At a conference of prominent American liberals and labor leaders held in New York City on
May 9-10, 1941, the Union for Democratic Action (UDA) was formally organized, with James
Loeb Jr. as executive secretary, Reinhold Niebuhr as national chairman, and Frank Kingdon as
president. Its purpose was to initiate a two-front fight against fascism, both at home and
abroad. At a reorganizational conference on December 21, 1941, 150 leading American liberals
worked out a program that they thought would be most effective in the prosecution of the
war. In June 1941, the UDA Bulletin began publication.
In January 1942, former Wisconsin Congressman Thomas R. Amlie opened the UDA Washington
Bureau and wrote the New Republic Supplement, "A Congress To
Win the War." More than 300,000 copies of this Supplement were distributed. In June, the UDA
was attacked by the Dies Committee as being a Communist Front organization; this was partly
responsible for the closing of the Washington office at the end of the year. Also in 1942 a
Chicago office was opened, headed by Frank McCulloch and aided financially by many prominent
Chicago liberals, including Anita McCormick Blaine.
From 1943 to 1945, the UDA was actively involved in supporting the war effort. With the
end of the war in 1945 and the return of troops, the UDA strongly supported a full post-war
employment plan, and fought vigorously for the appointment of Henry A. Wallace as secretary
of commerce in order to carry out full employment plans. In 1945, when the UDA national
offices moved to Washington, D.C., headed by Paul Sifton. There were also regional offices
in New York City, headed by Joseph P. Lash, and in Chicago as well as a London Bureau,
headed by David C. Williams.
In the summer of 1946, in the midst of the "Cold War," UDA leaders became increasingly
anti-communist. With liberal political defeat in the November elections, James Loeb Jr.,
national director of UDA, joined by Leon Henderson, Wilson W. Wyatt, Hubert H. Humphrey, and
others, called for a convention of democratic progressives to meet in Washington, D.C., on
January 4, 1947. It was their purpose to form an organization of liberal opinion which would
be explicitly and uncompromisingly democratic in purpose. On January 6, 1947, the Organizing
Committee of the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) took over the staff and facilities of
UDA, with James Loeb Jr., as national executive secretary.
Among the ADA founders were Wilson Wyatt, first national chairman, Leon Henderson, Hubert
H. Humphrey, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eugenie Anderson, William H. Davis, Joseph P. Lash, Will
Rogers Jr., Joseph L. Rauh Jr., Walter Reuther, James B. Carey, David Dubinsky, Walter
White, Reinhold Niebuhr, Herbert H. Lehman, Joseph and Stewart Alsop, Marquis Childs, Robert
Bendiner, Elmer Davis, Edgar Ansel Mower, Aubrey Williams, James Wechsler, and James Loeb
Jr.
The ADA established itself as a strong national, independent, liberal organization based
on American tradition. It proclaimed itself to be an organization for progressive
individuals dedicated to the achievement of freedom and economic security for all people
everywhere, through education and democratic action. Initially, the ADA hoped to expand the
social and economic legislation started by the New Deal. The support of civil liberties,
concern for the domestic economy, strong backing for the United Nations and international
control of atomic energy, and continued political and economic support of democratic
governments through out the world were among its aims.
Since 1947, the ADA has maintained its headquarters in Washington, D.C., where the
national director and a small staff carry out the chief work of the organization. Major
policy is determined by a yearly convention, although the National Board and the Executive
Committee are given the responsibility of implementing these policies through the ADA
staff.
For additional information on the history of the ADA see Clifton Brock's book, Americans for Democratic Action, 1962, and the folder labeled,
Los Angeles Times in series 2, box 59. The Wisconsin
Historical Society Library has a complete run of ADA
World.
