By
Ed Kilgore,
political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015
Among the cattle and grain in Iowa.
From time immemorial, the midwestern Farm Belt has been a source of great turbulence in U.S. politics. A historically conservative region, the Farm Belt was responsible for shocking Democratic upset wins in presidential contests, such as the reelections of Woodrow Wilson (thanks to his opposition to U.S. entry into World War I) and Harry Truman (who defended New Deal farm programs against GOP efforts to dismantle them), as well as the semi-regular appearances of progressive politicians from William Jennings Bryan and Henry Wallace to George McGovern.
