AMERICAN DREAMER: A Life of Henry A. Wallace. - Review - book review

Washington Monthly, May, 2000 by Chalmers M. Roberts

So Wallace, now commerce secretary, watched with alarm as Truman followed FDR's first moves into the Cold War era; he felt the Greek-Turkish aid and the Truman doctrine could only lead to war with the Soviet Union. The newly formed American for Democratic Action (ADA) brought most liberal leaders together, but Wallace was not invited. Labor leader Walter Reuther, who knew from experience the nature and practice of American communists, called it "tragic that he is being used by the Communists the way they have used so many other people."

Culver and Hyde declare that "certainly Wallace gave no thought to Communist Party wishes in deciding to run" for president in 1948 on the Progressive ticket. But the "Wallace movement," as columnist Stewart Alsop wrote, was "exposed for what it is: an instrument of Soviet foreign policy ..." All the revelations of the decades since then only add to that conclusion, but Culver and Hyde seem most reluctant to say so, once and for all. A lengthy footnote, for example, on Harry Dexter White, Laurence Dugan and Lauchlin Currie is employed to absolve Wallace of reports that he had thought of White and Dugan as potential Cabinet members.

One true puzzle is the motivation of C.B. "Beanie" Baldwin, Wallace's long-time friend and '48 campaign manager. Baldwin's convictions are truly shown to be far left, but whether he was a C.P. member is not resolved here. Baldwin finally broke with Wallace when North Korea invaded the South: Wallace backed Truman, Baldwin and the rest of the Progressive structure opposed American intervention. As a result, Wallace quit the party.

Wallace, in the amazing '48 election, received only 2.38 percent of the votes nationally, trailing third-place Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond (yes, young people, the same Strom Thurmond). Wallace never returned to Iowa (his home state gave him about one percent of its vote). He showed little of his hurt, bought a farm in New York state where he thrived until age 77, when he was struck down by Lou Gehrig's disease.

The authors conclude with Hubert Humphrey's tribute that "above all he was a good man." Yes, but too naive for a politician and would-be president.

CHALMERS M. ROBERTS covered politics and foreign affairs in Washington, chiefly for The Washington Post, for half a century.