By Walt Zlotow
May 8 marks 80 years since Victory in Europe Day. That victory kicked off the 46 year long Cold War against our WWII ally, the Soviet Union (now Russia).
Sadly, the 1991 end of the Soviet Union simply transferred the Cold War into a cool war against Russia which has since gone cold again.
We’ve spent the last 34 years ever expanding the Cold War NATO alliance to Russia’s borders to keep them out of the European political economy and guarantee a yearly trillion dollar defense budget to prop up American capitalism. What good is the world’s largest military if you do not have a monstrous enemy to justify it?
That could have been avoided except for arguably the worst vice presidential pick in American history.
Every American today knows who Harry Truman was but few have a clue about his predecessor. Henry Wallace was a 20th century American visionary shoved out of the vice presidency in 1944, denying him the presidency upon the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), and changing America and the world for the worse.
Henry Wallace has been largely written out of the American Story told to succeeding generations of Americans by the protectors of the American Super Power Myth.
Born in 1888 to an affluent Iowa Republican farm family, Wallace increased family wealth with his Hi-Bred Corn Company. But the Depression turned Wallace into a zealous champion of the common man, landing him the Secretary of Agriculture post in FDR’s first term. Possibly the most effective New Dealer, Wallace championed the broken American farmer using curtailed production and price supports to ameliorate rampant rural poverty. His unbridled Bernie Sanders like democratic socialism of the 30s garnered him FDR’s reverence and the 1940 third term vice presidency.
Wallace transformed the vice presidency for the good, long before Dick Cheney transformed it for evil. FDR made him what journalists tabbed the ‘Assistant President’ in his role mobilizing war production during WWII and championing FDR’s vision for a truly peaceful post WWII world working in partnership with critical war ally Russia for a peaceful Europe and ending European colonialism in Asia and Africa.
In 1942 he gave his famous “Century of the Common Man” speech, declaring the 20th century must celebrate the common man, not just, as Time publisher Henry Luce postured, the American Century. In 1943, he joined with the black community following the Detroit race riot, arguing “We cannot fight to crush Nazi brutality abroad and condone race riots at home.”
His near FDR like popularity made him a lock for VP again on the ’44 Democratic ticket. But with FDR fading mentally and physically, party leaders saw opportunity to dump him. His peace proclivities threatened their continuation of a war economy to combat their imaginary new Hitler in the form of Joseph Stalin.
They closed the late night convention session on the brink of re nominating Wallace for a second term. That garnered time to make deals with the other candidates to move the pliant Harry Truman from last to first in the final VP tally.
Three months into term four FDR died thrusting Truman into the White House. This set the stage for the Cold War due to Truman’s capitulation to the neo-conservatives of his day such as Jimmy Byrnes and Jimmy Forestall who demanded a fresh enemy to keep the emerging Military-Industrial Complex in business. A Wallace presidency would have sidelined these anti Russian hardliners. The chance for a truly peaceful post WWII world was irrevocably lost.
The post WWII neocons won out over Wallace, but undaunted he launched a 3rd party progressive campaign in 1948 to unseat Truman. McCarthyite red smears and personal attacks on his progressive philosophy doomed him to just 3% of the ’48 vote, ending his career. Also ended was any opportunity for America to retreat from senseless Cold War.
That leaves us to ponder if today’s new Cold War will rage on for another 80 years.
Walt Zlotow
West Suburban Peace Coalition
Glen Ellyn IL
Also by Walt Zlotow: Trump will not be president January 20, 2026
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This article says to me that the unwarranted American hatred against Russia was the harbinger that kept the Cold War in the US daily news headlines.
The 2014 Russian doco, The Man Who Saved the World, examines the September 1983 incident where Russian command centre computers & radar screens showed incoming ICBMs, five in total, and the near-meltdown by those in charge of the systems as they dealt with the info amid the uncertainty of whether they were seeing true or false indicators.
The officer in charge, now aged, ultimately chose to not respond. He made the point that if he had, both American & Russia would have been annihilated. He also made the point that Russia’s nuclear program was a direct result of America having bombed Hiroshima & Nagasaki, thus demonstrating their capacity for extreme barbarity as well as cementing the belief in their untrustworthiness.
Of course The Kremlin, FSB, GRU and Putin are victims according to faux anti-imperialist right wing tankies of the Anglosphere?
The obvious question is why have Central Eastern European, Baltics and Scandinavian nations bordering onto now Russian Federation, been compelled to be very wary of Russia, a corrupt mafia state?
Putin himself has admitted that Europe, EU and NATO are not threats that justified an invasion of Ukraine, twice; why are Anglo RWNJs and old left attracted to Putin and Russia inc allies Trump, Netanyahu et al?
Those who are not wary (but many of their citizens are) include Fico’s Slovakia, and Fox Board Abbott’s chums in Hungary of PM ‘mini Putin’ Orbán; supported by many middle aged and older, low info and regional voters.
The latter nations like Putin’s Russia have become more corrupt, paranoid, mafia infused, authoritarian and supported by electoral gerontocracy & gerrymandering, for now…..before the great replacement….