Graduation Year
2006
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Granting Department
History
Major Professor
Fraser M. Ottanelli, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Robert P. Ingalls, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Barbara Berglund, Ph.D.
Keywords
immigration, ethnicity, Latin, Florida, South
Abstract
This research deals with the presidential election of 1948 and the questions it raises concerning issues of ethnic identity and the experiences of working-class migrants in the U.S. South. Central to the discussion is the unprecedented success of third-party challenger Henry Wallace and his Progressive campaign in the immigrant enclaves of Tampa, Florida. Stigmatized by controversial foreign and domestic programs which drew disabling connections between Wallace and the Communist Party, the Progressive Party campaign hardly got its proverbial feet off the ground before falling victim to virulent criticism and widespread opposition. Carrying just over two percent of the votes nationwide, Wallace was soon relegated as an afterthought in modern historical memory, a footnote to the “real” battle between Dewey and Truman for the hearts and minds of the American public. This paper reevaluates the Progressive Party campaign in 1948 for the insights it provides into the immigrant experience, ethnic politics, and the continuous reinvention and contestation of “radical” politics and “American” identity. At issue here is not the failure of the campaign itself; nor is this intended to be a measure or judgment of Henry Wallace himself. Rather, it is to his appeal and isolated successes that I look to gain a better appreciation of the constructions and negotiations of ethnic identity and contested claims to the principles of American democracy and the rights of citizenship.
Scholar Commons Citation
Toney, Jared G., "Viva Wallace Tampa Latins, the politics of Americanization, and the Progressive party campaign of 1948" (2006). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/3790
