In the wake of one of the most tumultuous Republican conventions ever, the party of Lincoln nominated in 1940 a prominent businessman and former Democrat who could have saved America's sclerotic political system. Although Wendell Lewis Willkie would lose to FDR, acclaimed biographer David Levering Lewis demonstrates that the corporate chairman-turned-presidential candidate must be regarded as one of the most exciting, intellectually able, and authentically transformational figures to stride the twentieth-century American ...
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In the wake of one of the most tumultuous Republican conventions ever, the party of Lincoln nominated in 1940 a prominent businessman and former Democrat who could have saved America's sclerotic political system. Although Wendell Lewis Willkie would lose to FDR, acclaimed biographer David Levering Lewis demonstrates that the corporate chairman-turned-presidential candidate must be regarded as one of the most exciting, intellectually able, and authentically transformational figures to stride the twentieth-century American political landscape. Born in Elwood, Indiana, in 1892, Willkie was certainly one of the most unexpected, if not unlikely, candidates for the presidency, only somewhat less unlikely than Barack Hussein Obama. Although previously marginalized by journalists like Theodore H. White and David Halberstam as a political invention of rich newspaper publishers, the Willkie who emerges here is a man governed by principles who seldom allowed rigid categories to stand in his way. Even as a young man, he quickly distinguished himself as a reform-minded lawyer, whose farm-boy haircut, hayseed manners, and sartorial indifference bespoke common-man straightforwardness but concealed an ambition that propelled him at forty to chairman of Commonwealth and Southern, the country's third-largest private utility holding company. It was Willkie's vehement opposition to government regulation of the free-market economy and his success in wrenching a fabulous monetary settlement from the Tennessee Valley Authority that attracted the attention of Republican leaders, who, like Willkie, felt that FDR was turning the office into an imperial presidency. Successful at outwitting the isolationist wing of his own party, Willkie took on Roosevelt during one of the nation's darkest periods, creating an unlikely alliance of supporters, including anti-big-government business leaders and black voters, who rightly felt excluded from New Deal benefits. Despite receiving the largest percentage of Republican votes in a generation, Willkie lost but, in the process, proposed sweeping civil rights reform a full generation before the civil rights era and a progressive "new conception of the world" that remains inspirational at a time when our own national belief system has become alarmingly immoral and rudderless. Rather than continue a political battle that could have weakened the nation during its darkest hour, a defeated Willkie reconciled with the president and embraced the war effort, while writing One World, a visionary credo that hoped to instigate an international movement for the betterment of the world's people. In rejecting America's penchant for exceptionalism, Willkie championed this internationalism more passionately than any American politician before him, creating a sovereign philosophy of liberalism that balanced free enterprise with social responsibility. His untimely death at fifty-two in 1944 left this prophetic vision tragically stillborn.
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When I was young, I read Irving Stone's biography of unsuccessful presidential candidates,"They Also Ran". Stone's book made me an admirer of Wendell Willkie, and I have remained fascinated by Willkie for much of my life. Willkie (1892 -- 1944) had a brief, meteoric political career. In 1940, he was the Republican candidate against FDR who won an unprecedented third term with United States participation in WW II in the offing.
With the last major biography, Steven Neal's "Dark Horse" written 35 years ago by Steven Neal and now out of print, it is more than time to take another look at Willkie. "The Improbable Wendell Willkie: The Businessman who Saved the Republican Party and his Country, and Conceived a New World Order" (2018) by David Levering Lewis offers a new, comprehensive look at Willkie as an American hero and icon.
Best-known for his Pulitzer Prize winning biographies of W.E.B. DuBois, Lewis writes passionately of his subject and of his continued importance. Lewis portrays Willkie "one of the most exciting, intellectually able, and authentically transformative figures to stride the twentieth-century American political landscape." Lewis approvingly quotes Walter Lippman's tribute rendered upon Willkie's untimely death: "Second only to the Battle of Britain, the sudden rise and nomination of Willkie was the decisive event, perhaps providential, which made it possible to rally the free world when it was almost conquered. Under any other leadership but his, the Republican party would in 1940 have turned its back on Great Britain, causing all who still resisted Hitler to feel that they were abandoned."
Lewis offers a moving picture of Willkie from his youth in Elwood, Indiana, the child of progressive, independent parents. In his young years, Willkie was a Democrat and an opponent of the KKK. At the age of 40, Willkie became a Wall Street Lawyer and executive. He came to national attention as an opponent of the TVA where some parts of the liberal Republican media saw him as an alternative to FDR. Changing his party affiliation to Republican, Willkie became the party's improbable 1940 presidential candidate on the strength of the enthusiasm he inspired and of his broadly internationalist program as opposed to the party's old-guard isolationists. Willkie was a fresh face at a time when a new look was necessary.
Willkie's greatest accomplishments occurred after his presidential defeat. Willkie became the leader of the "loyal opposition" and rose above partisanship. His work was essential in uniting the country behind Lend-Lease and the draft. Willkie became a spokesman for liberal internationalism, took a world-wide tour in 1942 with the support of FDR, and wrote an eloquent book "One World", which I read many years ago, about the need for international cooperation following the end of the War.
While Lewis discusses Wilkie's internationalism and his bipartisanship, his focus, as befitting a biographer of DuBois, is even more on civil rights. Lewis shows how Willkie worked with Walter White of the NAACP to secure rights to African Americans. Willkie was the first major presidential candidate to address the NAACP's annual convention. When he became chairman of the board of Twentieth Century Fox, Willkie worked to end the stereotypical portrayal of African Americans in film. I was unaware before reading Lewis' book of the scope of Willkie's work in Hollywood. Willkie also fought anti-Semitism and in 1943 received the American Hebrew Medal from American Hebrew Magazine for his efforts on behalf of the rights of minorities.
In his internationalism and his commitment to civil rights, Willkie was ahead of his time. His work led to a more bipartisan, internationalist approach to foreign policy in the Republican party even as it rejected him. Towards the end of his life, Willkie and FDR had preliminary discussions about a possible realignment of American political parties. These discussions were cut short by the deaths of both men. It is not necessary to agree with all of Willkie's positions to admire his integrity and his passion and to see him as a heroic, inspiring figure in the best traditions of American political life.
Lewis' book does Willkie justice. The book is marred in places by sloppy editing, typographical errors, repetitiveness, and awkward sentences which should have been corrected. These unfortunate mistakes do not take away from the value of a book about an American hero who still is too little known and who deserves to be remembered and taken to heart. I was moved to think about Wendell Willkie again through Lewis' book.
