The Democratic vice president nomination of 1944
Encyclopedia
The Democratic Party
's 1944 nomination for Vice President of the United States
was determined on July 21, 1944, when United States Senator
Harry S. Truman
was nominated to be President Franklin D. Roosevelt
's running-mate in his bid to be re-elected for a fourth term. Truman's predecessor as Vice President, the incumbent Henry A. Wallace
, was unpopular with some of the leaders of the Democratic Party
, who disliked like his liberal politics and considered him unreliable and eccentric in general. The leaders worked behind the scenes to outmaneuver him. How the nomination went to Harry S. Truman, who did not actively seek it, is, in the words of his biographer Robert H. Ferrell
, "one of the great political stories of our century".
The fundamental problem was that Roosevelt's health was seriously declining, and everyone who saw Roosevelt, including the leaders of the Democratic Party, realized it. If he died during his next term, the Vice President would become President, making the vice presidential nomination very important. The nomination took place at the Democratic National Convention
in Chicago Stadium
in Chicago
, from July 19 to July 21, 1944.
, treasurer of the Democratic National Committee
(DNC), Robert E. Hannegan
, Democratic national chairman, Frank C. Walker, Postmaster General, George E. Allen
, the Democratic party secretary, and Edward J. Flynn
, political boss of New York. They considered several people to replace Wallace. Among the possible candidates were James F. Byrnes
, Roosevelt's "assisting president," who initially was the prominent alternative, Associate Justice
William O. Douglas
, U.S. Senators Alben W. Barkley
and Harry S. Truman as well as the Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser
and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn
. Finally the group decided on Truman, but this decision was secondary to the goal of not nominating Wallace. By late spring 1944, the group had succeeded in turning Roosevelt against Wallace, but the president did not tell Wallace directly. In May the president sent Wallace on a trip to China and Russia, probably with the intention to get him out of the country at an inconvenient time and to obstruct his campaign.
On July 11, the leaders met with Roosevelt in the White House
. They recommended Truman. The names of Sam Rayburn, Alben Barkley, James F. Byrnes, and John G. Winant were also raised, but they were dismissed − Byrnes because of his unpopularity among blacks and in the labor movement. Roosevelt hardly knew Truman, but he knew of the senator's leadership of the Truman Committee, and that he was a supporter of the New Deal
. Roosevelt suggested William O. Douglas. However, after much debate, the president said, "Bob [Hannegan], I think you and everyone else here want Truman." There are, however, other accounts of Roosevelt's exact statement. Pauley, for example, claimed that he said, "If that's the case, it's Truman." Just before the meeting ended, Roosevelt instructed Hannegan and Walker to notify Wallace and Byrnes, respectively, that they were out. After the group left the meeting, Hannegan asked Roosevelt to put his decision down in writing. Roosevelt wrote a note on a piece of scratch paper and gave it to Hannegan.
The next day Hannegan and Walker thus tried to convince Wallace and Byrnes to withdraw, but they refused unless the president himself asked them. Roosevelt did not want to disappoint any candidate. He told Wallace, "I hope it will be the same old team." But Wallace nevertheless understood the president's real intentions, and he wrote in his diary, "He wanted to ditch me as noiselessly as possible." Roosevelt also promised to write a letter, saying that if he, Roosevelt, were a delegate to the convention he would vote for Wallace. To Byrnes Roosevelt said, "You are the best qualified man in the whole outfit and you must not get out of the race. If you stay in the race you are certain to win." He also explained to Byrnes that he was having trouble with Wallace, who refused to withdraw unless the president told him so, and that he would write Wallace a lukewarm letter.
, met Roosevelt on board the train. They obtained a typewritten version of the note from July 11:
Grace Tully
, the president's private secretary, asserted in her memoirs that the letter as originally written put Douglas's name first, but Hannegan asked her to juxtapose the names so it would appear as if Roosevelt preferred Truman. Hannegan, however, has denied this. Truman's biographer Conrad Black
, states that Tully did switch the positions of the names, but it was probably at Roosevelt's wish. Truman later claimed that Hannegan had shown him a letter from Roosevelt that did not mention Douglas's name, saying "Bob, it's Truman. FDR." This letter has never been found.
Hannegan also tried to get Roosevelt to tone down the Wallace letter. The situation became even more complicated because Roosevelt said pleasant things about Byrnes, so Hannegan believed the president had changed his mind and wanted Byrnes. However, Roosevelt also said that Hannegan must clear Byrnes' nomination with labor leader Sidney Hillman
, whom he knew opposed Byrnes. The line "Clear it with Sidney" was subsequently used by Thomas Dewey
and the Republicans in their campaign.
On July 17, the chairman of the convention, Samuel D. Jackson
, released Wallace's letter. It said, somewhat ambiguously, that the president, if a delegate, would vote for Wallace, but that he did not want to dictate to the convention. Because it was a lukewarm endorsement the letter became known as the "kiss-of-death" letter among the Byrnes and Truman supporters, but some people, on the other hand, pointed out that Wallace was the only candidate who had received a written endorsement. Hannegan had not told anyone about the letter he received on July 15, but now he said that he had a letter in which the president mentioned Truman.
July 16 and 17, Sunday and Monday, Byrnes had several setbacks. One was Flynn's concern about losing black votes in case Byrnes got the nomination. The other, more serious, was the increasing opposition against Byrnes from labor, in particular Sidney Hillman. On Monday evening the party leaders telephoned Roosevelt, saying that labor would not accept Byrnes and mentioned Flynn's concern as well. Roosevelt concurred and told them to "go all out for Truman". Now, when the president had really decided on Truman, the leader's next step was to convince Truman that he was Roosevelt's pick. They let Byrnes's friend Leo Crowley
inform Byrnes. Truman probably learned of Roosevelt's endorsement the same evening, but he was aware of the president's inconsistency and could not be sure of what it meant. Truman had previously, just like Hannegan, got the impression that Roosevelt wanted Byrnes. But the next morning Truman met with Sidney Hillman, who refused to accept Byrnes and said that labor's first choice was Wallace, and if that was impossible they could also consent to Truman. Roosevelt had met Hillman the previous Thursday. There is no proof that Roosevelt conspired and struck a deal with Hillman not to accept Byrnes, but it might very well have been like that, according to Ferrell. Byrnes believed that Roosevelt had betrayed him.
Only now, after his meeting with Hillman, did Truman know that he had a good chance to be nominated. He had, however, repeatedly said that he was not in the race and that he did not want to be Vice President, and he continued to be reluctant. One reason was that he had put his wife Bess
on the payroll and he didn't want her name "drug over the front pages of the papers". Since 1943 he also had his sister Mary Jane on the payroll. Moreover, Bess disliked Roosevelt and the White House in general. Byrnes, who was disappointed with Roosevelt, withdrew on Wednesday, July 19, "in deference to the wishes of the president."
On Wednesday, Truman and the leaders gathered in Hannegan's suite in Blackstone Hotel
. Hannegan called Roosevelt while Truman listened, and told him that Truman was a contrary Missouri mule. Roosevelt replied loudly, so everyone in the room could hear, "Well, tell him if he wants to break up the Democratic Party in the middle of a war, that's his responsibility," and slammed down the receiver. Truman was dumbstruck, but after a few moments replied, "Well, if that is the situation, I'll have to say yes. But why the hell didn't he tell me in the first place?" By another account he just said, "Jesus Christ." Before the call, Hannegan and Roosevelt had agreed what each one should say.
On Thursday, July 20, Hannegan released the letter which Roosevelt had given him on board the train, and its text appeared in the newspapers the next morning, but as it mentioned both Truman and Douglas it made people confused. The ballot was also held on Thursday. Wallace supporters had packed the convention hall and tried to stampede the convention, as Wendell Willkie
had successfully done at the Republican convention
four years earlier. There were parades and chants for Wallace, and banners for him were everywhere. The organist played the Iowa
song, "Iowa, Iowa, that's where the tall corn grows!" Entrance tickets for each day to the Chicago Stadium had been printed in the same color, and probably the Wallace supporters used all their tickets for the Thursday, and the ushers and takers at the gates couldn't see the difference. It is also possible that they counterfeited the tickets. To avoid a victory for Wallace, the leaders got the organist to change his tune and they replaced Jackson, a Wallace supporter, with Mayor David L. Lawrence
of Pittsburgh, who moved an adjournment until the next morning.
Until the next day, according to Truman biographer David McCullough
, the leaders tried to convince the delegates to vote for Truman. He writes in his book Truman: "But Hannegan, Flynn, Kelly, and the others had been working through the night, talking to delegates and applying 'a good deal of pressure' to help them see the sense in selecting Harry Truman. No one knows how many deals were cut, how many ambassadorships or postmaster jobs were promised, but reportedly, by the time morning came, Postmaster General Frank Walker had telephoned every chairman of every delegation." But Robert Ferrell states that their tactics were not to make deals with delegates during the night, but to talk to the delegates during Friday and tell them the president wanted Truman.
with 89 votes and James A. Farley with one vote.
The first vice presidential ballot showed Truman with 319.5 votes and Wallace with 429.5 votes, 159.5 votes short of a majority, but on the second roll call Truman won with 1031 to 105.
to receive delegates to the national convention. Ferrell remarks that Truman was a product of the boss system
in Kansas City
, and that he was nominated in 1944 by the boss system.
Ferrell also writes that Roosevelt was disingenuous, in particular towards Byrnes, and "elevated untruthfulness to a high art." Roosevelt used subordinates for tasks that were unpleasant, like telling Byrnes and Wallace to withdraw. The Roosevelt administration, writes Ferrell, saw many examples of the president welcoming enemies into the oval office, charming them, and giving every evidence of friendship, whereupon they later received unmistakable evidence of where they stood within the administration. Edward Flynn, however, believed that because of his poor health Roosevelt was reluctant to get involved in a quarrel: "I believe that in order to rid himself of distress or strife and rather than argue, he permitted all aspirants for the nomination to believe it would be an open convention."
Ferrell asks himself if Truman, who appeared to gain the office without the effort, in reality was playing a calculated and sly game. Ferrell claims that everything suggests that Truman was trying to achieve the office he insisted he was not interested in. He would have been a strange politician otherwise, according to Ferrell. Roosevelt disliked ambitious people, and Truman knew this, so it was probably an advantage to be humble and deny he was a candidate.
As a border state senator and a political moderate compared with the liberal Wallace and the conservative Byrnes, Truman was humorously dubbed the "Missouri compromise
." The liberal group of the party was disappointed with Truman's nomination. Some newspapers falsely claimed that he had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan
. Additionally, he was criticized for having his wife Bess on the payroll. However, these controversies had no impact. Few Americans wanted to change their leadership as the Second World War was still going on, so Roosevelt and Truman easily defeated
the Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey and his running mate John Bricker. On January 20, 1945, Truman was sworn in as Vice President of the United States. He was destined to hold the job for just 82 days. On April 12, 1945 he succeeded to the Presidency on Franklin Roosevelt's death.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
's 1944 nomination for Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
was determined on July 21, 1944, when United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
was nominated to be President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's running-mate in his bid to be re-elected for a fourth term. Truman's predecessor as Vice President, the incumbent Henry A. Wallace
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
, was unpopular with some of the leaders of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, who disliked like his liberal politics and considered him unreliable and eccentric in general. The leaders worked behind the scenes to outmaneuver him. How the nomination went to Harry S. Truman, who did not actively seek it, is, in the words of his biographer Robert H. Ferrell
Robert H. Ferrell
Robert H. Ferrell is an American historian and author of several books on Harry S. Truman and the diplomatic history of the United States. He served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during the Second World War and was an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He received a B.S...
, "one of the great political stories of our century".
The fundamental problem was that Roosevelt's health was seriously declining, and everyone who saw Roosevelt, including the leaders of the Democratic Party, realized it. If he died during his next term, the Vice President would become President, making the vice presidential nomination very important. The nomination took place at the Democratic National Convention
1944 Democratic National Convention
The 1944 Democratic National Convention was held at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois from July 19 - July 21, 1944. The convention resulted in the re-nomination of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented fourth term. Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri was nominated for...
in Chicago Stadium
Chicago Stadium
The Chicago Stadium was an indoor sports arena and theater in Chicago. It opened in 1929, and closed in 1994.-History:The Stadium hosted the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL from 1929–1994 and the Chicago Bulls of the NBA from 1967–1994....
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, from July 19 to July 21, 1944.
Anti-Wallace movement
A powerful group of party leaders tried to persuade Roosevelt to not keep Wallace as Vice President. Ferrell calls this process "a veritable conspiracy." The group consisted of Edwin W. PauleyEdwin W. Pauley
Edwin Wendell Pauley, Sr. was an American businessman and political leader.-Early life:Born in Indianapolis, Indiana to Elbert L...
, treasurer of the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
(DNC), Robert E. Hannegan
Robert E. Hannegan
Robert Emmet Hannegan was a St. Louis, Missouri politician who served as Commissioner of Internal Revenue from October 1943 to January 1944. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1944 to 1947 and United States Postmaster General from 1945 to 1947...
, Democratic national chairman, Frank C. Walker, Postmaster General, George E. Allen
George E. Allen
George Edward Allen was an American political operative who was involved in a famous football game while in college.-Early life and education:He was born in Booneville, Mississippi...
, the Democratic party secretary, and Edward J. Flynn
Edward J. Flynn
Edward Joseph Flynn was an American lawyer and politician. Flynn was a leading Democratic politician of the mid-1900s-Life:...
, political boss of New York. They considered several people to replace Wallace. Among the possible candidates were James F. Byrnes
James F. Byrnes
James Francis Byrnes was an American statesman from the state of South Carolina. During his career, Byrnes served as a member of the House of Representatives , as a Senator , as Justice of the Supreme Court , as Secretary of State , and as the 104th Governor of South Carolina...
, Roosevelt's "assisting president," who initially was the prominent alternative, Associate Justice
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
William O. Douglas
William O. Douglas
William Orville Douglas was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. With a term lasting 36 years and 209 days, he is the longest-serving justice in the history of the Supreme Court...
, U.S. Senators Alben W. Barkley
Alben W. Barkley
Alben William Barkley was an American politician in the Democratic Party who served as the 35th Vice President of the United States , under President Harry S. Truman....
and Harry S. Truman as well as the Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser
Henry J. Kaiser
Henry John Kaiser was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. He established the Kaiser Shipyard which built Liberty ships during World War II, after which he formed Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel. Kaiser organized Kaiser Permanente health care...
and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn
Sam Rayburn
Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn , often called "Mr. Sam," or "Mr. Democrat," was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years, the longest tenure in U.S. history.- Background :Rayburn was born in Roane County, Tennessee, and...
. Finally the group decided on Truman, but this decision was secondary to the goal of not nominating Wallace. By late spring 1944, the group had succeeded in turning Roosevelt against Wallace, but the president did not tell Wallace directly. In May the president sent Wallace on a trip to China and Russia, probably with the intention to get him out of the country at an inconvenient time and to obstruct his campaign.
On July 11, the leaders met with Roosevelt in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. They recommended Truman. The names of Sam Rayburn, Alben Barkley, James F. Byrnes, and John G. Winant were also raised, but they were dismissed − Byrnes because of his unpopularity among blacks and in the labor movement. Roosevelt hardly knew Truman, but he knew of the senator's leadership of the Truman Committee, and that he was a supporter of the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
. Roosevelt suggested William O. Douglas. However, after much debate, the president said, "Bob [Hannegan], I think you and everyone else here want Truman." There are, however, other accounts of Roosevelt's exact statement. Pauley, for example, claimed that he said, "If that's the case, it's Truman." Just before the meeting ended, Roosevelt instructed Hannegan and Walker to notify Wallace and Byrnes, respectively, that they were out. After the group left the meeting, Hannegan asked Roosevelt to put his decision down in writing. Roosevelt wrote a note on a piece of scratch paper and gave it to Hannegan.
The next day Hannegan and Walker thus tried to convince Wallace and Byrnes to withdraw, but they refused unless the president himself asked them. Roosevelt did not want to disappoint any candidate. He told Wallace, "I hope it will be the same old team." But Wallace nevertheless understood the president's real intentions, and he wrote in his diary, "He wanted to ditch me as noiselessly as possible." Roosevelt also promised to write a letter, saying that if he, Roosevelt, were a delegate to the convention he would vote for Wallace. To Byrnes Roosevelt said, "You are the best qualified man in the whole outfit and you must not get out of the race. If you stay in the race you are certain to win." He also explained to Byrnes that he was having trouble with Wallace, who refused to withdraw unless the president told him so, and that he would write Wallace a lukewarm letter.
Maneuvering
On July 15, Roosevelt was en route to San Diego. He stopped in Chicago, where the Democratic national convention was to be held. Hannegan and Edward J. Kelly, mayor of ChicagoMayor of Chicago
The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. He or she is charged with directing city departments and agencies, and with the advice and consent of the Chicago City Council, appoints department and agency leaders.-Appointment...
, met Roosevelt on board the train. They obtained a typewritten version of the note from July 11:
Grace Tully
Grace Tully
Grace Tully was private secretary to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt .Grace Tully was born on 9 August 1900 in Bayonne, New Jersey. Her father was a businessman and a loyalist to the Democratic Party. He died when she was young, and Tully and her two sisters and brother were raised by their...
, the president's private secretary, asserted in her memoirs that the letter as originally written put Douglas's name first, but Hannegan asked her to juxtapose the names so it would appear as if Roosevelt preferred Truman. Hannegan, however, has denied this. Truman's biographer Conrad Black
Conrad Black
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, OC, KCSG, PC is a Canadian-born member of the British House of Lords, and a historian, columnist and publisher, who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world. Lord Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc...
, states that Tully did switch the positions of the names, but it was probably at Roosevelt's wish. Truman later claimed that Hannegan had shown him a letter from Roosevelt that did not mention Douglas's name, saying "Bob, it's Truman. FDR." This letter has never been found.
Hannegan also tried to get Roosevelt to tone down the Wallace letter. The situation became even more complicated because Roosevelt said pleasant things about Byrnes, so Hannegan believed the president had changed his mind and wanted Byrnes. However, Roosevelt also said that Hannegan must clear Byrnes' nomination with labor leader Sidney Hillman
Sidney Hillman
Sidney Hillman was an American labor leader. Head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, he was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor's support for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democratic Party.-Early years:Sidney Hillman was...
, whom he knew opposed Byrnes. The line "Clear it with Sidney" was subsequently used by Thomas Dewey
Thomas Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey was the 47th Governor of New York . In 1944 and 1948, he was the Republican candidate for President, but lost both times. He led the liberal faction of the Republican Party, in which he fought conservative Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft...
and the Republicans in their campaign.
On July 17, the chairman of the convention, Samuel D. Jackson
Samuel D. Jackson
Samuel Dillon Jackson was a United States Senator from Indiana. Born near Zanesville, Indiana, he attended the public schools of Fort Wayne and graduated from Indiana University Law School at Indianapolis in 1917, gaining admission to the bar the same year...
, released Wallace's letter. It said, somewhat ambiguously, that the president, if a delegate, would vote for Wallace, but that he did not want to dictate to the convention. Because it was a lukewarm endorsement the letter became known as the "kiss-of-death" letter among the Byrnes and Truman supporters, but some people, on the other hand, pointed out that Wallace was the only candidate who had received a written endorsement. Hannegan had not told anyone about the letter he received on July 15, but now he said that he had a letter in which the president mentioned Truman.
July 16 and 17, Sunday and Monday, Byrnes had several setbacks. One was Flynn's concern about losing black votes in case Byrnes got the nomination. The other, more serious, was the increasing opposition against Byrnes from labor, in particular Sidney Hillman. On Monday evening the party leaders telephoned Roosevelt, saying that labor would not accept Byrnes and mentioned Flynn's concern as well. Roosevelt concurred and told them to "go all out for Truman". Now, when the president had really decided on Truman, the leader's next step was to convince Truman that he was Roosevelt's pick. They let Byrnes's friend Leo Crowley
Leo Crowley
Leo Thomas Crowley was a member of the cabinet of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the head of the Foreign Economic Administration. Previously he had served as Alien Property Custodian and as chief of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation...
inform Byrnes. Truman probably learned of Roosevelt's endorsement the same evening, but he was aware of the president's inconsistency and could not be sure of what it meant. Truman had previously, just like Hannegan, got the impression that Roosevelt wanted Byrnes. But the next morning Truman met with Sidney Hillman, who refused to accept Byrnes and said that labor's first choice was Wallace, and if that was impossible they could also consent to Truman. Roosevelt had met Hillman the previous Thursday. There is no proof that Roosevelt conspired and struck a deal with Hillman not to accept Byrnes, but it might very well have been like that, according to Ferrell. Byrnes believed that Roosevelt had betrayed him.
Only now, after his meeting with Hillman, did Truman know that he had a good chance to be nominated. He had, however, repeatedly said that he was not in the race and that he did not want to be Vice President, and he continued to be reluctant. One reason was that he had put his wife Bess
Bess Truman
Bess Truman , was the wife of Harry S. Truman and First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953.-Early life:...
on the payroll and he didn't want her name "drug over the front pages of the papers". Since 1943 he also had his sister Mary Jane on the payroll. Moreover, Bess disliked Roosevelt and the White House in general. Byrnes, who was disappointed with Roosevelt, withdrew on Wednesday, July 19, "in deference to the wishes of the president."
On Wednesday, Truman and the leaders gathered in Hannegan's suite in Blackstone Hotel
Blackstone Hotel
The Renaissance Blackstone Hotel is located on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Street in the Michigan Boulevard Historic District in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. This 21-story hotel was built from 1908 to 1910 and designed by Marshall and Fox. On May 29, 1998, the...
. Hannegan called Roosevelt while Truman listened, and told him that Truman was a contrary Missouri mule. Roosevelt replied loudly, so everyone in the room could hear, "Well, tell him if he wants to break up the Democratic Party in the middle of a war, that's his responsibility," and slammed down the receiver. Truman was dumbstruck, but after a few moments replied, "Well, if that is the situation, I'll have to say yes. But why the hell didn't he tell me in the first place?" By another account he just said, "Jesus Christ." Before the call, Hannegan and Roosevelt had agreed what each one should say.
Wendell Willkie
Wendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and...
had successfully done at the Republican convention
1940 Republican National Convention
The 1940 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from June 24 to June 28, 1940. It nominated Wendell Willkie of Indiana for President and Senator Charles McNary of Oregon for Vice-President....
four years earlier. There were parades and chants for Wallace, and banners for him were everywhere. The organist played the Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
song, "Iowa, Iowa, that's where the tall corn grows!" Entrance tickets for each day to the Chicago Stadium had been printed in the same color, and probably the Wallace supporters used all their tickets for the Thursday, and the ushers and takers at the gates couldn't see the difference. It is also possible that they counterfeited the tickets. To avoid a victory for Wallace, the leaders got the organist to change his tune and they replaced Jackson, a Wallace supporter, with Mayor David L. Lawrence
David L. Lawrence
David Leo Lawrence was an American politician who served as the 37th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1959 to 1963. He is to date the only mayor of Pittsburgh to be elected Governor of Pennsylvania. Previously, he had been the mayor of Pittsburgh from 1946 through 1959...
of Pittsburgh, who moved an adjournment until the next morning.
Until the next day, according to Truman biographer David McCullough
David McCullough
David Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award....
, the leaders tried to convince the delegates to vote for Truman. He writes in his book Truman: "But Hannegan, Flynn, Kelly, and the others had been working through the night, talking to delegates and applying 'a good deal of pressure' to help them see the sense in selecting Harry Truman. No one knows how many deals were cut, how many ambassadorships or postmaster jobs were promised, but reportedly, by the time morning came, Postmaster General Frank Walker had telephoned every chairman of every delegation." But Robert Ferrell states that their tactics were not to make deals with delegates during the night, but to talk to the delegates during Friday and tell them the president wanted Truman.
Vote
At the presidential balloting, Roosevelt got a clear majority, 1086 votes, ahead of Harry F. ByrdHarry F. Byrd
Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. of Berryville in Clarke County, Virginia, was an American newspaper publisher, farmer and politician. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia...
with 89 votes and James A. Farley with one vote.
The first vice presidential ballot showed Truman with 319.5 votes and Wallace with 429.5 votes, 159.5 votes short of a majority, but on the second roll call Truman won with 1031 to 105.
Analysis and Aftermath
Both Ferrell and McCullough compare the way Truman was nominated with more recent presidential elections, where the candidates must participate in state primariesPrimary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
to receive delegates to the national convention. Ferrell remarks that Truman was a product of the boss system
Political boss
A boss, in politics, is a person who wields the power over a particular political region or constituency. Bosses may dictate voting patterns, control appointments, and wield considerable influence in other political processes. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves...
in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, and that he was nominated in 1944 by the boss system.
Ferrell also writes that Roosevelt was disingenuous, in particular towards Byrnes, and "elevated untruthfulness to a high art." Roosevelt used subordinates for tasks that were unpleasant, like telling Byrnes and Wallace to withdraw. The Roosevelt administration, writes Ferrell, saw many examples of the president welcoming enemies into the oval office, charming them, and giving every evidence of friendship, whereupon they later received unmistakable evidence of where they stood within the administration. Edward Flynn, however, believed that because of his poor health Roosevelt was reluctant to get involved in a quarrel: "I believe that in order to rid himself of distress or strife and rather than argue, he permitted all aspirants for the nomination to believe it would be an open convention."
Ferrell asks himself if Truman, who appeared to gain the office without the effort, in reality was playing a calculated and sly game. Ferrell claims that everything suggests that Truman was trying to achieve the office he insisted he was not interested in. He would have been a strange politician otherwise, according to Ferrell. Roosevelt disliked ambitious people, and Truman knew this, so it was probably an advantage to be humble and deny he was a candidate.
As a border state senator and a political moderate compared with the liberal Wallace and the conservative Byrnes, Truman was humorously dubbed the "Missouri compromise
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30'...
." The liberal group of the party was disappointed with Truman's nomination. Some newspapers falsely claimed that he had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
. Additionally, he was criticized for having his wife Bess on the payroll. However, these controversies had no impact. Few Americans wanted to change their leadership as the Second World War was still going on, so Roosevelt and Truman easily defeated
United States presidential election, 1944
The United States presidential election of 1944 took place while the United States was preoccupied with fighting World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been in office longer than any other president, but remained popular. Unlike 1940, there was little doubt that Roosevelt would run for...
the Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey and his running mate John Bricker. On January 20, 1945, Truman was sworn in as Vice President of the United States. He was destined to hold the job for just 82 days. On April 12, 1945 he succeeded to the Presidency on Franklin Roosevelt's death.
External links
- "William O. Douglas 'Political Ambitions' and the 1944 Vice-Presidential Nomination: A Reinterpretation.", The HistorianThe Historian (journal)The Historian is a history journal published quarterly by Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the history honor society, Phi Alpha Theta. The journal was established in 1938...
, 1/1 2000. - "Oral History Interview with Edwin W. Pauley", Truman Library
- Images at Truman Library
- PBS's American Experience Truman: The 1944 Election