President Franklin D Roosevelt’s Mystic Vice President!

      

By Stephen William

President Franklin D Roosevelt’s Mystic Vice President! By Stephen William, author of: ”Nostradamus His Prophecy Finally Explained.” Available on Amazon Kindle now.     When I was researching last month’s article about US Presidents and Other World Leaders who used Mystics, I came across somebody previously unknown to me as a person not brought up in America, Henry A Wallace . He was President  Roosevelt’s Vice-President    from 1941 to 1945 .which covered most of the Second World War. He was also a self-confessed Mystic! He was a highly competent Vice -President and a  very active one in the war effort , so much so that he was nicknamed the “Assistant President”. As I mentioned in my previous  article, his close association with President Roosevelt, may have persuaded the President  to consult prominent psychics such as Jeane Dixon for an insight into how the war would progress. Henry was raised a Presbyterian but showed  great interest in other spiritual paths during his life. He was deeply interested in spirituality from a young age, reading works by authors like Ralph Waldo Emerson and William James , whose “The Varieties Of Religious Experience”  had a particularly strong impact on Wallace. It amongst other spiritual practices described and discussed mysticism. HENRY A WALLACE PICTURED IN 1940 JUST BEFORE HIS FOUR-YEAR TENURE AS FD ROOSEVELT’S VICE PRESIDENT. TO THE  LEFT IS THE BOOK WHICH HE SAID GREATLY INFLUENCED HIS SPIRITUAL AND MYSTICAL OUTLOOK AS A YOUNG MAN.   After his grandfather's death in 1916, he left the United Presbyterian Church and became increasingly interested in mysticism. He later said, "I know I am often called a mystic, and in the years following my leaving the United Presbyterian Church, I was probably a practical mystic, I'd say I was a mystic in the sense that George Washington Carver was – who believed God was in everything and therefore, if you went to God, you could find the answers". Wallace began regularly attending meetings of the pantheistic  Theosophist Society. However, in 1930 he joined the conventional  religion Escopalian Church, part of the worldwide Anglican Christian  Communion . Yet  he continued to be interested in various mystic groups and individuals. Among those who Wallace corresponded with were author George William Russell a self- confessed mystic  and Theosophist, the astrologer L. Edward Johndro, and Edward Roos, who took on the persona of an American First Nation Medicine Man. In the early 1930s, Wallace began corresponding with Nicholas Roerich, a prominent Russian émigré, artist, peace activist, and Theosophist. Roerich and his wife developed the Agni Yoga system. These esoteric contacts ,although greatly valued by Wallace unfortunately threatened  to undermine his reputation as a “serious” politician .He was Agriculture Secretary in Roosevelt’s government in the 1930s and despite the fact being one of the prime movers in Roosevelt’s New Deal , with Wallace’s own focus of the plight of the rural poor. He also had an interest in Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. The letters that Wallace wrote to Roerich from 1933 to 1934 were eventually acquired by Republican newspaper publisher Paul Block. The Republicans threatened to reveal to the public what they characterized as Wallace's bizarre religious beliefs before the November 1940 elections, but were deterred when the Democrats countered by threatening to release information about Republican candidate Wendell Willkie's rumoured extramarital affair with the writer Irita Van Doren The contents of the letters did become public seven years later, In the winter of 1947, when right-wing columnist Westbrook Pegler published what were purported to be extracts from them as evidence that Wallace was a "messianic fumbler", and "off-center mentally". During the 1948 campaign when Wallace stood as Presidential candidate for the new Progressive Party,  Pegler and other hostile reporters,  , aggressively confronted Wallace on the subject of the letters at a public meeting in Philadelphia in July. Wallace declined to comment, accusing the reporters of being Pegler's stooges. Many  press outlets were critical of Wallace's association with Roerich; one newspaper mockingly wrote that if Wallace became President "we shall get in tune with the Infinite, vibrate in the correct plane, outstare the Evil Eye, reform the witches, overcome all malicious spells and ascend the high road to health and happiness". In the letters Henry Wallace refers to Nicholas Roerich as ”Guru” and Wallace writes phrases such as “ Long have I been aware of the occasional fragrance from the other world, which is the real world”. These statements gave ammunition for his critics to dismiss him as an unworldly eccentric . Yet were they that different in tone and form from phrases and statements in religious texts from all the world’s major religions? Are conventional people of faith in the modern world so conditioned to believe that the only spiritual activity that ever took place, was thousands of years ago and modern ones are obviously fraudulent ? If that really is the case ,then the spiritual  skeptics are right and all spiritual experience is non-existent and the product of overactive imagination! We as modern mystics by our own direct spiritual experiences , mainly through communication with the Afterlife know that is not so. And that is why a high-profile political figure such as Wallace is so important to mysticism. It shows that a practical and effective political figure in an advanced country such as the United States can not only be a very effective political administrator , but can also draw inspiration from his or her mysticism. Nicholas Roerich was a well- known flamboyant  (especially by 1940s male dress standards!) looking artist as well as being a mystic guru. The picture first below demonstrates this. His appearance was no doubt used by Wallace’s detractors to also denigrate Wallace .Yet  religious and spiritual leaders have in many religions have always  worn exotic clothing as the picture of an Anglican (my own parents religion) archbishop  second below demonstrates. His clothing seems far more ornate than Roerich’s!       So what were Wallace ‘s “weird beliefs”? Following are quotations from himself. None of them seem harmful and most people whether they are of mystical nature or of a conventional religious belief would not find them outrageous. Quotations: "Every minister should be given a course in economics against the background of the prophets and the Sermon on the Mount."   "The problem is of a deeply religious nature. The appreciation of 'sustained yield' was woven into the Indian religion. For my part, I can't understand why the white man's religion can't be as good as the Indian's. I see nothing in the Bible to stand against our looking on Mother Nature in a deeply religious way" "I think the church should be afire today with the keenness of its desire to bring about social justice." "The idea of freedom -- the freedom that we in the United States know and love so well -- is derived from the Bible with its extraordinary emphasis on the dignity of the individual. Democracy is the only true political expression of Christianity." -- The Century of the Common Man (speech), 8 May 1942 "We who live in the United States may think there is nothing very revolutionary about freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and freedom from the fear of secret police. But when we begin to think about the significance of freedom from want for the average man, then we know that the revolution of the past one hundred and fifty years has not been completed, either here in the United States or in any other nation in the world." -- The Century of the Common Man (speech), 8 May 1942 "The people's revolution is on the march, and the devil and all his angels cannot prevail against it. They cannot prevail, for on the side of the people is the Lord." -- The Century of the Common Man (speech), 8 May 1942 "To draw conclusions from my life so far I would say that the purpose of existence here on earth is to improve the quality and increase the abundance of joyous living. The improved quality and increased abundance of life is a progressive matter  has to do not only with human life but with all plants and animals as well. The highest joy of life is complete dedication to something outside of yourself. I am convinced that God craves and needs humanity's help and that without that help expressed in terms of joyous vitality, God will have failed in this earthly experiment." Wallace seemed to have  let these criticisms roll by him and let his policies and beliefs as demonstrated in the above quotations, do the talking . However the duopoly of the two traditional main political parties in public life and their supporters in the mainstream media, meant that he never had a chance of being voted President in 1948. His main ideas  however were contained in his  best- selling book , entitled “The Century of the Common Man” in 1943. Perhaps the conventional establishment were worried that this former Vice-President had suggested  practical and moral improvements in the existing system which would disturb some vested interests? Interestingly Wallace’s work inspired Aaron Copland’s ” Fanfare for The Common Man”  masterpiece of orchestral music. However, what prevented him from succeeding President Franklin in 1945 , whilst he was still the Democrat Vice-President  was his own Democratic Party! As described in my previous article President Franklin after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had consulted psychics to ensure he was not caught off-guard again. Jeane Dixon as previously mentioned ,apparently prophesised the war in Japan ending separately after Nazi Germany’s surrender. Yet these consultations were discreetly carried out. However the letters between Wallace and Roerich which were in the hands of their Republican opponents and Wallace’s 1943  book which encapsulated very progressive economic  policies were believed to be unsettling to any undecided voters in the forthcoming Presidential elections. Therefore Wallace’s rivals in the Democratic Party persuaded President Roosevelt to select the more conventional Harry Truman as the Vice- Presidential candidate. Wallace apparently was upset by this demotion ,yet  President Roosevelt kept him in his Cabinet as he was such a talented man. Harry  Truman also retained him for in his Cabinet for his abilities after the tragic death of President Franklin. The Democrats who had moved against Wallace were probably concerned that the polio sufferer Roosevelt could possibly die in office and the unconventional but talented Wallace would not be acceptable to many voters as  the actual President. With the passage of time, we can see that  Henry Wallace was spared the task of deciding whether to use the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For a man of his sensitivities and beliefs this would have been a terrible decision to have to take. This is not to denigrate Harry Truman who was generally considered a good and decent man and amongst many other things, advanced African American rights. Most political historians consider him one of the five greatestAmerican Presidents. His position  on allowing the atomic bombs must have been prompted among other matters that  the USA  already had manufactured 500,000 Purple Heart medals to be awarded to American troops who were estimated to be  killed or wounded in a “conventional weapon” invasion of Japan.  That would not have included the many thousands of killed and wounded of the Commonwealth forces of British, Australian and Canadian troops. It was also estimated that millions of Japanese military and civilians would die by the Allied military action and the starvation caused by a naval blockade of Japan. Dropping the two atomic bombs , must have seemed the lesser of two evils.. War is indeed Hell, whatever way you choose to fight it. After his  electoral defeat as the Progressive Party Presidential  candidate in 1948, Henry Wallace focussed mainly on his family’s agricultural business and became a highly successful businessman. He founded the Hi -Bred Corn Company which developed hybrid high yield strains of corn, which was sold by his grandchildren to the Dupont Corporation for about a  billion dollars in the 1990s.  This refuted accusations by his opponents in both the Democrats and Republicans that he was some form of communist. He believed in  free enterprise as a way of setting an individual’s creative spirit free and releasing their dynamic energy in service of the whole of society as well as improving their own income. During the 1950s and 1960s leading politicians and future Presidents both Democrat and Republican such as Eisenhower and Nixon for the Republicans, Kennedy and Johnson for the Democrats sought his counsel and potential endorsement. This indicates that they all valued his sincerity and insight on political matters. Was this radical spiritual free thinker a true mystic ? His letters to Roerich indicate he had direct spiritual experiences as well as seeking the advice of others that had such experiences. With his  mystically inspired opinions, speeches and writings he reminds me of some of the Old Testament prophets-mystics such as Elijah ,Amos Isiah etc who railed against the corruption of their rulers, priesthood and the very rich, of their lack of concern for the poor and their obsession with material power and wealth instead of their spiritual duties. The sad fact is that subsequent rich and powerful institutions have twisted their teachings to control and sometimes even enslave populations. That is the reason in every subsequent era has needed its own spiritual champions to try to reset society’s conduct. So yes, he was a true modern  mystic yet steeped in a mystical tradition that stretched far back in human history. He also demonstrated to the modern world, that mystics when needed, could be as hard- headed  and practical in the material world as any conventional and mundane “realist”. © Stephen William International Copyright. My book which covers modern mysticism as well as Nostradamus’s , is available at only US $ 3.45 on Amazon Kindle or FREE TO READ if you are a Kindle Unlimited member. please follow this following link https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B098LS5PM7/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MBDF06G549ZKJ6XFKMCJ