Herbert Hoover vs. the Henry Wallaces

The Feud Between the Iowa Politicians over Farm Policy

Oct 17, 2008

Herbert Hoover and the father and son team of Henry C. and Henry A. Wallace fought each other over the federal role in aiding agriculture.

Hoover and the Wallaces were from Iowa. They were progressive Republicans. Hoover was a great engineer who got rich solving mining problems. The younger Wallace was a great agronomist who developed hybred seed. Both had their own companies. However, the differences would drown out the similiarities.

World War I

Europe needed fat. Hoover, charged with feeding Europe as head of the Office of Food Administration, was determined to supply that need. Henry Cantwell Wallace was in charge of a commission determined to get farmers a fair price for their product. The commission, with Henry Agard Wallace's assistance, proposed a corn to hog price ratio of 14.3 to 1 - the price of 14.3 bushels of corn would equal 100 lbs of live hog.

Hoover was not enthusiastic about the ratio, believing people should not profit from the war. He compromised, setting the ratio at 13 to 1. By April 1918, corn prices were sky high but the hog price on the Chicago market was $17.45 per hundredweight, a $5.73 per hundredweight loss for the farmer.

Wallace demanded action to increase hog prices but Hoover rejected those pleas. A livid Wallace called Hoover an "exceedingly big brained businessman." By September, Hoover abandoned the corn-hog ratio. He kept the hog price at $17.50, which resulted in a lower ratio of 10.8 to 1 - a guaranteed loss for farmers.

McNary-Haugen Bill

After the war, overproduction decreased commodity prices. Farmers were in a gloom and cities were in a boom. Farm equipment manufacturers George Peek and Hugh Johnson proposed a two-price plan to combat the surplus- a protected price for the American market and a world price for the surplus, purchased by the government, thrown on the world market.

Secretary of Agriculture Henry C. Wallace supported the plan and helped draft a bill with Senator Charles McNary and Representative Gilbert Haugen in 1924. Secretary of Commerce Hoover, who advocated limited cooperation between government and business, violently opposed the bill. The House voted it down. Wallace continued to fight for it but was worn down by Hoover's opposition. Wallace soon died of toxemic poisoning but his bitter son said, "I felt, almost, as if Hoover had killed my father."

The Great Depression

In 1932, President Hoover's Federal Farm Board, which promoted voluntary co-ops and stabilization corporations to handle minor surpluses, was rendered useless by increased production. Farm economists, including Wallace, talked with Rexford Tugwell, an advisor of Democratic presidential candidate Franklin Roosevelt. They drew up the Domestic Allotment plan, which allowed the government to pay farmers to cut production. Roosevelt delivered a major campaign speech vaguely supporting the plan.

Wallace actively campaigned for Roosevelt. He lobbied farm leaders. He editorialized, including a New York Times piece trumpeting the merits of Roosevelt's outreach to farmers. In Iowa, he spoke at every political gathering that invited him, denouncing Hoover on one occasion as "the most dangerous man in America." It all paid off. Wallace was essential in delivering normally Republican Iowa to Roosevelt.

The Wallaces embraced strong government action as Henry A. continued to show as Secretary of Agriculture under Roosevelt, implementing the Domestic Allotment plan through the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. Hoover, with more confidence in the individual, voiced his disdain, "I rejected the schemes of economic planning to regiment and coerce the farmer. That was born of a Roman despot 1400 years ago and grew into the AAA."

Sources

The copyright of the article Herbert Hoover vs. the Henry Wallaces in American History is owned by William L. Wunder. Permission to republish Herbert Hoover vs. the Henry Wallaces in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.