Although his membership in the Communist Party would not be known until he had already been out of the House of Representatives for six years, Hugh De Lacy (1910 – 1986) was easily recognized by his colleagues as quite the radical:
• In 1940 De Lacy voted against conscription and called for the defeat of all congressmen who support the military dictatorship
• Following the Nazi attack on the USSR a year later, he wanted to expand the draft pool to a far wider selection
• Serving as member of the Washington [State] Delegation in the 1940 Democratic convention, he offered the only "no" vote concerning the re-election of FDR on the grounds that he felt the president was a warmonger.
"But last week the pace got him down. While the House fought over labor legislation and full employment, De Lacy sat in his office immobilized. He had lost his voice after addressing the Council of American-Soviet Friendship in Philadelphia."
During this same period it was widely believed that FDR's first VP, Henry Wallace, was also a Communist, click here to read about him...
No doubt De Lacy's favorite presidential candidate was the American socialist Norman Thomas - and you can read about him here...
Click here to read about American Communists during the Great Depression.
Click here to read more articles about the Cold War.
Click here to read about The Daily Worker, the weekly organ of the American Communist...
Click here to read about the Communists who worked in the Federal Government.
