United States Vice - Presidents

Henry Wallace

1888-1965

When Henry Wallace started his term as Vice President Franklin D. Roosevelt was starting his unprecedented third term as President. Less than a year later Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. 

He was born near Orient Iowa in 1888 the third Henry Wallace. His grandfather, Henry Wallace, and father, Henry Cantwell Wallace, had both been successful farmers. The family owned a house in town as well as on the farm. 

The old belief was, the better looking the corn the higher the yield, but when he was only 15 the future vice president was awarded at a science fair for proving that the yield of corn was independent of the aesthetic appearance of the ear. He continued his study of agriculture at Iowa State College and graduated with a BA in 1910. 

Wallace taught himself statistics and created a chart showing the necessary ratio of corn to hogs. This was a boon to farmers trying to increase profits. He is also given credit for “econometrics” a type of statistical analysis used in agricultural economics. In 1923 he developed a strain of hybrid corn that was high yielding and resistant to disease. He founded the Hi-Bred Seed Company to sell the popular new hybrid corn seed. Henry Wallace didn’t invent hybrid corn but he did work to make it the standard for the nation. Only 1% of corn grown in the United States was hybrid in 1933 but it was 78% in 1948 and 100% by 1965. 

In 1924 he took over as editor of the families publication, founded by his grandfather, The Wallace Farmer. When it later faced financial difficulty he merged it with The Iowa Homestead in 1929, and then continued as editor until 1933. 

His father had been Secretary of Agriculture for President Coolidge. The 1920s were a boom for many but a bust for farmers. They had been encouraged to have high production during the war but now in peacetime the more they produced the lower the prices. Secretary Wallace supported the McNary-Haugen bill, which would send excess produce out of the United States and urged the President to sign it. Coolidge, a liaise faire Republican and opponent of government interference in a free market economy, vetoed the bill. The Wallace family had always been Republicans but Henry Wallace, disillusioned by his father’s treatment, campaigned for Al Smith in 1928 and Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. 

Franklin Roosevelt believed that Henry Wallace support was a vital factor in helping him win in the Midwestern farm states and rewarded Wallace by making him the second Henry Wallace to be Secretary of Agriculture. Wallace was a vigorous supporter of the New Deal and wanted to use the Agricultural Adjustments Act (AAA) to drastically change farming in America. This would be the first ever attempt at government regulation of farm production during peacetime. As part of his plan he ordered 10 million acres of cotton plowed under and six million hogs slaughtered. At a time when many people in America and around the World were going hungry and could not afford new clothes this policy appeared to be a ridiculous waste, but Secretary Wallace saw it as the only way to raise prices and relieve the plight of the farmers. 


Wallace eventual plan was for food prices to be based on the cost of production rather than the amount of food on the market. Facing a major setback when the Supreme Court ruled the AAA unconstitutional, he worked to come up with a new plan that would be acceptable to the Court. His ideas included Food Stamps, and the School Lunch Program. 

In 1934 he wrote a book titled The New Frontier about the depression and its effect on farmers. It has been speculated that it may have influenced John Kennedy’s theme for his administration, “The New Frontier“. 

During his time in the cabinet Wallace was getting a reputation for being a little different. His religious beliefs were questioned. Originally a Presbyterian he converted to Roman Catholicism, and later began studying the religions of the Far East. He started communicating with Eastern mystic Nicholas Constantine Roerich and urged Roosevelt to sign the “Roerich pact and Banner of Peace“, written by the Himalayan research Institute. It would provide protection for museums, cathedrals, universities, and libraries in time of war by declaring them to be neutral territory. As the President’s representative Wallace signed the pact in a White House ceremony. But some people saw “Guru” Roerich as just another cult mystic and questioned why a member of the cabinet would spend time on such nonsense. Newsman Allen Drury once described Wallace, “He looks like a hayseed, talks like a prophet, and acts like an embarrassed school boy.” 

When the Democrats met for their convention in 1940 the party needed a new candidate for Vice President. Many of the delegates said they would refuse to accept Wallace on the ticket. When Oklahoma’s Governor Phillips was asked whom he would rather have than Wallace for VP, he replied, “Any son of bitch, red, white, black, or yellow, that can get the nomination.” But when Franklin Roosevelt told the party bosses he wouldn’t run without Wallace the delegates were persuaded to change their minds. However, in order to avoid trouble and disunity at the convention Wallace declined to make an acceptance speech. It is interesting to note that his Republican opponent for Vice president was Oregon’s Senator Charles McNary, the sponser of the McNary-Haugen bill that Wallace’s father had supported in the 1920s. 

Before the campaign Wallace had written letters to Nicholas Roerich about the spiritual beliefs and observations of current political leaders. Some how the “Guru letters” fell in to the hands of Republicans who hoped to use them to embarrass the Democrats. The plan failed when the Democrats threatened to release information about Wendell Willkie’s extra marital affair if the “guru letters” were released. 

Henry Wallace was the first Vice President to be personally chosen by the President and not part of a compromise to satisfy convention delegates. During the first months in office he supported plans to keep America out of the fighting, but after Pearl Harbor he became an ardent defender of the War against the Axis. Since the President was so tied up with the responsibility of running the war more authority was given to Vice President Wallace. He served as a member of the President’s secret “War Cabinet” and was the chairman of the Economic defense board. He was often referred to as “Mr. Assistant President“. 

Coming from a publishing family he continued writing during is term. In 1942 he wrote Century of the Common Man in which he outlined his ideas for federal support of education and collective health care. In 1944 he wrote Sixty Million Jobs warning America not to make the same mistakes they did at the end of the First World War. 

When it came to dealing with the US Senate Wallace had no previous legislative experience. He disliked the world of politics and lacked the skills necessary to promote ideas or to encourage compromise. He distanced himself further from the “insiders club” by shutting down the bar that Cactus Jack (Vice President Garner) called “The board of education”. 

He did have a chance to vote four times to break ties. The most satisfying was the one that saved the Civilian Conservation Corp. His other “contribution” for the Democrats was hitting a home run in the Senate’s Baseball game. He also knocked out Louisiana Senator Allen Ellendar in a boxing match. (It was a “friendly” match but some couldn’t help remembering that Ellendar had opposed Wallace nomination for Vice President.) 

The Vice President also served as the Presidents personal ambassador, and had learned to speak Spanish before going on a Goodwill tour of Latin America. He felt that by speaking to the common people in their own language, and promoting the idea of World Peace by providing humanitarian aid, he helped stabilize the Latin American region during the War. He received praise for his speech in Mexico City that helped to quell a political battle that many feared would disrupt trade with the United States. 

In 1944 President Roosevelt sent Wallace on a special mission to bring cooperation between Chiang kai Shek and the Communist forces led by Mao tze Dong in the fight against the Japanese. He also visited the USSR. He was greatly impressed by what he saw and thought that the American and Russian farmers had much in common. When he returned his only real accomplishment was getting a weather station in northern China to help our airmen during bombing raids over Japan. Later many realized that Wallace had been duped by the Soviets and saw only a restricted tour authorized by Stalin. But what was the real purpose of the trip? While Wallace was away Roosevelt and the Democrat party leaders discussed plans to replace Wallace with someone less controversial. Since he was away Wallace was in no position to gather support for another run at the vice presidency. 

In spite of the Democrat party leaders best efforts a number of pro-Wallace delegates arrived at the convention. On the first ballot Wallace received the most votes but not enough to clinch the nomination. When a “WE WANT WALLACE” demonstration broke out the convention chairman, Senator Samuel D. Jackson, of Indiana called for an immediate adjournment until the next day. He claimed there was a possible violation of the fire code. During the night party leaders distributed letters to delegates convincing them that Roosevelt no longer wanted Wallace on the ticket. On the third ballot the Senator from Missouri, Harry S. Truman, was nominated to run with Roosevelt. 

Despite loosing the nomination to Truman Wallace campaigned for Roosevelt’s reelection. The President showed his gratitude by appointing Wallace to be the Secretary of Commerce. When the Senate realized that being Commerce Secretary would put Wallace in charge of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation they transferred that money out of the Commerce department. Wallace was confirmed but stripped of financial responsibility. 

After only 82 days Harry Truman was the President, and the new administration was taking a hard line when dealing with the Soviet Union. In 1946 Wallace made a speech saying the American policy toward their former ally would lead to a third world war. Secretary of State James Byrnes protested to Truman that the Wallace speech had undermined delicate negotiations with the Soviets. Secretary of Defense James Forrestal also complained that Wallace was hurting defense efforts. Wallace had previously written an article in the New York Times titled The Dangers of American Fascism and expressed the opinion that families in Russian and America shared a common interest. No longer able or willing to defend Wallace President Truman requested his resignation. 

In 1946 Wallace became editor of The New Republic and started the new Progressive Party (not to be confused of Theodore Roosevelt’s progressives of 1912). He proposed a new civil rights act, repeal of Taft Hartley which he felt was anti-union, opposed the Marshall Plan, and called for an end to European imperialism in Africa and Asia. 

In 1948 Wallace announced his candidacy for President from the Progressive party. South Carolina Governor Strom Thurman announced his candidacy from the new Dixiecrat party that was opposed to Truman’s civil rights agenda. Wallace and his running mate, Idaho’s Senator Glen Taylor, didn’t get any electoral votes. His only effect on the election may have been to take enough votes away from Truman to give Dewey New York State. Wallace had lost substantial support when he was endorsed by the American Communist Party. 

Previously in 1947 it had been reported that Wallace had proposed giving atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. What Wallace was talking about was nuclear power to produce electrical energy, but it was misinterpreted as giving the Soviets the A-bomb. The school district in Rochester New York confiscated the book Twenty Famous Americans so the children wouldn’t read about Henry Wallace. 



In 1950 Henry Wallace alienated the extreme leftist and Communist in the Progressive Party when he endorsed US UN actions in Korea. In 1952 he published Why I was Wrong explaining his shift from sympathy to mistrust of the USSR. 

During the Cold War years he returned to his first love, agriculture. He worked on developing hybrid seed, and was responsible for a new leghorn chicken that had less body weight and produced more eggs. Although he wasn’t active in politics he admired President Eisenhower and often sent him letters of advice. He wasn’t particularly fond of John Kennedy, but thought he had a lot in common with Lyndon Johnson and wrote to him often. 

In 1965 he was stricken with Lou Gehrig’s disease and died. 

Henry Wallace was certainly an intelligent man and probably contributed much to American agriculture, but for a man that wanted to do so much to change the way the government is operated he lacked basic political skills. I wonder if he though the same statistical principals that he used in farming could be used to manipulate jobs and production? 

We can only speculate on what may have happened if Roosevelt had died before 1945

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