Editing Americans for Democratic Action

{{short description|Political organization}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox Organization
|name = Americans for Democratic Action
|image_border =
|size         = 
|caption = ADA logo
|membership = 65,000 members
|leader_title=President
|leader_name=[[Art Haywood]]
|headquarters = [[Washington, D.C.]], United States
|formation = {{start date and age|1947|1|3}}
|website = {{URL|http://www.adaction.org}}
}}
'''Americans for Democratic Action''' ('''ADA''') is a [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] American political organization advocating [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] policies. ADA views itself as supporting [[Social justice|social]] and [[economic justice]] through [[lobbying]], [[Grassroots|grassroots organizing]], research, and supporting progressive candidates.

==History==
===Formation===
The ADA grew out of a predecessor group, the [[Union for Democratic Action]] (UDA). The UDA was formed by former members of the [[Socialist Party of America]] and the [[Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies]] as well as [[trade union|labor union]] leaders, [[Liberalism|liberal]] politicians, [[Theology|theologians]], and others who were opposed to the [[pacifism]] adopted by most left-wing political organizations in the late 1930s and early 1940s.<ref>Zuckerman, ''The Wine of Violence: An Anthology on Anti-Semitism'', 1947, p. 220; Parmet, ''The Master of Seventh Avenue: David Dubinsky and the American Labor Movement'', 2005, p. 214, {{ISBN|0-8147-6711-7}}; Boyle, ''The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945-1968'', 1998, p. 49, {{ISBN|0-8014-8538-X}}; Brown, ''Niebuhr and His Age: Reinhold Niebuhr's Prophetic Role and Legacy'', 2002, p. 102, {{ISBN|1563383756}}; Ceplair, "The Film Industry's Battle Against Left-Wing Influences, From the Russian Revolution to the Blacklist", ''Film History'', 2008, 400–401; Libros, ''Hard Core Liberals: A Sociological Analysis of the Philadelphia Americans for Democratic Action'', 1975, p. 13, {{ISBN|0870731483}}.</ref><ref name="Brock">Brock, ''Americans for Democratic Action: Its Role in National Politics'', 1962, p. 49.</ref> It supported an [[Interventionism (politics)|interventionist]], [[Internationalism (politics)|internationalist]] foreign policy and a pro-[[Trade union|union]], [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] domestic policy. It was also strongly [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]].<ref name="Brock" /><ref name="Powers200">Powers, ''Not Without Honor: The History of American Anticommunism'', 1998, pp. 200–201, {{ISBN|0-300-07470-0}}.</ref> It undertook a major effort to support left-wing [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] members of Congress in 1946, but this effort was an overwhelming failure.<ref name="Powers200" /><ref name="Davis">Davis, ''The Civil Rights Movement'', 2000, p. 27, {{ISBN|0-631-22043-7}}.</ref><ref>Halpern, ''UAW Politics in the Cold War Era'', 1988, pp. 138–139, {{ISBN|0887066712}}.</ref> 

[[James I. Loeb|James Isaac Loeb]] &ndash; later an [[ambassador]] and diplomat in the [[John F. Kennedy]] administration &ndash; the UDA's executive director, advocated disbanding the UDA and forming a new, more broadly based, mass-membership organization.<ref name="Beinart4">[[Peter Beinart|Beinart]], ''The Good Fight: Why Liberals—and Only Liberals—Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again'', 2007, p. 4, {{ISBN|9780522853834}}.</ref><ref name="Libros22">Libros, ''Hard Core Liberals: A Sociological Analysis of the Philadelphia Americans for Democratic Action'', 1975, p. 22, {{ISBN|0870731483}}.</ref> The ADA was formed on January 3, 1947, and the UDA shuttered.<ref name="Davis" /><ref name="Libros22" /><ref>Hamby, "The Liberals, Truman, and the FDR as Symbol and Myth", ''The Journal of American History'', March 1970; Heale, ''American Anticommunism: Combating the Enemy Within, 1830-1970'', 1990, p. 140, {{ISBN|0-8018-4050-3}}</ref><ref name="ER">
{{cite web
| title = Teachings of Eleanor Roosevelt: Americans for Democratic Action
| publisher = Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project
| url = https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/ada.cfm
| access-date = July 19, 2017}}</ref>

Among ADA's founding members were leading anti-communist liberals from academic, political, and labor circles, including theologian [[Reinhold Niebuhr]], historian [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.]], [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], union leader [[Walter Reuther]], civil rights lawyer [[Joseph L. Rauh Jr.|Joseph Rauh]], and [[Hubert Humphrey]]. Its founders hoped to solidify a progressive, pragmatic, noncommunist "vital center" in mainstream politics, embodying Schlesinger's concept formulated in his 1949 book ''[[The Vital Center]]''.<ref name="oxfcomp">Mark L. Kleinman, "Americans for Democratic Action", in ''The Oxford Companion to United States History'', ed. Paul S. Boyer (Oxford/NY: Oxford UP, 2001), 34.</ref>

===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]].

==Leadership==

===Founders===
Prominent founding members included:
* [[Joseph Alsop]]<ref name="WorldHistory">
{{cite web
| title = Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
| website = World History
| url = http://www.worldhistory.biz/modern-history/79901-americans-for-democratic-action-ada.html
| access-date = July 19, 2017}}</ref>
* [[Stewart Alsop]]<ref name="WorldHistory" /><ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Chester Bowles]]<ref name="Lindley">
{{cite news
| first = Ernest 
| last = Lindley
| title = Rejecting The Reds: Regrouping of Progressives
| newspaper = The Washington Post
| page = 5
| date = January 6, 1947
}}</ref>
* [[Marquis Childs]]<ref name="Schlesinger">
{{cite book
| first = Arthur M.
| last = Schlesinger Jr.
| author-link = Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
| title = A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950
| publisher = Houghton Mifflin
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LLyNX6hMDCIC
| page = 457
| date = 2002
| isbn = 978-0618219254
| access-date = October 17, 2018
}}</ref>
* [[David Dubinsky]]<ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Elmer Davis]]<ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[John Kenneth Galbraith]]<ref name="WorldHistory" /><ref name="ADAhistory">
{{cite web
| title = ADA History
| publisher = Americans for Democratic Action
| url = http://www.adaction.org/pages/about/ada-history.php
| access-date = July 19, 2017}}</ref>
* [[Leon Henderson]]<ref name="Lindley" /><ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Hubert Humphrey]]<ref name="WorldHistory" /><ref name="Lindley" /><ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[James I. Loeb]]<ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Reinhold Niebuhr]]<ref name="WorldHistory" /><ref name="ADAhistory" /><ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Joseph P. Lash]]
* [[Joseph L. Rauh Jr.]]<ref name="WorldHistory" />
* [[Walter Reuther]]<ref name="ADAhistory" /><ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Eleanor Roosevelt]]<ref name="WorldHistory" /><ref name="Lindley" /><ref name="ADAhistory" /><ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.]]<ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Arthur Schlesinger Jr.]]<ref name="WorldHistory" />
* [[John H. Sengstacke]]<ref name="WorldHistory" /><ref>
{{cite book
| first = Penny M. 
| last = Von Eschen | author-link = Penny Von Eschen
| title = Race Against Empire: Black Americans and Anticolonialism, 1937–1957
| publisher = Cornell University Press
| url = https://archive.org/details/raceagainstempir00vone
| url-access = registration
| date = 1997
| isbn = 978-0801482922
| access-date = October 17, 2018
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| first = Daniel S. 
| last = Lucks
| title = Selma to Saigon: The Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War
| publisher = University Press of Kentucky
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6oaAwAAQBAJ
| date = March 19, 2014
| isbn = 9780813145099
| access-date = October 17, 2018
}}</ref>
* [[James Wechsler]]<ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Walter Francis White|Walter White]]<ref name="Schlesinger" />
* [[Wilson W. Wyatt]]<ref name="Lindley" />

In April 1948 at New York state convention, ADA elected the following new officers:  [[Jonathan Bingham]] of [[Scarborough, New York|Scarborough]] as chairman with vice chairmen Dr. William Lehman of Syracuse, Benjamin McLaurin of New York City, Howard Linsay of New York City, Jack Rubenstein ([[Textile Workers Union of America|Textile Workers Union]], [[Congress of Industrial Organizations|CIO]]), and Charles Zimmerman ([[International Ladies' Garment Workers Union]]).<ref name="Eisenhower" />

===Chairs and presidents===

Since 1947, ADA's leaders have been:<ref name="ADAhistory" />

* 1947–1948:  Wilson Wyatt <!-- linked above -->
* 1948–1949:  Leon Henderson <!-- linked above -->
* 1949–1950:  Senator Hubert Humphrey <!-- linked above -->
* 1950–1953:  [[Francis Biddle]]
* 1954–1955:  Arthur Schlesinger Jr. <!-- linked above --> and [[James Edward Doyle|James E. Doyle]] (co-chairs)
* 1955–1957:  Joseph L. Rauh Jr. <!-- linked above -->
* 1957–1959:  [[Robert R. Nathan]]
* 1959–1962:  [[Samuel H. Beer]]
* 1961–1964:  [[Paul Seabury]]
* 1962–1965:  [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/07/obituaries/john-p-roche-70-scholar-and-counselor-to-presidents.html John P. Roche]
* 1965–1967:  Rep. [[Don Edwards]]
* 1967–1969:  John Kenneth Galbraith <!-- linked above -->
* 1970–1971:  [[Joseph Duffey]]
* 1971–1973:  Rep. [[Allard K. Lowenstein]]
* 1974–1976:  Rep. [[Donald M. Fraser]]
* 1976–1978:  Senator [[George McGovern]]
* 1978–1981:  Rep. [[Patsy T. Mink]]
* 1981–1984:  The Rev. [[Robert F. Drinan]], S.J.
* 1984–1986:  Rep. [[Barney Frank]]
* 1986–1989:  Rep. [[Ted Weiss]]
* 1989–1991:  Rep. [[Charles B. Rangel]]
* 1991–1993:  Senator [[Paul D. Wellstone]]
* 1993–1995:  Rep. [[John Lewis]]
* 1995–1998:  [[Jack Sheinkman]]
* 1998–2000:  Rep. [[Jim Jontz]]
* 2000–2008:  Rep. [[Jim McDermott]]
* 2008–2010:  [[Richard Parker (economist)|Richard Parker]]
* 2010–2016: Rep. [[Lynn Woolsey]]
* 2017–2018: State Senator [[Daylin Leach]]
* 2018–: State Senator [[Art Haywood]]

== Voting records ==
ADA ranks legislators, identifies key policy issues, and tracks how members of [[United States Congress|Congress]] vote on these issues. The annual ADA Voting Record gives each member a Liberal Quotient (LQ) rating from&nbsp;0, meaning complete disagreement with ADA policies, to&nbsp;100, meaning complete agreement with ADA policies. A score of 0 is considered [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] and a score 100 is considered [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]].  The LQ is obtained by evaluating an elected official's votes on 20 key foreign and domestic social and economic issues chosen by the ADA's Legislative Committee.  Each vote given a score of either 5 or 0 points, depending on whether the individual voted with or against the ADA's position, respectively.  Absent voters are also given a score of 0 for the vote.<ref name="ADAVotingRecords">{{cite web |title=Voting Records |publisher=Americans for Democratic Action |url=http://www.adaction.org/pages/publications/voting-records.php|access-date=April 29, 2015}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Progressive Citizens of America]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.adaction.org/}}
* [https://search.library.wisc.edu/search/catalog?q=4575-arcatdb Americans for Democratic Action records, 1932–1999]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Americans for Democratic Action}}
[[Category:Anti-communist organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1947]]
[[Category:Political advocacy groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Liberalism in the United States]]
[[Category:1947 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Walter Reuther]]