It's a little hard to imagine this radio address is actually from 1948. The problems Progressive Party Presidential Candidate Henry Wallace discusses during this campaign talk are somewhat eerie in their similarities to our current situation.

Political corruption, the over-bearing influence of Wall Street and the Banking system over elected officials. The manufactured prices, the hysteria and the fear mongering - it's all there. Only it's 1948.

Henry Wallace was an ardent New Dealer and Secretary of Agriculture before becoming vice-President during FDR's third term. After FDR's death, Wallace broke with the party and clashed with Truman over domestic and foreign matters. Wallace was repeatedly smeared by both Democrats and Republicans as being pro-Communist, and the fact that he enjoyed a cordial relationship with Moscow probably didn't help matters any.

But he did speak about things that have come back to haunt us now.

So here, in its entirety, is Henry Wallace's Campaign address from July 29, 1948.

And keep reminding yourself of that as you're listening.

Former vice-President and Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace broke with the Democratic Party in 1948. Anger with what Wallace considered Truman's dismantling of FDR's New Deal policies and a general slide back to the days before the Depression. Wallace, running as a Third Party candidate (The Progressive Party), gave a series of radio talks leading up to the 1948 election which he based on subjects voters wanted to hear about the most. This talk, number 3 of a series of 7, is about Inflation and what could be done about it in 1948.

Henry Wallace: “Inflation, what you and I call the high cost of living, is not something that just happens like the weather. You can’t do anything about weather, but you can about inflation. Inflation is not accidental, it is man made. It is monopoly made. It was made and forced upon us by the men of Wall Street, acting through their agents; the Republicans and the Democrats – the two party’s. And there is something we can do about it. We can end it.”

Wallace was pretty much marginalized by the powers that be at the time. I suppose the closest comparison you could draw (although by no means a wholly accurate one) would be a 1948 version of Ralph Nader. Seen as a thorn in the side of the two party system and ignored to a great degree when he wasn't being smeared as a Communist sympathizer. It's always interesting to consider how things might have turned out had Wallace gained momentum. But you could also draw a conclusion as to how Third parties tended to fare in our political climate throughout history. Perhaps that's something to think about as November draws nearer in 2010.

Another name from the faint, distant past. Alf Landon was the Republican candidate for President in 1936 and lost in a landslide to FDR. He supported the New Deal at first, but later condemned FDR for what he considered abandoning original New Deal principles. Landon was something of an anomaly as far as Republicans were concerned. He considered himself Progressive, fighting against the isolationists such as America First in 1939. After the war he was a vigorous backer of the Marshall Plan. Later, when China was taken over by Communists, Landon urged recognition of Red China. He also urged the U.S. to join the Common Market in 1962. All in all, not your typical Republican then, or certainly today.

When the 1944 Presidential election started heating up, Landon was called on to bring some unity to what had been a fractured party. He delivered numerous radio addresses in support of Republican candidates and this one, delivered on July 31, 1943, was in answer to an address made by vice-President Henry Wallace the previous night.

Alf Landon: “The shadow of a notable bitter election that will mean either the eclipse of the Fascist New Dealers or the American Republic is already appearing over the land. The Republican party and real Democrats are the only representatives of the great liberal principles of Jefferson, as they are being given force and vitality under the Republican leadership. And the high ideals of freedom for all peoples will be nothing put promises written on water if the Fascist New Dealers win this battle against the One Mulers.”

I hadn't heard the phrase "One Muler" before and my guess is it was one coined by Landon who referred to the middle class and the small business owner as a "One Muler" - possibly from an offshoot of slave reparations (forty acres and a mule) and certainly not a phrased used since then. I suppose you can draw all sorts of conclusions there.

Politics, it would seem, was so much different then.

(Henry Wallace - Jeffersonian ideals in 1939)

Much of what's been heard regarding Henry Wallace in recent years has mostly been centered around his unsuccessful bid for the 1948 Presidential election and his third party controversies.

But before that, when he was Secretary of Agriculture, he was an ardent New Deal supporter and a vigorous advocate for the causes of Agriculture, Labor and the blue-collar worker.

On April 22, 1939 he delivered an address at the annual Jefferson Day Dinner in Washington. His topic was "A Progressive Democracy In A Changing World".

In case you haven't heard him in this context, here he is:

Henry Wallace: “In this job of rebuilding, an essential role must fall to businessmen. This Twentieth century is the Machine Age and the Machine Age is an age of business. American life as we know it centers largely around business. And without the constructive help of businessmen, cooperating with the constructive leadership of Agriculture, the constructive leadership of Labor and the constructive leadership of government, the general welfare cannot be adequately served.”

He is introduced by Postmaster General James Farley.

Just thought you'd like to know.

A day full of strikes and strife.

April 9th 1947 began on an optimistic note as far as the striking Telephone Operators was concerned. A settlement was pending, but it still didn't mean a return to work, not for at least another 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Coal Miners were gearing up and Mine owners were blaming John L. Lewis for the trouble, saying he would not allow miners back to work until all mines in the country passed safety checks.

In London, the Big Four Conference was being sped up with regards to settling the border question between Poland and Germany, with the Polish frontier under revision. Also in London was former vice-President Henry Wallace, on his way to a number of conferences. He held a press conference where he called for an American move to the Soviet Union as a way of avoiding World War 3. He also advocated a complete revision in Foreign Policy and a curb on Imperialist intentions on the parts of both the West and the Soviet Union.

In Greece, the Army was preparing a sweep of rebel positions. Some 160,000 troops were involved.

David Lilienthal was confirmed as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, ending an 11 week debate over the appointment.

President Truman was taking a wait-and-see approach with the Republican Majority 80th Congress.

Services for Henry Ford were slated for the following day (April 10th). And Frank Sinatra had a date in Court in Los Angeles over an alleged fist fight between him and an over-zealous reporter.

And that's how this day rolled - that, and a lot more via two broadcasts for this April 9th, 1947. The first from the NBC News Roundup and the second from NBC News Of The World Night Edition.

The world somewhat askew, this 12th day of December 1947. First off- the General Strike in Rome had reached its second day with fears of violence just around the corner as a rumored 20,000 Communist activists were heading into town.

Speaking of Communists - Communist forces had successfully cut railway ties in two places in Manchuria. The Civil War was still raging in the region and fighting was continuing between Nationalist Chinese and Communist Chinese.

On the subject of continued violence - December 12th of 1947 also marked the 13th day of continuous violence since the Partition of Palestine on November 30th.

The Big Four Conference in London was continuing with a sudden mood of conciliation spring forth on the parts of the Soviets. The ease of reparations with Germany raised a few eyebrows.

And given his choice between President Truman and Republican Presidential candidate Senator Robert Taft in the 1948 election, former Democrat-turned Progressive Henry Wallace stunned the Dems by saying he'd vote for Taft.

And that's just part of how the day went, thanks to the NBC World News Roundup for December 12, 1947.

They say that everything old is new again - and in this case, everything new is old again. Old news is the fact that this country weathers through economic disasters on a periodic basis. The remedies, like insanity, are ones tried over and over again hoping to achieve different results. And subsequently we are routinely visited by the ghosts of disgusting familiarity.

In 1949 we were in the midst of yet another recession. This one was by and large the product of a Post-World War climate, a period where dramatic upheavals were taking place all over the world. The Cold War was a relatively new malady and a focus-point for alarmists everywhere. Our Foreign Policy was a shambles (the same shambles it is today but for mostly different reasons), our Domestic policy was busily being undermined by the legendary "do nothing" Congress (deja-vu you ask?) and we were starting on that gradual decline that has taken us to where we are today.

Former vice-President and Presidential Candidate for the Progressive Party, Henry A. Wallace laid out the situation in a radio address, part of the radio series Pro and Con on July 29, 1949.

Among the many things he crammed into fifteen minutes, he said:

Henry Wallace: “It is no answer to say that savings are high. The truth is that one-third of American families have no savings. And that most of the savings are in the hands of the top 10%. The wealthy 10% can’t buy all the products of our farms and factories. That is why there are 3 million fewer people working this summer than last summer. That is why farmers are making 1/10th less money. That is why business failures have doubled in less than a year. The President tells us the decline in industrial production has only been moderate. And as I look at those figures I see that the decline in the last seven months is as great as the decline in the first seven months of the 1929-1930 bust.

Wallace was acutely aware of what the problem was. As Secretary of Agriculture prior to his vice-Presidency, he oversaw many of the New Deal Recovery programs take shape to help put the country back on its feet. Clearly, in those 60+ years, not much has changed. Well, the stakes, the greed, the corruption and the incompetence have reached new highs. But the bottom line hasn't.

And that's where the insanity takes over.