Henry Agard Wallace was the thirty-third Vice President of the United States from 1941 to 1945, the eleventh Secretary of Agriculture from 1933 to 1940, and the tenth Secretary of Commerce from 1945 to 1946. In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.

During the 1940 presidential election, a series of letters that Wallace had written in the 1930s to Nicholas Roerich was uncovered by the Republicans. Wallace addressed Roerich as “Dear Guru” and signed all of the letters as “G” for Galahad, the name Roerich had assigned him. Wallace assured Roerich that he awaited “the breaking of the New Day” when the people of “Northern Shambhalla” - a Buddhist term roughly equivalent to the kingdom of heaven - would create an era of peace and plenty. When asked about the letters, Wallace lied and dismissed them as forgeries. When the Republicans threatened to reveal his beliefs, the Democrats threatened to release information about Republican candidate Wendell Willkie’s extramarital affair.

Wallace was elected in November 1940 as Vice President on the Democratic Party ticket with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His inauguration took place on January 20, 1941, for the term ending January 20, 1945.