E. Wallace Chadwick (January 17, 1884 – August 18, 1969) was an American politician from Indiana who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district from 1947 to 1949.

On January 19, 1945, Chadwick was the choice of state Senate Majority Leader Weldon Brinton Heyburn to fill the remaining year of a vacancy for president judge of the Delaware County Orphans Court.

Even though until then, it was the War Board's policy to endorse a sitting judge for reelection, McClure evidently would not even allow a small breath of political independence in the county.

On April 5, after weeks of deliberating, Wolfenden agreed to support the entire ticket, with a payback from the party in the candidacy of his close friend, Clarence Pepper of Upper Darby, for county controller.

However, in losing, Chadwick polled some impressive results, carrying Swarthmore by 732 to 57, but much more importantly, in a slap to Wolfenden, lost Upper Darby by only 1,105 votes.

But, with Wolfenden's departure, other Republicans were interested in the $10,000 a year job also, among them state representative James, who filed petitions of his own for Congress, instead of running for another term in Harrisburg.

Declaring to the voters, "I want you to reclaim Delaware County from the stigma of McClurism", the 62-year-old Chadwick eventually nosed out James Dewey by only 287 votes out of 76,543 cast, according to unofficial results.

He was able to pull off this narrow victory over the county machine by carrying 31 of the 49 municipalities in the congressional district, especially the larger towns of Haverford (3,919 to 3,604), Lansdowne (1,755 to 703), Ridley Township (1,363 to 1,145), Springfield (963 to 761), Swarthmore (a whopping 817 to 172), and most surprisingly, Wolfenden's Upper Darby (8,669 to 6,734).

With this narrow victory, Chadwick has the distinction of being the only person to defeat the War Board as a declared independent in a countywide Republican primary for Congress, or for any major office, for that matter.

", in response to fourteen years of Democratic rule and the difficult postwar adjustment period, which included soaring inflation, numerous union strikes and the "Red scare", the fear of communists in our government.

The Chester Times ran a headline, stating: "Only Mystery of Election is Size of GOP Majority", which summed up the view of most political observers.

In October, Chadwick, in one of his frequent radio addresses, which must have been a new experience for county residents who were used to a less visible candidate, called for a Republican House majority.

He stated that "Congress needs more than an appeaser - a comprehension of the nation's problems, a desire to serve America and my people of Delaware County that transcends any thought of profit to myself..." The Media League of Women Voters forum on October 18 was generally a low-key affair, with positions on several foreign and domestic issues given by both candidates.

Arthur Bretherick, chairman of the county Republican committee, gave a speech in which a ludicrous charge was made, apparently linking the Democrats to the Communists.

"Soviet Moscow in an official radio broadcast to the U.S. has demanded the defeat of Edward Martin for U.S. senate, James H. Duff for governor, E. Wallace Chadwick for Congress, as well as our other candidates.

Because of the Democratic lock on the ten former states of the Confederacy, the "Solid South", it was not always easy for the Republicans to pick up enough seats in other regions to gain numerical control of the House.

To more than offset this advantage, the Republicans captured 135 out of 180 seats in the larger states and had a huge margin in the relatively sparsely populated farm belt.

Some of his votes on major legislation were: the Labor Disputes Act, establishing a Mediation Board (Y); the now well-known Taft-Hartley Act, which curbed some union abuses and was passed over President Truman's veto (Y); the constitutional amendment to limit a president to two terms, (Y); extending rent controls, (Y); reducing income taxes, (Y); aid to Greece and Turkey to resist Communist aggression, (Y); to admit Hawaii as a state (N); an Anti-Poll Tax bill (Y).

"After all, if people can't get help from their public officers when they need it, they may well conclude that the subversionists are right, and that democracy...is really a farce so far as the little guy is concerned," Chadwick said in another radio address to his constituents.

He also tempered his remarks by stating he was confident that the American and Soviet people could find common grounds for settling their political differences peaceably.

His speech was described by the News of Delaware County as "ringing, bluntly worded...that drew salvos of applause from the floor and a packed gallery, as well as personal commendation from Democratic Minority Leader Sam Rayburn".

Another controversy ensued on April 21, when a Republican congressman from Philadelphia, George W. Sarbacher, Jr., addressed a rally held by McClure at the Media Armory and spoke against Chadwick.

"This country badly needs veterans of the caliber and ability and forthrightedness of Ben James," Sarbacher, a former Marine captain who was first elected in 1946 while still on active duty, told the crowd of 1,500.

He also gave another radio speech, playing on public fears of Communist subversion, denouncing Communism as the "deadly enemy" of America, "godless" and out to "conquer the world".

[2] In 1956, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles named Chadwick to a seven-member panel to review the records of all career foreign service officers.