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Henry A. Wallace, the Liberals, and Soviet-American Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Alonzo L. Hamby
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Extract

Several significant works on post-1945 American politics have dealt with the career of Henry A. Wallace. These studies have tended to depict Wallace as a one-dimensional character, either a fuzzy-minded idealist influenced and manipulated by Communists and fellow travelers or a wise and dedicated apostle of peace fighting a losing battle to prevent the Cold War. Both views have in common the assumption that Wallace stood for the same thing in foreign policy from the end of World War II through his Progressive Party campaign for the presidency. It is true that there were important continuities; there were also significant transformations in the content and quality of his thinking.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , April 1968 , pp. 153 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1968

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References

* This essay, originally a paper delivered to the Southern Historical Association, November 10, 1966, developed from a larger research project supported generously by grants from the Harry S. Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs.

1 “He was a relatively easy mark for the Communists. They were able to manipulate him”. Shannon, David A., The Decline of American Communism (New York, 1959) p. 141.Google ScholarSee also Irving Howe and Lewis Coser, The American Communist Party: A Critical History (New York, 1957), pp. 436, 469–478.Google Scholar

2 Karl Schmidt pictures Wallace as a prophet of sorts in foreign policy, arguing that by the late 1950's, his basic foreign policy ideas had been accepted, and that he was simply ahead of his time. Schmidt, Henry A. Wallace: Quixotic Crusade, 1948 (Syracuse, 1960), esp. pp. 318–320. MacDougall, Curtis, Gideon's Army, 2 vols. (New York, 1966), passim, proceeds from the same viewpoint.Google Scholar

3 Hamby, Alonzo L., “Harry S. Truman and American Liberalism, 1945–1948” (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Missouri, 1965), Chs. I and II, discusses in detail Wallace's key role as a liberal leader during World War II.Google ScholarSee also Goldman, Eric F., Rendezvous with Destiny, (New York, 1952), pp. 392–394.Google ScholarThe quotation is from Wallace, Century of the Common Man, (New York, 1943), pp. 19–20, 22.Google Scholar

4 Wallace, Ibid., esp. pp. 14–23, 35–41, and Democracy Reborn (New York, 1944) Passim.Google ScholarA representative statement of liberal thinking on foreign policy is Bruce Bliven, Bliven, Max Lerner, and George Soule, “America and the Postwar World”, New Republic, CIX (11 29, 1943), 763–790.Google Scholar

5 Baldwin, , “The Question of Liberty”, New Republic, CV (11 17, 1941), 649–651.Google Scholar; Lerner, Max, Public Journal: Marginal NOtes on Wartime America (New York, 1945) pp. 270–274.Google Scholar; Wallace, , Century of the Common Man, pp. 35–41.Google ScholarFor a discussion of liberals and the Popular Front in the 1930's, see Warrren, Frank A., III, Liberals and Communism: The “Red Decade” Revisited (Bloomington and London, 1966).Google Scholar

6 See Saul Padover in PM, 07 10, 24, 1946.Google Scholar; Brant, Irving, “Evewitness in Poland–, New Republic, CXIV (03 4. 1946), 299–300.Google Scholar; “Trouble in Manchuria”, Ibid., CXIV (March 11. 1946), 334–335; “Evatt, Gromyko and the Bomb”, Ibid., CXIV (July 22. 1946), 61; Stone, I. F., “U. S. and U.S.S.R.”, Nation, CLXII (03 16. 1946), 306–307.Google Scholar; “Russia and the Atom”, Ibid., CLXIII (August 3. 1946), 116–117.; Fischer, Louis, “How to ‘Stop’ Stalin”, Progressive, X (0318, 1946), 4.Google Scholar

7 Wallace, , Sixty Million Jobs (New York, 1945).Google Scholar; Bean, Louis, Oral History Memoir, 262, Columbia University Oral History Collection; “Speech of Helen Gahagan Douglas for Smaller Industries Day … 10 23, 1945..”, Helen Gahagan Douglas Papers, Box 165, University of Oklahoma; PM, 09 11, 1945.Google Scholar

8 Truman, Harry S.Memoirs: Year of Decisions (Garden City, N. Y.., 1955), pp. 524–528.Google Scholar; Hewlett, Richard G. and Anderson, Oscar T. JrThe New World, 1939–1946 (University Park, Pa., 1962), pp. 418–421.Google Scholar

9 Henry Wallace Speech File, Alfred Schindler Papers, Harry S. Truman Library, contains all of Wallace's speeches and press releases during his term as Secretary of Commerce. See also the New York Times, February 19, March 8, 13, 22, April 29, May 8, 1946. Bean, Oral History Memoir, p. 257, provides evidence of Wallace's intense concern with a possible atomic arms race, as did author's interview with Wallace, December 16, 1964.

10 This letter was later reprinted under the title, “The Path to Peace with Russia”, New Republic, CXV (09 30, 1946), 401–406.Google ScholarIt is hard to say how many liberals had adopted the same critical view of the American plan for atomic control. Freda Kirchwey, editor of the Nation, expressed a similar analysis at a time when the Wallace letter was still confidential. The other major liberal journal, the New Republic, did not voice this viewpoint. Kirchwey, Freda, “Roots of Suspicion”, Nation, CLXII (08 31, 1946), 228–229.Google Scholar; Mahoney, Thomas H., “Baruch, Gromyko and the Veto”, New Republic, CXV (08 5, 1946), 132–134.Google Scholar

11 Lord, Russell, The Wallaces of lowa (Boston, 1947), p. 561, reveals Wallace's decision to resign after the 1946 elections.Google Scholar

12 The term “Realism” is used to indicate a view of international relations in which national power is the primary factor. It is capitalized to distinguish this special use from the conventional use of the word

13 The text of the Madison Square Garden speech is in Vital Speeches, XII (10 1, 1946), 738–741.Google Scholar; For audience reaction, see Lord, The Wallaces of lowa, pp. 576–578.Google Scholar; For the attitude of the Daily Worker, Shannon, The Decline of American Communism, pp. 119–120.Google Scholar

14 “Union for Democratic Action Statements on Henry Wallace,” in “Remarks of Dr. James Loeb, Jr., … Sept. 29, 1946 …, ”Records of the Americans for Democratic Action (examined by the author at ADA National Headquarters, since deposited in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin); PM, September 22, 1946; Lerner in Ibid., September 23, 1946; “Crisis in Foreign Policy,” New Republic, CXV (September 30, 1946), 395–396.

15 The liberal reaction to Wallace's speech and his resignation is covered more thoroughly in Hamby, “Truman and American Liberalism,” 119?–123.

16 For Niebuhr's changing attitude, see Niebuhr, “Europe, Russia, and America”, Nation, CLXIII (09 14, 1946), 288–289.Google Scholar and “The Fight for Germany”, Life, XXI (10 23, 1946), 65–72.Google Scholar; Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr, “Reinhold Niebuhr's Role in American Political Thought and Life,” in Kegley, Charles W. and Bretall, Robert W., eds., Reinhold Niebuhr: His Religious, Social, and Political Thought, (New York, 1956), pp. 126–150.Google Scholar

17 Hale, William Harlan, “What Makes Wallace Run?” Harper's, CXCVI (03, 1948), 241–248.Google Scholar; Shannon, , Decline of American Communism, pp. 159– 163; Wallace interview.Google Scholar

18 Hamby, “Truman and American Liberalism,” 156–157; Childs in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 22, 1947; Speech by Wilson Wyatt, April 8, 1947, Harry S. Truman Papers, OF 1231, Truman Library; Davis, News commentary, March 3, 1947, Elmer Davis Papers, Library of Congress; ADA Foreign Policy Platform, March 30, 1947, ADA Records; ADA National Board Minutes, September 20, 1947, Ibid.,.

19 Rubin, Morris H., “The People Speak!” Progressive XI (04 7, 1947), 1–2.Google Scholar; Chicago Sun, 03 13; 1947.Google Scholar; LaGuardia, , WJZ Radio Broadcast, March 16, 1947, Fiorello LaGuardia Papers, New York City Municipal Archives and Records Center; Freda Kirchwey, “To the Greeks Bearing Gifts”, Nation, CLXIV (03 29, 1947), 347–349.Google Scholar; Elliott Roosevelt, “A Plea to America,” Ibid, 352.; National Union Farmer, 04 1, 1947; Grafton in the New York Post, March 12, 1947; “Statement on Greece and Turkey by Charles G. Bolte …,” Helen Gahagan Douglas Papers, 80th–81st Congress File, “Greek Proposal-Anti” File.Google Scholar

20 Wallace, speeches reprinted in the Washington Post, March 20, April 15, 1947; Wallace, , “The Way to Help Greece”, New Republic, CXVI (03 17, 1947), 12–13.Google Scholar and “The Truman Doctrine— or a Strong UN”, Ibid., CXVI (March 31, 1947), 12–13.

21 Davis, Elmer, News commentary, 04 11, 1947, Davis Papers.Google Scholar; Neuberger, Richard L., “Henry Wallace Comes to Town”, Progressive, XI (06 16, 1947), 4.Google Scholar; New York Post, 06 5, 1947.Google Scholar; Marquis Child in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 06 12, 1947.Google Scholar; , Thomas L. Stokes in the ChicagoSun, 06 21, 1947.Google Scholar

22 ADA World, 07 24, 1947.Google Scholar; Chicago Sun, 06 11, 1947.Google Scholar; Grafton in Ibid.,; “The Marshall Plan”, Nation, CLXIV (06 21, 1947), 729–731.Google Scholar; “The Marshall Program”, New Republic, CXVI (06 16, 1947), 5.Google Scholar

23 Wallace, , “Bevin Muddies the Waters”, New Republic, CXVI (06 30, 1947), 11–12.Google Scholar; Wallace,“What We Must Do”, Ibid., CXVII (July 14, 1947), 13–14; Wallance, “Too Little, Too Late,” Ibid., CXVII (Octomber 6, 1947), 11–12; Wallace, , speech reprinted in the New York Times, 1031, 1948.Google Scholar

24 Wallace, speech reprinted in PM, September 12, 1947, and “Address by Henry A. Wallace …, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December 30, 1947,” ADA Records.

25 New York Times, 02 28, 03 16, 1948.Google Scholar

26 Wallace, , “My Commitments”, Vital Speeches, XIV (08 1, 1948), 620–623.Google Scholar

27 Kirchwey, Freda, “Prague —a Lesson for Liberals”, Nation, CLXVI (03 6, 1948), 265–266.Google Scholar; “UN Comes Through”, Ibid., CLXVII (October 16, 1948), 415–416; Straight, Michael, “There Are Great Fears”, New Republic, CXVIII (03 22, 1948), 6–7.Google Scholar; “The East-West Crisis” Ibid. CXIX (October 11, 1948), 5–6.