Tag: Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Uncommon Champion of the Common Man: Henry Wallace

VP Wallace Henry Agard Wallace was born on a farm in Iowa on October 7, 1888. His father Henry Cantwell Wallace would serve as Secretary of Agriculture in the administrations of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. But the son would surpass his father to become a leading figure of the 1930s and 1940s, even if many do not remember him today.

Henry A. Wallace served as Vice President of the United States (1941–1945), Secretary of Agriculture (1933–1940), and Secretary of Commerce (1945–1946). After serving in those offices, he helped found the Progressive Party and served as its presidential nominee in the 1948 presidential election.

Wallace was controversial at the time for many of his views. Although he was serving as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice president at the time, during the 1944 Democratic National Convention, the convention attendees through a manipulated process replaced him on the ticket with Harry S. Truman in what some have called a “coup.” Of course, had Wallace stayed on the ticket with Roosevelt, he would have gone on to be president instead of Truman when Roosevelt died.

His later candidacy for president in 1948 included many positions ahead of their time. The Progressive Party platform promoted universal health insurance, voting rights for African-Americans, an end to the Cold War, and an end to segregation. But Wallace was hurt because the Communist Party endorsed him, and he only received 2.4% of the popular vote.

Many critics argue that Wallace would not have been a good president because of his idealism and some other views. But most agree some of his most important work was in the area of agricultural science, not politics. His work led to a breeding chicken that that at one point supplied most of the world’s eggs.

“Wallace ’48”

Still, many look back fondly on his idealism and his hopes for a different world, wondering what might have been. For example, many historians conclude that he would not have used the atomic bombs on Japan.

The band The Hangdogs in recent years wrote and recorded the song “Wallace ’48” in tribute to the man. One may wonder that if Wallace had this catchy song for his presidential campaign as “the uncommon champion of the common man,” might history have been different.

The Hangdogs, unfortunately, are no longer together. But the New York-based country band made some great music worth checking out.  Also, heycmdrcody recently did an interesting interview with the band’s Matthew Grimm about the history of the band.

As for Henry Wallace, he died on November 18, 1965. He was a complex man, in more ways than can be summarized in a song or a short post. But his complexity, such as the fact that he later supported Richard Nixon for president, is all the more reason to learn more about him.

Photo of Henry Wallace via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Warren G. Harding: Worst President, Reassessed Politician, and Sexy Man

    Harding Love Letters On June 12, 1920, Republicans at their National Convention in Chicago nominated Warren Gamaliel Harding for president. Harding’s career continues to divide commentators, with much of the debate on whether he was a horrible president or a president who did some okay things. In addition to those debates about Harding’s career, recent stories about Harding have focused on scandals from his personal life.

    A Compromise Candidate at the Convention

    Before the convention in 1920, Ohio Senator Harding earlier had been a favorite for the nomination. But by the time the convention started, there were a number of other strong candidates.

    Through eight ballots, other candidates received more votes than Harding. Finally, Harding took the lead in the ninth ballot as a compromise between divided voters.  Then, the man who was born in Blooming Grove, Ohio on November 2, 1865 won the nomination on the tenth ballot.

    A Landside Win

    In the fall, Harding and his vice-president candidate Calvin Coolidge won in a landslide, stressing a campaign promise of a return to normalcy. Harding defeated the Democrat ticket of James M. Cox, who like Harding was from Ohio.

    Cox was the only person of the 1920 major presidential and vice-presidential candidates who would never sit in the White House. Cox’s vice-presidential candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who would be diagnosed with polio less than a year after the election, became president for more than a decade starting in 1933.

    Harding’s tenure in the White House was much shorter than Roosevelt’s. In a little more than two years after Harding took office on March 4, 1921, he became ill. And he died from a cerebral hemorrhage on August 2, 1923. Coolidge then became president.

    One of the Worst Presidents of All Time?

    Despite his short term in office, Harding is largely regarded as one of the worst presidents of all time. For example, U.S. News & World Report has him as the second-worst president of all time.

    A wide spectrum of experts and writers are critical of Harding, who was born on November 2, 1865. A recent poll of scholars ranked the twenty-ninth president among the worst presidents.

    I remember one of my favorite miniseries from the 1970s, Centennial, about the settling of Colorado, invoked Harding’s name in a non-flattering way.  In the final episode, Paul Garrett (David Janssen) referred to Warren G. Harding as one of the “most useful Americans who ever lived.” Garrett explains that Harding created a benchmark for how bad politicians could be. Thus, whenever a politician takes office, they should think of Harding and say, “I will never allow myself to be that bad.”

    Harding’s bad reputation largely centers on his lack of leadership while appointing friends who used their offices for financial gain. The most famous example is the Teapot Dome scandal that occurred under his presidency.

    Reassessing Harding’s Presidency

    Not everybody hates Harding, though. The Warren Harding Home and Museum in Marion, Ohio shows visitors a video that focuses more on the positive aspects of Harding’s life and career.

    Similarly, some recently have argued that we should reassess Warren G. Harding’s presidency as pretty good. They claim he stabilized the country, and they argue that his legacy should not be destroyed by scandals where he had no direct involvement. Yet, most still assert that Harding was under-qualified and his actions and in-actions created problems and allowed for the corruption.

    Personal Scandals

    Beyond the political scandals, there is another side of Harding involving personal scandals. It is these scandals that have garnered Harding more attention in recent years.

    Historians have long known Harding was a womanizer, but in 2014 the Library of Congress unsealed some of Harding’s letters that showed a little more of Harding’s personality. The letters, written before and during his tenure as a U.S. senator, were to his lover Carrie Fulton Phillips, who was the wife of a Marion, Ohio, store owner.

    In the following segment, John Oliver from Last Week Tonight, gives a brief recap of some of the juicy parts, including Harding’s preference for referring to a certain part of his anatomy as “Jerry.”

    Harding was married for 33 years until his death in 1923, but Phillips was not Harding’s only other lover. In 2015, DNA testing confirmed that Harding had fathered a child with Nan Britton during the same period in which he was writing the love letters to Phillips.

    Why do we care about Harding’s love life? One may make the case that we should not dig around the private lives of politicians. But when it comes to history, perhaps understanding a little more about Harding may help us understand him as a flawed human being instead of just a ranking on worst presidents lists.

    Photo via Library of Congress. Who do you think was the worst president of all time? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    FDR’s Law Allowing Red Red Wine

    Red Red Wine On March 22, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Beer and Wine Revenue Act. The Eighteenth Amendment prohibiting the sale and transport of alcohol was still in effect. But the new act, signed into law less than three weeks after Roosevelt took office on March 4, amended the Volstead Act enforcing Prohibition.

    The Beer and Wine Revenue Act provided for a tax on alcoholic beverages.  And it also allowed states to further regulate the sale of beer and wine. After its passage, people could once again legally buy beer and wine with an alcohol content of less than 3.2% by volume.

    The change in law started after Roosevelt had called for a special session of Congress five days after his election to begin the work on legalizing beer. There were a number of reasons Roosevelt made efforts to end Prohibition part of his campaign.  Those reasons included an appeal to thirsty working-class Americans and also allowing sales of a product to stimulate the economy during the Depression.

    Another reason is that Roosevelt enjoyed alcohol himself. This “Portrait of a Drinking President” article explains that he liked drinking cocktails and wine (as have a number of presidents).

    There are a number of good songs about alcohol, and in particular about wine.  For example, there is “Little Ole Wine Drinker Me,” made famous by Dean Martin and recorded by others such as actor Robert Mitchum. But I suspect that if you asked people to name a song about wine, the most popular reaction would be “Red Red Wine.”

    Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine”

    Neil Diamond wrote “Red Red Wine.” The song appeared on his 1967 album Just For You. The label, Bang Records, released the song in 1968 as a single with some small alterations, including an added choir, after Diamond had already left the label.

    I probably first heard the song from my sister repeatedly playing Diamond’s 1972 amazing live album Hot August Night.

    UB40’s “Red Red Wine”

    Many folks probably do not know that Neil Diamond wrote “Red Red Wine.” Most probably know the more popular version of the song — the 1983 reggae hit cover version by UB40. Heck, at the time UB40 put the song on their covers album, Labour of Love, even they did not know it was by Neil Diamond.

    According to Wikipedia, UB40 were only aware of a version by Tony Tribe.  The did not realize that the writer credit on their album, “Diamond,” was Neil.

    But UB40 were able to turn the song into something new when they found the reggae rhythm that fits the song perfectly. Reportedly, Diamond loves the UB40 cover and has even performed their version in concert.

    A Song for the Heartbroken

    Of course, like most great songs about alcohol, “Red Red Wine” is not really about a beverage. It is a heartbreak song.  The singer and his blue blue heart uses the wine to get through his pain. Although I like the different versions of the song, it is in Diamond’s original version where you most sense the aching in the lyrics, “Don’t let me be alone.”

    As for the Beer and Wine Revenue Act, it was an important step toward ending Prohibition. By the end of the year, on December 5, 1933, the Twenty-First Amendment was ratified, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment’s ban. Americans were once again free to to drink all types of alcohol. The failures of Prohibition are still cited today as states struggle with issues surrounding the legality of marijuana.

    But thinking about “Red Red Wine” in the context of Prohibition, I see that perhaps the great tragedy was not that people could not celebrate and laugh with a drink. Instead, I wonder how in the world the heartbroken survived from 1920 to 1933 without being able to drink some red red wine.

    What is your favorite drinking song? Leave your two cents in the comments. Prohibition photo via public domain.

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    Franklin D. Roosevelt and “the Four Freedoms”

    Four Freedoms Flag of United Nations
    On January 6, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the U.S. Congress in a State of the Union address, asking for support to help European nations struggling against Adolf Hitler’s government in Germany. At the time, the U.S. was still about a year away from declaring war. As part of his speech, Roosevelt stated that the U.S. had an obligation to protect universal freedoms, and he listed “four freedoms” that United States citizens shared with people of the world.

    The four freedoms he listed were: the freedom of speech and expression, a person’s freedom to worship God in the way of one’s choice, the freedom from want, and freedom from fear. In the recording below, Roosevelt gives the speech that references these four freedoms.

    Roosevelt’s speech inspired painter Norman Rockwell to do a series of paintings depicting the four freedoms. And, after World War II and after Roosevelt died, his widow Eleanor Roosevelt invoked these four freedoms as she pushed for the passage of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

    United Nations “Four Freedoms” flag via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The Children of “The Dust Bowl” (Short Review)

    The Dust Bowl Ken Burns

    Several years ago, I read Timothy Egan‘s The Worst Hard Time, a National Book Award winner about the dust storms and drought that struck the High Plains in the 1930s during the Great Depression. The book is a fascinating immersion into another time describing the causes, government responses, and the people in an otherworldly land. So I was excited to see that filmmaker Ken Burns created a new two-part documentary about The Dust Bowl for PBS, and that Egan appears several times throughout the film.

    Timothy Egan Worst Hard Time Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl is unable to go into the depths that Egan’s book did about the causes and the responses to the environmental disaster, but the documentary narrated by Peter Coyote gives viewers a decent understanding of a somewhat forgotten period of American history that is still relevant today. As today’s politicians debate the effects that human beings have on our environment (even if scientists agree), The Dust Bowl provides a clear example of how human activity destroyed an environment. The film explores how the farming practices ruined the landscape, how the government was eventually able to effectively respond, and how humans often fail to learn from experience.

    What The Dust Bowl does best, however, is tell the personal stories of the people who lived on the High Plains during the 1930s. Through interviews with twenty-six survivors who were there, along with outstanding photos and video footage of the land and the dust storms, one gets a good sense of what it was like to live on the land at the time, as well as understanding why some stayed and why some left.

    More precisely, The Dust Bowl captures what it was like to be a child growing up there at the time, as the most fascinating interviews in the film are of people who experienced the drought and dust storms. And, of course, those people still alive now were children during the Dust Bowl era. So, the most moving tales come from the eyes of children remembering details like the dust on the dishes and the joy of being reunited with a parent. Also, because they were children, we see that some of the stories that most affected the speakers were not about falling wheat prices or how the dirt affected the local economy but about seeing how the drought affected animals. So just as animals often play a large role in our memories of childhood, one person vividly remembers the death of a calf, another remembers the community’s brutal response to an influx of jackrabbits, and others are haunted by other similar childhood experiences.

    Others who are no longer alive give us additional perspectives on the times, including footage of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Another famous voice we get to hear is that of Woody Guthrie, both talking and singing about “the dusty old dust.”

    Dayton Duncan Out West Amazon The story moves along briskly and is engaging throughout. The episodes were written by Dayton Duncan, who has worked with director Ken Burns on other series like The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, The Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz. I have been a fan of Duncan’s since the late 1980’s when I discovered his book Out West: American Journey Along the Lewis and Clark Trail (1988), where Duncan recounted his own modern road trip tracing Lewis and Clark’s famous travels. When I saw that he was working with Director Ken Burns years ago, I was glad that Burns found such a good writer.

    If you enjoy Ken Burns’s other work, such as The Civil War, you probably already know whether you want to see The Dust Bowl or have already seen it. I am a fan of all of his work. But even if you have not seen his other work, you might find The Dust Bowl engaging because its first-person accounts provide an entertaining living history and a living warning about our times. Check your local PBS stations for reruns of The Dust Bowl, which is also available on DVD and Blu-ray.

    Another Review Because Why Should You Trust Me?: For a different view on The Dust Bowl, check out “Burns’ ‘Dust Bowl’ speaks to our times, but it’s dry” from David Wiegand.

    What did you think of The Dust Bowl? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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