My Amazon Review of Benn Steil's "The World that Wasn't: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century"

America Missed a Bullet

 

On July 21,1944, the Democratic National Convention dumped its pro-Soviet vice president and named Senator Harry Truman as its vice-presidential nominee. With President Franklin Roosevelt operating in the background the political bosses of the Democratic Party, knowing that Roosevelt was likely to die in office, out maneuvered the labor bosses in obtaining the nomination for Truman.

 

With that the United States avoided having an administration led by a Soviet sympathizer who would have placed the communists in charge of State and Treasury, in particular Laurence Duggan at State and Harry Dexter White at Treasury. Should that have happened there would have been no intervention in Greece, no Marshall Plan, and no NATO. Further Germany would have been neutralized there would have been communist governments in France and Italy, a far cry from the Cold War history as it turned out.

 

I previously reviewed Benn Steil’s “The Marshal Plan” (See Shulmaven: My Amazon Review of Benn Steil's "The Marshal Plan: Dawn of the Cold War" )and his “The Battle of Bretton Woods,” and with this book he established himself as a leading historian of the mid-1940’s. Steil covers Wallace’s life from his early beginnings as part of an Iowa farm family and later as publisher of a leading agricultural journal. He became interested in plant genetics and founded with others Pioneer Hybrid International. The $7000 invested in 1926 turned into a nearly $10 billion equity valuation by 1999 when it was sold to DuPont. If Wallace stuck to his seed business the world would have been a much better place.

 

Wallace caught the eye of Roosevelt and became his Secretary of Agriculture. In that capacity he was an architect and follower of the New Deal farm programs that worked to prop up big agriculture at the expense of tenant farmers, ploughed under crops and destroyed millions of piglets at a time of mass starvation. Farm income hardly increased in the 1930’s. Also, during the 1930’s Wallace found a “guru” in Russian artist Nicholas Roerich. It is all very bizarre and Steil spends too much time on this.

 

In 1940 with Roosevelt needing support among farmers and the isolationist Midwest, Wallace was picked as his vice-president. In that capacity he is put in charge of the Bureau of Economic Warfare. There he clashes with Jesse Jones, the powerful head of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). The seeds of his demise start here. He picked the wrong enemy. In 1944 Wallace goes on an extended trip to Siberia where he is completely taken in by the Potemkin Villages set up by the KGB. His trip was orchestrated by spy chief Lavrenty Beria. Where the reality was that of penal colonies, Wallace only saw happy farmers and miners. He didn’t return until June 1944, and he was therefore politically unprepared for the upcoming convention.

 

Truman gave Wallace a consolation prize by making him Commerce Secretary. His nomination was controversial, and the Senate stripped control of the RFC from him. His pro-Soviet leanings get the better of him in a speech at a pro-communist rally in September 1946 at Madison Square Garden where he attacks the Truman Administration as imperialist warmongers. Truman has no choice but to follow him. Much of the speech was written by his staff, many of whom were communists. From then on Wallace mouths every pro-Soviet trope in the book in attacking Truman.

 

After asking advice from of all people Soviet Ambassador Andrey Gromyko, Wallace decides to run as the nominee of the new Progressive Party which was largely staffed by communists including Harry Magdoff, Victor Perlo, John Abt and Lee Pressman. Steil highlights how closely the Soviets watched the campaign and highlighted its role in the 1948 election in Pravda. This was not the first time the Soviets took an interest in the activities of the American Communist Party.

 

After his loss Wallace fades away and later recants his pro-Soviet views. In my opinion too little too late. We now live in a time where the Russians are actively involved in our elections; only this time it is the Republican Party that is the object of their affection. It is also unfortunate that there are no party bosses in the Democratic Party that can fix its ticket, that as of today looks weak. Steil reminds us that we may very well be at another hinge of history and hopefully America will once again miss a bullet. (See: Shulmaven: Shulmaven Anticipates Hal Brands Foreign Affairs Article on Pre-WW II and Today )

For the full Amazon Review see: America Misses a Bullet (amazon.com)