Question about Henry Wallace

[Lincoln Republican]

Henry Wallace served as Vice President of the United States 1941-45 under FDR. 

Wallace was bumped as the VP nominee at the 1944 Democratic convention, mainly due to his far left beliefs.  He was replaced by Harry Truman.

If Wallace had been re-nominated as Vice President in 1944, and had become President in 1945 upon the death of FDR, and if Wallace was the Democratic nominee in 1948, which would be likely, would President Henry Wallace have been able to defeat Governor Thomas Dewey in the 1948 election?  Or would Thomas Dewey have realized his life long ambition of becoming President?

Please discuss.

Thank you.

[True Democrat]

Well considering he was actually a Republican. . .

[PBrunsel]

Wallace was too much of a flake to get reelected.

He was a good hearted fellow, but lived in a Utopia that could never be. He dreamed of a National Welfare Amendment and one day where, "Every man, woman, and child would be given a glass of milk every day." Not going to happen Henry.

Wallace would have tried to make peace with the Soviets, which would have blew up in his face, and he would have lost the support of American commuters when he would have refused to intervene on the side of business durring the great railroad strike of 1946.

The GOP would have retaken the White House, but with a solidly pro-Civil Rights Wallace Thurmond could have won more sates, and thus may thrown the race to the House.

[PBrunsel]

Well considering he was actually a Republican. . .

No his dad was a Republican, but Henry was not

[WalterMitty]

Wallace was too much of a flake to get reelected.

He was a good hearted fellow, but lived in a Utopia that could never be. He dreamed of a National Welfare Amendment and one day where, "Every man, woman, and child would be given a glass of milk every day." Not going to happen Henry.

Wallace would have tried to make peace with the Soviets, which would have blew up in his face, and he would have lost the support of American commuters when he would have refused to intervene on the side of business durring the great railroad strike of 1946.

The GOP would have retaken the White House, but with a solidly pro-Civil Rights Wallace Thurmond could have won more sates, and thus may thrown the race to the House.

what were the differences between bob lafollette and henry wallace.  why did lafollette do so much better in his quest for the white house?

[jokerman]

Wallace was too much of a flake to get reelected.

He was a good hearted fellow, but lived in a Utopia that could never be. He dreamed of a National Welfare Amendment and one day where, "Every man, woman, and child would be given a glass of milk every day." Not going to happen Henry.

Wallace would have tried to make peace with the Soviets, which would have blew up in his face, and he would have lost the support of American commuters when he would have refused to intervene on the side of business durring the great railroad strike of 1946.

The GOP would have retaken the White House, but with a solidly pro-Civil Rights Wallace Thurmond could have won more sates, and thus may thrown the race to the House.

what were the differences between bob lafollette and henry wallace.  why did lafollette do so much better in his quest for the white house?

Ehh, maybe it had to do with someone like Harry Truman running on the Democratic ticket.

[WalterMitty]

Wallace was too much of a flake to get reelected.

He was a good hearted fellow, but lived in a Utopia that could never be. He dreamed of a National Welfare Amendment and one day where, "Every man, woman, and child would be given a glass of milk every day." Not going to happen Henry.

Wallace would have tried to make peace with the Soviets, which would have blew up in his face, and he would have lost the support of American commuters when he would have refused to intervene on the side of business durring the great railroad strike of 1946.

The GOP would have retaken the White House, but with a solidly pro-Civil Rights Wallace Thurmond could have won more sates, and thus may thrown the race to the House.

what were the differences between bob lafollette and henry wallace.  why did lafollette do so much better in his quest for the white house?

Ehh, maybe it had to do with someone like Harry Truman running on the Democratic ticket.

running against a bad president should have allowed him to do better than he did.

[Virginian87]

Wallace was too much of a flake to get reelected.

He was a good hearted fellow, but lived in a Utopia that could never be. He dreamed of a National Welfare Amendment and one day where, "Every man, woman, and child would be given a glass of milk every day." Not going to happen Henry.

Wallace would have tried to make peace with the Soviets, which would have blew up in his face, and he would have lost the support of American commuters when he would have refused to intervene on the side of business durring the great railroad strike of 1946.

The GOP would have retaken the White House, but with a solidly pro-Civil Rights Wallace Thurmond could have won more sates, and thus may thrown the race to the House.

what were the differences between bob lafollette and henry wallace.  why did lafollette do so much better in his quest for the white house?

Ehh, maybe it had to do with someone like Harry Truman running on the Democratic ticket.

running against a bad president should have allowed him to do better than he did.

Truman was a great president, and he pulled off one of the toughest election wins in history. 

Wallace had no chance from the beginning because he was convinced we could accomodate the communists.  Truman, by contrast, had taken a strong and aggressive stance against the Soviet Union, and Dewey did the same thing.  Dewey's problem was that he was a somewhat liberal Republican that did not differentiate himself far enough from the president on several foreign issues.  He also allowed himself (unknowingly, of course) to be tied to the more extreme, Taftist wing of his party, as well as the "Do-Nothing" Republican 80th Congress.

[NewFederalist]

Some of Wallace's biggest negatives came from his tenure as Secretary of Agriculture. The imagery of slaughtering little piglets to keep hog prices up was laid at his door step (rightly so since he approved of the program) and haunted him politically.

[Colin]

Also Wallace's 1948 run as a Progressives was tainted by accusations of Communist sympathies and was further hindered when the CPUSA actually endorsed Wallace for President.