Wadley, Denis.

Denis Wadley was active in the revitalization of the Minnesota chapter of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) in the late 1960s and served as its vice chairman for one year before being elected chairman at the age of 29 in 1969. He held this office for three years and served the following year as the organization's executive director. In later years, he functioned as executive secretary and vice president. Wadley was an active member of the national ADA from 1961 and was also involved with the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and a number of other political organizations.

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Wadley was a graduate of DeLaSalle High School and held degrees from Mankato State College and the University of Minnesota. He worked as a librarian, high school teacher, legal researcher, and book reviewer, and served as an aide to then Lieutenant Governor Rudy Perpich. Wadley ran an unsuccessful campaign in 1973 for a position on the Minneapolis Library Board.

Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is the oldest independent liberal political organization in the United States. It was created in 1947 by leaders of the Union for Democratic Action (UDA), a liberal group that had been organized in 1941 to oppose fascism in the United States and abroad. Following World War II, the UDA's leaders became increasingly anti-communist and they reorganized as the ADA to portray their organization as specifically democratic in purpose. The ADA positioned itself as a progressive organization, supporting expansion of New Deal programs, protection of civil liberties, involvement with the United Nations, and aid to other democratic peoples.

In the years that followed, the ADA encouraged liberal action on civil rights and civil liberties issues, the Vietnam War, the move to impeach President Richard Nixon, nuclear arms control, apartheid, workers' rights, women's issues, increases in the minimum wage, and the Federal budget and tax policy.

The Minnesota chapter of the ADA was provisionally organized at a meeting of about 100 people on March 9, 1947. By the time a statewide convention was held three months later, its membership had swelled to 250. During its first years, the chapter concentrated on expanding membership throughout the state, publishing a newsletter, developing a state program, campaigning for continued national rent control, and revitalizing the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). The latter activity was so successful that, by the late 1950s, the chapter found it difficult to maintain a separate existence outside the party.

The Democratic Party's involvement with the Vietnam conflict appears to have been a major factor in the revitalization of the ADA in Minnesota. The chapter was rechartered in April 1968 and held an organizing convention the following November. The invitation to the convention presented the ADA as a liberal organization free from party ties. In the following years, the chapter focused on national issues such as the draft, drug legislation, gun control, spying, migrant workers, and tax reform. On a local level, issues such as the size of the state legislature, gay rights, and bail reform were addressed. The chapter also endorsed candidates on a nonpartisan basis and produced surveys of the Minnesota legislature, rating individual legislators on a selection of issues deemed important by the ADA.

Historical information on Denis Wadley was taken from the collection. Information on the ADA was taken from: Americans for Democratic Action Papers, 1932-1965: A Guide to the Microfilm Edition, edited by Jack T. Erickson; Americans for Democratic Action: Its Role in National Politics, by Clifton Brock; The ADA: Americans for Democratic Action, Its Advocates in Government, Its History and Its Program, published by the Minnesota Republican Party; the ADA Web site (http://adaction.org/); and the collection.

From the guide to the Minnesota ADA files and related papers., 1948-1984., (Minnesota Historical Society)