Henry wallace biography

Henry A. Wallace was an Iowan who made an impact on agriculture throughout the state, the nation and the world. His love for the soil and for agriculture was part of the Wallace family heritage. Wallace was a colorful and controversial public figure. But there was never any doubt—Henry A. Wallace knew his farming. 

A Love of Learning

Henry Agard Wallace was born on a farm near Orient, Iowa in Adair County on October 8, The Wallace’s were one of Iowa’s best known farm families. As a youngster his first passions were science and farming. He was eight years old when the family moved to a farm on the outskirts of Des Moines. His chores included milking cows and eeding the chickens and livestock. As a year-old he had his own garden, which produced food for the family. Strawberries remained a favorite plant throughout his life. 

George Washington Carver was a major influence in the life of young Henry. He met Carver when he was six years old. Carver was a student and colleague of Henry’s father at Iowa State College. His father invited the young Carver to the family home. Carver provided a scientific direction to Wallace’s interest and love of plants. Carver would take the young boy on walks collecting specimens in fields around Ames. He helped the boy identify species of plants and plant parts. In the greenhouse he taught Young Henry about plant breeding. They would experiment with sick plants and crop breeding.

Experimenting with Corn

In high school Henry began experimenting with corn to develop a hybrid that would produce a large number of bushels per acre. Between and corn shows were very popular around the state. Farmers would enter ten of their best ears of corn. Judges rated the corn on its appearance. It was thought the best looking corn would also produce the best yields. At age 16 he tested corn judged to be beautiful and prize winning against corn that was less beautiful in appearance. He proved that there was no relationship

Henry Agard Wallace was born on October 7, , near Orient, Iowa. He shared a name with his grandfather and father as well as their prominence as agricultural leaders. His grandfather was a former Presbyterian minister who edited the Iowa Homestead and converted a small farm journal into Wallace's Farmer, an agricultural newsletter widely read throughout the Midwest. His father served as secretary of agriculture in the administrations of Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge until his death in Henry Agard, after finishing his studies in agriculture at Iowa State College, took over the editorship of Wallace's Farmer when his father departed for Washington, D.C. In addition to editing, Wallace also experimented continually between and in breeding high-yielding strains of corn. In , he created the Hi-Bred Corn Company, a firm which marketed the first high-yield, disease resistant corn for commercial sale. Although his family was traditionally Republican, Wallace gradually came to support the Democratic Party. The tumult of the Great Depression and the plight of American farmers convinced him of the wisdom of government intervention, and by he was an enthusiastic supporter of Franklin Roosevelt. When Roosevelt took office, he made Wallace his secretary of agriculture, giving him the position his father just a few years earlier.

As secretary, Wallace oversaw the implementation of significant New Deal measures, most notably the Agriculture Adjustment Act (AAA) of The AAA involved aggressive government measures to prevent overproduction and to control farm prices. The destruction of crops and livestock were not popular at a time when 25 percent of Americans were unemployed, but farm prices did rebound and the program was reasonably successful. Wallace was a loyal ally to Roosevelt, even supporting his highly controversial "court-packing" plan in

When Roosevelt and Vice President Garner acrimoniously split in , Roosevelt offered Wa

Henry Agard Wallace, agricultural scientist, editor, cabinet official, vice-president, and presidential candidate, was born October 7, , in a modest frame house on an isolated farm in Adair County, Iowa, to Henry Cantwell (Harry) and (Carrie) May (Brodhead) Wallace, she barely twenty-one years old and her husband only a year older. Henry A., as he was called in Iowa, was born in the evening, and his mother had spent the afternoon in her garden. This was the way of birth in Iowa, as normal as husking corn or rising at dawn.

Yet nothing about the Wallace family ever quite fit the norm. The Wallaces were different. They were part of, but apart from, the general husbandry of Iowa. Unlike most farmers of the day, Harry had been to college and was a believer in "book farming," the application of scientific principles to agriculture. His young wife also had been to college and was trained in music and art. Like most Iowa farmhouses, Harry and May Wallace's home had no toilet, electricity, furnace, telephone or running water. A trip to town was an event. But it did have books, lots of them, and a piano, and it was brimming with ideas.

To the eternal consternation of readers in trying to keep the family straight with so many Henrys, May Wallace did not completely name her son according to the tradition established as the firstborn. She went back to her family name of "Agard," an English name. Arthur Agard was a common ancestor of the Wallace's and Winston Churchill and FDR! She was proud of her heritage and wished to keep that name alive. Henry Agard was the third Henry, his father being Henry Cantwell, who middle name was the family name of his mother, Ann Cantwell, "Uncle" Henry Wallace's wife.

His father and grandfather, also named Henry Wallace and widely and affectionately known as "Uncle Henry" owned and edited Wallaces' Farmer, a prestigious Iowa farming journal, and achieved prominence as agricultural leaders. The family-owned newspa

American politician (–)

Not to be confused with Henry A. Wallace.

For other people named Henry Wallace, see Henry Wallace (disambiguation).

Henry Cantwell Wallace (May 11, – October 25, ) was an American farmer, journalist, and political activist who served as the secretary of agriculture from to under RepublicanpresidentsWarren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. He was the father of Henry A. Wallace, who would follow in his father's footsteps as secretary of agriculture and later became vice president under Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was an editor of Wallaces' Farmer from to

Early years

Born May 11, , in Rock Island, Illinois, Wallace was the first child and son of Henry Wallace and Nancy "Nannie" (née Cantwell) Wallace. John Wallace, father of the elder Henry, was an Ulster Scots immigrant from the village Kilrea in County Londonderry, Ireland who arrived in Philadelphia in and later owned a farm in western Pennsylvania, which the elder Henry worked on as a child with his seven siblings. The elder Henry moved west at 18 and became a Presbyterian minister. He married Nancy Cantwell, the daughter of an Ohio politician, in

The elder Henry moved the family to Winterset, Iowa in on a doctor's recommendation. The family managed farm lands in Adair County, and his health improved significantly. He then entered the local newspaper business; he bought the Winterset Chronicle and the Madisonian, and wrote