Abstract

Henry A. Wallace’s campaign for the presidency in 1948, amid the intense political battles of the immediate postwar years, gave Americans a genuine alternative to the status quo. Wallace’s was a “voice in the wilderness of doubt,” the California Eagle, a left-wing African-American weekly, concluded on the eve of the election. “That this country may enjoy some measure of peace in the coming years, Henry Wallace must be placed at the head of this nation. His voice alone can dispel the cloud of fear and despair settling over Europe. He alone can bring peace to the hearts of Americans.” His opponents were the presumed frontrunner, Republican Thomas Dewey, and underdog Democratic candidate Harry S. Truman, both of whom embraced a tough stand against the Soviet Union abroad and accepted the parameters of the New Deal at home, and Strom Thurmond, who had bolted from the Democratic Party to champion white supremacy and states’ rights as the leader of the newly formed Dixiecrats

pdf

Share