FDR - Jean Edward Smith [284]
Willkie was supported by thousands of We Want Willkie clubs that had sprouted up across America. He was the candidate of media moguls such as Helen and Ogden Reid of the New York Herald Tribune, Roy Howard of the Scripps-Howard chain, John and Gardner Cowles of The Des Moines Register, Minneapolis Star, and Look magazine, and Henry and Clare Boothe Luce of Time, Life, Fortune, and Vanity Fair. “A vote for Taft is a vote for the Republican party,” said Life on May 13, 1940. “A vote for Willkie is a vote for the best man to lead the country in a crisis.” Willkie charmed reporters who covered the campaign. At his press conference on the third day of the convention, hard-bitten journalists gave him a prolonged standing ovation—a scene that could have come straight from Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
To his Republican rivals Willkie’s campaign appeared hopelessly amateurish. Yet the advertising was handled by Bruce Barton and John Young, the heads of two of the most powerful advertising firms in America; the chairman of the convention committee on arrangements (with absolute control over tickets to the gallery) was one of Willkie’s earliest supporters; keynote speaker Stassen became Willkie’s floor manager; and presiding officer Joe Martin of Massachusetts, the House minority leader, favored Willkie. Martin was a solid anti–New Deal isolationist, but he recognized that Willkie was the only candidate who might topple FDR.73
The Republican platform sidestepped a confrontation between the party’s isolationist and internationalist wings. The foreign policy plank, said H. L. Mencken, was “so written that it will fit both the triumph of democracy and the collapse of democracy.”74 Connoisseurs of political hara-kiri thrilled when the GOP unveiled Herbert Hoover for a prime-time radio address to a national audience. Democratic strategists regarded Hoover’s quadrennial appearances at Republican conventions as electoral reinsurance for victory in November.
On Thursday morning, June 27, with balloting scheduled to begin that afternoon, the Herald Tribune leaked (two days early) the results of the most recent Gallup Poll, showing Willkie out in front with 44 percent to Dewey’s 29 percent and Taft’s 13 percent. The impact was immediate. When the roll of the states was called, Dewey, as expected, led with 360 votes, Taft polled 189, and Vandenberg 76, but Willkie had 105—substantially more than had been expected.* The second ballot followed immediately. Willkie gained 66, Taft 14, Vandenberg held firm, but Dewey’s support began to erode. On the third ballot Willkie moved into second place, ahead of Taft. On the fourth Dewey’s strength collapsed and it was now a two-way race between Willkie and Taft, with Willkie leading 306–254.
Chants of “We want Willkie” from the packed gallery threatened to drown out the proceedings on the floor. The Republicans had not gone past the first ballot at any convention since 1920 (when Harding was nominated on the tenth ballot), and Convention Hall was pure pandemonium. Chairman Joe Martin gaveled down efforts by Dewey and Taft supporters to adjourn, and Willkie’s momentum accelerated. On the fifth ballot Alf Landon switched the Kansas delegation to Willkie, and on the sixth ballot it was all over. Willkie defeated Taft 655–318, Governor John Bricker of Ohio moved to make the vote unanimous, and at 1:30 A.M. Friday the convention adjourned.
The following day Willkie named Senate Republican leader Charles McNary of Oregon as his running mate. McNary was from the West, isolationist, pro–public power, and far more conservative on most issues than Willkie. But he was well liked in Washington by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and Roosevelt found him easy to work with. “I have the general opinion that the Republicans have nominated their strongest