Editing Americans for Democratic Action (section)

===Action===
On April 3, 1948, ADA declared its decision to support a Democratic Party ticket of General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and Supreme Court Judge [[William O. Douglas]] over incumbent U.S. President [[Harry S. Truman]]. Truman lacked popular support, and the ADA succeeded in pushing Truman leftward on issues such as [[Civil rights movement (1896–1954)|civil rights]].<ref name="oxfcomp" /> It also led a full-scale attack on [[Progressive Party (United States, 1948)|Progressive Party]] candidate and former US [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] [[Henry A. Wallace]] because of his opposition to the [[Marshall Plan]] and support for a more conciliatory relationship with the Soviet Union. The ADA portrayed Wallace and his supporters as dupes of the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]].<ref name="oxfcomp" /> [[Adolf A. Berle Jr.]] and [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.]] believed that Eisenhower would accept the nomination.<ref name="Eisenhower">
{{cite news
| title = Democrats Urged to Run Eisenhower
| work = The New York Times
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1948/04/04/archives/democrats-urged-to-run-eisenhower-americans-for-democratic-action.html
| page = 45
| date = April 4, 1948
| access-date = December 28, 2018}}</ref>  He did not.

ADA supported Truman after his victory in the 1948 election.<ref name="ER" />

Although anti-communist, unlike other contemporary liberal groups like the [[Progressive Citizens of America]] (PCA), which supported cooperation with the [[Soviet Union]], the ADA was still subject to significant [[McCarthyist]] scrutiny.  The plight of the ADA during that period prompted [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] to accept a position as honorary chair of the organization in 1953, and in doing so, put [[Joseph McCarthy|Senator McCarthy]] in a position in which he would have had to "call her a communist as well" to continue his inquiries into the activities of the group.  Because of her actions, many ADA leaders credited her with saving the organization.<ref name="GWU-ER">{{cite web |title=Americans for Democratic Action |publisher=[[George Washington University]] |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/ada.cfm |access-date=April 29, 2015}}</ref>

In the early 1960s, ADA's influence peaked when a number of its key members (e.g. James Loeb, Arthur Schlesinger Jr.) were picked to join the administration of U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]].<ref name="Britannica">
{{cite encyclopedia
| title = Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
| encyclopedia = Encyclopedia Britannica
| url = https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Americans_for_Democratic_Action&action=edit
| date = July 20, 1998
| access-date = July 19, 2017}}</ref> While active in liberal causes ranging from civil rights to [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s [[Great Society]] reforms, by the mid-1960s the ADA's influence was on the wane.<ref name="oxfcomp" /> It was badly split over the [[Vietnam War]]: initially supporting Johnson's war policy, the ADA had come to oppose the war by early 1968.<ref name="oxfcomp" /> It endorsed founder [[Hubert Humphrey 1968 presidential campaign|Hubert Humphrey's presidential candidacy]] that year, but with "barely concealed ambivalence".<ref name="oxfcomp" /> After Richard Nixon's victory, the ADA was pushed to the political margins,<ref name="oxfcomp" /> overshadowed by more centrist groups like the [[Trilateral Commission]] and [[Coalition for a Democratic Majority]].