Wednesday, August 18, 2010

40 Famous Iowans - Henry A. Wallace

Henry A. Wallace led a very busy and politically impressive life. Wallace graduated from the Iowa State College (Iowa State University) in Ames. Wallace’s father was Henry C. Wallace, the famous editor in Des Moines. Henry A. Wallace himself did some editorial work for Wallace’s Farmer from 1910-1924. He did some studies on corn a little later in his life and published several agriculture articles on the subject. Wallace started a small seed company which today is Pioneer Hi-Bred. It was acquired by DuPont back in 1990 for around ten billion dollars.

He spent much of his life exploring different religious beliefs. His beliefs even took him to working closely with the Russian, Nicholas Roerich. Eventually Wallace decided on Episcopalianism. In 1933, he became Secretary of Agriculture to Franklin Roosevelt’s cabinet; he served this position until 1940. November of 1940, Wallace was elected as Vice President, on the ticket with Franklin Roosevelt. At this position, Wallace was in charge of a couple different boards that proved to be very important to the United States Army as they entered World War 2. Other milestones in his career were the Secretary of Commerce in 1945, and he ran for President in 1948 as a part of the Progressive Party. After his years as a Politician he went back to the life of a farmer. During these years he made several advances in agricultural science. In 1965, Wallace died of Lou Gehrig’s disease, but his agricultural and political accomplishments will long be remembered.

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