Regular contributors to the "National Guardian" in its formative period included a broad range of Communist and non-party radicals, including NAACP founder W. E. B. Du Bois, writer Ring Lardner, Jr., economist Paul Sweezy, journalist Anna Louise Strong, activist Ella Winter, and others. The debut issue featured contributions by young novelist Norman Mailer, a supporter of the Progressive Party, as well as a piece written for the paper by head of the party's electoral ticket Henry Wallace. The paper became known for its original foreign coverage, with contributions not only from Strong but also from veteran radical journalists Agnes Smedley and Wilfred Burchett. "The National Guardian" launched with a circulation of 5,000 and was initially received very positively, with its press run approaching the 100,000 mark by the end of the paper's first year. The editors envisioned continued growth and a lowering of the paper's cover price, with a view to establishment of an influential mass weekly with a circulation of 500,000 or even 1,000,000 copies. With over 1 million voters casting ballots for Henry Wallace in November 1948, such a goal seemed within realization, and the editors tied their hopes to the continued growth and success of the Progressive Party movement. Circulation peaked at 75,000 by 1950. Reality intervened, however. The paper's initial financial needs were met by a one-year subsidy provided by Anita McCormick Blaine, an heir to the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company fortune, which soon expired, leaving the editors in charge of a paper with a production cost of 12 cents an issue and a cover price of just 5 cents. The paper skipped issues and slashed pay of its office staff, barely surviving the financial crisis. The paper's cover price was hiked to 10 cents in an effort to balance costs and revenues. In addition to its uneconomical business model, the "National Guardian" found its growth hampered by its connection to a faltering political movement. Doomed by its close linkage to the personality of defeated Presidential aspirant Henry Wallace and subjected to severe criticism for its connection to the Communist Party, the Progressive Party rapidly dissolved as the 1940s drew to a close. Similarly, the New York-based American Labor Party (ALP), a local organization strongly supported by the "National Guardian," lost considerable support when its most popular figure, Congressman Vito Marcantonio, lost his reelection in 1950. An even greater blow was struck in 1950 with the advent of the Korean War — which the "National Guardian" vehemently opposed.