Once upon a time, Henry Wallace was a liberal hero. At the dawn of the New Deal, the brilliant agronomist transformed the stodgy Agriculture Department (which his father, a Republican, headed a decade before) into the savior of the farm economy and a well-funded crusader for the scientific raising of crops and animals. In the late 1930s, he also vigorously espoused "collective security" against fascism abroad and more relief spending at home. Elected Franklin Roosevelt's vice president in 1940, Wallace toured the world at war, proclaiming that an "age of the common man" was at hand, if only the alliance with the Soviet Union could endure after the Axis powers were defeated.