Editing Henry A. Wallace (section)

==Later politics==

Wallace initially remained active in politics following the 1948 campaign, and he delivered the keynote address at the 1950 Progressive National Convention. In early 1949, Wallace testified before Congress in the hope of preventing the ratification of the [[North Atlantic Treaty]], which established the [[NATO]] alliance between the United States, Canada, and several European countries.<ref>Culver & Hyde (2000), pp. 503–506</ref> He became increasingly critical of the Soviet Union after 1948, and he resigned from the Progressive Party in August 1950 due to his support for the UN intervention in the [[Korean War]].<ref>Culver & Hyde (2000), pp. 505, 507–509</ref> After leaving the Progressive Party, Wallace endured what biographers John Culver and John Hyde describe as a "long, slow decline into obscurity marked by a certain acceptance of his outcast status".<ref>Culver & Hyde (2000), pp. 510–511</ref>

In the early 1950s, he spent much of his time rebutting attacks by prominent public figures such as General [[Leslie Groves]], who claimed to have stopped providing Wallace with information regarding the Manhattan Project because he considered Wallace to be a security risk. In 1951, Wallace appeared before Congress to deny accusations that in 1944 he had encouraged a coalition between [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and the Chinese Communists.<ref>Culver & Hyde (2000), pp. 512–517</ref> In 1952, he published an article, "Where I Was Wrong", in which he repudiated his earlier foreign policy positions and declared the Soviet Union to be "utterly evil".<ref name="ross1"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wallace |first1=Henry A. |title=Where I Was Wrong |journal=This Week |date=September 7, 1952 |url=https://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/02/henry-a-wallace-1952-on-the-ruthless-nature-of-communism-cold-war-era-god-that-failed-weblogging.html |access-date=July 16, 2021}}</ref>
Wallace did not endorse a candidate in the [[1952 United States presidential election|1952 presidential election]], but in the [[1956 United States presidential election|1956 presidential election]] he endorsed incumbent Republican president [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] over Democratic nominee [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]]. Wallace, who maintained a correspondence with Eisenhower, described Eisenhower as "utterly sincere" in his efforts for peace.<ref>Culver & Hyde (2000), pp. 521–522</ref> Wallace also began a correspondence with Vice President [[Richard Nixon]], but he declined to endorse either Nixon or Democratic nominee [[John F. Kennedy]] in the [[1960 United States presidential election|1960 presidential election]]. Though Wallace criticized Kennedy's farm policy during the 1960 campaign, Kennedy invited Wallace to his 1961 inauguration, the first presidential inauguration Wallace had attended since 1945. Wallace later wrote Kennedy, "at no time in our history have so many tens of millions of people been so completely enthusiastic about an inaugural address as about yours". In 1962, he delivered a speech commemorating the centennial anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Agriculture.<ref>Culver & Hyde (2000), pp. 522–524</ref> He also began a correspondence with President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] regarding methods to alleviate rural poverty, though privately he criticized Johnson's escalation of American involvement in the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>Culver & Hyde (2000), p. 529</ref> In the [[1964 United States presidential election|1964 election]], Wallace returned to the Democratic fold, supporting Johnson over Republican nominee [[Barry Goldwater]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Henry A. Wallace is Dead at 77 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/11/19/95002850.html?pageNumber=35 |agency=TimesMachine |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 19, 1965}}</ref> Due to declining health, he made his last public appearance that year; in one of his last speeches, he stated, "We lost [[Cuba]] in 1959 not only because of [[Fidel Castro|Castro]] but also because we failed to understand the needs of the farmer in the back country of Cuba from 1920 onward. ... The common man is on the march, but it is up to the uncommon men of education and insight to lead that march constructively".<ref>Culver & Hyde (2000), p. 527</ref>