Muskie supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the creation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and opposed Richard Nixon's "Imperial presidency" by advancing New Federalism.

Muskie ran with Vice President Hubert Humphrey against Nixon in the 1968 presidential election, losing the popular vote by 0.7 percentage point—one of the narrowest margins in U.S. history.

[18] Muskie attended Stephens High School, where he played baseball, participated in the performing arts, and was elected student body president in his senior year.

[19] A 1931 edition of the school's newspaper noted him with the following: "when you see a head and shoulders towering over you in the halls of Stephen's, you should know that your eyes are feasting on the future President of the United States.

[22] He would record in his diaries occasional feelings of insecurity among his wealthier Bates peers; Muskie was fearful of being kicked out of the college as a consequence of his socioeconomic status.

As he was preparing to drop out, he heard of an "eccentric millionaire" named William Bingham II who had a habit of randomly and sporadically paying the university costs, mortgages, car loans, and other expenses of those who wrote to him.

[18] In June 1940, President Roosevelt created the V-12 Navy College Training Program to prepare men under the age of 28 for the eventual outbreak of World War II.

[18] While he was campaigning he was offered a position involving full partnership at a prestigious Rumford law firm that maintained "clients and income that [Muskie] had not achieved in fourteen years of practice in Waterville.

His environmental platform argued for the establishment of the Maine Department of Conservation to "have jurisdiction of forestry, inland fish and game, sea and shore fisheries, mineral, water, and other natural resources" and the creation of anti-pollution legislation.

Conservative members of the Chamber of Commerce fought back against Muskie in his attempt to allocate money to the compact and greatly reduced the amount paid.

[81] The most famous passage from the speech was widely commented on by the public[82] for its biting nature and critique of "politics of fear": I am speaking from Cape Elizabeth, Maine to discuss with you the election campaign which is coming to a close.

[78] The speech has been the subject of numerous studies regarding "the dimensions of the televised public address as an emerging rhetorical genre of pervasive influence in contemporary affairs".

[10] Alongside President Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty programs, Muskie drafted the Model Cities Bill which eventually passed both houses of Congress in 1966.

On October 15, 1969, he was welcomed to the green at Yale University to address the issues regarding his vote but chose to decline the offer and speak that night at his alma mater, Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine.

[105] Considered "a backwater assignment", Muskie used it to advocate for a widening of governmental responsibilities, limiting the power of Richard Nixon's "Imperial Presidency" and advancing New Federalism ideals.

The truth is, having developed patterns and ways of living which reflect these shortcomings and weaknesses, we find it burdensome and difficult to – and all too often unacceptable to – do the uncomfortable things that we all must do to right the wrongs of our society.

Senator George McGovern from South Dakota, initially a dark horse candidate, made a strong showing in the caucuses which gave his campaign national attention.

The forged letter, reportedly the successful sabotage work of Committee for the Re-Election of the President members Donald Segretti and Ken W. Clawson,[114][115] asserted that Muskie had made disparaging remarks about French Canadians which were likely to injure his support among the French-American population in northern New England.

"[133] An article by The New Yorker speculated that the move to back Muskie was a temporary flex of political power by the Democratic voter base to unease Carter.

[137] Muskie was against the rapid accumulation of highly developed weaponry during the 1950s and 1960s as he thought that would inevitably lead to a nuclear arms race that would erode international trust and cooperation.

"[138] He criticized the stances undertaken by Ronald Reagan multiple times during his presidential campaign expressing disdain for the calls to reject the SALT II treaty.

[141] Before he assumed the position, the Delta Force rescue attempt called Operation Eagle Claw resulted in the death of multiple soldiers, leaving military intervention a sensitive course of action for the American public.

On January 15, 1981, as Muskie was flying to address the Maine Senate in Augusta, President Carter called him as his jet was touching down at Andrews Air Force Base.

[147] Muskie died at 4:06 AM EST on the morning of March 26, 1996, at the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., after seeking treatment for bouts of congestive heart failure.

[149] Some historians believe that his blood clots were brought on from frequent 8,421 mile (13,552 km) flights to Cambodia; he was asked to assist in stabilizing its government[150] on behalf of President Bill Clinton.

It takes little imagination to speculate what our national landscape would now look like if the economic growth we witnessed in the past four decades had not been accompanied by the environmental protections for air, land, and water provided by the laws that Senator Muskie championed in the 1970s.

[5][6][181] David Broder of The Washington Post, noted that Muskie's leadership of the Senate's intergovernmental relations subcommittee was, in part, responsible for countering Richard Nixon's "Imperial Presidency" and advancing "New Federalism".

[185] It provides summer internship placements, career training, and financial support to Eurasian scholars and graduate students studying in the United States.

[186] In 1969, he was inducted in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences alongside Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, Shirley Chisholm, and Bella Abzug.

[195] In 1996, the Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award was founded by the Truman National Security Project to honor current or former elected officials.