FDR with his Vice-President Henry Wallace. Photo from the FDR Library
By Dan Murphy
Most Americans know that Harry Truman was President Franklyn Roosevelt’s last vice-president. But do you know who was FDR’s VP before Truman? His name was Henry Wallace, who served from 1941-1944.
Known by many historians as our “Forgotten Vice President”, Wallace was removed from the vice-presidency in a strange, backroom political deal at the 1944 democratic convention, and replaced by a then unknown Senator, Harry Truman. After running as a third-party candidate for President in 1948, Wallace retired from politics and bought a farm in South Salem which still stands today.
Wallace was America’s first true Progressive vice president, and a visionary who fought for civil rights, women’s rights, peace with Russia, and health insurance for all Americans. With today’s democratic party embracing the progressive values and beliefs that Wallace stood for more than 80 years ago, the hope is that Wallace’s memory and legacy will finally be realized.
First and foremost, Henry Wallace was a farmer, from Iowa. His father, Harry Wallace, was also a farmer and a republican who served as Secretary of Agriculture under President Harding.
In 1932 Henry Wallace supported FDR in his Presidential bid and was appointed Agriculture Secretary in the Roosevelt administration, where he served from 1933-1940. The Great Depression brought out the best in Wallace, who helped restore order to the failing farm industry. Wallace became one of the stars of the FDR-New Deal administration, which was one of the reasons why Roosevelt picked Wallace as his Vice-President in 1940.
FDR admired Wallace’s support of the New Deal policies and his support of aiding Britain during the early part of WWII. FDR’s insistence that Wallace serve with him as VP, while unpopular and controversial with some, was enough, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s speech at the convention (FDR did not attend), sealed the deal.
For the next four years, FDR’s advisors and all Americans understood that Wallace would succeed an aging Roosevelt as our next President. NY Times journalist James Reston dubbed Wallace, “the new Assistant President,” writing in 1941 that Wallace’s “decisions in the next few months or years will undoubtedly affect your job, your rent, and the price of your groceries. And, what’s more important, his decisions may determine the outcome of the war and the basis of the peace.”
In 1942, Wallace gave his famous, ‘Common Man’ speech, which outlined Wallace’s vision, to help America’s poor and working class after WWII ended. “Some have spoken of the American Century. I say that the century on which we are entering—the century which will come out of this war—can be and must be the century of the common man. There must be neither military nor economic imperialism. . .. International cartels that serve American greed and the German will to power must go. . .. The people’s revolution is on the march, and the devil and all his angels cannot prevail against it.”
In 1944, Wallace took a good-will mission to Russian and China, where he was welcomed, as a partner with both countries fighting Axis Germany and Japan.
A 1944 Gallup Poll found Wallace the most popular democratic sans FDR, but many democratic party insiders saw Wallace as a dangerous future president, because of what they perceived as his pro-communist, Soviet beliefs, which were never proven. Wallace only wanted to work with Stalin and Russia after WWII, instead of heading into a Cold War that lasted 45 years.
In 1940 FDR insisted on Wallace as his VP. In 1944 an ailing FDR didn’t fight hard enough for Wallace, giving the democratic party bosses the chance to steal the vice-presidential nomination for Harry Truman.
Wallace served out his term as VP until 1945. FDR died 82 days later; Wallace fell three months short of becoming president, and was indeed a heartbeat away from becoming our 33rd President.
Wallace served under Truman as Commerce Secretary for two years. In 1948 Wallace challenged Truman and ran as a third-party, Progressive party candidate for President. His platform called for an end to desegregation, civil rights for black and white, equal rights for men and women, a call for national health insurance, and peaceful coexistence with Russia.
Wallace’s 1948 Presidential campaign included bravely campaigning in the south, where he denounced racism by registering voters with a multiracial campaign staff and refused to speak to segregated crowds. He faced threats of violence and was pelted with eggs and vegetables. His running mate, Glen Taylor, was arrested when he tried to use a door marked “Colored.”
Wallace would ask Folk Singer Pete Seeger, “Are you an American? Am I in America?” as the two campaigned across the southern states, and at the end of each day Wallace would ask for what came to be known as the campaigns theme song of sorts. “Passing Through”: “I was at Franklin Roosevelt’s side, / Just a while before he died, / ‘One world must come out of World War Two.’
The same people that Wallace fought to get civil and equal rights for voted for Truman. Wallace received 1 million votes, 2.4% of the vote and finished fourth, behind Truman, Dewey, and segregationist Strom Thurmond.
After 1948, Wallace faded away from political life. Henry and Ilo Wallace bought Farvue Farm, in South Salem, 1946. They made some restorations to the century-old farmhouse and settled into the slower-paced life of South Salem. Henry’s real passion in life was the betterment of the world through agriculture.
On his beloved Farvue Farm he experimented with chickens and strawberries. He sought the “perfect” chicken – one that could be raised for its meat and its egg-laying ability. An enormous chicken house became one of the landmarks of the 100-acre farm.
Another pet project of Henry’s was the perfection of a strawberry cross between a common berry like the Ozark and the delicate French wild strawberry, a cross that would provide a commercial berry that also tasted good and could be shipped long distances.
Thirty years earlier, in 1922, Henry Wallace was working to increase the quality of corn crops by crossbreeding and inbreeding. Working with a Chinese strain and one supplied by the plant geneticist Donald Jones, Wallace developed what became the first commercially successful hybrid corn, which he turned into Pioneer Hi-Bred, a hybrid-seed company.
Vice President Wallace loved his years in South Salem, where he died in 1965. He was frequently seen in and around town and helped raise funds and contribute to the South Salem library and fire department. He was a true man of the people, a regular guy if any vice president could be. He was also a man of Christian faith.
The Wallace family has kept Farvue Farm as it was 70 years ago, and it remains a 100-acre piece of private green space. Not open to the public, the farm, managed by caretakers, grows some vegetables and trees for sale, but primarily stands as an unofficial museum to a great American, and Westchester resident.
Henry Wallace’s history as a progressive democrat 75 years ago should be examined and highlighted more by progressive democrats of today. A great politician, agriculturalist, economist, author, and businessman, Henry Wallace, most of all was a great American. Henry Wallace deserves his proper place in American history.
Perhaps we can get the Wallace family, or someone else, to create a Henry Wallace Center for Progressive studies at Farvue Farm. He was, after all, three months away from becoming President.
