The American Dreamer: The Presidency of Henry Wallace
- Thread starter DuckymcDuckface
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Now for all: Any thoughts on the eventual outcome of the 1944 election. Afterall the Republicans were hoping for Wallace to remain on the ticket.
Perhaps but the GOPs convention was about a month before the POD of Wallace winning the nomination. It would signal a sharp shift in tone for the party though If Bricker did. It'd mean the GOP would continue their ardent Anti-New Deal stances for longer as a party.
And a larger earlier and larger GOP backlash could also take place as we saw IOTL with Eisenhower.
Final piece of media for the day:
Picture Here: Franklin Roosevelt accepting the nomination on his way to Chicago.
Picture Here: Franklin Roosevelt accepting the nomination on his way to Chicago.
Final piece of media for the day:
Picture Here: Franklin Roosevelt accepting the nomination on his way to Chicago.
Frankie's face...
It's obvious the Republican's will do better but a bad VP pick won't through the election from Roosevelt. He is just too popular at that moment. Also Dewey is the Republican nominee right? I could see him gaining the most from Wallace remaining on while someone like Bricker or Taft could scare away moderates.
It will be covered in another segment but a new argument will be made by Dewey and the Republican's that when Roosevelt inevitably is unable to govern Wallace can't be trusted in the postwar.
Also: The 1946 Midterm's will most likely be a large republican backlash right?
Hey... we haven't even seen his presidency yet. Give him a chance!
Part 2: The 1944 United States Presidential Election
Authors Note: The main POD remains in the releasing of the Guru letters years earlier due to the remaining of Wallace on the ticket.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Roosevelt/Wallace vs Dewey/Bricker
Wallace was overjoyed with his victory facing such odd's from the Anti-Wallacites. He spoke to the convention that evening in a classic style:
"America is greatest when all people are represented in government. The America i know is a land of opportunity and a land were the immigrants of the world came too live the American dream. The last 12 years has shown us that the American people support a New and Fair Deal. They were showed what the Hooverian politics of the Republican party would bring too - economic ruin. They entrusted us Democrats with caring for these same people who the Republican's have forgotten. They gave us the opportunity to make the Government a force for good, employing all good workers in unions, and giving opportunity for all no-matter race, creed, or wealth... I will work with President Roosevelt for these next 4 year's with the principles of justice and fairness for all in mind. I will not take special privileges."
The speech was mostly well received. Wallace did garner much support with the platitudes and classic New Deal rhetoric he espoused. Only the Southern delegations really opposed the speech with audible boo's especially when Wallace talked of civil rights. "Whites and Blacks in America are both in a land of opportunity and should both be allowed to make themselves up to who they want to be" sparked a special kind of outrage and nearly all the Southern delegations ranging from Texas to Virginia tried too silence out the Speaker Wallace. Ellison 'Cotton Ed' Smith, the Senator from South Carolina, would perfectly sum up this response by arguing that Wallace was against the white race and pro-racial mixing. He summed up this view to the Charleston Daily when they asked of the Vice President:
"Henry Wallace is what the Party today should most repel of. Not only is he a agitator of radical forces of the left and unhinged ; but we have seen that he supports race mixing between Negros and the white race. If that happened then the white race would be no more now wouldn't it?"
Thomas Dewey was hoping that Wallace would remain on the ticket. He knew he would be more a liability then a asset for the Roosevelt campaign. The day after Wallace was guaranteed a majority of the convention delegates Dewey set out a new line of attacks. "Do we really trust Henry Wallace too lead America in these important times?" summed up the main lines of attacks. Wallace was too "far left", too "erratic", and too "Soviet friendly" to lead America following the end of the Wars in Europe and the Pacific. While these were being used as the new main line of Republican attack; the key Republican operatives leaked to the press that they held documents proving in essence that Wallace was Soviet funded and backed. Key figures in the Russian government were mentioned too most inclusively being of Vyacheslav Molotov, whom Wallace had meet in a 1943 meeting. A Congressional committee was created to find if these claims were true. The "Wallace Commission" lead by Senator Robert Taft would never prove anything more then past statements made by the Vice president towards some "revolutionary groups" in support. A 1971 declassified would later find the whole claims were based in nothing more in the ambitions of some members within the RNC. The damage was done though; many questioning the President's ultimate decision to keep him on the ticket when it hurt him electorally.
Unable to do it in 1940 with threats by democrats of releasing information of Wendell Willkie's rumored extramarital affairs with Irita Van Doren, the continuation of Vice President Wallace lead to a new opportunity to take down the Roosevelt/Wallace ticket. In September of 1944, the "Guru letters" were released to the public describing Wallaces bizarre religious beliefs and the Administration's interaction with mystic Nicholas Roerich. In 1933 on behalf of the Agricultural Secretary, Russian mystic and noted scholar Nicholas Roerich was sent to the Soviet Union on a horticultural expedition specifically in the areas of Central Asia. Their, Roerich would be on behalf of Wallace collect drought resistance seeds, among other products. Roerich had others plans in mind. He seeked to find the legendary Shambhalla. As this was approaching British territory into the Himalayas, the British thus thought Roerich was still a Russian spy. Wallace was furious at these actions and recalled him immediately. Roerichs legal troubles would not here and he would be forced out of the country to India due to tax evasion. The report finished off with saying that Henry Wallace was "unstable mentally" and "unfit for the high office". These takes hurt the President and more specifically the Vice President badly. His personal approvals went from 47% to 36% in a matter of 20 days and pressure was mounting for him to leave the ticket.
Henry made this up by campaigning hard throughout the campaign season. His areas of expertise remained both the Upper Midwest and the West. The "Farmer's Warrior" would find lots of support their and the Guru letters did not drop support much in his home regions. In Iowa he garnered large crowds and crisscrossed the west in his "The Wallace Way" speaking support for the New Deal and the President. The President also did campaign, but in a much less vigorous less. He took out time for speeches and for public appearances and tried to brush off concerns of his tiredness and old age. But it was clear he was being out-campaigned vastly by his Vice President, a quality that is disputed to this day on whether it benefited or harmed the president. He also didn't stay clear of attacking Dewey. Upon claims that he sent a US Navy warship to pick up his Scottish Terrier Fala, he responded to Republican ridicule by saying "Fala was furious" at these rumor's. He followed up by saying "Thomas Dewey is no 'save hands moderate' and will ruin everything we stand for [speaking to the Labor Union]". Though he spent the vast majority of his time on the trail fundraising, meeting with key constituency's including with Labor, and giving his famous radio talk's which gave his message far greater reach then the Republicans could ever wish for.
Dewey for his part was able to make it a close election. Wallace proved to be a easy attacking point and the polling proved it. Gallup showed 50% for Mr. Roosevelt and 48% for Mr. Dewey a month before the election while the consensus was that Dewey would vastly outperform both Willkie and Landon in trying to defeat Roosevelt. Dewey was able to provide enthusiasm too on the levels of Wilkie. The young governor portrayed himself as a moderate, as a Anti-New Dealer, and as a social reformer. He portrayed his record as New York District Attorney in convicting "Lucky Luciano" and Waxey Gordon as prove of this. Arguing in Cleveland, Ohio he said "I am a independent man while Mr. Roosevelt is in the pockets of American Communists and Labor Unions". Dewey argued for the dismantling of most of the New Deal and for a return to a moderated laissez-faire condition. His inclusion of conservative John Bricker helped unite the party too and the base proved as energized as it had ever been against the other 3 Roosevelt opponents.
America in the end decided to stay on the course. Operation Overlord had proved a overwhelming success in France and with the help of the British and Free French divisions General George Patton helped oversee the liberation of Paris. General Choltitz commanding the opposing army lead in full retreat escaping heavy casualty's. In the Pacific too success reigned in for the American troops of Douglas MacArthur who crushed and crippled Japanese naval capacity at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. With this news, President Roosevelt and Vice President Roosevelt looked a favorite in the final day's of the election's.
SOURCES:
- 'The New Deal and the Guru' by J. Samuel Walker
- 'The Editorial Notebook; The Two Roerichs are One' by Karl E. Meyer
-'United States presidential election, 1944' by Wikipedia
___________________________________________________________________________________
Roosevelt/Wallace vs Dewey/Bricker
Wallace was overjoyed with his victory facing such odd's from the Anti-Wallacites. He spoke to the convention that evening in a classic style:
"America is greatest when all people are represented in government. The America i know is a land of opportunity and a land were the immigrants of the world came too live the American dream. The last 12 years has shown us that the American people support a New and Fair Deal. They were showed what the Hooverian politics of the Republican party would bring too - economic ruin. They entrusted us Democrats with caring for these same people who the Republican's have forgotten. They gave us the opportunity to make the Government a force for good, employing all good workers in unions, and giving opportunity for all no-matter race, creed, or wealth... I will work with President Roosevelt for these next 4 year's with the principles of justice and fairness for all in mind. I will not take special privileges."
The speech was mostly well received. Wallace did garner much support with the platitudes and classic New Deal rhetoric he espoused. Only the Southern delegations really opposed the speech with audible boo's especially when Wallace talked of civil rights. "Whites and Blacks in America are both in a land of opportunity and should both be allowed to make themselves up to who they want to be" sparked a special kind of outrage and nearly all the Southern delegations ranging from Texas to Virginia tried too silence out the Speaker Wallace. Ellison 'Cotton Ed' Smith, the Senator from South Carolina, would perfectly sum up this response by arguing that Wallace was against the white race and pro-racial mixing. He summed up this view to the Charleston Daily when they asked of the Vice President:
"Henry Wallace is what the Party today should most repel of. Not only is he a agitator of radical forces of the left and unhinged ; but we have seen that he supports race mixing between Negros and the white race. If that happened then the white race would be no more now wouldn't it?"
Thomas Dewey was hoping that Wallace would remain on the ticket. He knew he would be more a liability then a asset for the Roosevelt campaign. The day after Wallace was guaranteed a majority of the convention delegates Dewey set out a new line of attacks. "Do we really trust Henry Wallace too lead America in these important times?" summed up the main lines of attacks. Wallace was too "far left", too "erratic", and too "Soviet friendly" to lead America following the end of the Wars in Europe and the Pacific. While these were being used as the new main line of Republican attack; the key Republican operatives leaked to the press that they held documents proving in essence that Wallace was Soviet funded and backed. Key figures in the Russian government were mentioned too most inclusively being of Vyacheslav Molotov, whom Wallace had meet in a 1943 meeting. A Congressional committee was created to find if these claims were true. The "Wallace Commission" lead by Senator Robert Taft would never prove anything more then past statements made by the Vice president towards some "revolutionary groups" in support. A 1971 declassified would later find the whole claims were based in nothing more in the ambitions of some members within the RNC. The damage was done though; many questioning the President's ultimate decision to keep him on the ticket when it hurt him electorally.
Unable to do it in 1940 with threats by democrats of releasing information of Wendell Willkie's rumored extramarital affairs with Irita Van Doren, the continuation of Vice President Wallace lead to a new opportunity to take down the Roosevelt/Wallace ticket. In September of 1944, the "Guru letters" were released to the public describing Wallaces bizarre religious beliefs and the Administration's interaction with mystic Nicholas Roerich. In 1933 on behalf of the Agricultural Secretary, Russian mystic and noted scholar Nicholas Roerich was sent to the Soviet Union on a horticultural expedition specifically in the areas of Central Asia. Their, Roerich would be on behalf of Wallace collect drought resistance seeds, among other products. Roerich had others plans in mind. He seeked to find the legendary Shambhalla. As this was approaching British territory into the Himalayas, the British thus thought Roerich was still a Russian spy. Wallace was furious at these actions and recalled him immediately. Roerichs legal troubles would not here and he would be forced out of the country to India due to tax evasion. The report finished off with saying that Henry Wallace was "unstable mentally" and "unfit for the high office". These takes hurt the President and more specifically the Vice President badly. His personal approvals went from 47% to 36% in a matter of 20 days and pressure was mounting for him to leave the ticket.
Henry made this up by campaigning hard throughout the campaign season. His areas of expertise remained both the Upper Midwest and the West. The "Farmer's Warrior" would find lots of support their and the Guru letters did not drop support much in his home regions. In Iowa he garnered large crowds and crisscrossed the west in his "The Wallace Way" speaking support for the New Deal and the President. The President also did campaign, but in a much less vigorous less. He took out time for speeches and for public appearances and tried to brush off concerns of his tiredness and old age. But it was clear he was being out-campaigned vastly by his Vice President, a quality that is disputed to this day on whether it benefited or harmed the president. He also didn't stay clear of attacking Dewey. Upon claims that he sent a US Navy warship to pick up his Scottish Terrier Fala, he responded to Republican ridicule by saying "Fala was furious" at these rumor's. He followed up by saying "Thomas Dewey is no 'save hands moderate' and will ruin everything we stand for [speaking to the Labor Union]". Though he spent the vast majority of his time on the trail fundraising, meeting with key constituency's including with Labor, and giving his famous radio talk's which gave his message far greater reach then the Republicans could ever wish for.
Dewey for his part was able to make it a close election. Wallace proved to be a easy attacking point and the polling proved it. Gallup showed 50% for Mr. Roosevelt and 48% for Mr. Dewey a month before the election while the consensus was that Dewey would vastly outperform both Willkie and Landon in trying to defeat Roosevelt. Dewey was able to provide enthusiasm too on the levels of Wilkie. The young governor portrayed himself as a moderate, as a Anti-New Dealer, and as a social reformer. He portrayed his record as New York District Attorney in convicting "Lucky Luciano" and Waxey Gordon as prove of this. Arguing in Cleveland, Ohio he said "I am a independent man while Mr. Roosevelt is in the pockets of American Communists and Labor Unions". Dewey argued for the dismantling of most of the New Deal and for a return to a moderated laissez-faire condition. His inclusion of conservative John Bricker helped unite the party too and the base proved as energized as it had ever been against the other 3 Roosevelt opponents.
America in the end decided to stay on the course. Operation Overlord had proved a overwhelming success in France and with the help of the British and Free French divisions General George Patton helped oversee the liberation of Paris. General Choltitz commanding the opposing army lead in full retreat escaping heavy casualty's. In the Pacific too success reigned in for the American troops of Douglas MacArthur who crushed and crippled Japanese naval capacity at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. With this news, President Roosevelt and Vice President Roosevelt looked a favorite in the final day's of the election's.
SOURCES:
- 'The New Deal and the Guru' by J. Samuel Walker
- 'The Editorial Notebook; The Two Roerichs are One' by Karl E. Meyer
-'United States presidential election, 1944' by Wikipedia
Attachments
Bad move on Dewey' part. Labor unions are an extremely powerful bloc in 40's America. This is why he lost.
I also wonder if under Wallace the Democratic party will evolve into a more rural based party (a sort of rural-labor coalition).
Yep, and Wallace only reinvigorated many of the agricultural sector unions.
I was thinking about that. Perhaps he could bring more of the Upper Midwest and Western Farming regions over the long term, while Truman just did it for just the 1948 election due too Dewey being Dewey. But yet again this could be canceled out by the fact that Wallace would not be that "great" a president in the traditional sense.