Henry A. Wallace

Lore & Background

Henry Agard Wallace was born on October 7, 1888, on a farm near Orient, Iowa, the oldest son of Henry Cantwell Wallace, who served as U.S. secretary of agriculture from 1921 to 1924. After graduating from Iowa State University in 1910, he worked as a writer and editor for his family's farm journal, Wallaces' Farmer. He also founded the Hi-Bred Corn Company, a hybrid corn company that became extremely successful. Wallace displayed intellectual curiosity about statistics, economics, and various religious and spiritual movements, including Theosophy. After his father's death in 1924, he drifted away from the Republican Party and supported Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election.

Wallace served as Secretary of Agriculture under Roosevelt from 1933 to 1940, strongly supporting the New Deal and implementing measures to curtail agricultural surpluses and ameliorate rural poverty. Roosevelt overcame opposition from conservative Democrats to have Wallace nominated for vice president at the 1940 Democratic National Convention, and the Roosevelt–Wallace ticket won the 1940 presidential election. At the 1944 Democratic National Convention, conservative party leaders defeated Wallace's bid for renomination, placing Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman on the ticket instead. In early 1945, Roosevelt appointed Wallace as Secretary of Commerce.

After Roosevelt's death in April 1945, Wallace continued as Secretary of Commerce until September 1946, when he was fired by President Truman for delivering a speech urging conciliatory policies toward the Soviet Union. Wallace and his supporters then established the nationwide Progressive Party and launched a third-party campaign for president. The Progressive platform called for conciliatory policies toward the USSR, desegregation of public schools, racial and gender equality, a national health-insurance program, and other left-wing policies. Accusations of communist influence followed, and his association with controversial Theosophist figure Nicholas Roerich undermined his campaign; he received 2.4% of the popular vote. Wallace broke with the Progressive Party in 1950 over the Korean War, and in a 1952 article he called the Soviet Union 'utterly evil'. He turned back to agricultural innovation, becoming a highly successful businessman specializing in hybrid seed corn and improved chickens before his death in 1965 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Reader's Guide

Henry A. Wallace's significance lies in his dual impact on American agriculture and national politics. As secretary of agriculture, he presided over a major shift in federal farm policy during the New Deal, implementing measures to control surpluses and reduce rural poverty. His concept of the 'ever-normal granary'—government buying and storing surpluses when prices are low and selling when high—influenced later farm programs. As vice president, he served during World War II, but his progressive views and association with controversial figures like Nicholas Roerich made him a target of conservative Democrats, leading to his replacement on the 1944 ticket. His 1948 third-party campaign for president, while garnering only 2.4% of the vote, highlighted left-wing policies such as racial and gender equality and national health insurance, and reflected Cold War tensions over relations with the Soviet Union. Wallace's later break with the Progressive Party over the Korean War and his condemnation of the USSR as 'utterly evil' illustrate the shifting political landscape of the era. His legacy also includes his pioneering work in hybrid corn, which revolutionized agriculture and made him a successful businessman.

Did You Know?

• Wallace founded the Hi-Bred Corn Company, a hybrid corn company that became extremely successful.
• He was fired by President Truman in September 1946 for delivering a speech urging conciliatory policies toward the Soviet Union.
• Wallace received only 2.4% of the popular vote as the Progressive Party nominee in the 1948 presidential election.
• He died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 1965.