It’s an unfortunate fact that when 1940 Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie is remembered today it’s almost exclusively as the subject of the mind-numbing “We Want Willkie” chant and for being on the losing end of the election that gave President Franklin Roosevelt an unprecedented third term in office. But today’s sore loser Republicans could learn a lot about losing gracefully from this unsung American hero. Obstructionists, secessionists and crybabies, take note: this is what real patriotism looks like.
Even by 1940 standards, Wendell Willkie was not your typical Republican. Willkie had been a college socialist, an active opponent of the Ku Klux Klan in his native Indiana, and – gasp! - a registered Democrat who only got around to changing his voter registration after the Republicans nominated him for president. A Wall Street lawyer and former president of the country's largest utilities holding company, Willkie was the party’s surprise nominee following five ballots found the convention deadlocked between Thomas Dewey and Robert Taft. Willkie, unlike the rest of the Republican field, was an ardent internationalist and a forceful and outspoken advocate of aid to America’s Allies, especially Britain; its likely Germany’s advances on the battlefield in the weeks leading up to the convention played a significant role in swinging the nomination to Willkie.
Running on a platform of fiscal conservatism at home and opposing fascism abroad, Willkie peppered his campaign with memorable quotes that would make 21st century Republicans blanch. “I’ll come to your house anytime you want,” Willkie reportedly told a major manufacturer, “but I don’t want to meet your rich friends.” Urged by campaign advisors to tailor his speeches to local interests, Willkie replied, “You’re wasting my time. My principles don’t change with geography.” With prescience of 21st century GOP politics he admonished “political parties, overanxious for vote catching, [that] become tolerant to intolerant groups.”
Willkie was unable to unseat the popular FDR, drawing only 45% of the popular vote and being swamped 449-82 in the Electoral College. But it’s what Willkie did after the election that makes his story unique in American politics. Was Willkie disappointed by his loss? Of course. Did he pout or sulk? Did he lash out with excuses? Did he blame his advisors, the voters, minorities, the media, mysterious “gifts” handed out by his opponent? Did he clench his fists, stamp his feet and vow to obstruct every one of Roosevelt’s legislative goals? No, Wendell Willkie did none of those things. Wendell Willkie got busy.
No sooner was the election was over then Willkie put aside partisanship and threw himself into the service of his country. He visited Great Britain, where he was welcomed with cheers by victims of the Blitz. To the chagrin of many Republicans, Willkie called for greater national support for some of Roosevelt’s controversial initiatives, such as the Lend-Lease Act, and embarked on a new campaign to awaken America from its isolationist slumber. He joined with Eleanor Roosevelt to found Freedom House, an organization devoted to research and advocacy on democracy, freedom and human rights. As Republicans grumbled, Willkie grew in international stature, eventually becoming Roosevelt’s personal representative and America’s unofficial ambassador-at-large, traveling to Britain, the Middle East, the Soviet Union and China, and escorting personal letters between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin.
Shunned by the Republican Party machine by 1944, Willkie lost big in the Wisconsin primary that spring and was not even invited to attend the national convention. He suffered a heart attack on October 6, 1944, and died in New York two days later at the age of 52. (Coincidentally, Willkie’s 1940 running mate, Charles McNary, had died six months earlier, making this the only time both members of a major party ticket died during the term for which they sought election.)
Wendell Willkie, wrote the New York Times, put “country above party and principle above ambition. … Without Mr. Willkie’s support, it is quite possible our Government would not have been ready for the attack that fell upon us in December, 1941. He helped win the war. He helped spread the American idea abroad and he showed by example the folly of those now behind the Iron Curtain who feared and suspected American democracy.”
A rare few figures in American history have contributed more after losing an election than others have after winning one. Wendell Willkie, possessed of deeply held principles of national unity and solidarity, was such a figure. Willkie’s story stands as a model of loyal opposition and good citizenship, a model few politicians or voters find palatable or even possible today. Sour grapes, bitter recriminations and irresponsible and unpatriotic nonsense like secession talk are childish, shameful and of value to no one, least of all a nation desperately in need of unity and solidarity.
So take a lesson from Wendell Willkie, 21st century Republicans: Lose the outrage. Quit the whining and the bitching and the finger-pointing. Here in America it’s possible to lose an election with grace and dignity and behave like a patriot. Why not give it a try?