1948 Election - Progressive Party
Since 1852, every U.S. president has been either a Republican or a Democrat. These two parties continue to dominate the U.S. political system, in contrast to most of the world's other democracies which are sustained by multiple parties. In 1948, two independent candidates for president challenged the Republican candidate, Thomas Dewey, and the Democratic contender, then-President Harry S. Truman. On the right, Strom Thurmond - a Republican senator from South Carolina - ran as the nominee of the Dixiecrats or States Rights' Party, a group of dissident Democrats in favor of racial segregation.
On the left, Henry Wallace, a former vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt, ran as the nominee of the Progressive Party. Wallace garnered slightly more than two percent of the vote. Despite the fact that these candidacies were considered more damaging to President Truman than to Dewey, Truman won the four-man race. While there are a number of third parties in the United States - from the American Communist Party on the far left to scores of parties in the center and the far right - few have wielded significant political influence.
Henry Wallace was no Communist, but he was used by those real radical forces. The Communists did not merely endorse the decisionof Wallace to form a third party. They were also most instrumental in influencing Wallace tomake such a decision. Henry Wallace truly was probably the last of the real New Dealers. You can only be in style so long and then become out-of-date. By that time, the New Deal had worn out.
Earl Browder, who headed the American Communist Party in the 1930s until 1945, boasted in 1960 about the success of the communists under his leadership. He said, "Entering the 1930's as a small ultra-left sect of some 7,000 members, remnant of the fratricidal factional struggle of the 1920's that had wiped out the old 'left wing' of American socialism, the CP rose to become a national political influence far beyond its numbers (at its height it never exceeded 100,000 members), on a scale never before reached by a socialist movement claiming the Marxist tradition. It became a practical power in organized labor, its influence became strong in some state organizations of the Democratic Party (even dominant in a few for some years), and even some Republicans solicited its support. It guided the anti-Hitler movement of the American League for Peace and Democracy that united a cross-section of some five million organized Americans (a list of its sponsors and speakers would include almost a majority of Roosevelt's Cabinet, the most prominent intellectuals, judges of all grades up to State Supreme Courts, church leaders, labor leaders, etc.). Right-wing intellectuals complained that it exercised an effective veto in almost all publishing houses against their books, and it is at least certain that those right-wingers had extreme difficulty getting published." After the end of World War II, the alliance between the United States and USSR quickly faded. The CPUSA reconstituted itself and resumed its strident pro-Moscow anti-US stance. The era of the united front was over. On Moscow's orders, the head of the CPUSA, Earl Browder, was dumped. His crime had been to follow Moscow's orders in 1941 and "disband" the party in a show of unity with the US Government. Now, that policy was in disrepute, and he had to go. The Soviet Union's actions in Eastern Europein establishing subservient puppet regimes increased tensions with the United States Communism wasbecoming a potent domestic political issue. At that time it would be awfully hard for members of the Legislature to vote against looking into the Communist infiltration, without being accused of being a Communist themselves.
Most Wallace supporters were not Communists. But many were what were called "fellow travelers." They happened to be in the same room or on the same committee or something else with some people who did not hesitate to use them for their purposes. The way the Communist party worked was that it got people together, not under the name of the Communist party, but under other groups. So when the campaign came along, it was Democrats for Wallace. It was stimulated by the Communist party, the activity in the council, and the activity in every place in the Democratic party they could get into. They were part of the stimulus that was very active in the formation of Democratic clubs. But it doesn't mean that all the Democratic clubs were pro-communist, or even that they had communists working in them. Among those were some very active communists. They were the ones that were very active in meetings and did all the speaking. They were very active and organized. So they had an influence on the Democratic clubs.
When it was evident that Henry Wallace was being considered to run for president, the communists at that time felt the need to consolidate the gains they had made in influencing people. They formed the Independent Progressive party within the Democratic Council and with the Democratic party. And out of that group was formed the Democrats for Wallace. This became made up of labor, Democrats who were really American citizens in America and then really Democrats, and liberal Democrats, which were probably at that time socialists. From there, when Henry Wallace came on the scene, they moved their cohorts and the people that had been influenced into a third party called the Independent Progressive party. The communists pulled out of the Democratic party into the Independent Progressive party for a while.
The most successful third-party candidate of the 20th century was a Republican, Theodore Roosevelt, the former president. His Progressive or Bull Moose Party won 27.4 percent of the vote in the 1912 election. The progressive wing of the Republican Party, having grown disenchanted with President William Howard Taft, whom Roosevelt had hand-picked as his successor, urged Roosevelt to seek the party nomination in 1912. This he did, defeating Taft in a number of primaries. Taft controlled the party machinery, however, and secured the nomination.Roosevelt's supporters then broke away and formed the Progressive Party. Declaring himself as fit as a bull moose (hence the party's popular name), Roosevelt campaigned on a platform of regulating "big business," women's suffrage, a graduated income tax, the Panama Canal, and conservation. His effort was sufficient to defeat Taft. By splitting the Republican vote, however, he helped ensure the election of the Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
Another Progressive was Senator Robert La Follette, who won more than 16 percent of the vote in the 1924 election. Long a champion of farmers and industrial workers, and an ardent foe of big business, La Follette was a prime mover in the recreation of the Progressive movement following World War I. Backed by the farm and labor vote, as well as by Socialists and remnants of Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party, La Follette ran on a platform of nationalizing railroads and the country's natural resources. He also strongly supported increased taxation on the wealthy and the right of collective bargaining. La Follette carried only his home state of Wisconsin.
The Progressive Party reinvented itself in 1948 with the nomination of Henry Wallace (1888-1965), a former secretary of agriculture and vice president under Franklin Roosevelt. Wallace's 1948 platform opposed the Cold War, the Marshall Plan, and big business. He also campaigned to end discrimination against African Americans and women, backed a minimum wage, and called for the elimination of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. His failure to repudiate the U.S. Communist Party, which had endorsed him, undermined his popularity and he wound up with just over 2.4 percent of the popular vote.
Born in 1888 in Iowa, Henry Wallace would first achieve success as an editor before ultimately becoming one of the largest personalities of American political life in the mid-to-late 1940s. Wallace was educated at Iowa State College and took over his father's position as editor of Wallaces' Farmer when his father became secretary of agriculture in 1921. After becoming disillusioned with Republican farm prices, and helping swing Iowa to the Democrats in the election of 1932, Wallace was appointed secretary of agriculture in his own right by FDR in 1933. Wallace gained national attention as head of the Agriculture Department, spearheading the administration of the Agricultural Adjustment Agency so successfully that FDR wanted Wallace for his running mate in 1940. As the most liberal member of the president's cabinet, seeking Wallace's nomination had the potential of dividing the party at the Democratic National Convention. However, when Democratic delegates seemed on the verge of disorder FDR dispatched ER (a staunch Wallace supporter) to calm them and lobby on Wallace's behalf. The speech that she delivered the next day was so well received that Wallace received the nomination on the first ballot, deepening a politically complex relationship with the first lady that would continue to evolve and change over time.
Wallace distinguished himself as a loyal, hard-working wartime vice-president over the next four years, but still failed to recapture the nomination in 1944 when he was dumped by an increasingly conservative Democratic party. His 1943 speech in which he repudiated Henry Luce's vision of an "American Century" in favor of a "Century of the Common Man" had endeared him to left-liberals, but alienated him from rank-and-file Democrats at the convention. FDR wanted him to remain in the cabinet, however, and Wallace accepted FDR's appointment as secretary of commerce in 1945.
Wallace remained at the Commerce Department until September 1946 when he was forced to resign for having publicly criticized President Truman's foreign policy in a speech at Madison Square Garden. The left-leaning secretary had been troubled by Truman's rightward drift in foreign affairs throughout much of that year, regarding the president's militarism as a precursor to another world war. In a broadcast to the Nation from his apartment in the Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, D.C., Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace explains his decision to comply with President Harry S. Truman's request for his resignation following Wallace's "One World" speech at Madison Square Garden. Wallace reaffirms his dedication to the "One World" principle and states: "I intend to carry on the fight for peace."
After leaving the Commerce Department, Wallace returned to editing, but this time at the New Republic, a liberal publication that he used as a platform for the Democratic party's left wing. At the end of 1946, Wallace went even further in his pursuit to advance progressive politics when he helped found the Progressive Citizens of America.
Wallace's outspoken support of progressive causes made him perhaps the victim of more redbaiting than any other 1940s politician. Maligned as a Communist sympathizer at a time when the American public was intolerant to socialism, Wallace's criticisms of administration foreign policy were increasingly out of step with mainstream public opinion. On August 5, 1948, the House Un-American Activities Committee "Hearings into Proposed Legislation to Curb and Control the Communist Party" included testimony from Alger Hiss concerning allegations made by Whittaker Chambers and testimony concerning alleged shipments of uranium to Russia during World War II. Committee member John Rankin calls for an appearance by former Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace to explain his appointments of alleged Communist spies to key Government positions.
Recognizing that his chances at capturing the Democratic presidential nomination in 1948 were marginal at best, Wallace instead ran as the candidate of the Progressive party against President Truman, Thomas Dewey, and Strom Thurmond. The upheaval at the July convention led to Democratic splinter-party presidential candidates: J. Strom Thurmond ran on the State's Rights ticket, known more familiarly as the "Dixiecrats," and Henry Wallace ran on the Progressive Party ticket. Both of these Democratic revolts worked to Truman's advantage. The Dixiecrat Party break-off reassured black voters of Truman's commitment to civil rights, which he reinforced with 1948 executive orders desegregating the armed forces and ending bias in federal employment practices. Wallace's Progressive program was supported by the Communist Party of America, which made it difficult for anyone to then label Truman "soft on communism."
Support for his candidacy from the Communist Party worked against Wallace in the campaign and destroyed any possibility of a victory. Wallace's break from the Democratic Party also signaled the final break with Eleanor Roosevelt, his old political champion, who had originally wanted him to succeed FDR but increasingly felt uncomfortable with his "political naivete" and his desire to deepen relations with the Soviet Union. The Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) worked to defeat the attempt by Henry Wallace and his Progressive Party to assume the leadership of American liberalism in 1948.
Wallace failed to capture any electoral votes, the he drew just enough votes to deprive Truman of a popular majority.
Wallace would ultimately reach a rapprochement with the Truman administration's foreign policy when he endorsed its firm stance in Korea, but shortly thereafter Wallace retired from political life and the Progressive party when it rebuked him for having voiced assent to the war. Wallace would continue to write about politics and agriculture throughout his retirement and until his death in 1965.
During the 1948 presidential campaign, a group called "Young Progressives for [Henry] Wallace" set out to establish "the rights of negroes to swim at Highland Pool" in Pittsburgh. A biracial group would appear on Sunday afternoons, only to be quickly confronted by an angry white crowd. On August 22, 16 of the Progressives were arrested. The media had a field day linking race, Reds, and riots, as typified by a Pittsburgh Press headline: "Highland Pool Red Riot Cost City $8000 . . . Commies Call Tune at Taxpayer Expense." Pete Seeger and other folksingers formed People's Songs, Inc., in January 1946, hoping to inspire a "singing labor movement." The group went bankrupt after supporting the 1948 Progressive Party presidential bid of former Vice President Henry A. Wallace (1888-1965). In 1955, Seeger, once a Communist Party member, was subpoenaed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, but refused on First Amendment grounds to answer questions "about my associations and opinions." His contempt conviction subsequently was invalidated. Paul Robeson was the son of a former slave, born and raised during a period of segregation, lynching, and open racism. He earned a four-year scholarship to Rutgers University, making him the third African American to attend the school. There he was a member of the prestigious Cap and Skull Honor Society, played four varsity sports (baseball, football, basketball, and track), won speech and debate tournaments, and managed to graduate valedictorian of his class. After graduation, Robeson applied his athletic abilities to a short career in professional football. He was one of the top performers of his time, earning more money than many white entertainers. In 1936, Robeson had won fame for himself with his powerful singing of "Old Man River" in the movie Show Boat.
Robeson helped found the Progressive Party and campaigned for Henry Wallace for president in 1948. Robeson used his rich bass voice to speak out for independence, freedom, and equality for all people. His outspokenness about human rights and his pro-Soviet stance made Robeson a prime target of militant anticommunists. The famed African-American singer and his wife were affiliated with the Communist Party and Communist Party front groups. In 1950 the State Department revoked his passport, thereby denying his right to travel and, ultimately, to earn income abroad. Robeson stuck to his principles and refused to swear an affidavit that he was not a Communist.
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