Henry Wallace was the secretary of agriculture from 1933 to 1940. He was in favor of the New Deal and implemented measures to mitigate rural poverty. Wallace displayed intellectual curiosity and enjoyed science, history, economics and statistics. Conservative Democratic party leaders did not like Wallace, but in 1940 Roosevelt pushed for Wallace to be his running mate. He wanted a champion of freedom and democracy, so he wanted Wallace to be his vice-president. Democratic party leaders mistrusted his loyalty to principles over politics.  

Roosevelt was angry and frustrated with the party leaders and he wrote a letter to assembled delegates, in which he turned down the presidential nomination. The letter explained, “Until the Democratic Party shakes off all the shackles of control fastened upon it by the forces of conservatism, reaction and appeasement… it will not continue its march to victory… the Democratic Party cannot face in both directions at the same time. Therefore I decline the honor of the Presidency.” 

Eleanor Roosevelt addressed the convention, and told the disgruntled delegates that, “we now face a grave and serious situation.” And emphasized the fact that this was no “ordinary time.”   Under this pressure the party bosses buckled and put Wallace on the ticket. 

Wallace in a similar Bernie was respected across the world for many of his views. Here is one of his more famous quotes, 

“Some have spoken of the “American Century,” I say the century which will come of this war- can and must be the century of the common man… No nation will have the God-given right to exploit other nations… there must be neither military nor economic imperialism… International cartels that serve American greed and the German will to power must go… The march of freedom of the past 150 years has been a … great revolution of the people, there were the American Revolution of 1775, the French Revolution of 1792, the Latin American revolutions of Bolivian era, the German Revolution of 1848, and the Russian Revolution of 1917. Each spoke for the common man… Some went to excess. But… people groped their way to the light… Modern science, which is a by-product and an essential part of the people’s revolution, has made it… possible to see that all of the people of the world get enough to eat… We shall not rest until all the victims under the Nazi yoke are freed… The people’s revolution is on the march.”

It is easy to understand why party leaders may not have loved Henry Wallace. He threatened their profits. The same is true today. Party leaders have it out for Bernie because he poses a threat to the theirs and their donors’ profits. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/23/487179496/leaked-democratic-party-emails-show-members-tried-to-undercut-sanders

Wallace did a good job as Vice-President in those four years. He delivered his best known speech, which referred to the 20th century as the century of the common man. Even though many conservatives viewed the speech unfavorably it was translated into twenty languages and millions of copies were read and distributed globally.  He went on a speaking tour throughout Latin America. He gave speeches in Spanish and it was noted that never in Chilean history had a foreigner been received with such sincere enthusiasm. As Roosevelt’s health was declining, party leaders understood that the vice-president elected in 1944 would likely become the President, so in the 1944 Democratic National Convention, conservative party leaders defeated Wallace’s bid for a re-nomination.

  This is despite the fact that in a gallup poll 65% of voters indicated they wanted Wallace as Roosevelt’s running mate. The party leaders fought against democracy replacing him with the far less educated Harry S. Truman. Wallace served as secretary of commerce until 1946, when Harry Truman fired him. If Wallace had gone on to be the president instead of Truman the remainder of the 20th century may have been far different. The war with Japan may have ended without the use of an atomic bomb. One of Truman’s advisors – General Brynes admitted that the atomic bombs were launched to intimidate Russia. They responded by stockpiling their own weapons. The world may have been different if party leaders wouldn’t have ousted Wallace. Wallace later went on to from proggressive groups that pushed for desegregation, gender equality, and a national health insurance program. Many media outlets purposefully painted Wallace in a negative light

Regardless of some individual’s refusal to acknowledge it, there were DNC officials sending emails about how to best stick a knife in Bernie’s back during the 2016 primaries. There are media outlets who do as many negative stories on Bernie as possible. Many media outlets ran stories about Bernie accepting Joe Rogan’s endorsement, while Biden has received help and support from people far more controversial than Rogan. Many media outlets have pushed the narrative of Bernie not releasing health records even though three doctors confirmed he is more than healthy enough to hand the duties of the President of the United States. These same media outlets do not mention Biden’s slip-ups when he speaks that hint at his mental decline. 

Many of these ideas came from the book