went on there was Palpa ble because it was the French and we unhappy few haunt seen what came on the screen was a Frozen Oscilloscope of after several attempts to fix the chief stewardess pronounced her apologies something was wrong with the there is within notwithstanding a lifetimes Effort to suppress an impulse to intrusive do Gooding which from time to time simply takes me so that before my wife could succeed in Mana cling me to Seiv won Cumis sic orms tory and Liberal equally helpless the there i advising the chief stewardess that if she would get me a i would be glad to draw the curtain on the insides of the machine and see if i could not put things i did not Tell her that a screwdriver in my hand is less useful than a computer in the hands of an my a explicated Rule of thumb is that screwdrivers have numinous Powers when applied to the tangled webs of but after i unscrewed the underside panel of the machine and shone the flashlight up on the Workings of the acutely conscious that an audience was out expecting that in a matter of minutes i would put things my heart i As id done at rows of chinese when the voice under me come get out of the you reactionaries  know How to fix a broken i took the flashlight out of my slithered Back Down the Large intestine of the and handed the and the to Hubert until year vice president of the United taking the be Slid up into the darkness with total and began to bark orders to screw something Long and a giant at my disposal now was the vast tool and 1 strove to in the course of an hour he asked for everything except a scotch and with in my position As Rump on the Bead inside the projection bulk i consoled Hubert chattered on Reading aloud the arcane instructions that surrounded the tortuous passage the 16mulimeter dim declined to finally the stewardess told me that dinner was being and i bellowed the information up to the who was chatting away about be was confident he had located the eventually i announced to him that i As Ca but that the entire inventory of Bob was placed now within his you go ahead and ill have this licked in a it was two hours later he climbed wearily and exuberantly at tacked his cold but meanwhile i was the Captain of the Airship had sent Down word would i care to wit Ness an instrument Landing he was a and was waiving the no Spectator exas the Sun came Down Over i strapped myself in the Little extra chair in the witness the great technological feat we were on the final descent when the dialogue was interrupted by a the Engineer opened the door and there was Hubert i he was would it be All right if i also my wife had Given out the word of my and Hubert Humphrey was not about to go through life admitting that he had never witnessed an instrument Landing even though tory had done the in the tight Little was Barr Assing because there was no extra and the Effort to proffer my own was acrobat Cally no no no no ill just squat Down right which be we workaday Miracle making a perfect touchdown under the guidance of electronic my co Pmj Ion has made another touchdown fund the guidance of other but thesis took after i feel and Raul his inability to fix the machine on the is merely one More in a Long series of Vermij trial but god knows he