Vice President Kamala Harris today is Hubert Humphrey of yesteryear.

Like Humphrey, who was President Lyndon Johnson’s vice president, Harris will win the Democrat Party nomination for president the way Humphrey did back in 1968.

Like ailing and failing President Joe Biden today, Johnson, with the highly unpopular Vietnam War raging, did not seek re-election although he finished out his term, as Biden plans to do.

Johnson’s decision not to run paved the way for Humphrey to win the party nomination without winning a single presidential primary vote, which is the same for Harris today.

Unlike Biden, Johnson’s decision to drop out was made on his own. Nobody forced him out. Biden appears to have been bum-rushed out of the picture by co-conspirators Obama/Pelosi and company.

Both Humphrey, who was 57 at the time, and Harris, 59, were U.S. Senators before being chosen as vice presidential running mates, Humphrey from Minnesota and Harris from California.

Humphrey was a liberal Democrat as is Harris, only more so.

However, given the shift to the extreme left by the progressive Democrat Party, it is doubtful that Humphrey would even fit in the party today.

Both vice presidents were loyal to their presidents, although it was much tougher for Humphrey than it has been for Harris who is in lockstep with Biden on all the issues.

But for the Vietnam War, Johnson was an effective and popular president (for a brief time) and was praised for his legislative accomplishments, like passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, which Humphrey supported.

But for his exposed and worsening medical condition, which the White House tried to hide, and a couple of wars, Biden was an effective and popular president (for a brief time) and praised for his legislative accomplishments.

He passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the $53 billion CHIPs Act, which boosts the U.S. manufacture of semiconductor chips, which Harris supported.

While Humphrey had misgivings about the Vietnam War, he kept them to himself, trading his silence on the burning issue for Johnson making him vice president and in 1968, possibly, president. Harris does not have misgivings about anything, even opening the borders.

Meanwhile, leading up to the 1968 Democrat Party convention, growing opposition to the Vietnam Warwar led to mass protests, riots and the burning of cities across the country.

Chicago, the site of the 1968 convention, was turned into something akin to a war zone that hot August week as Chicago police and the Illinois National Guard used clubs and tear gas to fight off militant anti-Vietnam War demonstrators who sought to shut the convention down.

If there are any anti-war protests at this year’s party convention, also to be held in Chicago in August, it will be pro-Palestine demonstrators against Israelis’ war in Gaza.

Back then, the battle at the convention was between the “hawks,” who supported Johnson and the Vietnam War, and the “doves,” who opposed it.

And although Johnson did not attend the convention, his shadow loomed large over Chicago.

This is why, despite all the rioting against the hated war, the majority of the Democrat delegates, including Humphrey, approved the war and  Johnson’s handling of it. The “hawks” prevailed, and Humphrey was then nominated for president.

Late in the campaign against conservative Republican Richard Nixon, who had a secret plan to end the war, Humphrey finally broke with Johnson over Vietnam.  But it was too late. He was even booed at a Boston campaign appearance before he lost to Nixon, who ran as a hawk on law and order.

Humphrey did not want the unpopular Johnson to campaign for him, Harris will not want the unpopular Bident to campaign for her.

While Biden is still president, it is doubtful he will loom over the Democrat Party convention the way Johnson did all those years ago. It is doubtful he will loom over anything.

Besides, there is nothing to fight about. Progressive Democrats agree on everything.

The hawks in the party are extinct. Doves rule.

Watch for a replay.

Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. Email him at: peter.lucas@bostonheald.com