"Also, I don't find it such a stretch that Roosevelt was elected governor of New York with some assistance from Communist voters. Remember, Henry Wallace of the Progressive Party (basically a CPUSA front) took New York in the 1948 election. "
Mr. L. must live in one of those science fiction alternate universes like the ones in all the stories where the Confederacy won the Civil War or the Axis won World War 2.
I've explained above that the Communist party was practically an impotent force in US (and NY)politics when FDR won the NY governorship in 1928 and 1930. Now let's look at Henry Wallace's triumph in NY in the 1948 Presidential election. The actual figures for THIS universe (which it took me all of about 3 minutes to find) are as follows:
CANDIDATE PARTY VOTE PERCENTAGE
Thomas E. Dewey Republican 2,841,163 45.99%
Harry S. Truman Democrat 2,780,204 45.01%
Henry Wallace American Labor 509,599 8.25%
Norman Thomas Socialist 40,879 0 .66%
All Others 5,532 0.09%
I should explain that the American Labor Party was an already existing Communist front party in NY. (It was founded as a democratic left of center party by anti-Communist labor leaders in 1936 and infiltrated and taken over by Communists during the early 1940s. Instead of fighting for their party the labor leaders simply withdrew and formed the New York Liberal Party in 1944.) So Wallace did not have to set up a Progressive Party in NY, they just used the ALP line. Now Wallace was not a Communist himself, but he was a dupe of Communists. It's unfortunate that he won any votes, much less 8.25% But he came in a very distant third, not first and 90% of NY voters chose either Thomas Dewey or Harry Truman, both of whom were, in their own very different ways, committed to American Constitutional democracy.
by John Doe on August 21, 2003 at 6:52 PM