| Henry A. Wallace | |
|---|---|
| |
| 32nd Vice President of the United States | |
| In office January 20, 1941 – January 20, 1945 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Robert M. La Follette Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Thomas E. Dewey |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 16th district | |
| In office January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1959 | |
| Preceded by | James J. Murphy |
| Succeeded by | Adam Clayton Powell Jr. |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's at-large district | |
| In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1965 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Henry Agard Wallace October 7, 1888 Orient, Iowa, the  United States of America
|
| Died | November 18, 1965 (aged 77) Danbury, Connecticut, the  United States of America
|
| Political party | Progressive Party (1936–65) Democratic Party of New York (1963–65) |
| Other political affiliations |
Republican Party (1906–36) |
| Spouse(s) | Ilo Browne (m. 1914) |
| Children | 3 |
| Occupation | Farmer, businessman, politician |
| Religion | Christianity (Presbyterianism → Episcopalianism) |
Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) served as the 33rd Vice President of the United States (1941–1945), the 11th Secretary of Agriculture (1933–1940), and the tenth Secretary of Commerce (1945–1946). His father, Henry Cantwell Wallace, also served as the Secretary of Agriculture during the second administration of Theodore Roosevelt (1913–1921). As a farmer, Wallace founded the Hi-Bred Corn Company, which experienced immense success and made him a wealthy man.
Wallace was a leading member of left-wing of Progressive Party and an ardent supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies. Throughout his lifetime, Wallace championed the principle of social democracy and was the main spokesperson for American farming community within the Progressive Party national organization. Wallace sought conciliatory policies with the Soviet Union, opposing the foreign policy of Thomas E. Dewey and the party right-wing.
During the 1944 Progressive convention, the leader of conservative Progressives, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., died in France during the Normandy landings just a week before the convention. On other hand, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's health was seriously declining and the party leaders realized, if Roosevelt died during his next term, the Vice President would become President, making the vice presidential nomination very important.
Wallace had a favorable lead on other vice-presidential nominees and was supported by the elements of labor unions and ethnic minorities. However, business interests and other anti-New Deal elements strongly opposed Wallace's renomination for his perceived radical and eccentric ideas. Instead, the rightists favored Thomas E. Dewey, a moderate and an anti-New Dealer from New York. After a hard-fought convention, Dewey eventually won the second ballot as a compromise candidate between the right and left wings of the party.