Liberal Response and Counterresponse
As World War II drew to a close, long-standing tensions within the liberal community broke out into the open over Communism. That was because Communists (along with fellow travelers, sympathizers, etc.) had, as noted, rejoined the popular front segment of that community during the war. By 1945 conflicts between those who favored or opposed accommodation with Communism at home and abroad were flaring up wherever Communists established a significant presence: in New York's American Labor Party (a huge vote-getting alternative to the Tammany controlled Democratic Party), in Minnesota's formidable Farmer-Labor Party, and among California and Washington state Democrats.
It was soon apparent which faction would, by sheer mass and distinction, represent the liberal faith. At the heart of that resolutely anti- Communist faction was the newly organized Americans for Democratic Action, which boasted such impressive names as Eleanor Roosevelt, theologian Reinhold Neibuhr, United Auto Workers president Walter Reuther, and up and coming Minneapolis mayor Hubert H. Humphrey, among others of considerable renown. And while these hearty New Dealers often made President Truman aware that he was no Roosevelt, they stood with him in his dispute with Henry Wallace over foreign and domestic policies.
For pro- and anti-popular front liberals to fight it out among themselves, intramurally, as they did between 1945 and 1947, was one
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