One of two groups to split from the DEMOCRATIC Party, the Progressive Party represented an ideological faction of liberal Democrats who opposed the hard-line tactics of President Harry S. Truman toward the Soviet Union in the early stages of the COLD WAR.
On July 23, 1948, a group of delegates who wanted to take a more flexible approach to the Soviet Union met in Philadelphia for the founding convention of the Progressive Party. Over the course of three days, the Progressive delegates established a party platform and nominated both a presidential and vice presidential candidate for the national election. The following day, Henry A. Wallace and progressive Democratic senator Glen Taylor from Idaho, accepted the nominations for president and vice president, respectively.
Wallace was an idealistic liberal who had served as secretary of agriculture, vice president, and secretary of commerce under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Due to fundamental conflicts over foreign policy decisions, Truman removed Wallace from his position as secretary of commerce. As leader of the Progressive Party, Wallace believed Truman’s “get tough” policy toward the Soviet Union would only lead to disaster and a possible third world war. Instead, Wallace advocated negotiating with the Soviet Union in order to forge common ground and avoid unnecessary aggression.
The organization’s platform as drafted by the delegates focused primarily on criticizing American foreign policy under the Truman administration. The party denounced the anti-Soviet hysteria that was sweeping the United States as a ploy by those in power to mask big BUSINESS monopolies and overextended militarism. To prevent escalating tensions between the two superpowers, supporters of the party called for negotiations and discussions between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Progressives also opposed the Marshall Plan, which was seen by the organization as a tool for American businesses to reap economic rewards at the expense of European countries trying to rebuild after the devastating aftermath of World War II. The organization instead believed that the European Recovery Program should be administered through the United Nations rather than the United States. As with the Marshall Plan, the party denounced the Truman Doctrine for its effort to finance and arm what Progressives considered to be the corrupt, fascist governments of Greece and Turkey, and for attempts to support similar governments elsewhere. The organization’s platform also advocated world disarmament and an end to universal military training. The platform attacked the development of United States military installations throughout various parts of the world. The party believed such expansion of American military bases could only be seen by other nations as a sign of imperialist intentions. The Progressives insisted on the repeal of the provisions of the National Security Act of 1947, which was seen by the party as mobilizing the nation for war rather than working toward peace.
While fORElGN policy played a key role in the party’s platform, Progressives were also concerned with domestic issues. According to party members, the biggest challenge to American democracy was big business and the increasing control monopolies wielded over the U. S. economy. In order to combat this economic inequality, Progressives advocated public ownership of key areas of the economy, including the largest banks, railroad companies, the merchant marine, and the electric and gas industries. The organization also condemned all forms of segregation and discrimination and demanded equal rights for every American citizen regardless of race, religion, or gender.
The party pushed for the creation of a minimum wage and minimum old-age pension as well as the repeal of the 1947 Talt-Hartley Act, which members felt circumscribed organized labor. The platform called for the planned development of all resources to avoid the economic pattern of boom and bust, the strengthening of rent control, better housing, and social security for all Americans.
Although the Progressive Party established a thorough and well-articulated platform, gaining a fair amount of support among minority groups, it was also highly vulnerable from its inception. Many Americans were reluctant to vote Truman out of office during a time of prosperity, especially after he took steps to initiate his own domestic program. Perhaps most important, the Progressive platform was far too liberal at a time when Americans felt there was indeed something to fear from communism and the Soviet Union. The party’s conciliatory stand toward the Soviet Union and its eventual endorsement by the Communist Party of the United States caused the demise of the organization. Although Wallace appeared on the 1948 presidential election ballot in 45 states, the party was only able to capture 1,157,057 votes. Shortly after the election, the remaining members of the party grew even more left-wing, opposing the Korean War, and alienating some of its more moderate members. In the 1952 presidential election, the party supported Vincent Hallinan and Charlotte Boss but netted only 140,023 votes. The Progressive Party dissolved soon after the election.
Further reading: Curtis D. MacDougall, Gideon’s Army (New York: Masani & Munsell, 1965); Allen Yarnell, Democrats and Progressives: The 1948 Election as a Test of Postwar Liberalism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974).
—Donna J. Siebenthaler
World History
