Made in 1942 by Paramount, PRICE OF VICTORY received an Oscar nomination. Based on a speech delivered fireside chat style by Vice President Henry A. Wallace, the second of F.D.R.’s three Vice Presidents and a controversial figure at the time. The original speech shown here was delivered on May 8, 1942 in New York City at the Free World Association. In that version of the speech, Wallace envisioned a future United Nations as a community of nations that would democratize the world. Wallace believed that WWII might bring about a “people’s revolution” that could propel a “century of the common man.” This concept of progressive internationalism had staying power, and Wallace’s words appeared on posters and inspired this film version of the speech. As Wikipedia states, “For Wallace the outcome of the war had to be more than a restoration of the status quo. He wished to see the ideals of New Deal liberalism continuing at home and spreading throughout a world in which colonialism had been abolished and where labor would be represented by unions. “Most of all,” write Culver and Hyde, “He wanted to end the deadly cycle of economic warfare followed by military combat followed by isolationism and more economic warfare and more conflict.” For millions Wallace’s speech defined America’s mission in the war and the vision of a peaceful and more equitable world to follow. Nevertheless, it roused the ire of the more conservative Democrats, of business leaders and conservatives, not to mention Winston Churchill, who was strongly committed to preserving Britain’s colonial empire.”
The film contains images of Kristallnacht or The Night of Broken Glass, in Nazi Germany at the 3:00 mark.
After Wallace feuded publicly with Secretary of Commerce Jesse H. Jones and other high officials, Roosevelt stripped him of his war agency responsibilities. Although a Gallup poll taken just before the 1944 Democratic National Convention found 65% of those surveyed favoured renomination for Wallace and only 2% favoured his eventual opponent, Harry S. Truman, it was Truman who went on to win the vice presidential nomination.Wallace was succeeded as Vice President on January 20, 1945, and on April 12, Vice President Truman succeeded to the Presidency when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died. Henry A. Wallace had missed being the 33rd President of the United States by just 82 days.
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