High-End Greats
On this page are some additional stamps to this series of often overlooked famous Americans. I’ve written about two of them that weren’t previously issued.
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey was a Senator from Minnesota. When then President Lyndon Johnson ran for office – having assumed the presidency two years before when President John Kennedy had been assasinated – he chose Humphrey as his running mate. They won the election and Humphrey was Vice-President for four years, from 1965 to 1969. Since Johnson decided to drop out of the race for re-election in 1968, Humphrey ran for president – it was his third attempt – and got the nomination of the Democratic Party. He lost the general election, though, to Richard Nixon.
Bret Harte
Bret Harte was a writer from the Nineteenth Century who wrote short stories about colorful people living in California during the time of the gold rush (1848 - 1855). His stories were popular in the eastern part of the U.S. where they were published in some top magazines.
Harte also wrote a couple of books containing short stories there were parodies of the works of famous writers. For example, one was called The Stolen Cigar Case. It was based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about Sherlock Holmes, except the main character was called Hemlock Jones. In it, Hemlock makes ridiculous assumptions and his friend based on Dr. Watson is in awe of him. It’s the kind of comedy you might see in some television shows today.
Note
This batch of stamps includes more stamps in this new series from the previous page. It includes higher face amounts like the one-dollar John Hopkins stamp, the two-dollar William Jennings Bryan, and the five-dollar Bret Harte at the bottom.
I decided to write about Hubert Humphrey because I remember when he ran for president against Richard Nixon in 1968. My family had just moved to a suburb of Boston and I was too young to understand what each candidate represented. I remember my school bus driver saying he liked Humphrey, but I was excited when Nixon won. I cut out a picture of him from the newspaper and taped it to the outside of my bedroom door. I thought everyone was happy he won. Little did I realize that the majority of Massachusetts went for Humphrey and no one who visited our house shared my joy. Nor did I understand Nixon’s policies. I suspect if I had been older I would have been a supporter of Humphrey. Still, had Humphrey won, I would have put his picture on my bedroom door.
Contains 13 spots: own 13 – 13 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jul 23, 2025
Stamp Details
The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.
spot |
own |
catalog |
subject |
description |
comment |
Famous Americans
✓ |
2184 |
29c (mar 1992) |
|||
✓ |
2185 |
29c (apr 1993) |
|||
✓ |
2186 |
35c (apr 1991) |
|||
✓ |
2187 |
40c (sep 1990) |
|||
✓ |
2188 |
45c (jun 1988) |
|||
✓ |
2189 |
52c (jun 1991) |
|||
✓ |
2190 |
56c (sep 1986) |
|||
✓ |
2191 |
65c (nov 1988) |
|||
✓ |
2192 |
75c (feb 1992) |
|||
✓ |
2193 |
$1 (sep 1986) |
|||
✓ |
2194 |
$1 (jun 1989) |
|||
✓ |
2195 |
2$ (mar 1986) |
|||
✓ |
2196 |
5$ (aug 1987) |
Footnotes
Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.
