Chapter 2: Harry Truman and the Progressive's Speech.
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"Wallace is, quite frankly, a disgrace to everyone involved in its production. It is a disgrace to my family, portraying my father as a bumbling hick dragging his feet against reform that he himself proposed. It throws history out the window, whitewashing the early Cold War actions by the USSR to an extent that would offend even Henry Wallace himself. It abandons nuance between factions, portraying every character as either a saintly progressive or devilish conservative disregarding any middle ground. But it also does an injustice to Henry Wallace himself. It turns an earnest, if occasionally naive, man trying to do the right thing in a time of grey into a tortured progressive messiah who can do no wrong but is defeated for, from the filmmaker's perspective, inexplicable reasons. By stripping Wallace of his flaws the film fails to make him an engaging figure anything like the real man I heard my father complain about so many times."
- Margaret Truman on the Biopic "Wallace", 1989
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HT: Henry, I've told you. You can't just come in here and shove a speech in my face. Its foreign policy?
HW: Yes.
HT: Then send it to the State Department.
HW: I want it from the top.
HT: I don't have time to read everything someone in my cabinet wants to say.
HW: So I'll just go then…
HT: Well I can't just let them say whatever either. I don't want you going off and destroying my policy.
HW: Then look at my speech.
HT: I don't have any time!
HW: So what should I do? Not give it?
HT: I just damn told you to go to the State Department!
HW: You know the State Department won't like what I have to say.
HT: Then I doubt I will either.
HW: Just read my speech!
[groan]
HT: Give it to one of my Secretaries, staffer, whatever. They'll look over it and talk to me about it
HW: Do you give me your word that you'll at least read the whole thing over?
[sigh]
HT: Yes.
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KCAT Exam Question, 2016
[IMAGE]
Henry Wallace Speech in Madison Square Garden, 1946. Parts in RED were included in the original speech plan, but removed at the behest of President Truman.
#32) Wallace's influence on foreign policy faced opposition from ____________, the Secretary of State at the time.
A) George Marshall
B) Dean Acheson
C) James Byrnes
D) Robert Taft
#33) The unedited speech shows Wallace saw the situation in Europe differently then the average American. How?
A) He saw the post-war crises in Europe as arising primarily from racial turmoil rather then class divisions.
B) He continued to hold the war time view of the Soviet Union being a wartime ally rather then seeing it as an increasingly hostile foreign power.
C) He saw Communism as a positive influence in Eastern Europe that should be brought unchanged to the United States rather then seeing it as a danger to society.
D) He saw that the Soviet Union was more powerful then the United States and wished to avoid war, rather then seeing Manifest Destiny as proof America would dominate the the globe.
#34) Henry Wallace's sharp break from Truman's opinions on foreign policy is most like what other historical event?
A) The Saint Patrick's Day massacre.
B) The compromise of 1790.
C) The Emancipation Proclamation
D) The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
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"No, I was not Booed off the stage. In fact reception was overall very positive I think to my speech that night. There were some very enthusiastic people there and I don't think they all liked any parts where I made legitimate criticisms of Marshal Stalin of his country."
- Henry Wallace on his Madison Square Garden Speech, 1948.
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"Wallace's speech pleased no one. Conservatives were aghast at his rhetoric regarding reconciling with the Soviets and appalled about Truman's support for its content. The speech was of course not actually the President's line. Truman wished he could have done more to tone it down, but Wallace stonewalled further change it. The White House followed the speech with a supportive statement filled with reminders that the Commerce Department held no influence in foreign affairs. The left saw Wallace's bowing to the President as weakness and criticized him for his 'cowardice', though they would quickly forgive him. Behind the scenes it did nothing but paper over the firm differences Wallace and Truman held. A completely understandable divide had always existed, but it was boiling over and it would burst wide open soon, not even the midterm results could unite the men."
- Frank Chernow, "1948"
