Wallace was Editor of the Iowa Homestead and Wallace’s Farmer, and began his political career as a Republican, but left the part in the Hoover-Smith campaign. He led the Middle West campaign for Franklin Delano Roosevelt and became an important figure in the New Deal relief program.

At the outset Wallace was interested in agriculture rather than economics and served as Secretary of Agriculture. He was vice president during Roosevelt’s third term and accepted appointment as Secretary of Commerce later.

After Roosevelt’s death, Wallace castigated the Truman administration’s foreign policy and advocated Russian appeasement, for which Truman demanded his resignation. Wallace then organized the Progressive Party, heading the ticket himself.

J. Strom Thurmond, a southerner, also split the Democrat vote, running as States Rights candidate. Both nominees polled slightly over one million votes, Thurmond received 39 electoral votes, but Wallace carried none.