By Bob Giaquinto
Drawing on newly accessible archival secrets, historian Benn Steil, a prominent American economist and Senior Fellow and Director of International Economics at the Council on Foreign Affairs in New York, presented a stunning reevaluation of one of America’s most important—and certainly most fascinating—”almost presidents,” at the December 3 meeting of the Greenwich Retired Men’s Association. Introduced by RMA member Bob Rimmer, Dr. Steil’s presentation explored the subject of his book, “The World That Wasn’t: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century.” His research, utilizing striking new findings from Russian, FBI, and other archives, painted a decidedly less heroic portrait of the man whose political defeat led to Harry Truman becoming president upon Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in 1945.
The central historical puzzle addressed by Dr. Steil was the massive “what-if” of the 20th century: What if Wallace, not Truman, had been FDR’s running mate in 1944? Given Wallace’s strong opposition to the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the containment policy, the creation of NATO and West Germany and the Berlin airlift, a Wallace presidency would have yielded a very different world.
Wallace himself was an enigma. He was a pioneering agricultural geneticist whose hybridization experiments resulted in the hardier, abundant corn strains consumed today. In Iowa, the small company he founded to commercialize this work was later sold to DuPont for $9.5 billion in today’s dollars. Yet, this rigorous scientist was also a mystic, engaging in alternative ways of knowing, such as astrology, seances, and theosophy. He was even responsible for recommending the Masonic Eye of Providence on the dollar bill to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Dr. Steil suggested that Wallace, who loved humanity but struggled with actual humans, would likely be diagnosed with Asperger’s if alive today, noting that Wallace’s temperament was not suited for politics.
Henry Wallace was the editor of a prominent farm journal when 40% of the USA was involved in agriculture. Wallace’s political ascent began when FDR, seeking someone to save the farm belt during the Depression, chose the staunch Republican Wallace as his first agriculture secretary in 1932. As Secretary, Wallace presided over the distribution of enormous subsidies ($1.2 trillion in today’s dollars) and controversially ordered the premature slaughter of six million hogs and the destruction of millions of acres of already planted cotton to boost prices.
During this period, archival findings revealed Wallace’s deep entanglement with White Russian artist and mystic Nicholas Roerich, whom Wallace addressed as “Dear Guru.” Roerich cultivated Wallace for influence, especially once he became agriculture secretary. In 1934, Wallace provided cover for Roerich to lead a Central Asia expedition, allegedly to find drought-resistant seeds. In truth, Roerich was attempting to build a theocratic state called Shambhala by taking territory from Siberia, Manchuria, Tibet, and Mongolia. When the expedition imploded in scandal, Wallace publicly denied knowledge of Roerich’s political activities, managing to avoid a complete falling out with FDR.
Wallace was eventually selected as FDR’s third-term running mate in 1940. As vice president, he was given serious responsibilities, leading the Bureau of Economic Warfare and engaging in public battles with Commerce Secretary Jesse H. Jones over procurement strategies. Before the 1944 convention, with FDR visibly failing, Democratic National Committee leaders successfully lobbied to push Wallace off the ticket due to concerns he was a “crazy mystic too close to the Soviets.”
Sent on a supposed emissary trip to China, Wallace spent four weeks touring Joseph Stalin’s Gulag Archipelago in Siberia. The Soviets constructed an elaborate Potemkin continent for him to tour, using political prisoners to stage magnificent concerts and dressing young communists as hardy miners. Wallace, who compared the director of the Gulag system, NKVD official Ivan Nikishov, to the head of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), effusively praised the Soviet accomplishments. In China, Wallace advocated for Soviet desiderata in Manchuria—specifically control of ports like Dalian and Port Arthur. The items Wallace championed were the same concessions Stalin later demanded from FDR at Yalta, making Wallace, in effect, the “father” of the Sino-Soviet Treaty.
Though Wallace led the first ballot at the 1944 convention, DNC leaders coalesced support for Harry Truman. Dr. Steil’s extensive investigation refuted the long-standing legend that Truman’s victory was corrupt, concluding that Truman won legitimately.
After his defeat, Wallace became commerce secretary under FDR and then Truman. His time was marked by chaos, including instigating mass strikes. His lead economic advisor, Harry Magdoff, a Soviet agent going back to the 1930s, fed him information and drafted speeches attacking Truman’s foreign policy.
In 1948, Wallace ran for president under the New Progressive Party, funded and controlled by the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Russian archives revealed that in March 1948, Wallace secretly met with Soviet UN Ambassador Andrei Gromyko to discuss how Wallace could secure an agreement with Stalin to prove the Cold War was Truman’s fault. Dr. Steil found documentary evidence, including Stalin’s handwritten edits, proving that the Soviet leader personally altered Wallace’s major campaign speech. Wallace was overwhelmingly defeated, winning only 2% of the total vote. Thirty percent of his total came from New York Jewish communists.
Dr. Steil noted that a Wallace presidency would have placed major Soviet assets like Harry Dexter White (a top Treasury official whom the Soviets considered an important source) and Laurence Duggan (State Department official) in critical cabinet roles. While Wallace might not have prevented the Cold War, he would have ensured the U.S. fought it from an enormous disadvantage, potentially giving the Soviets control over Turkey, Iran, the Korean Peninsula, and Germany. Wallace eventually broke with the Communists after the Korean War and began supporting Republicans like Dwight D. Eisenhower. He died in 1965.
The RMA’s next presentation, “A Theory of Everything: To Help Everyone Rise to Today’s Challenges,” by Bill Harvey, is scheduled for 10:45 AM on Wednesday, December 17, 2025. This presentation will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 1 West Putnam Avenue, in Greenwich (note change in location).
In this conversation author Bill Harvey will use slides and video to discuss his book “A Theory of Everything,” and how to thrive in an increasingly challenging world.
Einstein was among the first of the modern physicists to imagine that all of science could one day be stated in a single theory that would cover all phenomena, and he may have coined the term “theory of everything.” In Bill’s vision of reality consciousness is all that exists, and matter-energy-space-time exist within consciousness. Quantum physics gets closer and closer to that same vision every day, while physicalists violently reject it.
Bill discusses this debate among physicists, and speculates as to the reasons for the disagreements. He also relates his theory to explain why all religions may in fact have come about the same way he came about his theory. He hypothesizes that the present world turmoil may trace to the absence of a sense of higher purpose and meaning which would prevail if his theory were to be given credence.
Science was originally known by the name “natural philosophy” which contained a branch “metaphysics.” Religion and science were side by side within philosophy. The schism making them enemies is a relatively recent development. Bill gives his interpretation of how materialistic accidentalism has caused a world culture in which nobility has become something that social media users cringe at the thought of.
Bill Harvey is the founder and Executive Director of the Human Effectiveness Institute, and the author of eight books, including the groundbreaking Mind Magic: Doorways into Higher Consciousness (now in its 6th edition). He is also a leading market researcher, and has consulted with more than 100 Fortune 500 companies.
To stream the presentation by Bill Harvey at 10:45 AM on Wednesday, December 17, click on https://bit.ly/30IBj21. This presentation will also be available on local public access TV channels, Verizon FIOS channel 24 and Optimum channel 79.
Note: The views expressed in these presentations are those of the speakers. They are not intended to represent the views of the RMA or its members.
RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees, regardless of gender. Any member of the public who would like to receive a weekly email announcement of future speakers should send a request to members@greenwichrma.org. The RMA urges all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer, and community service opportunities which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, go to https://greenwichrma.org/, or contact info@greenwichrma.org.
