1944 Democratic National Convention

The 1944 Democratic National Convention was held at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois from July 19–21, 1944. The convention resulted in the nomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented fourth term. Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri was nominated for Vice President. Including Roosevelt's nomination for the vice-presidency in 1920 with presidential running mate James M. Cox, it was the fifth time Roosevelt had been nominated on a national ticket.

Roosevelt's fourth nomination as President was largely unchallenged. The contention lay in the vice-presidential nomination. Although the party's conservatives could not stop FDR from winning the presidential nomination, the obvious physical decline in the President's appearance, as well as rumors of secret health problems, led many delegates and party leaders to strongly oppose Vice President Henry Wallace for renomination. Wallace (who was FDR's second Vice President) was regarded by most conservatives as being too left-wing and personally eccentric to be next in line for the Presidency. Numerous party leaders privately told Roosevelt that they would fight Wallace's renomination, and they proposed Missouri Senator Harry Truman, a moderate who had become well known as the chairman of a Senate wartime investigating committee, as FDR's new running mate. Roosevelt, who personally liked Wallace and knew little about Truman, reluctantly agreed to accept Truman as his new running mate to preserve party unity. Even so, many liberal delegates refused to abandon Wallace, and they cast their votes for him on the first ballot. However, enough large Northern, Midwestern, and Southern states supported Truman to give him the victory on the second ballot. The fight over the vice presidential nomination proved to be historic, as FDR's declining health led to his death in April 1945, and Truman thus became the nation's 33rd President.

The keynote address was given by Governor Robert S. Kerr of Oklahoma, in which he "gave tribute to Roosevelt's war leadership and new deal policies."

President Roosevelt was making a trip to the South Pacific in order to discuss military strategy with General Douglas MacArthur, and thus didn't attend the convention. This was the last time that a presidential nominee failed to attend a national convention during the 20th century.

Robert E. Hannegan, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee who had worked feverishly to secure Truman's nomination, later said he wanted his tombstone inscribed with the words "Here lies the man who stopped Henry Wallace from becoming President of the United States."