Henry Wallace

Henry Agard Wallace was an agricultural scientist, businessman, secretary of agriculture, vice president, and later an independent presidential candidate. He came from a prominent Iowa agricultural publishing family and became one of the country's leading advocates for scientific agriculture and agricultural policy. He served as Franklin D. Roosevelt's vice president during Roosevelt's third term and the first years of World War II.

Wallace was born on October 7, 1888, in Orient, Iowa. His father, Henry Cantwell Wallace, was an agricultural journalist who later served as secretary of agriculture under Presidents Harding and Coolidge. Wallace attended Iowa State College, graduating in 1910, and developed a strong interest in agricultural science, statistics, and plant breeding.

Wallace worked for his family's agricultural publication, Wallaces' Farmer, but his principal interest became scientific agriculture. He conducted experiments in corn breeding and eventually developed hybrid corn varieties that significantly increased agricultural productivity. In 1926 he founded the Hi-Bred Corn Company, later Pioneer Hi-Bred, making him both a successful agricultural scientist and businessman.

Roosevelt appointed Wallace secretary of agriculture in 1933. Wallace became an important architect of New Deal agricultural policy, including programs designed to address agricultural overproduction and low farm prices. He remained secretary through Roosevelt's first two terms and became closely associated with the administration's agricultural and economic policies.

In 1940, Roosevelt selected Wallace as his vice-presidential running mate after the Democratic convention replaced John Nance Garner on the ticket. Roosevelt and Wallace won reelection against Republican Wendell Willkie and Charles L. McNary. Wallace became vice president on January 20, 1941, and served throughout the American entry into World War II. He traveled extensively, represented the administration abroad, and became an advocate of an international economic order based on expanded trade and development. Roosevelt, however, selected Harry S. Truman as his running mate for the 1944 election, leaving Wallace out of the vice presidency.

After leaving office in 1945, Wallace became secretary of commerce under Roosevelt and then President Harry S. Truman. He resigned in 1946 after increasingly disagreeing with Truman's foreign policy. Wallace subsequently became chairman of the newly formed Progressive Party and ran for president in 1948. His campaign advocated an expansive social-welfare program, economic internationalism, and opposition to the emerging Cold War policies of the Truman administration. Wallace received roughly 2.4 percent of the popular vote.

Wallace spent his later years writing, conducting agricultural research, and developing new hybrid crops. He remained interested in economic development and agriculture until his death in Danbury, Connecticut, on November 18, 1965.

Wallace's legacy is divided among his contributions to agricultural science, New Deal agricultural policy, and his later political advocacy. His scientific work helped advance hybrid-crop agriculture, while his political career placed him at the center of debates over the proper role of the federal government in agriculture and the economy. His later break with Truman also made him an important figure in the domestic political debates surrounding the beginning of the Cold War.