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DISCUSSION   WmP:879 Chronicler ( 84.45 points) April 16, 2024 07:27pm Hey I came across something today that surprised me. Craig Sautter says in his book Philadelphia Presidential Conventions, top of page 330, that Wallace became a Republican during the Eisenhower administration. Apparently Wallace was so upset about Truman calling his 1948 campaign Communist that he couldn't go back to the Democrats. To be fair, I noticed a few errors that crept into the book elsewhere, and maybe this is another example of that. Anyone else want to weigh in?   I:9951 E Pluribus Unum ( -405.48 points) April 16, 2024 07:57pm I've seen things like that floating around. Much the same with some of his latter endorsements, Nixon especially; With stuff I have seen saying he sat out 1960 and others saying he went to the GOP. Another source says he eventually rejoined the Dem Fold 1 year b4 his passing with Barry Goldwater being too far-right for him   WmP:879 Chronicler ( 84.45 points) April 16, 2024 08:33pm Okay thank you EPU. I get the perspective that Wallace supported a peaceful relationship with the USSR, and that Ike ended the Korean conflict, so why not endorse him? Also Nixon in 1960 seems not to have been as dark a person as he was in 1968. It just seems too far to say that Wallace joined the Republicans in the 1950s. The whole spy network of the 1950s that JF Dulles and Allen Dulles promoted wouldn't have been nearly as intense under a Stevenson administration, and Stevenson as far as I know didn't paint Wallace's campaign as communist. Overall, I think that Sautter did a good job in his analysis of the 1948 campaign. He showed how some Truman statements helped him to win in 1948 while contributing the growth of McCarthyism. He also pointed out that Dewey really put his heart into the 1944 campaign, and after losing then, he didn't try as hard in 1948. He also said that Truman was more critical of Wallace than Dewey was. Sautter's coverage of some earlier campaigns wasn't as insightful, but to be fair he was primarily discussing conventions and not the general election campaigns in the book. Also I wish that he would have at least listed all national political conventions held in Philadelphia, even if he didn't cover all of them.   D:2108 ev ( 1596.68 points) April 16, 2024 08:57pm I read an old newspaper interview with Wallace in 1959, in which he said he had registered as an independent throughout most of the 1950s and did not belong to either political party. He also mentioned in the interview that he voted for Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 and Robert LaFollette in 1924.