Henry A. Wallace

Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was the 33rd Vice President of the United States, the 11th Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th Secretary of Commerce.

Later career

Franklin D. Roosevelt placated Wallace by appointing him Secretary of Commerce. Wallace served in this post from March 1945 to September 1946, when he was fired by Harry S. Truman, who had become president upon Roosevelt's death midterm, and who regarded Wallace as too critical of Truman's foreign policy.

Related Topics:
Franklin D. Roosevelt - Secretary of Commerce - 1945 - 1946 - Harry S. Truman - Foreign policy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Following his term as Secretary of Commerce, Wallace became the editor of The New Republic magazine, using his position to criticize vociferously Truman's hawkish foreign policy. On the declaration of the Truman Doctrine in 1947, he predicted it would mark the beginning of "a century of fear". He left his editorship position in 1948 to make an unsuccessful run as a Progressive Party candidate in the 1948 U.S. presidential election. His platform was far ahead of its time, advocating such positions as an end to segregation, full voting rights for blacks, and universal government health insurance. Many of his proposals were eventually enacted, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Medicare (1965) and Medicaid (1965). His campaign was unusual for his time in that it included African American candidates campaigning alongside white candidates in the American South, and during the campaign he refused to appear before segregated audiences or eat/stay in segregated establishments. His acceptance of the support of American Communists also drew the ire of the Anti-Communist sentiment of the time. The party's opposition to Truman's hard-line stance against the Soviets brought it into disrepute especially as events in Europe aroused fears of Soviet expansionism. Some of his followers believed that his warnings of a possible American pre-emptive attack on the Soviet Union may have prevented such a war.

Related Topics:
Editor - The New Republic - Truman Doctrine - 1947 - 1948 - Progressive Party - 1948 U.S. presidential election - Civil Rights Act of 1964 - Voting Rights Act - Medicare - Medicaid - African American - American South

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1952 Wallace published Why I Was Wrong, in which he explained that his seemingly-trusting stance toward the Soviet Union and Stalin stemmed from inadequate information about Stalin's excesses and that he, too, now considered himself an anti-Communist.

Related Topics:
1952 - Stalin

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wallace resumed his farming interests, and resided in South Salem, New York. During his later years he made a number of advances in the field of agricultural science. His many accomplishments included a breed of chicken that at one point accounted for the overwhelming majority of all egg-laying chickens sold across the globe. He died in Danbury, Connecticut in 1965. His remains were cremated at Grace Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the ashes interred in Glendale Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa.

Related Topics:
New York - Chicken - Danbury, Connecticut - Bridgeport, Connecticut

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~