They are patriotic in time of war because it is to their interest to be so, but in time of peace they follow power and the dollar wherever they may lead.

Meaning of the quote

The quote suggests that some people only show patriotism and support for their country during times of war because it benefits them personally. However, when there is no war, these same people are more interested in gaining power and money, even if it means going against the interests of their country.

About Henry A. Wallace

Henry A. Wallace was an influential American politician who served as Vice President, Secretary of Agriculture, and Secretary of Commerce. He was a progressive thinker who supported the New Deal and advocated for policies like racial equality and a national health insurance program. Despite his later controversies, Wallace’s legacy as an innovator and champion of the common people endures.

More about the author

More quotes from Henry A. Wallace

They are patriotic in time of war because it is to their interest to be so, but in time of peace they follow power and the dollar wherever they may lead.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

Our chemical and other manufacturing concerns are all too often ready to let the Germans have Latin American markets, provided the American companies can work out an arrangement which will enable them to charge high prices to the consumer inside the United States.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The worldwide, agelong struggle between fascism and democracy will not stop when the fighting ends in Germany and Japan.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The fascists in most Latin American countries tell the people that the reason their wages will not buy as much in the way of goods is because of Yankee imperialism. The fascists in Latin America learn to speak and act like natives.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The myth of fascist efficiency has deluded many people.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

It may be shocking to some people in this country to realize that, without meaning to do so, they hold views in common with Hitler when they preach discrimination against other religious, racial or economic groups.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

If this liberal potential is properly channeled, we may expect the area of freedom of the United States to increase. The problem is to spend up our rate of social invention in the service of the welfare of all the people.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The European brand of fascism will probably present its most serious postwar threat to us via Latin America.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

Until democracy in effective enthusiastic action fills the vacuum created by the power of modern inventions, we may expect the fascists to increase in power after the war both in the United States and in the world.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The symptoms of fascist thinking are colored by environment and adapted to immediate circumstances. But always and everywhere they can be identified by their appeal to prejudice and by the desire to play upon the fears and vanities of different groups in order to gain power.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The obvious types of American fascists are dealt with on the air and in the press. These demagogues and stooges are fronts for others. Dangerous as these people may be, they are not so significant as thousands of other people who have never been mentioned.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

If we put our trust in the common sense of common men and ‘with malice toward none and charity for all’ go forward on the great adventure of making political, economic and social democracy a practical reality, we shall not fail.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

Fascism is a worldwide disease. Its greatest threat to the United States will come after the war, either via Latin America or within the United States itself.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The moral and spiritual aspects of both personal and international relationships have a practical bearing which so-called practical men deny.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

A liberal knows that the only certainty in this life is change but believes that the change can be directed toward a constructive end.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

Most American fascists are enthusiastically supporting the war effort. They are doing this even in those cases where they hope to have profitable connections with German chemical firms after the war ends.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The dangerous American fascist is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

Monopolists who fear competition and who distrust democracy because it stands for equal opportunity would like to secure their position against small and energetic enterprise.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

It has been claimed at times that our modern age of technology facilitates dictatorship.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

This dullness of vision regarding the importance of the general welfare to the individual is the measure of the failure of our schools and churches to teach the spiritual significance of genuine democracy.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

It is no coincidence that the growth of modern tyrants has in every case been heralded by the growth of prejudice.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us.

Henry A. Wallace

vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945