Misplaced Pages

#787212

138-660: In his 1993 memoir, John Abt , general counsel for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America under Sidney Hillman , claimed the leaders of the Communist Party of the USA had inspired the idea of the CIO-PAC: In 1943, Gene Dennis came to me and Lee Pressman to first raise the idea of a political action committee to organize labor support for Roosevelt in the approaching 1944 election. Pressman approached Murray with

276-452: A synthetic rubber program and closer trade relations with Latin American countries. As Roosevelt refused to commit to either retiring or seeking reelection during his second term, supporters of Wallace and other leading Democrats such as Vice President John Nance Garner and Postmaster General James Farley laid the groundwork for their presidential campaigns in the 1940 election. After

414-721: A $ 2-a-day wage increase. The Act allowed the federal government to seize and operate industries threatened by or under strikes that would interfere with war production, and prohibited unions from making contributions in federal elections. The war powers bestowed by the Act were first used in August 1944 when the Fair Employment Practices Commission ordered the Philadelphia Transportation Company to hire African-Americans as motormen . The 10,000 members of

552-642: A 115-acre farm near South Salem, New York , known as Farvue. Ilo was supportive of her husband's career and enjoyed serving as Second Lady of the United States from 1941 to 1945, though she was uncomfortable with many of Wallace's Progressive supporters during his 1948 presidential campaign. Wallace and Ilo remained married until his death in 1965; she lived until 1981. In 1999, Wallace's three children sold their shares in Pioneer Hi-Bred to DuPont for well over $ 1 billion. Wallace's grandson, Scott Wallace, won

690-791: A CIO delegation, which included Pressman. (The CIO had long-term support from communists; in 1947, CIO leaders like Walter Reuther pushed out communist elements and again in 1949 after the CIO's merger with the American Federation of Labor [AFL] to form the AFL-CIO .) In September 1946, Abt appeared on the New York state ticket of American Labor Party candidates: Benjamin Fielding for Lieutenant Governor, Harry J. Chapman for State Controller, Joseph Lucchi for Attorney General, John T. Loughran for Chief Judge of

828-654: A Mexican farmer worked 500 hours, compared to the 10 hours it took an Iowa farmer using hybrid seeds from the company Wallace had founded in 1926, Pioneer Hi-Bred International . Upon his return, Wallace convinced the Rockefeller Foundation to establish an agricultural station in Mexico, the first of many such centers the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation established. Wallace recommended hiring

966-448: A book on the history of corn. Wallace was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 1964, at the age of 76. He consulted numerous specialists and tried various methods of treating the disease, stating, "I look on myself as an ALS guinea-pig, willing to try almost anything". He died in Danbury, Connecticut , on November 18, 1965, at the age of 77. His remains were cremated and

1104-473: A certain acceptance of his outcast status". In the early 1950s, he spent much of his time rebutting attacks by prominent public figures such as General Leslie Groves , who claimed to have stopped providing Wallace with information regarding the Manhattan Project because he considered Wallace to be a security risk. In 1951, Wallace appeared before Congress to deny accusations that in 1944 he had encouraged

1242-470: A close election, but Roosevelt won 449 of the 531 electoral votes and the popular vote by nearly ten points. After the election but before being sworn in as vice president, Wallace took a long trip to Mexico as FDR's goodwill ambassador, conveying messages of Pan-Americanism and Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy . He spent much time visiting farmers in their fields, and came away appalled at Mexican farms' meager crop yields; to produce one bushel of corn,

1380-597: A coalition between Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Communists. In 1952, he published an article, "Where I Was Wrong", in which he repudiated his earlier foreign policy positions and declared the Soviet Union to be "utterly evil". Wallace did not endorse a candidate in the 1952 presidential election , but in the 1956 presidential election he endorsed incumbent Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower over Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson . Wallace, who maintained

1518-416: A correspondence with Eisenhower, described Eisenhower as "utterly sincere" in his efforts for peace. Wallace also began a correspondence with Vice President Richard Nixon , but he declined to endorse either Nixon or Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election . Though Wallace criticized Kennedy's farm policy during the 1960 campaign, Kennedy invited Wallace to his 1961 inauguration,

SECTION 10

#1732851788788

1656-498: A long time. Har-vardman Pressman launched his leftward-turning career in Henry Wallace's AAA back in 1933, ended up as chief counsel of the CIO. He held the post for twelve years. But though he was a skilled labor lawyer, his fellow-traveling finally became too much for Phil Murray; 2½ years ago, Murray tearfully threw him out. His star did not entirely wane. He became a power among the back-room Reds who steered Henry Wallace through

1794-686: A long-time member of the CPUSA. On August 10, 1991, Abt died at the Columbia-Greene Medical Center in Hudson, New York from a stroke. He was 87. Abt's memoir appeared in print in 1993, some two years after his death in 1991. In its review, the peer-reviewed Labor Studies Journal expressed doubt in many of Abt's major claims (e.g., "To hear John Abt tell about it, the chief counsel to the American Communist party knew virtually nothing about

1932-542: A particularly strong impact on Wallace. After his grandfather's death in 1916, he left the Presbyterian Church and became increasingly interested in mysticism . He later said, "I know I am often called a mystic, and in the years following my leaving the United Presbyterian Church I was probably a practical mystic… I'd say I was a mystic in the sense that George Washington Carver was – who believed God

2070-660: A permanent CIO national political group and consideration for formation of an American Labor Party. During CIO Executive Board meetings in January and February 1943, the board approved most recommendations. Upon passage of the Smith–Connally Act on June 25, 1943, Murray called for a political action committee. The CIO-PAC formed in July 1943 to support the fourth candidacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt for U.S. President in 1944 toward

2208-655: A registered member of the Democratic Party in 1936. Upon taking office, Wallace appointed Rexford Tugwell , a member of Roosevelt's " Brain Trust " of important advisers, as his deputy secretary. Though Roosevelt was initially focused primarily on addressing the banking crisis, Wallace and Tugwell convinced him of the necessity of quickly passing major agricultural reforms. Roosevelt, Wallace, and House Agriculture Committee Chairman John Marvin Jones rallied congressional support around

2346-474: A strategy of keeping Roosevelt largely out of the fray of the election, leaving most of the campaigning to Wallace and other surrogates. Wallace was dispatched to the Midwest, giving speeches in states like Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. He made foreign affairs the main focus of his campaigning, telling one audience that "the replacement of Roosevelt ... would cause [Adolf] Hitler to rejoice." Both campaigns predicted

2484-548: A variety called Copper Cross. In 1923, he reached the first-ever contract for hybrid seed production, agreeing to grant the Iowa Seed Company the sole right to grow and sell Copper Cross corn. In 1926, he co-founded the Hi-Bred Corn Company to develop and produce hybrid corn. It initially turned only a small profit, but eventually became a massive financial success. During World War I , Wallace and his father helped

2622-403: A voice in organizing national mobilization for war. One journalist noted that Roosevelt made Wallace the first "Vice President to work really as the number two man in government–a conception of the vice presidency popularly held but never realized." Reflecting Wallace's role in organizing mobilization efforts, many journalists began calling him the "Assistant President." Wallace was also named to

2760-657: A wave of strikes led by John L. Lewis badly damaged the Roosevelt administration's ability to pass major legislation after 1936. Nonetheless, Wallace helped lead passage of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 , which implemented Wallace's ever-normal granary plan. Between 1932 and 1940, the Agriculture Department grew from 40,000 employees and an annual budget of $ 280 million to 146,000 employees and an annual budget of $ 1.5 billion. A Republican wave in

2898-550: A young Iowa agronomist, Norman Borlaug , to run the agricultural station, which ultimately led to vast increases in crop yields of corn and wheat in Mexico and around the world, in what was later called the Green Revolution , which is credited with saving two billion people from starvation and earned Borlaug the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize and Presidential Medal of Freedom. Wallace was sworn in as vice president on January 20, 1941. He quickly grew frustrated with his ceremonial role as

SECTION 20

#1732851788788

3036-611: Is on the march, but it is up to the uncommon men of education and insight to lead that march constructively". Wallace continued to co-own and take an interest in the company he had established, Pioneer Hi-Bred (formerly the Hi-Bred Corn Company), and he established an experimental farm at his New York estate. He focused much of his efforts on the study of chickens, and Pioneer Hi-Bred's chickens at one point produced three-quarters of all commercially sold eggs worldwide. He also wrote or co-wrote several works on agriculture, including

3174-499: The 1932 presidential election . Wallace served as Secretary of Agriculture under Roosevelt from 1933 to 1940. He strongly supported the New Deal and presided over a major shift in federal agricultural policy, implementing measures designed to curtail agricultural surpluses and to ameliorate rural poverty . Roosevelt overcame strong opposition from conservative leaders in the Democratic Party and had Wallace nominated for vice president at

3312-828: The 1938 elections effectively brought an end to the New Deal legislative program, and the Roosevelt administration increasingly focused on foreign policy. Unlike many Midwestern progressives, Wallace supported internationalist policies, such as Secretary of State Cordell Hull 's efforts to lower tariffs. He joined Roosevelt in attacking the aggressive actions of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan , and in one speech derided Nazi eugenics as "mumbo-jumbo of dangerous nonsense". After World War II broke out in September 1939, Wallace supported Roosevelt's program of military buildup and, anticipating hostilities with Germany, pushed for initiatives like

3450-622: The 1940 Democratic National Convention . The Roosevelt-Wallace ticket won the 1940 presidential election . At the 1944 Democratic National Convention , conservative party leaders defeated Wallace's bid for renomination, placing Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman on the Democratic ticket instead. In early 1945, Roosevelt appointed Wallace as Secretary of Commerce. Roosevelt died in April 1945 and Truman succeeded him as president. Wallace continued to serve as Secretary of Commerce until September 1946, when he

3588-504: The 1944 election . Gallup polling published in March 1944 showed that Wallace was clearly the most popular choice for vice president among Democrats, and many journalists predicted that he would win renomination. As Roosevelt was in declining health, party leaders expected that the party's vice-presidential nominee would eventually succeed Roosevelt, and Wallace's many enemies within the Democratic Party organized to ensure his removal. Much of

3726-513: The 1948 Democratic National Convention . If this effort failed then they would launch a third-party campaign with Wallace as their presidential nominee. Many in the PCA favored the establishment of a third party , but other longtime Wallace allies warned him against leaving the Democratic Party. On December 29, 1947, Wallace launched a third-party campaign, declaring, "we have assembled a Gideon 's Army, small in number, powerful in conviction ... We face

3864-486: The Agricultural Adjustment Act , which established the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The AAA's aim was to raise prices for commodities through artificial scarcity by using a system of "domestic allotments" that set the total output of agricultural products. It paid land owners subsidies to leave some of their land idle. Farm income increased significantly in the first three years of

4002-472: The Communist Party of the USA had inspired the idea of the CIO-PAC: In 1943, Gene Dennis came to me and Lee Pressman to first raise the idea of a political action committee to organize labor support for Roosevelt in the approaching 1944 election. Pressman approached Murray with the idea, as I did with Hillman. Both men seized upon the proposal with great enthusiasm. Abt and Pressman became

4140-655: The Detroit race riot of 1943 , "we cannot fight to crush Nazi brutality abroad and condone race riots at home". Though Congress largely blocked Roosevelt's domestic agenda, Wallace continued to call for progressive programs; one newspaper wrote that "the New Deal today is Henry Wallace ... the New Deal banner in his hands is not yet furled". Wallace was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1943. "The American people have always had guts and always will have." — Henry A. Wallace In mid-1944, Wallace toured

4278-673: The Greek Civil War and the Chinese Civil War . In February 1946, George F. Kennan laid out the doctrine of containment , which called for the United States to resist the spread of Communism. Wallace feared that confrontational policies toward the Soviet Union would eventually lead to war, and urged Truman to "allay any reasonable Russian grounds for fear, suspicion, and distrust". Historian Tony Judt wrote in Postwar that Wallace's "distaste for American involvement with Britain and Europe

CIO-PAC - Misplaced Pages Continue

4416-540: The Hi-Bred Corn Company , a hybrid corn company that became extremely successful. Wallace displayed intellectual curiosity about a wide array of subjects, including statistics and economics, and explored various religious and spiritual movements, including Theosophy . After his father's death in 1924, Wallace drifted away from the Republican Party ; he supported Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt in

4554-735: The International Association of Machinists , and the Laborers' International Union of North America –13% were non-compliant. John Abt John Jacob Abt (May 1, 1904 – August 10, 1991) was an American lawyer and politician , who spent most of his career as chief counsel to the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and was a member of the Communist Party and the Soviet spy network " Ware Group " as alleged by Whittaker Chambers. Abt

4692-662: The Marshall Plan , but later opposed it because he believed the program should have been administered through the United Nations. Wallace and the PCA were scrutinized by the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee , both of which sought to uncover evidence of Communist influence. Robert W. Kenny , the former Attorney General of California , launched an effort to elect delegates pledged to Wallace for

4830-647: The McCarran Act . In January 1955 Abt defended Claude Lightfoot in Chicago, an African-American Communist on trial under the 1940 Smith Act for belonging to a group that advocates the overthrow of the US government. This trial marked the first time the government attempted to convict an individual solely as a member of a group conspiring against the nation, rather than for individual actions. Although Abt's short and simple defense did not succeed at this trial, Lightfoot's conviction

4968-677: The McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill , which would have required the federal government to market and export agricultural surpluses in foreign markets. The bill was defeated in large part because of the opposition of President Calvin Coolidge and Commerce Secretary Hoover. When Coolidge became president after Harding died in 1923, the elder Wallace stayed on as Agriculture Secretary but died at age 58 in October 1924. His son, Henry, always blamed his father's premature death on Hoover, because of

5106-513: The Soviet Union , China , and Mongolia . The USSR presented its American guests with a fully sanitized version of gulag labor camps in Magadan and Kolyma , claiming that all the workers were volunteers. Wallace was impressed by the camp at Magadan, describing it as a "combination Tennessee Valley Authority and Hudson's Bay Company ". He received a warm reception in the Soviet Union, but

5244-656: The United States Food Administration (USFA) develop policies to increase hog production. After USFA director Herbert Hoover abandoned the hog production policies the Wallaces favored, the elder Wallace joined an effort to deny Hoover the presidential nomination at the 1920 Republican National Convention . Partly in response to Hoover, the younger Wallace published Agricultural Prices , in which he advocated government policies to control agricultural prices. He also warned farmers of an imminent price collapse after

5382-494: The Vietnam War . In the 1964 election , Wallace returned to the Democratic fold, supporting Johnson over Republican nominee Barry Goldwater . Due to declining health, he made his last public appearance that year; in one of his last speeches, he stated, "We lost Cuba in 1959 not only because of Castro but also because we failed to understand the needs of the farmer in the back country of Cuba from 1920 onward. ... The common man

5520-582: The Wallace presidential campaign.) After 1944, Lucy Randolph Mason worked with the CIO-PAC in the South, helping to register union members, black and white, and working for the elimination of the poll tax . She also forged lasting links between labor and religious groups. On October 17, 1950, New York State Supreme Court Judge Ferdinand Pecora and US Senator Herbert H. Lehman (D-NY) gave radio addresses on behalf of

5658-609: The surrender of Japan , and relations with the USSR became a central matter of foreign policy. Various issues, including the fate of European and Asian postwar governments and the administration of the United Nations , had already begun to strain the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union and the United States. Critics of the USSR objected to the oppressive satellite states it had established in Eastern Europe and Soviet involvement in

CIO-PAC - Misplaced Pages Continue

5796-464: The "American Century." I say that the century on which we are entering—the century which will come into being after this war—can be and must be the century of the common man. Perhaps it will be America's opportunity to—to support the Freedom[s] and Duties by which the common man must live. Everywhere, the common man must learn to build his own industries with his own hands in practical fashion. Everywhere,

5934-436: The 10th U.S. secretary of commerce . He was the nominee of the new Progressive Party in the 1948 presidential election . The oldest son of Henry C. Wallace , who served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1921 to 1924, Henry A. Wallace was born in rural Iowa in 1888. After graduating from Iowa State University in 1910, he worked as a writer and editor for his family's farm journal, Wallaces' Farmer . He also founded

6072-644: The 1944 presidential election. Hoping to mend ties with Wallace, Roosevelt offered him any position in the Cabinet other than secretary of state, and Wallace asked to replace Jones as secretary of commerce . In that position, Wallace expected to play a key role in the economy's postwar transition. In January 1945, with the end of Wallace's vice presidency, Roosevelt nominated Wallace for secretary of commerce. The nomination prompted an intense debate, as many senators objected to his support for liberal policies designed to boost wages and employment. Conservatives failed to block

6210-564: The Agricultural Adjustment Act. He became more committed to aiding sharecroppers and other groups of impoverished farmers during a trip to the South in late 1936, after which he wrote, "I have never seen among the peasantry of Europe poverty so abject as that which exists in this favorable cotton year in the great cotton states." He helped lead passage of the Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 , which authorized

6348-719: The CIO-PAC during prime (10:30–11:15 pm.). In 1955, when the CIO rejoined the American Federation of Labor to form the AFL–CIO , Jack Kroll became head of the CIO-PAC, which merged with the AFL's "League for Political Education" to form the AFL–CIO Committee on Political Education . PAC activities by AFL–CIO and its members continue into the 21st century. In 2015, an AFL–CIO's moratorium on federal PAC contributions by its member unions began to fall apart weeks after its announcement. Defiant unions included: United Food and Commercial Workers ,

6486-577: The CIO-PAC's co-counsels. (Thus, in 1943, as American spy Elizabeth Bentley resurrected the Ware Group [of which Abt had been a member], Abt could not risk involvement with her or the group. Instead, the group reformed without him under Victor Perlo as the Perlo Group . ) By January 1946, he was also working as general counsel for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and traveled to Russia with

6624-493: The CPUSA's secret apparatus , was referred to a spy ring of party members by General Secretary of the party, Earl Browder . This ring had been engaged for some time in espionage for Browder, and held regular clandestine meetings at Abt's apartment. In early 1944, Golos sent Elizabeth Bentley to make contact with the group at Abt's apartment. In attendance was Abt, Victor Perlo , Charles Kramer , Harry Magdoff and Edward Fitzgerald . They discussed paying party dues to Bentley,

6762-563: The Cabinet; Truman privately stated that the two most important members of his "political team" were Wallace and Eleanor Roosevelt . As secretary of commerce, Wallace advocated a "middle course" between the planned economy of the Soviet Union and the laissez-faire economics that had dominated the United States before the Great Depression. With his congressional allies, he led passage of the Employment Act of 1946 . Conservatives blocked

6900-418: The Court of Appeals, and John Abt for Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals. In October 1946, he (as ACWA general counsel) joined other "liberal and progressive groups" in forming the new Progressive Party . In February 1948, Abt left the Amalgamated and Lee Pressman left the CIO to go work for the Progressive Party to support its presidential candidate, former Vice President Henry A. Wallace . At

7038-432: The Democratic Party's pro-civil rights plank, bolted the party and nominated Strom Thurmond for president. With the Democrats badly divided, Republicans were confident that Republican nominee Thomas Dewey would win the election. Wallace himself predicted that Truman would be "the worst defeated candidate in history". Though polls consistently showed him losing the race, Truman ran an effective campaign against Dewey and

SECTION 50

#1732851788788

7176-696: The Democratic Party. O. John Rogge actively sought to be Wallace's running mate, but was from the same state as Wallace, which would prevent New York electors from voting for them. Rogge was also unknown outside the eastern United States. Democratic Senator Glen H. Taylor of Idaho agreed to serve as Wallace's running mate. Wallace accepted the endorsement of the American Communist Party , saying: "I'm not following their line. If they want to follow my line, I say God bless 'em". Truman responded to Wallace's left-wing challenge by pressing for liberal domestic policies, while pro-ADA liberals like Hubert Humphrey , Robert F. Wagner , and James Roosevelt linked Wallace to

7314-540: The Democratic fold. Wallace embarked on a nationwide speaking tour to support his candidacy, encountering resistance in both the North and South. He openly defied the Jim Crow regime in the South, refusing to speak before segregated audiences. Time magazine, which opposed Wallace's candidacy, described him as "ostentatiously" riding through the towns and cities of the segregated South "with his Negro secretary beside him". A barrage of eggs and tomatoes were hurled at Wallace and struck him and his campaign members during

7452-491: The Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district in the 2018 elections . He was defeated by Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick in the general election. Wallace was raised a Calvinist but showed an interest in other religious teachings during his life. He was deeply interested in religion from a young age, reading works by authors like Ralph Waldo Emerson , Ralph Waldo Trine , and William James , whose The Varieties of Religious Experience had

7590-500: The Fifth Amendment, refused to answer Congressmen's questions.) Last week, Pressman decided to reverse his field... This week ... he reluctantly consented to name three men who had been fellow Communists in the '30s—John Abt, Nathan Witt and Charles Kramer... Lee Harvey Oswald (1963) Abt was requested for legal assistance by Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald upon Oswald's arrests. An FBI document dated Nov 23, 1963, states that police captain Will Fritz confirmed that Oswald

7728-721: The Hawkeye Club, a fraternal organization, and spent much of his free time continuing to study corn. He also organized a political club to support Gifford Pinchot , a Progressive Republican who was head of the United States Forest Service . Wallace became a full-time writer and editor for Wallace's Farmer after graduating from college in 1910. He was deeply interested in using mathematics and economics in agriculture and learned calculus as part of an effort to understand hog prices. He also wrote an influential article with pioneering statistician George W. Snedecor on computational methods for correlations and regressions . After his grandfather died in 1916, Wallace and his father became

7866-402: The McNary–Haugen bill in 1927 and 1928, but Coolidge vetoed the bill both times. Dissatisfied with both major party candidates in the 1928 presidential election , Wallace advocated for the creation of a new party to unite the interests of the Western and Southern branches of the Democratic Party against its Eastern wing, but did not advance the idea beyond the conceptual stage. In the lead-up to

8004-401: The New Deal, as prices for commodities rose. After the Agricultural Adjustment Act passed, Agriculture became the federal government's largest department. The Supreme Court struck down the Agricultural Adjustment Act in the 1936 case United States v. Butler . Wallace strongly disagreed with the Court's holding that agriculture was a "purely local activity" and thus could not be regulated by

8142-446: The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Employees Union (PRTEU), a labor union unaffiliated with either the American Federation of Labor or the Congress of Industrial Organizations , led a sick-out strike , now known as the Philadelphia transit strike of 1944 , for six days. President Roosevelt sent 8,000 United States Army troops to the city to seize and operate the transit system, and threatened to draft any PRTEU member who did not return to

8280-564: The Roosevelt administration, his handling of aid to the United Kingdom , and because he hoped that Wallace would appeal to agricultural voters. A recent convert to the Democratic Party, Wallace was not popular among the big-city bosses and southern segregationists, and had never been tested in an election. Delegates to the 1940 Democratic convention "turned ugly on Wallace", recalled Labor Secretary Frances Perkins , one of Wallace's strongest supporters, who had previously urged Wallace to run for president if Roosevelt did not. Roosevelt's response

8418-498: The Soviet Union and the Communist Party. Many Americans came to see Wallace as a fellow traveler to Communists, a view reinforced by Wallace's refusal to condemn the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état . In early 1948, the CIO and the AFL both rejected Wallace, with the AFL denouncing him as a "front, spokesman, and apologist for the Communist Party". With Wallace's foreign policy views overshadowing his domestic policy views, many liberals who had previously favored his candidacy returned to

SECTION 60

#1732851788788

8556-420: The Supreme Court decided United States v. Butler , Roosevelt signed the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936 into law. In the 1936 presidential election , Wallace was an important surrogate in Roosevelt's campaign. In 1935, Wallace fired general counsel Jerome Frank and some other Agriculture Department officials who sought to help Southern sharecroppers by issuing a reinterpretation of

8694-417: The Top Policy Group, which, just days after the Pearl Harbor attack, presented Roosevelt with a plan for the development of nuclear weapons , which Roosevelt approved and promised to fund. This became the Manhattan Project , which developed the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with Wallace serving continually as an informal link between Roosevelt and the project's leaders. "Some have spoken of

8832-485: The U.S. government] ... I don't know him personally, but that is the attorney I want. ... If I can't get him, then I may get the American Civil Liberties Union to send me an attorney. However, Abt and his wife had left New York City that day for a weekend at their cabin in Connecticut . He did not learn of Oswald's request until the following day. He told reporters that he had received no request either from Oswald or from anyone on his behalf to represent him, and so

8970-407: The US Communist Party. Abt considered this decision as his greatest legal victory. Abt was one of the first attorneys to represent Angela Davis for her alleged involvement in the 1970 Marin County courthouse incident . Margaret Burnham worked with him and later wrote a foreword to his memoir. Abt was also a member of the Ware Group , a covert organization of Communist Party operatives within

9108-418: The United States government in the 1930s, which actively aided Soviet intelligence by passing on government information, as well as furnishing assistance to members of the CPUSA. Abt's sister, Marion Bachrach , was also a member of the group. After the group's founder, Harold Ware , was killed in an automobile collision in 1935, Abt married Jessica Smith , Ware's widow. In late 1943, Jacob Golos , who headed

9246-401: The United States, Canada, and several European countries. He became increasingly critical of the Soviet Union after 1948, and he resigned from the Progressive Party in August 1950 due to his support for the UN intervention in the Korean War . After leaving the Progressive Party, Wallace endured what biographers John Culver and John Hyde describe as a "long, slow decline into obscurity marked by

9384-461: The agricultural policies of Wallace and economist M. L. Wilson . Although his family was traditionally Republican, Wallace gradually came to support the Democratic Party, and became a registered Democrat in 1936. After Roosevelt won the 1932 presidential election, he appointed Wallace as secretary of agriculture. Despite his past affiliation with the Republican Party, Wallace strongly supported Roosevelt and his New Deal domestic program, and became

9522-549: The ashes interred in Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines, Iowa . In 1913, Wallace met Ilo Browne , the daughter of a successful businessman from Indianola, Iowa . Wallace and Browne married on May 20, 1914, and had three children. Henry Browne (b. 1915), Robert Browne (b. 1918), and Jean Browne (b. 1920). Wallace and his family lived in Des Moines until Wallace accepted appointment as secretary of agriculture, at which point they began living in an apartment at Wardman Park in Washington, D.C. In 1945, Wallace and his wife purchased

9660-407: The campaign. Though Wallace and Thurmond probably took many voters from Truman, their presence in the race may have boosted the president's overall appeal by casting him as the candidate of the center-left. In response to the election results, Wallace stated, "Unless this bi-partisan foreign policy of high prices and war is promptly reversed, I predict that the Progressive Party will rapidly grow into

9798-616: The coeditors of Wallace's Farmer . In 1921, Wallace assumed leadership of the paper after his father accepted an appointment as Secretary of Agriculture under President Warren G. Harding . His uncle lost ownership of the paper in 1932 during the Great Depression , and Wallace stopped serving as editor in 1933. In 1914, Wallace and his wife, Ilo Browne , purchased a farm near Johnston, Iowa ; they initially attempted to combine corn production with dairy farming, but later turned their full attention to corn. Influenced by Edward Murray East , Wallace focused on producing hybrid corn, developing

9936-517: The common man must learn to increase his productivity so that he and his children can eventually pay to the world community all that they have received. No nation will have the God-given right to exploit other nations. Older nations will have the privilege to help younger nations get started on the path to industrialization, but there must be neither military nor economic imperialism." Economic conditions became chaotic, and Roosevelt decided new leadership

10074-434: The conservative 80th United States Congress . He ultimately defeated Dewey in both the popular and electoral vote. Wallace won just 2.38 percent of the nationwide popular vote and failed to carry any state. His best performance was in New York, where he won eight percent of the vote. Just one of the party's congressional candidates, incumbent Congressman Vito Marcantonio, won election. Wallace traveled over 55,000 miles during

10212-504: The convention, Wallace faced questioning regarding letters he had written to guru Nicholas Roerich; his refusal to comment on the letters was widely criticized. Wallace was further damaged days after the convention when Whittaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee that several government officials associated with Wallace (including Alger Hiss and John Abt ) were Communist infiltrators. Meanwhile, many Southern Democrats, outraged by

10350-556: The creation of the PCA, anti-Communist liberals established a rival group, Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), which explicitly rejected any association with Communism. Wallace strongly criticized the president in early 1947 after Truman promulgated the Truman Doctrine to oppose Communist threats to Greece and Turkey. Wallace also opposed Truman's Executive Order 9835 , which began a purge of government workers affiliated Communist groups deemed to be subversive. He initially favored

10488-408: The crowd began chanting for the nomination of Wallace, but Samuel D. Jackson adjourned the convention for the day before Wallace supporters could call for the beginning of vice presidential balloting. Party leaders worked furiously to line up support for Truman overnight, but Wallace received 429 1/2 votes (589 were needed for nomination) on the first ballot for vice president and Truman 319 1/2, with

10626-402: The desegregation of public schools, gender equality , a national health insurance program, free trade, and public ownership of large banks, railroads, and power utilities. The party was described as "progressively capitalist". Another part of the platform stated, "responsibility for ending the tragic prospect of war is a joint responsibility of the Soviet Union and the United States". During

10764-519: The destruction of Hitlerism and an improvement in economic conditions here at home, I joined a Communist group in Washington, D. C., about 1934. My participation in such group extended for about a year, to the best of my recollection. I recall that about the latter part of 1935— the precise date I cannot recall, but it is a matter of public record — I left the Government service and left Washington to reenter

10902-541: The dominant party. ... To save the peace of the world the Progressive Party is more needed than ever before". Historians Edward Schapsmeier and Frederick Schapsmeier argue: The Progressive party stood for one thing and Wallace another. Actually the party organization was controlled from the outset by those representing the radical left and not liberalism per se. This made it extremely easy for Communists and fellow travelers to infiltrate into important positions within

11040-487: The editor of The New Republic , a progressive magazine. He also helped establish the Progressive Citizens of America (PCA), a progressive political organization that called for good relations with the Soviet Union and more liberal programs at home. Though not a member of the PCA, Wallace was widely regarded as the organization's leader and was criticized for the PCA's acceptance of Communist members. In response to

11178-516: The end of World War II . It also provided financial assistance to other CIO-endorsed political candidates and pro-labor legislation (e.g., continuation of the Wagner Act against the Taft–Hartley Act in 1947). CIO member unions funded it. Its first head was Sidney Hillman , founder and head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America , from 1943 to 1946. First members of the CIO-PAC included

11316-472: The evening of 22 November 1963, pending his arraignment for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy , he requested the services of Mr. Abt: I want that attorney in New York, Mr. Abt. I don't know him personally but I know about a case that he handled some years ago, where he represented the people who had violated the Smith Act , [which made it illegal to teach or advocate the violent overthrow of

11454-469: The fall presidential election, Wallace attempted to persuade Illinois Governor Frank Lowden to run for president. He ultimately supported Democratic nominee Al Smith , but Hoover won a landslide victory. The onset of the Great Depression during Hoover's administration devastated Iowa farmers, as farm income fell by two-thirds from 1929 to 1932. In the 1932 presidential election , Wallace campaigned for Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt, who favored

11592-458: The family wealthy and politically influential. Wallace took a strong interest in agriculture and plants from a young age, when his father, a professor of dairying at Iowa State Agricultural College, invited his student, African-American botanist George Washington Carver , to stay with them in the Wallace home, since Carver was barred from college housing because of his race. In gratitude, Carver took

11730-634: The federal government to issue loans to tenant farmers so that they could purchase land and equipment. The law also established the Farm Security Administration , which was charged with ameliorating rural poverty, within the Agriculture Department. He also played a key role in major New Deal successes that ended up in other cabinet departments, such as serving on the committee that got Social Security enacted in 1935 (the Committee on Economic Security, chaired by Labor Secretary Frances Perkins ), and

11868-509: The federal government, saying, "were agriculture truly a local matter in 1936, as the Supreme Court says it is, half of the people of the United States would quickly starve." He quickly proposed a new agriculture program designed to satisfy the Supreme Court's objections; under the new program, the federal government would reach rental agreements with farmers to plant green manure rather than crops like corn and wheat. Less than two months after

12006-488: The first corroboration of Chambers' allegation that a Washington, DC communist group around Ware existed, with federal officials Nathan Witt , John Abt and Charles Kramer named as members of this party cell. TIME magazine mocked Pressman in its reportage in the issue following his hearing: Like many another smart young man who followed the Communist line, sharp-eyed, sharply dressed Attorney Lee Pressman did very well for

12144-612: The first presidential inauguration Wallace had attended since 1945. Wallace later wrote Kennedy, "at no time in our history have so many tens of millions of people been so completely enthusiastic about an inaugural address as about yours". In 1962, he delivered a speech commemorating the centennial anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Agriculture. He also began a correspondence with President Lyndon B. Johnson regarding methods to alleviate rural poverty, though privately he criticized Johnson's escalation of American involvement in

12282-569: The following: John Abt and Lee Pressman became the CIO-PAC's co-counsels. Calvin Benham Baldwin left government at that time to go work for the CIO-PAC. (By August 1948, the Washington Post had dubbed Baldwin along with John Abt and Lee Pressman (the latter two members of the Soviet underground Ware Group involved in the Hiss - Chambers Case) as "influential insiders" and "stage managers" in

12420-656: The future unfettered, unfettered by any principle but the general welfare". He was backed by many intellectuals and Hollywood and Broadway celebrities. Among his prominent supporters were Rexford Tugwell , Congressmen Vito Marcantonio and Leo Isacson , actress Ava Gardner , musicians Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger , and future presidential nominee George McGovern . Calvin Baldwin became Wallace's campaign manager and took charge of fundraising and ensuring that Wallace appeared on as many state ballots as possible. Wallace's first choice for running mate, Claude Pepper , refused to leave

12558-498: The idea, as I did with Hillman. Both men seized upon the proposal with great enthusiasm. Abt and Pressman become the CIO-PAC's co-counsels. Momentum for the CIO-PAC came from the Smith–Connally Act or War Labor Disputes Act (50 U.S.C. App. 1501 et seq.) was an American law passed on June 25, 1943, over President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's veto. The legislation was hurriedly created after 400,000 coal miners, their wages significantly lowered because of high wartime inflation, struck for

12696-741: The inclusion of a measure providing for full employment , but the act established the Council of Economic Advisers and the Joint Economic Committee to study economic matters. Wallace's proposal to establish international control over nuclear weapons was not adopted, but he did help pass the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 , which established the United States Atomic Energy Commission to oversee domestic development of nuclear power. World War II ended in September 1945 with

12834-440: The inner workings of the party") and in fact "shed a dark light on Communist morality and class position." Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States , from 1941 to 1945, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt . He served as the 11th U.S. secretary of agriculture and

12972-645: The interagency committee that designed the Civilian Conservation Corps, which created millions of public jobs in natural resource conservation and infrastructure building between 1933 and 1941 and was administered jointly by the Departments of Labor and Interior and the Army. The failure of Roosevelt's Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 (the "court-packing plan"), the onset of the Recession of 1937–1938 , and

13110-462: The job within 48 hours. Roosevelt's actions broke the strike. In November 1946, prior to passage of the Smith–Connally Act, the CIO's second president, Philip Murray appointed John Brophy (a UMW leader, by then head of the CIO's director of Industrial Union Councils), Nathan Cowan (CIO legislative director), and J. Raymond Walsh (CIO research director) to report on CIO political operations. Their report of December 1946 included recommendation for

13248-660: The matter. BEW was reorganized as the Office of Economic Warfare , and put under Leo Crowley . The loss of the BEW was a major blow to Wallace's prestige. He now had no agency and a weak political base on the left wing of the Democratic Party. But he still had visibility, ambition and an articulate voice, and remained a loyal Roosevelt supporter. He was not renominated for vice president but in 1945 Roosevelt fired Jones and made Wallace Secretary of Commerce. On May 8, 1942, Wallace delivered what became his best-remembered speech, known for containing

13386-447: The nomination by a wide margin. Though many Democrats were disappointed by Wallace's nomination, it was generally well received by newspapers. Arthur Krock of The New York Times wrote that Wallace was "able, thoughtful, honorable–the best of the New Deal type." Wallace left office as Secretary of Agriculture in September 1940, and was succeeded by Undersecretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard . The Roosevelt campaign settled on

13524-665: The nomination, but Senator Walter F. George led passage of a measure removing the Reconstruction Finance Corporation from the Commerce Department . After Roosevelt signed George's bill, Wallace was confirmed by a vote of 56 to 32 on March 1, 1945. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, and was succeeded by Truman. Truman quickly replaced most other senior Roosevelt appointees, but retained Wallace, who remained very popular with liberal Democrats. The discontent of liberal leaders strengthened Wallace's position in

13662-455: The opposition to Wallace stemmed from his open denunciation of racial segregation in the South, but others were concerned by Wallace's unorthodox religious views and pro-Soviet statements. Shortly before the 1944 Democratic National Convention , party leaders such as Robert E. Hannegan and Edwin W. Pauley convinced Roosevelt to sign a document expressing support for either Associate Justice William O. Douglas or Senator Harry S. Truman for

13800-478: The outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939, Wallace publicly endorsed Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term. Though Roosevelt never announced his candidacy, the 1940 Democratic National Convention nominated him for president. Shortly after being nominated, Roosevelt told Democratic party leaders that he would not run without Wallace as his running mate. Roosevelt chose Wallace because of his loyalty to

13938-426: The party machinery. Once this happened, party stands began to resemble a party line. Campaign literature, speech materials, and campaign slogans sounded strangely like echoes of what Moscow wanted to hear. As if wearing moral blinkers, Wallace increasingly became an imperceptive ideologue. Words were uttered by Wallace that did not sound like him, and his performance took on a strange Jekyll and Hyde quality—one moment he

14076-463: The persona of a Native American medicine man . In the early 1930s, Wallace began corresponding with Nicholas Roerich , a prominent Russian émigré, artist, peace activist, and Theosophist. With Wallace's support, Roerich was appointed to lead a federal expedition to the Gobi Desert to collect drought-resistant grasses. Roerich's expedition ended in a public fiasco, and Roerich fled to India after

14214-671: The phrase "the Century of the Common Man". He cast World War II as a war between a "free world" and a "slave world," and held that "peace must mean a better standard of living for the common man, not merely in the United States and England, but also in India, Russia, China, and Latin America–not merely in the United Nations, but also in Germany and Italy and Japan". Some conservatives disliked the speech, but it

14352-627: The political affairs of Eastern Europe than Russia has in the political affairs of Latin America, Western Europe and the United States". Wallace's speech was booed by the pro-Soviet crowd he delivered it to and even more strongly criticized by Truman administration officials and leading Republicans like Robert A. Taft and Arthur Vandenberg . Truman stated that Wallace's speech did not represent administration policy but merely Wallace's personal views, and on September 20 he demanded and received Wallace's resignation. Shortly after leaving office, Wallace became

14490-475: The popular vote. Wallace broke with the Progressive Party in 1950 over the Korean War , and in a 1952 article he called the Soviet Union "utterly evil". Turning his attention back to agricultural innovation, he became a highly successful businessman. He specialized in developing and marketing hybrid seed corn and improved chickens before his death in 1965 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Henry Agard Wallace

14628-549: The presidential campaign. But when the Korean war began, he, like Wallace, began slipping away from his Commie cronies. California's Congressman Richard Nixon, scenting opportunity, decided to call him before the House Un-American Activities Committee and ask him a few questions. (Once before, when Whittaker Chambers named Pressman as a member of the same elite apparatus as Alger Hiss, Pressman had taken refuge in

14766-644: The presiding officer of the United States Senate , the one duty the Constitution assigns the vice president. He had gone from running an agency with a budget of $ 1 billion and 146,000 employees to a budget of $ 11,000 and a staff of four. In July 1941, Roosevelt named Wallace chairman of the Board of Economic Warfare (BEW) and of the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board (SPAB). These appointments gave him

14904-644: The private practice of law in New York City. And at that time I discontinued any further participation in the group from that date until the present. He stated that he had no information about the political views of his former law school classmate Alger Hiss and specifically denied that Hiss was a participant in this Washington group. He indicated that in at least one meeting of his group, perhaps two, he had met Soviet intelligence agent J. Peters . Although he made no mention of having himself conducted intelligence-gathering activities, his 1950 testimony provided

15042-487: The process he clashed privately with Secretary of State Cordell Hull , who opposed American interference in another state's internal affairs. The national media dramatically covered Wallace's public battle with Jesse H. Jones , the Secretary of Commerce who was also in charge of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), which paid the bills for the purchases BEW made. Roosevelt's standard strategy for executive management

15180-452: The rest going to various favorite son candidates. On the second ballot, many delegates who had voted for favorite sons shifted into Truman's camp, giving him the nomination. On January 20, 1945, Wallace swore in Truman as his vice-presidential successor. Wallace believed that Democratic party leaders had unfairly stolen the vice-presidential nomination from him, but he supported Roosevelt in

15318-853: The shadowy J. Peters , a party 'enforcer' who at one time headed the CPUSA's secret apparatus, and was involved in clandestine Soviet intelligence activities in the U.S., until his deportation to Hungary in 1948. In 1948, under subpoena before HUAC , Whittaker Chambers named Abt among members of the Ware Group . Abt refused to give testimony. (In 1996, it became known that Abt was referenced in Venona decrypts #588 KGB New York to Moscow , 29 April 1944 and #687 KGB New York to Moscow, 13 May 1944. ) Called again before Congress to give testimony on Communist Party activities, on August 28, 1950, Lee Pressman reversed his previous decision to exercise his Fifth Amendment rights and gave testimony against his former comrades. Pressman stated: In my desire to see

15456-622: The stress of the titanic policy battles they had over matters like the McNary-Haugen bill, with Hoover insisting on a hands-off "laissez-faire" attitude toward business and Wallace pushing more active government interventions to help farmers. In the November 1924 presidential election , Wallace voted for the Progressive nominee, Robert La Follette . Due in part to Wallace's continued lobbying, and despite fervent opposition from Hoover, Congress passed

15594-558: The time, the Washington Post dubbed Abt, Pressman, and Calvin Benham "Beanie" Baldwin (C. B. Baldwin) as "influential insiders" and "stage managers" in the Wallace campaign. He also supported the candidacy in New York of Vito Marcantonio , a leader of the American Labor Party . From 1951 to 1953, Abt joined Vito Marcantonio and Joseph Forer in defending the CPUSA on a charge from

15732-485: The tour. State authorities in Virginia sidestepped enforcing their own segregation laws by declaring Wallace's campaign gatherings private parties. The Pittsburgh Press began publishing the names of known Wallace supporters. Scores of Wallace supporters in colleges and high schools lost their positions. A supporter of Zionism, Wallace sought to deny Truman Jewish votes by promising to end the arms embargo on Israel , which

15870-462: The various types of information each would be able to deliver, and the type of information other members not in attendance would also be willing to deliver. In late 1943, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation of Abt. Its surveillance showed frequent meetings in the early months of 1944 between Abt and a man then known as Alexander Stevens, one of the several pseudonyms used by

16008-608: The vice-presidential nomination. Nonetheless, Wallace got Roosevelt to send a public letter to the convention chairman in which he wrote, "I personally would vote for [Wallace's] renomination if I were a delegate to the convention". With Roosevelt not committed to keeping or dropping Wallace, the vice-presidential balloting turned into a battle between those who favored Wallace and those who favored Truman. Wallace did not have an effective organization to support his candidacy, though allies like Calvin Benham Baldwin , Claude Pepper , and Joseph F. Guffey pressed for him. Truman, meanwhile,

16146-651: The village of Kilrea in County Londonderry , Ireland, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1823. May (née Broadhead) was born in New York City but was raised by an aunt in Muscatine, Iowa , after her parents' death. Wallace's family moved to Ames, Iowa , in 1892 and to Des Moines, Iowa , in 1896. In 1894, the Wallaces established an agricultural newspaper , Wallace's Farmer . It became extremely successful and made

16284-507: The war effort. Jones called on Congress and the public for help, calling Wallace a liar. According to James MacGregor Burns , Jones, a leader of Southern conservative Democrats, was "taciturn, shrewd, practical, cautious". Wallace, deeply distrusted by Democratic party leaders, was the "hero of the Lib Labs, dreamy, utopian, even mystical, yet with his own bent for management and power." On July 15, 1943, Roosevelt stripped both men of their roles in

16422-541: The war. Wallace's prediction proved accurate: a farm crisis extended into the 1920s. Reflecting a broader decrease in agricultural prices, corn prices fell from $ 1.68 per bushel in 1918 to $ 0.42 per bushel in 1921. Wallace proposed various remedies to combat the farm crisis, which he believed stemmed primarily from overproduction. Among his proposed policies was the " ever-normal granary ": the government buys and stores agricultural surpluses when agricultural prices are low and sells them when they are high. Both Wallaces backed

16560-539: The young Henry Wallace under his wing, giving him tutorials after school on botany and plant breeding. Wallace was particularly interested in corn, Iowa's key crop. In 1904, he devised an experiment that disproved agronomist Perry Greeley Holden 's assertion that the most aesthetically pleasing corn would produce the greatest yield. Wallace graduated from West High School in 1906 and enrolled in Iowa State College later that year, majoring in animal husbandry. He joined

16698-560: Was a peace protagonist and the next a propaganda parrot for the Kremlin. Wallace initially remained active in politics following the 1948 campaign, and he delivered the keynote address at the 1950 Progressive National Convention. In early 1949, Wallace testified before Congress in the hope of preventing the ratification of the North Atlantic Treaty , which established the NATO alliance between

16836-647: Was also working), chief counsel to Senator Robert La Follette, Jr. 's Committee from 1936 to 1937 and special assistant to the United States Attorney General , 1937 and 1938. From 1938 to 1948, he worked at chief counsel of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union under Sidney Hillman , who hired him. By this time, the ACW had affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). In his memoir, Abt claimed that leaders of

16974-647: Was born on May 1, 1904, in Chicago , Illinois . His sister was Marion Bachrach . He was a graduate of the University of Chicago , and from its law school . Abt practiced real estate and corporate law in Chicago from 1927 to 1933. Abt was the Chief of Litigation, Agricultural Adjustment Administration from 1933 to 1935, assistant general counsel of the Works Progress Administration in 1935 (where Lee Pressman

17112-478: Was born on October 7, 1888, on a farm near Orient, Iowa , to Henry Cantwell Wallace and his wife, Carrie May Brodhead. Wallace had two younger brothers and three younger sisters. His paternal grandfather, "Uncle Henry" Wallace, was a prominent landowner, newspaper editor, Republican activist, and Social Gospel advocate in Adair County, Iowa . Uncle Henry's father, John Wallace, was an Ulster-Scots immigrant from

17250-519: Was currently fighting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . With strong financial support from Anita McCormick Blaine , Wallace exceeded fundraising goals, and appeared on the ballot of every state except for Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois. The campaign distributed 25 million copies of 140 fliers and pamphlets. Nevertheless, Gallup polls showed support for Wallace falling from 7% in December 1947 to 5% in June 1948. He

17388-577: Was endorsed by only two newspapers: the Communist Daily Worker in New York and The Gazette and Daily in York, Pennsylvania. Some in the press began to speculate that Wallace would drop out of the race. Wallace's supporters held a national convention in Philadelphia in July, formally establishing a new Progressive Party. The party platform addressed a wide array of issues, and included support for

17526-621: Was fired by Truman for delivering a speech urging conciliatory policies toward the Soviet Union . Wallace and his supporters then established the nationwide Progressive Party and launched a third-party campaign for president. The Progressive platform called for conciliatory policies toward the USSR, desegregation of public schools , racial and gender equality , a national health-insurance program, and other left-wing policies. Accusations of communist influence followed, and Wallace's association with controversial Theosophist figure Nicholas Roerich undermined his campaign; he received just 2.4% of

17664-804: Was in everything and therefore, if you went to God, you could find the answers". Wallace began regularly attending meetings of the pantheistic Theosophical Society , and, in 1925, he helped organize the Des Moines parish of the Liberal Catholic Church . Wallace left the Liberal Catholic Church in 1930 and joined the Episcopal Church , but he continued to be interested in various mystic groups and individuals. Among those who Wallace corresponded with were author George William Russell , astrologer L. Edward Johndro, and Edward Roos, who took on

17802-406: Was in no position to give a definite answer. He said later that "if I were requested to represent him, I felt that it would probably be difficult, if not impossible, for me to do so because of my commitments to other clients." In 1965, the Supreme Court ruled that individuals may invoke their constitutional privilege against self-incrimination and refuse to register with the Government as members of

17940-516: Was largely unsuccessful in his efforts to negotiate with Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek . Wallace met with Mongolian leader Khorloogiin Choibalsan in Ulaanbaatar . His request to visit Gandantegchinlen Monastery is sometimes credited as having helped save the monastery from destruction. After the abolition of the BEW, speculation began as to whether Roosevelt would drop Wallace from the ticket in

18078-523: Was needed. In early 1942 he established the War Production Board with businessman Donald Nelson in charge and Wallace as a member. Wallace continued to serve as head of the BEW, now charged with importing the raw materials such as rubber necessary for war production. He used his BEW position to demand that American purchases in Latin America raise the standard of living of the workers there. In

18216-452: Was reluctant to put forward his own candidacy, but Hannegan and Roosevelt persuaded him to run. At the convention, Wallace galvanized supporters with a well-received speech in which he lauded Roosevelt and argued that "the future belongs to those who go down the line unswervingly for the liberal principles of both political democracy and economic democracy regardless of race, color, or religion". After Roosevelt delivered his acceptance speech,

18354-516: Was sent a telegram from a Chicago attorney, but Fritz did not deliver it to Oswald as Oswald had expressly asked for Abt to defend him. In his memoir posthumously published in 1993, Abt revealed that the Ware Group was a Communist Party unit and that he had been a member. On March 14, 1937, Abt married Jessica Smith Ware , widow of Harold Ware; she died in 1983. Later, he married Vita Barsky. In 1984, on his 80th birthday, Abt admitted to being

18492-527: Was to give two different people the same role, expecting controversy would result. He wanted the agencies' heads to bring the controversy to him so he could make the decision. On August 21, 1942, Roosevelt explicitly wrote to all his department heads that disagreements "should not be publicly aired, but are to be submitted to me by the appropriate heads of the conflicting agencies." Anyone going public had to resign. Wallace denounced Jones for blocking funding for purchases of raw materials in Latin America needed for

18630-541: Was to send his wife Eleanor to Chicago to convince the delegates to accept Wallace as his running mate. The result was her most famous speech, captured in the title of Doris Kearns Goodwin 's seminal book on the Roosevelt presidency, No Ordinary Time . With world war looming, she warned that "this is no ordinary time", and of Wallace's nomination, she warned that "you cannot treat this as you would an ordinary nomination in an ordinary time". The speech had "a magical calming effect" and has been credited for Wallace's winning

18768-723: Was translated into 20 languages and millions of copies were distributed around the world. In early 1943, Wallace was dispatched on a goodwill tour of Latin America; he made 24 stops across Central America and South America. Partly due to his ability to deliver speeches in Spanish, Wallace received a warm reception; one State Department official said, "never in Chilean history has any foreigner ever been received with such extravagance and evidently sincere enthusiasm". During his trip, several Latin American countries declared war against Germany. Back home, Wallace continued to deliver speeches, saying after

18906-625: Was ultimately overturned by the US Supreme Court in 1964. In 1960, Abt again defended the CPUSA before the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the McCarran Act. In 1961, however, the Court sustained the section of the act requiring Communist-action organizations to register with the Government by a vote of five to four. During Lee Harvey Oswald 's interrogation by the Dallas Police on

19044-403: Was widely shared across the political spectrum". Though Wallace was dissatisfied with Truman's increasingly confrontational policies toward the Soviet Union, he remained an integral part of Truman's Cabinet during the first half of 1946. He broke with administration policies in September 1946 when he delivered a speech in which he stated that "we should recognize that we have no more business in

#787212