He had worked on Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential campaigns, including the 1940 presidential election against Wendell Willkie.

In 1974, when a shorter version of the story appeared, a suit was brought on behalf of Mayling, and Cowles testified ( perhaps to protect Wilkie ) that the affair was “ impossible .” Taylor speculates that Willkie, who had several drinks when he talked to Cowles, had exaggerated or misled his young friend who had imagined the rest.

Willkie, an internationalist, needed the votes of the large isolationist element, so he waffled on the bitterly debated issue of America's role in World War II, losing support from both sides.

Willkie criss-crossed the globe on the former army bomber The Gulliver, bringing home a vision of " One World " freed from imperialism and colonialism.

As the convention opened in Philadelphia on June 24, Gallup reported that in a poll taken a few days earlier, Willkie had moved up to 29 %, Dewey had slipped 5 % to 47 %, and Taft, Vandenberg, and former President Hoover trailed at 8 %, 8 %, and 6 % respectively.

Finally, on the sixth ballot, Willkie received a majority of the ballots cast and won the nomination.

Willkie asked Martin to take on the task of Republican National Committee chairman, a post that Martin held simultaneously with his House leadership role from 1940 – 1942.

Willkie on the cover of TIME Magazine, July 31, 1939

Willkie relied heavily on radio to broadcast his message to the people.

In 1943, Willkie published One World, a book for popular audiences which recounted his world travels on the Gulliver and urged that America accept some form of " world government " after the war.

When a violent race riot broke out in Detroit on June 20, 1943, Willkie went on national radio to criticize Republicans and Democrats for ignoring " the Negro question.

Eleanor Roosevelt, in her My Day column for October 12, 1944, eulogized Willkie as a " man of courage ... outspoken opinions on race relations were among his great contributions to the thinking of the world ... Americans tend to forget the names of the men who lost their bid for the presidency.

" Miller compared John Kerry negatively and blasted the senator for being critical of President George W. Bush's foreign policy by claiming Willkie refused to criticize FDR on foreign policy during a time of war.

As the pro-Willkie galleries repeatedly yelled " We Want Willkie ", the delegates on the convention floor began their vote.

Both Taft and Willkie gained in strength on each ballot, and by the fourth ballot it was obvious that either Willkie or Taft would be the nominee.

The key moments came when the delegations of large states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York left Dewey and Vandenberg and switched to Willkie, giving him the victory on the sixth ballot.

Dewey alienated former president and fellow Republican Herbert Hoover during the campaign by ignoring him at the funeral of Wendell Willkie ; according to historian William Leuchtenburg, Hoover confided to a friend that " Dewey has no inner reservoir of knowledge on which to draw for his thinking ," elaborating that " A man couldn't wear a mustache like that without having it affect his mind.

An attempt to influence Roosevelt's special emissary, Wendell Willkie, on a visit to Great Britain and Ireland January 1941, failed.

Dubinsky had hopes of launching a national liberal party, headed by Wendell Willkie, the Republican candidate for President in 1940 who had soured on the Republican Party after his defeat in the primaries in 1944.

McNary was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1940, on the ticket with presidential candidate Wendell Willkie.

Dubinsky had hopes of launching a national liberal party, headed by Wendell Willkie, the Republican candidate for President in 1940 who had soured on the Republican Party after his defeat in the primaries in 1944.

Although Willkie had initially supported the draft, he waffled and reversed his stance when polls showed that opposition to entering another world war was a popular issue for the Republicans.

Then the crowning blunder came at the end of the speech when the Willkie clubs, without my knowledge, piped in an appeal for funds to the tremendous radio audience.

* Wendell Willkie, The GOP Presidential Nominee in 1940 Presidential Election attended Culver's summer program in 1906 but did not graduate.

According to recollections by publisher Gardner Cowles, Willkie's visit to China involved an episode where Soong May-ling seduced Willkie and took him to one of her hideaway apartments in Chungking.

Willkie graduated from Elwood High School, and four years later in 1913 earned a BA from Indiana University, where he belonged to Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

In 1909, McNutt entered Indiana University where he was active in campus politics, acted in student theater productions and was a close friend of Wendell Willkie, future Republican candidate for president of the United States who, like McNutt, was then a Democrat.

However, Willkie did not dismiss all of Roosevelt's social welfare programs, indeed supporting those he believed could not be managed any better by the free enterprise system.

At 4am, Cowles noted " a very buoyant Willkie appeared, cocky as a young college student after a successful night with a girl.

" But the next day, Willkie had Cowles tell Madame she could not travel to Washington with him after all.

Afterward, Roosevelt found Willkie to be compatible politically with his plans and brought him aboard as an informal ambassador-at-large.

This caused Willkie to become an active critic of the TVA, as well as other New Deal agencies that directly competed with private corporations.

A May 8 Gallup poll showed Dewey at 67 % support among Republicans, followed by Vandenberg and Taft, with Willkie at a mere 3 %.

Willkie consistently spoke of the need to aid Britain against Germany ; this contrasted with his main rivals Taft, Dewey, and Vandenberg, who were isolationists.

In mid-June, little over one week before the convention opened, Gallup reported that Willkie had surged to second place with 17 %, and that Dewey was slipping.

On the second and third ballots Dewey's support dwindled, as his delegates went to either Taft or Willkie, with most favoring Willkie.

On the fourth ballot Willkie surged into first place, with Taft close behind ; other candidates began to drop out in favor of the two frontrunners.

In giving his acceptance speech, Willkie used a full text of the speech which was typewritten with double spacing in ordinary pica type, whereas experienced politicians used triple space in large letters as notes for giving speeches.

Willkie claimed that he would keep most of FDR's New Deal welfare and regulatory programs, but that he would make them more efficient and effective, and that he would work more closely with business leaders to end the Great Depression.

Willkie received 22. 3 million votes ( more than any previous Republican candidate ), but was outpolled by Roosevelt with 27. 3 million.

In 1941, Willkie joined with Eleanor Roosevelt to found Freedom House.

" During this time, Willkie also worked with Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, to try to convince Hollywood to change its portrayal of blacks in the movies.

Willkie was considered a favorite in the Wisconsin primary, but finished a distant fourth, behind General Douglas MacArthur, Dewey, and Stassen, with only 4. 6 %.

Willkie was honored by the United States Postal Service with a 75 ¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.

However, the government-run TVA would compete with Willkie's Commonwealth & Southern, and this led Willkie to criticize and oppose the TVA's attempt to compete with private power companies.

Even so, Willkie remained a long-shot candidate ; the May 8 Gallup Poll showed Dewey at 67 % support among Republicans, followed by Vandenberg and Taft, with Willkie at only 3 %.

By mid-June, little over one week before the Republican Convention opened, the Gallup poll reported that Willkie had moved into second place with 17 %, and that Dewey was slipping.

Humphrey was a Willkie Republican in 1940, but during the postwar mop-up, when old American radicals were kicked out of a newly war-enamored Left, Humphrey busily extirpated Bryanism from the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party so that the populist FL might merge with the Trumanite hawks of the Democratic Party.