Shortly after the curtain fell on the 1976 election, Hubert H. Humphrey took his dejected friend Bob Dole, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, out for ice cream to try to improve his mood.

Mr. Humphrey, who had lost a presidential race eight years earlier, told him it would get worse before it got better.

“Today, people will be second-guessing you,” Mr. Humphrey told Mr. Dole, the running mate of Gerald R. Ford, the incumbent president defeated by Jimmy Carter. “They’re going to be looking for someone to blame.”

Then Mr. Humphrey offered a gesture of kindness, Mr. Dole recalled in an interview, telling him, “Let’s talk about tomorrow and your future and move on.”