H.A.
declared his candidacy for president on December 29, 1947. Like, H.A., the timing was unusual - this is months before most presidential
hopefuls formally launch their campaigns.
It also lacked the political paraphernalia and trappings of the campaign
launch. It was just a radio address
without fanfare; however, his message made up for the lack of political
hoopla. He said, “The people are on the
march…We have assembled a Gideon’s Army, small in number, powerful in
conviction, ready for action. We have
said with Gideon, ‘Let those who are fearful and trembling depart.’ For every fearful one who leaves, there will
be a thousand to take his place. A just
cause is worth a hundred armies. We face
the future unfettered, unfettered by a principle but the general welfare. We owe no allegiance to any group, which does
not serve that welfare. By God’s grace,
the people’s peace will usher in the century of the common man.” He added, “We are voting peace and security
for ourselves and our children’s children.
We are fighting for old-fashioned Americanism at the polls in 1948. We are fighting for freedom of speech and
freedom of assembly. We are fighting to
end racial discrimination. We are
fighting for lower prices. We are
fighting for free labor unions, for jobs, and for homes in which we can
decently live.”
H.A.
has asked Florida Senator Claude Pepper to be his running mate, and Mr. Pepper
has enthusiastically agreed. His formal
addition to the ticket will be announced in July at the Democratic Party
Convention in Philadelphia.
At
the State of the Union Address on January 7, H.A. highlighted his program to
expand the New Deal and fight the bosses of industry and politics. A unfriendly Republican-controlled Congress was
confronted with popular programs calling for a forty-dollar tax cut for every
taxpayer and dependent, an increase in corporate taxes, an increase in the
minimum wage, lower inflation with price and rent controls, regulation of big
business, an end to the draft and improve pay and working conditions for the
enlisted men, and a universal national health insurance program. He also called for programs that drove the
wedge further between progressives and reactionary southern Democrats forcing
Democratic members of Congress to pick a side.
H.A. called for legislation to protect civil rights that included
anti-lynching legislation, abolition of poll taxes and literacy tests, end
racial discrimination in the armed services, and establishment of a fair
employment practices commission and a permanent commission on civil rights.
He
argued that his domestic policies were in the mold of the New Deal in taking on
“economic royalists” and the “good-for-nothing Republican Congress”, but H.A.’s
vision was to take the New Deal to the next level. As for foreign policy, he declared, “I have
fought and shall continue to fight programs which give guns to people when they
want plows.” He denounced efforts to
make the United States an imperial power under the false aegis of fighting Communism.
Naturally,
the Whiskey Rebels shouted treason – several from the floor of the Congress –
an incredible show of insubordination, but their outbursts played well with their
reactionary base.
© 2015 Ron Millar
© 2015 Ron Millar
