Robert Wagner, 34th President of the United States (1949 - 1953)
The Presidency of Robert Ferdinand Wagner II began on January 20th, 1949 and ended on January 20th, 1953. Wagner's Presidency was largely categorized by US involvement in the Cold War and larger involvement on the world stage as a whole. During Wagner's Presidency, the United States would formally join the United Nations in 1949, would oversee the flow of aid to Western Europe in order to combat Soviet expansion on the continent, and would be involved in several proxy wars such as the 1950 Tokyo Uprising and Soviet Invasion of Hokkaido in Japan, the Sea of Crete Crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, and the 1948 Arab Israeli War in the Middle East. Domestically, Wagner was able to pass the Social Security Act of 1950 and secure significant expansions to the GI Bill, but ultimately fell short on many of his campaign promises as the Conservative coalition still remained largely in control of Congress. Wagner would be the second Roman Catholic to serve as President of the United States after Democrat Al Smith.
Elected at the age of 38 and with his only prior office being a State Senator, Wagner was the youngest President in American history. He had the nickname of the "Boy President". However, Wagner would lose the 1952 election to general Douglas MacArthur due to Wagner's perceived inexperience for the "big job" of President of the United States as well as Wagner's perceived weakness in handling the conflicts of the Cold War such as the Sea of Crete crisis.
Presidency[]
Domestic Policy[]
Social Security Act of 1950[]
Since the early 1930s, there was a push within progressive wings in the Democratic and Republican parties to push for a retirement dividend. This push would be led by physician Francis Townsend who pushed for his "Townsend Plan" which sought to grant monthly income to retired Americans in order to stimulate the economy during the depression. The Townsend Plan would be influential on various state governments, even as the Conservative coalition dominated Congress refused to adopt the plan federally. Social Security plans would be passed in New York in 1937 by Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, Oklahoma in 1944 by Governor Robert S. Kerr, and California in 1949 by Governor Goodwin Knight. By 1950, support for Social Security had become part of the Progressive Union's party platform, and with the Progressive Union narrowly holding both chambers of Congress, a Social Security Act would be pushed by the House of Representatives in early 1950.
After passing the Senate on June 7th, 1950; the social security act of 1950 would be signed into law by President Wagner 2 days later on June 9th. The Act was a largely polarized and controversial act, with many social conservatives believing it to be giving too much power to the Federal government. With the Social Security passed during the midst of the Red Scare, some politicians such as Francis E. Walter of Pennsylvania who accused the bill of bringing "communism to the United States". Conservative activists such as Ayn Rand also advocated for an exodus out of the United States, believing that the United States was on the path to communism. However, the act would gain popularity among the American people a few years later, with exit polls in the 1952 election showing that 57% of Americans supported Social Security, up from 48% when the act was initially passed.
Expanding of the GI Bill[]
One of Wagner's campaign promises was to expand the benefits of the GI bill passed during the Taft Administration to also include housing and extended pensions offered to veterans of World War 2. This campaign promise was popular among the American people and had significant support from Congress, including moderates from both the Democratic and Republican parties. With widespread support, a second GI bill would be passed in February of 1949 and would be signed into law by President Wagner on February 20th, 1949. The law would guarantee housing to World War 2 veterans, kickstarting the process of suburbanization and rapid housing development throughout the 1950s.
Civil Rights[]
The Wagner Administration would be more broadly supportive of Civil Rights than the previous Smith and Taft administrations. With black workers in industrial cities being a core voter block of the Progressive Union, there was greater pressure put on the Wagner administration to pursue more concrete policy in regard to Civil Rights. As a result, Wagner was a more vocal proponent of civil rights than his predecessors. Wagner sought to pass a civil rights act which would overturn workplace discrimination within the Federal government and the private sector. However, this initiative would be stalled by Republicans and Democrats in Congress. More liberal Republicans, such as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., were willing to support the initiatives if some cuts were made.
After months of debate, revisions, and bouncing of the bill between both chambers of Congress, a final draft backed by the Progressives and Republicans in Congress would pass the House on April 12th, 1951, and the Senate April 16th, 1951. The bill, known as the Civil Rights Act of 1951, would formally desegregate federal employment facilities and establish a committee to oversee voting rights abuses. Despite gaining praise from many moderates and liberals within the party, African American activists and organizations found the Civil Rights Act to be too weak in its ability to combat Jim Crow and voter suppression policies in the southern United States.
Domestic anti-Communism and combating Walterism[]
With pro-Communist takeovers occurring across the European continent and much of the third world, anti-communist paranoia had reached new heights by the time Wagner took office in 1949. Francis E. Walter had taken over the House of Un-American Activities by the late 1940s, using his power he had accused the Wagner administration of "harboring communist sympathizers", especially within the Departments of Labor and the Interior. Wagner, much like his predecessor, refused to comply with Congressman Walter. Walter would use this as vindication of his claims of communist support within the Wagner administration. President Wagner and the rank-and-file congressional leadership of the Progressive Union began actively pursuing actions against Wagner in 1951. In late 1952, the House of Representatives would narrowly vote to censure Walter. The vote was along party lines, with most Progressive Unionists and Republicans voting yes and most Democrats voting no.
Supreme Court Appointment[]
Wagner and other Progressives had always wanted to reverse the majority conservative court into a liberal one, as Smith and Taft had only appointed some liberal justices (Douglas, frankfurter and Warren). Wagner and the Progressive Union would only get one appoint on the Court after Associate Justice William Francis Smith died in an accident in 1950. Wagner would nominate Herbert Funk Goodrich a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Goodrich's nomination was opposed by some Democrats all the way to the confirmation in the Senate, but he would be confirmed by a some-what comfortable margin.
Cabinet[]
| Position | Name | Term | State |
|---|---|---|---|
Vice President |
Glen H. Taylor (1904-1985) |
January 20, 1949
- January 20, 1953 |
Idaho |
Secretary of State |
Robert LaFollette (1895-1967) |
February 1, 1953
- January 20, 1957 |
Wisconsin |
Secretary of the Treasury |
Burton K. Wheeler (1882-1975) |
January 27, 1949
- April 10, 1950 R |
Montana |
Herbert Lehman (1878-1970) |
April 30, 1950
- January 20, 1953 |
New York | |
Secretary of War |
Wayne Morse (1900-1974) |
February 4, 1949
- January 20, 1953 |
Oregon |
Attorney General |
Thurgood Marshall (1908-2000) |
March 13, 1949
- January 20, 1953 |
Maryland |
Postmaster General |
R. Douglas Stuart Jr. (1916-2014) |
February 3, 1949
- January 20, 1953 |
Illinois |
Secretary of the Navy |
Husband E. Kimmel (1882-1968) |
January 23, 1949
- January 20, 1953 |
Kentucky |
Secretary of the Interior |
Helen G. Douglas (1900-1982) |
March 5, 1949
- January 20, 1953 |
California |
Secretary of Agriculture |
Edward Charles Elliott (1874-1960) |
January 25, 1949
- January 20, 1953 |
Montana |
Secretary of Commerce |
Charles Seymour (1885-1968) |
January 20, 1949
- January 20, 1953 |
Connecticut |
Secretary of Labor |
George Meany (1894-1980) |
April 7, 1949
- January 20, 1953 |
New York |
Foreign Policy[]
Morse Plan[]
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, widespread poverty and devastation in the aftermath of World War II led to many communist parties gaining traction in Europe. Under the Taft administration, there were several proposals from Congress to authorize aid to Europe in order to help the continent stabilize and stop the spread of Communism. However, Taft would block several of these bills.
The idea of aiding Europe against communism would be revived by the Wagner administration, specifically at the discretion of Secretary of War Wayne Morse. Morse argued that it was in the United States' defense interests to prevent the spread of communism as the ideology was in direct conflict to the US and its values. The aid came in forms of humanitarian aid, financial aid, and military aid.
American entrance into the United Nations (1949)[]
Despite the United Nations being founded in 1945, the United States refused to join the organization under Taft who still wished for the United States to return to isolationism at the conclusion of the second world war. As a result, the United States did not join the organization and Britain and France acted as the main western powers on the Security Council. As opinion against the Soviet Union began to sour, the rise of interventionists in all three parties would call for American entrance into the United Nations in order to secure US interests within the organization and counter Soviet dominance. American entrance into the United Nations would come on March 8th, 1949, when the Senate would ratify the treaty bringing the United States into the United Nations, President Wagner would sign it immediately later that day.
US troops in Edogawa during the Tokyo Uprising (1950)
Tokyo Uprising + Soviet Invasion of Hokkaido (1950)[]
Following the conditional surrender of Japan and subsequent Treaty of Tokyo, the Taisei Yokusankai military government which had ruled Japan since 1940 had grown extremely unpopular among the Japanese people. In the years following the second world war, Japan experienced economic devastation and widespread poverty, which many blamed on the ruling government. The nail in the coffin for the Taisei Yokusankai would come when Emperor Hirohito would denounce the government on April 7th, 1950. Many took the emperor's denunciation of the government as encouragement to revolt against it, which many had begun to do. By June of 1950, members of the Kempeitai and the military had defected to the side of the protestors and Emperor with Tokyo being overwhelmed by June 28th, 1950.
President Wagner and the Department of State would announce diplomatic support for the uprising. US troops based in American-occupied Edogawa City would begin smuggling weapons to the rebels in Tokyo. During this uprising, the Soviet Union, which had begun to increase its military presence in the Sea of Japan after occupying Korea, began an invasion of the Japanese island of Hokkaido from naval bases in Sakhalin. The United States would condemn the Soviet Invasion as "violating Japanese sovereignty".
Membership of the London Treaty Organization upon US entrance (1950)
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The headquarters of the London Treaty Organization in New York City was constructed during the Presidency of Robert Wagner
Entrance into the London Treaty Organization[]
The London Treaty Organization would be formed as a joint-defensive pact between the United Kingdom and France in 1947 following the expansion of Communism in Europe. By 1950, other capitalist states on the European continent would enter the alliance including the Kingdom of Norway, Belgium, and Iceland as well as Canada which was a part of the British Commonwealth. There were calls among the interventionists in the United States for the United States to join the organization in order to counter the Soviets on their own continent. While Taft and his staunchly isolationist allies would block these efforts, Wagner would ultimately bring the United States into the organization on February 17th, 1950, after gaining tri-partisan support from interventionist factions within all parties in Congress with the Senate ratifying the treaty bringing the United States into the organization.
Upon the US entrance into the organization, leadership began to shift from the United Kingdom to the United States as the US' larger economy and military would result in the US becoming the primary supplier of weaponry and economic aid to the LTO member states. LTO meetings would shift from being held in London to being held in New York City.
Sea of Crete Crisis (1952)[]
After the Communists would conquer mainland Greece during the Greek Civil War, the remnants of the Kingdom of Greece would flee to the Island of Crete while the Hellenic People's Republic would be proclaimed in Athens in 1950. While the Cominform would largely recognize the new Marxist-Leninist government in Athens, the United States and LTO-aligned nations would continue to recognize the Kingdom of Greece-in exile on Crete. Despite fighting stopping in 1950, a formal ceasefire between the communists and the monarchists would never be signed.
As part of Wagner's foreign policy and the Morse Plan, the United States would begin sending economic aid and military personnel to the government in exile on Crete. On February 8th, 1951; the Kingdom of Greece in exile on Crete would join the London Treaty Organization and the United States would establish a naval base at the Port of Heraklion in May of 1951. As a result, the United States navy would do joint patrols with the remnants of the Hellenic Royal Navy in the Sea of Crete throughout much of 1951 and 1952. However, the Hellenic People's Republic also claimed the Sea of Crete as part of their naval territory and also did patrols within the region. On June 7th, 1952; this dispute would come to a heel when the Hellenic People's Navy would fire upon the USS New Jersey in the Sea of Crete, killing 5 sailors on board while lightly damaging the exterior of the ship. This would be the first instance of fighting between an LTO member and a Cominform member, sparking tension in Europe. The attack on a US ship led to many in Congress calling for an invasion of mainland Greece to retake it, however Wagner and many in his administration believed this would lead to direct war with the Soviet Union. Instead, negotiations would occur between the United States and communist Greek government on the mainland which would result in a line being drawn which saw the Kingdom of Greece claim control over the Sea of Crete in exchange for a reduction of US naval patrols in the region.