FDR - Jean Edward Smith [290]
When Roosevelt remained adamant, Hopkins and Byrnes fell into line and began to work the convention on Wallace’s behalf. Jones bowed to presidential pressure and withdrew. (When Hopkins resigned as secretary of commerce on August 22, 1940, FDR named Jones to replace him.) That left Bankhead, McNutt, and Wallace. Nominations were scheduled for Thursday evening. After his name was placed before the convention, McNutt withdrew. “Franklin Roosevelt is my leader and I am here to support his choice for vice president.”24 That left Bankhead and Wallace. Before the voting began, and with the outcome very much in doubt, FDR received a crucial assist. Escorted by party chairman Farley, Eleanor Roosevelt made her way to the platform. The entire convention rose to its feet in a rousing burst of applause. The obvious affection ER and Farley shared provided a healing effect. The bitterness on the floor subsided. Eleanor began her speech with a tribute to Farley: “I think nobody could appreciate more what he has done for the party and I want to give him here my thanks and devotion.” Mrs. Roosevelt hit the right note. The convention that had booed Wallace’s name when the nominations were made listened with rapt attention as she moved on. “This is no ordinary time,” said ER. “No time for weighing anything except what we can best do for the country as a whole.” Without mentioning Wallace by name, she asked the delegates to support her husband’s choice. “No man who is a candidate or who is President can carry this situation alone. This is only carried by a united people who love their country and who will live for it … to the fullest of their ability.”25
When she finished, Chicago Stadium was absolutely still. “The hot and weary delegates caught her mood and gravity and fell silent,” reported the United Press. “She has done more to soothe the convention bruises than all the efforts of astute Senators,” said the New York Daily News.26 When Barkley asked the clerk to call the roll of the states, tempers had subsided. Without ER’s intervention, it is not clear that Wallace would have won.
What is clear is that if he had not won, Roosevelt would not have run for a third term. In the White House, FDR listened to the proceedings in the upstairs study, playing solitaire. “His face was grim,” Sam Rosenman remembered. As the vote tally seesawed, Roosevelt asked Missy for pad and pencil and began writing. He gave the draft to Rosenman. “Sam, take this inside and go to work on it. Smooth it out and get it ready for delivery. I may have to deliver it very quickly, so please hurry it up.” Should Wallace lose, FDR would decline the nomination.* “If I ever saw him with his mind made up it was that night,” said Rosenman.27
On the floor of Chicago Stadium, South Carolina’s James Byrnes moved rapidly from delegation to delegation. “For God’s sake, do you want a president or vice president.”28 The vote continued nip and tuck. Eight states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, passed. When Wyoming was called at the end of the roll, Bankhead held a two-vote lead. The states that passed clamored for attention. Barkley recognized Mayor David Lawrence of Pittsburgh, who cast 68 of Pennsylvania’s 72 votes for Wallace. Ohio (52), New Jersey (32), and Michigan (38) followed. Wallace was over the top. Other delegations shifted. The final tally gave Wallace 627 of the convention’s 1,100 delegates, a tribute to the muscle of the White House rather than Wallace’s support. After Speaker Bankhead’s brother, Senator John Bankhead of Alabama, offered the traditional motion to make Wallace’s nomination unanimous, the “no”s outshouted the “aye”s by a considerable margin.29 As Wallace moved toward the podium to deliver his acceptance speech, Byrnes intercepted him.
“Don’t do it, Henry. Don’t go out there. You’ll ruin the party if you do.”30
Crestfallen, Wallace walked away. The convention