Historian George E. Mowry called Byrnes " the most influential Southern member of Congress between John Calhoun and Lyndon Johnson . " In the Senate , Byrnes supported the policies of his long-time friend , President Franklin D. Roosevelt . Byrnes championed the New Deal and sought federal investment in South Carolina water projects . He also supported Roosevelt 's foreign policy , calling for a hard line against Japan and Nazi Germany . On the other hand , Byrnes opposed anti-lynching legislation and some of the labor laws proposed by Roosevelt , such as the Fair Labor Standards Act . Roosevelt appointed Byrnes to the Supreme Court in 1941 , but asked him to join the executive branch after the start of World War II . During the war , Byrnes led the Office of Economic Stabilization and the Office of War Mobilization . He was a candidate to replace Henry A. Wallace as Roosevelt 's running mate in the 1944 election , but Harry S. Truman was instead nominated by the 1944 Democratic National Convention
1944 Democratic National Convention
1944 Democratic National Convention
James F. Byrnes