Except for a few meetings, H.A. had little contact with F.D.R. during the campaign. The campaign’s design was to have F.D.R. visibly running the war effort with H.A. traveling the country by train and car campaigning on behalf of the ticket. The pace of the campaign was hectic and the crowds enthusiastic and adoring. Even with H.A. being the active campaigner, this was a contest between F.D.R. and the Republican nominee, Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York.
Dewey had an energetic campaign. His campaign was against the New Deal and a return to a small federal government that did not interfere in business. To some Republicans regulation of business is seen as the first steps of a communist takeover. Dewey even accused F.D.R. as being “indispensable” to corrupt government officials and American Communists. But the vast majority of Americans either ignored or laughed off this extreme rhetoric.
At the end of the campaign, F.D.R. jumped back into the race with a speech in Chicago’s Soldiers Field. He promoted his progressive vision of postwar America with an economy of sixty million jobs, new programs on conservation and crop insurance, healthcare and housing, and promoting unionization by removing barriers on collective bargaining. H.A. was thrilled by the speech, it showed that F.D.R. was back in fighting form and wanted to advance the New Deal.
This year we go right back to work in the Administration. When H.A. first won the Vice Presidency in 1940, he, and I, were jobless. H.A. had to resign as Secretary of the Agriculture to run for office and once the campaign was over we had nothing to do until the Inaugural in January. However, H.A. is not good at being idle.
H.A. had been studying Spanish for several years and thought this would be a good opportunity to immerse himself in the language by taking a trip to one or more of our southern neighbors.
He discussed his idea with F.D.R. and was put on the State Department payroll as an ambassador extraordinary. The plan was to drive to Mexico – I was hired as the driver – to attend the presidential inauguration of the newly elected president, Manuel Avilo Camacho. We drove from Washington D.C. to Mexico City. Naturally, H.A. made me stop frequently along the way to examine corn fields. We started with just a two car caravan. My car carried H.A. and his wife Ilo and the second car contained Jim LeCron and his wife Helen [LeCron was Wallace’s assistant at Agriculture –A.S.]. By the time we reached Mexico City the caravan numbered more than fifteen vehicles. The Mexican people were very enthusiastic about the visit. From the cities and the villages people would line the streets to welcome the Vice President-elect. I’m told over 150,000 came out to cheer on H.A. in Monterrey, throwing confetti and flowers at the car. H.A. said with a grin that “I never flew the Atlantic or had a triumphal march down Wall Street, so this was my first paper rain.”
In addition to attending the inaugural, H.A. was asked to speak before the Mexican Congress. H.A. gave his speech in Spanish and was enthusiastically received. We spent a month in Mexico attending meetings, receptions, and of course inspecting corn fields and farm markets. H.A. was appalled at the low yield of even the best farms we visited in Mexico. Once we were back in the States, H.A. met with leaders of The Rockefeller Foundation and convinced them to invest in Mexico to create agricultural experiment stations to help farmers increase their production. If successful the project will help Mexico feed itself.
No foreign trip this year. We just went back to work in our suite of rooms in the Senate Office Building and our formal office in the Capitol Building. As Vice President his only official role is to preside over the Senate and cast a vote in the case of a tie. H.A. told me that, “One of the most futile occupations I know is presiding over the Senate” because of its long-winded debates and gentlemen’s club atmosphere.
Fortunately, H.A. convinced F.D.R. to expand the role of the Vice President and through executive orders established the Economic Defense Board (the E.D.B.) and Supply Priorities and Allocations Board (the S.P.A.B.) with H.A. as their chairman.
The S.P.A.B. coordinated the government’s efforts in preparing for war. At the time, H.A. said that, “Every available man and machine must be employed either on direct defense requirements or at work essential to the civilian economy. Along this road lies protection of our freedom and of the basic economy necessary to the maintenance of that freedom.” Helping to allocate resources to build our industrial infrastructure and procure defense supplies, H.A.’s efforts were amazing, and his work helped America immediately and effectively jump into the war effort following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
The E.D.B., after Pearl Harbor it was renamed Board of Economic Warfare (the B.E.W.), was a policy and advisory agency focused on international economic issues such as exports, imports, foreign exchange, patents, and other items. This position helped H.A. plan out what the international economic world order should be following the successful conclusion of the war. As H.A. said in a speech to the Foreign Policy Association in 1941, “After the victory, what of the peace? The battle of the peace will be more difficult to win than the battle of the war. All Europe will be a mad swirl of chaotic forces. Unless we are prepared to help in the reorganization of a shattered world, these forces will leap from continent to continent and destroy even the United States.”
These executive positions make H.A. the most powerful Vice President in the history of our nation, and this work helped focus H.A.’s vision of how the world should work.
In an article for the Atlantic Monthly, H.A. wrote, “The overthrow of Hitler is only half the battle; we must build a world in which our human and material resources are used to the utmost if we are to win complete victory. This principle should be fundamental as the world moves to reorganize its affairs. Ways must be found by which the potential abundance of the world can be translated into real wealth and a higher standard of living. Certain minimum standards of food, clothing and shelter ought to be established, and arrangements ought to be made to guarantee that no one should fall below those standards.”
I am so proud to be working for a man with this great vision and, more importantly, the ability to make it happen.
© 2011 Ron Millar
