Question

1. Main Idea. In your own words, explain how Henry Wallace's views changed between 1941 and

Answer 1

Answer:

1. Henry Wallace, former vice president and Progressive Party presidential candidate, lashes out at the Cold War policies of President Harry S. Truman. Wallace and his supporters were among the few Americans who actively voiced criticisms of America’s Cold War mindset during the late-1940s and 1950s.

Widely admired for his intelligence and integrity, Henry Wallace had served as vice president to Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1941 to 1945. After Harry S. Truman succeeded to the presidency upon Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, Wallace was named secretary of commerce, but Wallace did not get along with Truman. A true liberal, Wallace was harshly critical of what he perceived as Truman’s backtracking from the social welfare legislation of the New Deal era. Wallace was also disturbed about U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union. During World War II, he came to admire the Soviet people for their tenacity and sacrifice. Like Roosevelt, he believed that the United States could work with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in the postwar world.

2. Political and editorial cartoons have long been a part of the propaganda that influences the masses. Originating during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, this visual indoctrination gave support to the cause of Martin Luther's religious reforms. Because of the high illiteracy rate among the public at the time, these cartoons became known for their straightforward simple pictorial nature. American political cartooning assumed this direct appeal to the masses as well. Tracing its origins to Benjamin Franklin and his cartoons asking for unity during the American Revolution were the first of their kind in the new country.