The
Republicans are acting very arrogant. They are certain that they will prevail in the elections and took
cheap shots at H.A. and at F.D.R.’s New Deal, which H.A. now represents and is working to expand. At the Republican Convention [held in
Philadelphia – June 21-25 – AS], former Congresswomen Clare Boothe Luce, and wife of the powerful publishing magnate Henry Luce, called H.A., “Stalin’s
Mortimer Snerd [a reference to ventriloquist Edgar Bergen’s dimwitted dummy -AS]”
and said his supporters are “economic spoonies and political bubbleheads…labor
racketeers, native and imported Communists and foreign agents of the
Kremlin.” Keynote speaker Dwight Green,
Governor of Illinois, called H.A. the last representative of the New Deal
coalition, which was “held together by bosses, boodle, buncombe and
blarney.” He claimed the New Deal
coalition was never a “legitimate majority.”
While
the Republican convention was united against H.A., our convention [also held in
Philadelphia – July 12-14 – AS] exposed the stark divisions of the Democratic
Party. H.A. rejected efforts to retain
the vague civil rights language from the 1944 convention. Progressives and
liberals lead by Hubert Humphrey [Mayor of Minneapolis - AS] voted to put the
Democratic Party on record opposing the poll tax, supporting federal
anti-lynching legislation, and the desegregation of the armed forces.
Once
the vote was taken, [Levin] Handy Ellis [former Lieutenant Governor of Alabama
– AS] grabbed an open microphone and said, “We bid you good-bye.” Thirteen Alabaman delegates and all
twenty-three Mississippi delegates walked out of the Convention. Within a few days politicians from across the
South announced their departure from the Democratic Party. Holding their own
convention in Birmingham [July 17 – AS], they formed the States’ Rights Democratic
Party [better known as Dixiecrats – AS], and adopted a party platform dedicated to the preservation of segregation through Jim Crow laws and white political
and economic supremacy. They nominated
Governor J. Storm Thurmond of South Carolina for President and Governor
Fielding Wright of Mississippi for Vice President. Here is a little flavor of
their campaign – straight from the mouth of their presidential nominee – “I
wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s not enough troops in the
army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra
race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our
churches.” What
a nice Christian! These
bigoted racists actually have a plan that could put them into the White House.
Incredibly, the
threat of the States’ Rights Party coupled with the Whiskey Rebels in taking
the White House is real. Their plan is
to win in Southern states and perhaps even capture some border states to create
a three way split in the Electoral College.
If no candidate obtains a majority of electoral votes, the House of
Representatives, per the Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, selects the president. Sadly, in the House, supporters of white
supremacy through guise of states’ rights, hold the majority of
power. President Strom Thurmond – I
shudder as I speak the words.
On
a positive note, H.A.’s nominating speech at the Democratic Convention was spectacular.
He
concluded his acceptance speech with, “The American dream is the dream of the
prophets of old, the dream of each man living in peace under his own vine and
fig tree; then all the nations of the world shall flow up to the mountains of
the Lord and man shall learn war no more.
We are the generation blessed above all generations, because to us is
given for the first time in all history the power to make that dream come
true. To make that dream come true, we
shall rise above the pettiness of those who preach hate and factionalism, of
those who think of themselves rather than the great cause they serve. All you who are within the sound of my voice
tonight have been called to serve and to serve mightily, in fulfilling the dream
of the prophets and the founders of the American system.”
Now
that is the voice of a true Christian!
My hope is that the American people will reject the hate of our
opponents and embrace the positive message of our campaign.
Unfortunately,
many Americans are embracing the fear. HUAC [House Un-American Activities Committee –
AS] brought Elizabeth Bentley [a former Soviet spy who defected and turned
informant - AS] to star in another of their melodramas to spin her tales of how
the government was riddled with Communists and fellow travelers. However, in exposing the vast Communist
conspiracy she was only able to name one obscure Commerce Department official [an
economist and Soviet spy William Remington - AS].
Only
being able to destroy one career and reputation must have been a disappointment
to the HUAC mob because they brought her back several days later and surprise
-- this time -- she was able to name more Communists [Nathan Gregory
Silvermaster - formerly an economist at the Board of Economic Warfare, Harry
Dexter White - former Assistant Treasury Secretary, and Lauchin Currie - a former economic advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt - AS]. Next they trotted out Whittaker Chambers who
had the names of seventy-five government officials who were alleged Communists.
Many
of the people accused of being Communists were colleagues and friends of H.A. Naturally, the newspapers ran with the
connections. Columnist Dorothy Thompson [journalist
with the New York Tribune and Ladies
Home Journal – AS] called H.A. a “mask for communism.” Collier’s said “Henry Wallace is the
voice of Russia.” Columnist Frank Kent [of
the Baltimore Sun – AS] called H.A. a “biased, embittered and unbalanced
man” who was apparently leading the Communists and “every crackpot radical and
opponent of the American way of life” to undermine the nation.
These
reporters seemed to have forgot that H.A. actually fired people when he was
head of the Department of Agriculture because he thought they were too
far to the left [in 1935 Wallace fired Lee Pressman and John Abt who were exposed by
Whittaker Chambers as Communists – AS]. Most of the named appeared before the
committee forced by subpoena and defended themselves by taking the Fifth
Amendment – refusing to participate in this horrible farce. An infuriated Harry White, who was a senior
official at the U.S. Treasury, demanded to be allowed to speak before the
committee and gave a spirited defense of his career and principles. Three days later he died of a heart
attack. A bitter H.A. announced that
“Harry D. White, my good friend and close associate on many New Deal
committees, died Monday – a victim of the Un-American [J. Parnell] Thomas
Committee.”
H.A.
denounced HUAC as using “the technique of political gangsterism and tyranny”
and that at worst the hearings were “the first step toward a reactionary police
state” and at best the hearings were a red herring to distract the public away
from their unwillingness to pass his reforms or offer their own
alternatives. Already this 80th
U.S. Congress is known as the “do-nothing” Congress.
The
platform created at the Republican Convention called for many actions that H.A.
supports, such as, federal aid to states for low-cost housing, the extension of
social security benefits, anti-lynching legislation, and civil rights legislation
– including the abolition of poll taxes.
To show his eagerness to work with Republicans and to the test their
dedication to their new platform, H.A. called a special session of Congress to put
into law the high sounding goals from the Republican Convention. The Congress angry that the president called
them back for two weeks from their summer recess – refused to act on any
legislation, which played into the “do-nothing Congress” campaign message. We must make sure the American voters
realize the New Deal coalition needs to retain the White House and win back the
Congress. While Congress failed to act,
H.A. fulfilled his promise to end segregation in the armed forces and federal
government with executive orders.
Have
I mentioned that I work for a great American!
© 2015 Ron Millar
