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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Opposition in Wartime, July 10, 2005
This review is from: Five Days in Philadelphia: The Amazing "We Want Willkie!" Convention of 1940 and How It Freed FDR to Save the Western World (Hardcover)
Political mavens will recall Zell Miller's praise for Wendell Willkie at last summer's Republican Convention. Charles Peters provides the back story on Willkie's principled support for FDR's wartime initiatives during the 1940 election season. Peters recounts how Willkie - the only internationalist in a field of avowed isolationists -- wrested the Republican nod from the grip of Dewey, Taft and Vandenberg, each of whom was implacably opposed to providing material assistance to the Allies as the Nazi juggernaut marched across Europe. France's astonishing capitulation the day before the Convention opened was the biggest factor, Peters avers, in galvanizing popular and delegate support behind Willkie - though it took six ballots to put him over the top. He also details the role of the Luce media empire and a sympathetic press generally, Wall Street and Eastern Establishment interests, and a grassroots campaign orchestrated by Elihu Root's (former Sec of State) grandson played in advancing Willkie's Darkhorse candidacy. We also see the always-politically-dexterous FDR orchestrating a putative "draft" at the Democratic convention in Chicago, thereby sparing himself the indignity of having to actively seek an unprecedented third term. The nip-and-tuck struggle to add Henry Wallace to the ticket as VP is also recalled in fascinating detail. (Wallace's principal opponent was the father of actress Tallulah Bankhead, then the Speaker of the House, who would be dead less than 60 days after the convention.) Confronting FDR as he secured re-nomination were two politically treacherous issues borne out of the hostilities in Europe: whether to provide England with 50 WWI vintage destroyers for its desperately depleted fleet, and whether to institute a military draft, the first for the U.S. in peacetime. Wilkie's support for universal conscription was unflagging throughout the campaign, pretty remarkable considering the fervent, visceral opposition this issue engendered among Republican regulars, not to mention legions of concerned American mothers. (Remember at this time, Pearl Harbor was still over a year away and isolationist sentiment was in the majority.) On FDR's exchange of the aged destroyers for U.S. basing rights in the Caribbean - a sound bargain for Uncle Sam - Willkie did not gainsay the decision. But he did loudly excoriate FDR's decision to end-run Congress (bipartisan opposition assured the plan' defeat) and implement it by executive order. After the hard-fought election, Willkie was an ardent supporter of FDR's Lend-Lease initiative, his Congressional testimony credited with providing the margin of difference. "Five Days in Philadelphia" is an interesting look at how the loyal opposition should behave in wartime - an engaging, illuminating and all-around terrific read.
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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good story, overdone conclusions, July 31, 2005
This review is from: Five Days in Philadelphia: The Amazing "We Want Willkie!" Convention of 1940 and How It Freed FDR to Save the Western World (Hardcover)
Throughout my life Wendell Willkie has always been portrayed as a colorful footnote to history... a man who rose from near obscurity and, with the help of convention galleries cheering him on, overcame more staid Republican opposition to face Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the general election of 1940. After reading "Five Days in Philadelphia", I'm convinced that Willkie's place in American history should stay just about where it has rested for over sixty years. Willkie's story (and political timing) make a good book and Charles Peters has done a very good job at enlightening the reader about Willkie's life, both personal and political. Born in 1892 to rather prominent citizens of Elwood, Indiana, Willkie eventually taught history in Coffeyville, Kansas before going on to become a lawyer. Peters points out that Willkie was in all ways larger than life, had a penchant for booze and cigarettes and had a lifelong "wandering eye" for women. His lengthy affair with Herald Tribune editor Irita Van Doren was kept private for the most part, although it is fascinating to think that the two major presidential candiates of 1940 could have had serious political troubles had their affairs been exposed. Peters is at his best when he tells of the five days of the Republican convention in June, 1940. It's nice to be reminded of a time when the convention choices were actually decided at the conventions and not in an arduous primary system as we have today. The author captures the events dramatically....from the searing heat to the deal-making to the roaring demonstrations...all of this is related with wonderful intensity. Had it not been for key players like Sam Pryor and Joe Martin, Willkie would never have been able to overcome the forces of Thomas E. Dewey and Senators Taft and Vandenberg. "Five Day in Philadelphia" takes a strange turn, however, after the Republican convention for from here on out the focus is on FDR. It is at this juncture that the reader is reminded that the real players were people in the Democratic party...not only FDR, but his advisor Harry Hopkins, FDR's near convention opponent, James Farley, Eleanor Roosevelt and people on down the line. Much is made, as it should have been, about the discussion of lending Great Britain fifty destroyers and the debate about resuming the draft, but Willkie seems largely left out of the picture, except for a few references about how he helped strengthen Roosevelt's hand with his support for Britain. Peters repeatedly makes the assertion that Willkie's nomination was far better for the country, but I'm not convinced of that. Had Taft, Dewey or Vandenberg been the nominee, the lines between any of them and FDR would have been much more clearly delineated and may have given the president an easier time persuading the country about the perils of Hitler....a direction in which the country seemed to be headed already at the time. Wendell Willkie was in the national spotlight for roughly six months. I'm sure there were times that his support of FDR was welcome but I don't think that Charles Peters makes a very good case for making Willkie so influential. It's a leap of faith that doesn't work very well. Still, "Five Days in Philadelphia" is a good book and one that adds to our knowledge of Wendell Willkie, a colorful character who captured the American spirit for a brief moment. The book is an often swift read and the narrative is written well. For those reasons it is a worthwhile venture.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
1940 Presidential Politics: A Coincidence?, August 3, 2005
This review is from: Five Days in Philadelphia: The Amazing "We Want Willkie!" Convention of 1940 and How It Freed FDR to Save the Western World (Hardcover)
That Wendell Wilkie was the only man on the Republican ticket in 1940 who made it possible for FDR to offer the military aid to Britain he wanted so desperately to give without it becoming so unpopular that he would lose the election, is an interesting idea, and although it's partially true (all the other Republican candidates were staunch isolationists), it's only hyperbole that, as Peters's subtitle declares, Wilkie's nomination "saved the Western world." Wilkie feared and hated Hitler, and the possibility that Britain would fall, as France had done, was very real, with grave consequences for the US. Thus he was all in favor of Roosevelt's wanting to help the British militarily, as well as reinstituting the draft (the first time there would ever be a peace-time draft in America). Peters is best when recounting the events at the Republican convention in Philadelphia, showing how Wilkie came out of nowhere to snag the nomination. He is also good at showing how Roosevelt came around to "accepting" a third-term nomination by the Democrats. Peters is a popular historian, however, and is weakest when attempting to sketch "background" to put events in context, and worst of all, when he even makes himself a part of the story at the beginning as an interested 13-year-old at the time. Although the book is not necessarily shallow, it's also not very deep: I read the book in one sitting. Interesting, but not essential.
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