Henry Wallace--background on his resignation
as Secretary of Commerce


1944, Roosevelt had made him Secretary of Commerce as a kind of consolation prize.
Truman retained him in the office. Wallace was soon off on a foreign policy gambit of
his own. While the administration was taking an increasingly firm line toward the
Soviet Union on the grounds that our wartime ally had broken many commitments
about the postwar order-Wallace favored a policy of accommodation, lest peace be
endangered. He was clearly headed on a collision course with the administration, but
Truman seemed unaware of it.

On September 12, Wallace was to address a political rally in New York's Madison
Square Garden. Two days before, he called upon the President with a copy of his
speech. Wallace had some critical words about the Soviet Union, but he also
inveighed against American policy being unduly influenced by Great Britain, spoke
tolerantly about Russia's increasing influence in Eastern Europe, where he thought the
United States had no business interfering, and argued that "the tougher we get with
Russia, the tougher they will get with us."

Truman clearly gave the speech his approval. That was evident at his press conference
on the afternoon of September 12. Reporters had obtained advance texts of Wallace's
address; one of them asked Truman whether it represented the policy of his
administration. "That is correct," said Truman, later adding, "I approved the whole
speech." Another correspondent pressed Truman as to whether Wallace's speech
indicated "a departure" from Secretary of State Byrnes' policy toward Russia.
Truman denied it. "They are exactly in line," he said.

The contrary was of course the case. Wallace's speech caused a furor in the United
States and abroad. Newspapers reported it as marking a major shift in American
policy toward Russia; Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, in Paris attending a
conference of foreign ministers, felt he had been both embarrassed and betrayed.
Senator Vandenberg, a member of the U.S. delegation, stated bluntly that "we can
only cooperate with one Secretary of State at a time."

Truman had blundered badly. He could hardly avow his error; instead, two days after
the speech, he issued a clarifying statement. He explained that he had not meant to
convey the thought that he had approved the contents of Wallace's speech. Rather, he
had merely wanted to indicate that "I approved the right of the Secretary of
Commerce to deliver the speech." And he added that there had been "no change in
the established foreign policy" of the government. Reporters were not allowed to
question Truman about his clarification; it could hardly have sustained textual
analysis.

Soon afterward, Wallace announced that he "stood" on his New York speech and that
he would be heard from again on foreign policy. At that point, Byrnes wired Truman
that if he could not keep his Secretary of Commerce from speaking on foreign affairs,
his Secretary of State would have to resign. Within a few days, Truman asked for
Wallace's resignation. Even Wallace's detractors regarded him as a victim-and
Truman as a fool.