Progressive Party National Convention 1952

The Progressive Party in the second Truman Administration

Following its rather dismal performance in the 1948 elections, the Progressive Party limped through the following three years. Henry Wallace spent much of 1949 giving speeches denouncing President Truman's policy towards the Soviet Union and the Cold War. Meanwhile, Rexford Tugwell left the party [NYT 3/28/949], followed by Glen Taylor [NYT 7/30/1949]. A national conference was held in Chicago on 2/24-26/1950 to coordinate the national campaign of 1950 [NYT 1/30/1950], but it was bitterly divided between one faction (including Wallace) that sought to remove Communists from the party and a second faction that wanted to use the organization of the US Communists to promote the Progressive Party [NYT 2/27/1950]. After the beginning of the Korean conflict, the party leadership was divided. Wallace believed that Stalin had the power to stop the conflict but chose not to do so [NYT 7/16/1950]; when the party would not back him, he resigned from the party on 8/8/1950 [NYT 8/9/1950]. Realizing the continued fracturing of the party, its California affiliate, holding a state convention in Sacramento on 8/5/1950, chose to remain silent on the issue of Korea and the military draft [NYT 8/6/1950]. The party's vote in U.S. Senate and U.S. House races fell by 55% between 1948 and 1950.

Party leaders met in Minneapolis on 8/17-18/1951 to discuss the future of the party. They decided to hold a national convention, keeping open the possibility of endorsing the candidacy of a third party candidacy if it ran on the party's key issues [NYT 8/20/1951].

Vincent Hallinan Candidacy

In early 1952, Progressive Party leaders began to coalesce behind Vincent W. Hallinan as the party's standard bearer for 1952. Hallinan was a wealthy California attorney who became famous for his defense of Harry Bridges, a labor leader, in a 1950 case in which Hallinan was sentenced to six months in jail for contempt of court. The party's search committee unanimously recommended him on 3/6 and urged state affiliates to ratify his nomination. In New York City, the American Labor Party announced on 3/23/1952 that it planned to list Hallinan and Charlotta Bass as the national candidates in the general election, though its convention was held later in the year [NYT 3/24/1952]. Hallinan and Bass accepted the nomination at a meeting of the party's national committee on 3/30 [NYT 3/31/1952].

Hallinan made his way into the news throughout the summer of 1952. On 4/1, he reported to McNeil Island Federal Prison in San Francisco to serve his six-month sentence for contempt of court. Hallinan asked President Truman to commute his sentence, since he was a presidential candidate [NYT 4/2/1952].

2d Progressive Party National Convention, 1952
Chairman	Keynote Speaker	Presidential Nominee	Vice Presidential Nominee
Former U.S. Rep. Vito Marcantonio NY	William E.B. DuBois NY	Vincent W. Hallinan CA	Charlotta A. Bass NY

The 2d Progressive Party National Convention

The second Progressive Party National Convention was held in Ashland Boulevard Auditorium, Chicago IL, on 7/4-6/1952. As the delegates gathered, the party's national secretary, C.B. Baldwin, reported that the party would be on the ballot in 35-40 states that year [NYT 6/30/1952].

The party approved a platform with three major planks: 1) ending the Korean Conflict; 2) closing of the breach between the USA and the Soviet Union; and 3) unqualified support by party members of any black candidates for office belonging to other parties [NYT 7/7/1952]. After the convention nominated Hallinan for President, his wife Vivian Hallinan gave his acceptance speech, in which he pledged to run as the only "peace" candidate in the field [NYT 7/7/1952]. No radio or television networks broadcast the party's convention, but NBC ran a special on 9/6 in which it aired 90 minutes of footage from the convention [NYT 8/11/1952].

The Campaign

Hallinan was set free from prison on 8/16 and flew to New York City to begin his campaign [NYT 8/17/1952]. The following day, he telegraphed a note to President Truman, asking to be briefed on the situation in Korea. He was "concerned to know if there are any reasons for the continuance of fighting in Korea" and restated his plan to end the war [NYT 8/19/1952]. In his speeches and radio addresses, Hallinan made the case that the Korean conflict was a bipartisan effort by the Democratic and Republican Parties and that only he would end the conflict [NYT 9/30/1952].

The US Communist Party held its national convention on 9/6/1952 and endorsed Hallinan's candidacy, though it appears that the Communists did little to assist his campaign [NYT 10/8/1952].

In the final month of the campaign, Hallinan visited 30 states [NYT 11/1/1952]. While in Schenectady NY, he called NATO a "provocative sword-rattling alliance" that was meant to taunt the Soviet Union [NYT 10/8/1952]. In New York City, he said that the Wage Stabilization Board was going to "crack down" on workers after the election [NYT 10/26/1952]. In San Francisco, Hallinan proclaimed Adlai Stevenson the next president, based upon mistakes of the Eisenhower campaign [NYT 11/2/1952].

Results

The Progressive Party did not fare too well on election day. Hallinan garnered only 140,416 votes, one-tenth of Wallace's total in 1948. He was not able to increase Wallace's total in any state. Furthermore, the ALP in New York State was only able to deliver 64,000 votes, a drop of 85%. The party fared somewhat better in congressional races. In California, Reuben Borough placed second in the race for U.S. Senate with 542,270 votes. Of the other seven candidates for U.S. Senate, only the ALP's Corliss Lamont received a substantial number of votes. The party had 23 candidates for the U.S. House (plus 38 ALP candidates) who won a combined 240,000 votes.

With its dismal performance, the party dissolved. A handful of candidates ran in the elections of 1953 and 1954, the latter being the year the ALP lost its ballot status in New York State.

1st Progressive Party National Convention (1948)

Popular Vote of 1952

Electoral Vote of 1952