The 1952 Progressive National Convention was held in July 4âÂÂ6 1952 at the Ashland Boulevard Auditorium in Chicago, Illinois. The party ratified the 1952 presidential nominees and party platform of the Progressive Party, a short-lived minor American political party that had been founded in 1948.
The convention ratified the party's selection of Vincent Hallinan and Charlotta Bass to be its presidential and vice presidential nominees. Bass (an African American woman) became the first woman of color to be nominated for vice president. Hallinan was unable to attend the convention due to serving jail time for contempt of court. A presidential nomination acceptance speech was read on his behalf by his wife, Vivian. Bass attended the convention and delivered a vice presidential nomination acceptance speech. W. E. B. Du Bois, the convention's temporary chairman, delivered the convention's keynote speech.
Hallinan and Bass received 140,000 votes in the general election, which amounted to 0.2% of the popular vote. This was far less than the 1,157,326 (2% of the popular vote) that the party had received in the 1948 election.
The Progressive Party was a left wing party. The Progressive Party was formed ahead of the preceding 1948 presidential election as a collective of several left wing groups and parties. Among these was Communist Party USA (the American Communist Party). The Communist Party had come to see its involvement in the new Progressive Party as more likely to result in electoral success than running candidates under its own label, due to communism's growing unpopularity in the United States amid the rise of the Cold War. It therefore was a member organization of the Progressive Party for the 1948 presidential elections, rather than running its own nominees. In 1948 election, former vice president Henry A. Wallace served as the party's presidential nominee, with Glen H. Taylor as his vice presidential running mate. Despite early projections of Wallace receiving as much as 10% or 20% of the popular vote, the party's ticket ultimately won a disappointing 2% of the popular vote. The party was perhaps harmed in the election by the active participation of the American Communist Party in the party, which was off-putting to non-communist voters.
In the years since the 1948 election (amid the Red Scare), many of the Progressive Party's national leaders had been accused by the American government of being communists and subversives. Wallace (the party's founder and its 1948 presidential nominee) was absent from the convention. Wallace had disassociated himself from the party and its membership soon after the start of the Korean War in reaction to the accusations levied by the government against key party figures. In April 1952, columnist Victor Riesel derided the then-upcoming convention as "the biggest propaganda show" of "the Pro-Soviet apparatus in this country." By 1952, it had become a rump of what it had been in 1948. Decades later, University of Pittsburgh history professor Richard Jules would reflect that after 1948, the Progressive Party, "faltered on through the 1952 campaign, but was justifiably viewed by most non-Communist observers as little more than a Communist front".
In his report on the opening day of the convention, Ray Dorsey of the Cleveland Plain Dealer described the party as "far to the left" writing that,
The convention's theme was "The People Speak â for Peace". The three-day convention had 2,000 delegates and approximately 2,500 total participants. It took place at the Ashland Boulevard Auditorium on the West Side of Chicago. The city of Chicago was also set to host the Republican convention and the Democratic convention that same month. The Progressive Party had previously held a non-presidential national party convention at the Ashland Boulevard Auditorium in 1950. The 1952 convention concluded on July 6, the eve of the Republican convention.
The convention took place during particularly hot summer weather in Chicago, and the interior of the convention venue is remembered to have been especially hot due to its lighting.
W. E. B. Du Bois (an alternate delegate to the convention) served as the convention's temporary chairman for its first evening. On the second day of the convention, former congressman Vito Marcantonio was voted to serve as the permanent chairman for the remainder of the convention. Pauline Taylor (chairwoman of the Ohio state party) served as the convention's permanent secretary. Among the top figures in the party's leadership at the time of the convention was the party's secretary Calvin Benham Baldwin, who was also involved in the convention.
Among the other notable participants in the convention were Hugh De Lacy (former congressman) and Willard Ransom (Indiana NAACP leader).
In March 1952, the Progressive Party's national committee selected its presidential ticket in a party meeting held in Chicago. Vincent Hallinan was chosen for president and Charlotta Bass was chosen for vice president. Bass (an African American woman) was the first woman of color nominated for vice president. The convention in part served to have the party's delegates formalize the nomination of this ticket. The nomination vote was held on the second day of the convention.
Reporter Sidney Roger (a leftist, and attendee of the 1952 Progressive convention) would later reflect in the 1990s on the convention and its nominees, remarking,
The party's platform was adopted on July 5. The co-chairs of the convention's platform committee were Earl B. Dickerson (president of the National Lawyers Guild), Katherine Van Orden, and Hugh Bryson. Dickerson touted the party's platform as promising on civil rights for African Americans, arguing that both party's had proven unable to pass civil rights legislation. Dickerson remarked, "the undeniable fact is that not since 1875 has either party passed a single law to implement equality."
The initial draft of the platform called for:
The platform called peace "the mandate of the people".
Calvin Benham Baldwin (party secretary) said that the party would, "demand a formula which will allow the American people to live at peace with the 200,000,000 people of the Soviet Union and the 460,000,000 people of China."
The platform called for:
Promising "jobs and security for all Americans", the platform called for:
The platform called for greater civil rights protections.
The platform called for:
The platform pledged to "restore freedom to all Americans" and to restore the Bill of Rights for all Americans", On this note, the platform included calls for:
After hearings on the party platform, the convention's first evening included speeches by several notable individuals.
With Hallinan serving a six-month jail term at McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary for a charge of contempt of court that was related to his defense of labor leader Harry Bridges two years prior. His sentence was not scheduled to end until August 18, rendering him unable to attend the convention. In his stead, his wife Vivian gave an acceptance speech. In her speech, she said that she was confident that her if her husband had been present to speak himself he would have wanted to center his remarks solely on highlighting the "fight for peace" Vivian Hallinan spoke,
In a portion of her vice presidential nomination acceptance speech, Bass remarked,
Bass rhetorically asked the convention crowd,
The convention's keynote address was delivered by W. E. B. Du Bois. His speech was delivered after the conclusion of public hearings on the party's platform. Du Bois, who had previously supported Wallace's campaign as the 1948 Progressive presidential nominee, again supported the party's presidential ticket. His keynote endorsed the party's nominees, outlined the party's platform, and touched on a number of political issues. His speech was introduced by the party's national secretary, Calvin Benham Baldwin.
Du Bois's speech criticized the "two old parties" (the Democrats and Republicans) as both being dedicated to continuing Cold War hostilities with the Soviet Union, arguing that the Progressive Party held the necessary role in ending these tensions. He argued in favor of obtaining peace by ending the Korean War, extending an offer of friendship to the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China (the communist government in Mainland China). The speech also talked about socialism, America's use of propaganda, and colonial imperialism. The speech also touched on the subject of Black political representation.
In his address, Convention Chair Vito Marcantonio remarked,
The convention featured panels dedicated to various subjects, including:
The party pushed the FCC to order radio and television networks to grant and facilitate airtime of its nominees' acceptance speeches, taking advantage of the equal-time rule. While the networks granted the convention broadcast time during its convention, a spokesperson for the networks also clarified that the FCC had only directed them to give equal time to candidates and not party organizations. Besides the equal-time rule mandated coverage, the press generally gave little notice to the convention.