| Formation | January 3, 1947; 79 years ago (1947-01-03) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., United States |
| Membership | 65,000 members |
President | Art Haywood |
| Website | www |
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is aliberal American political organization advocatingprogressive policies. ADA views itself as supportingsocial andeconomic justice throughlobbying,grassroots organizing, research, and supporting progressive candidates.
The ADA grew out of a predecessor group, theUnion for Democratic Action (UDA). The UDA was formed by former members of theSocialist Party of America and theCommittee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies as well aslabor union leaders,liberal politicians,theologians, and others who were opposed to thepacifism adopted by most left-wing political organizations in the late 1930s and early 1940s.[1][2] It supported aninterventionist,internationalist foreign policy and a pro-union,liberal domestic policy. It was also stronglyanti-communist.[2][3] It undertook a major effort to support left-wingDemocratic members of Congress in 1946, but this effort was an overwhelming failure.[3][4][5]
James Isaac Loeb – later anambassador and diplomat in theJohn F. Kennedy administration – the UDA's executive director, advocated disbanding the UDA and forming a new, more broadly based, mass-membership organization.[6][7] The ADA was formed on January 3, 1947, and the UDA shuttered.[4][7][8][9]
Among ADA's founding members were leading anti-communist liberals from academic, political, and labor circles, including theologianReinhold Niebuhr, historianArthur M. Schlesinger Jr.,Eleanor Roosevelt, union leaderWalter Reuther, civil rights lawyerJoseph Rauh, andHubert Humphrey. Its founders hoped to solidify a progressive, pragmatic, noncommunist "vital center" in mainstream politics, embodying Schlesinger's concept formulated in his 1949 bookThe Vital Center.[10]
On April 3, 1948, ADA declared its decision to support a Democratic Party ticket of GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower and Supreme Court JudgeWilliam O. Douglas over incumbent U.S. PresidentHarry S. Truman. Truman lacked popular support, and the ADA succeeded in pushing Truman leftward on issues such ascivil rights.[10] It also led a full-scale attack onProgressive Party candidate and former USvice presidentHenry A. Wallace because of his opposition to theMarshall Plan and support for a more conciliatory relationship with the Soviet Union. The ADA portrayed Wallace and his supporters as dupes of theCommunist Party.[10]Adolf A. Berle Jr. andFranklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. believed that Eisenhower would accept the nomination.[11] He did not.
ADA supported Truman after his victory in the 1948 election.[9]
Although anti-communist, unlike other contemporary liberal groups like theProgressive Citizens of America (PCA), which supported cooperation with theSoviet Union, the ADA was still subject to significantMcCarthyist scrutiny. The plight of the ADA during that period promptedEleanor Roosevelt to accept a position as honorary chair of the organization in 1953, and in doing so, putSenator 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.[12]
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. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.[13] While active in liberal causes ranging from civil rights toLyndon B. Johnson'sGreat Society reforms, by the mid-1960s the ADA's influence was on the wane.[10] It was badly split over theVietnam War: initially supporting Johnson's war policy, the ADA had come to oppose the war by early 1968.[10] It endorsed founderHubert Humphrey's presidential candidacy that year, but with "barely concealed ambivalence".[10] After Richard Nixon's victory, the ADA was pushed to the political margins,[10] overshadowed by more centrist groups like theTrilateral Commission andCoalition for a Democratic Majority.
Prominent founding members included:
In April 1948 at New York state convention, ADA elected the following new officers:Jonathan Bingham ofScarborough 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,CIO), and Charles Zimmerman (International Ladies' Garment Workers Union).[11]
Since 1947, ADA's leaders have been:[17]
ADA ranks legislators, identifies key policy issues, and tracks how members ofCongress vote on these issues. The annual ADA Voting Record gives each member a Liberal Quotient (LQ) rating from 0, meaning complete disagreement with ADA policies, to 100, meaning complete agreement with ADA policies. A score of 0 is consideredconservative and a score 100 is consideredliberal. 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.[20]
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