Dark Horse: Biography of Wendell Wilkie
by Steve Neal
- New
- Condition
- New
- ISBN 10
- 0700604537
- ISBN 13
- 9780700604531
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About This Item
New. Wendell Willkie never held a public office, yet he nearly became president of the United States. A registered Democrat until the fall of 1939, he captured the Republican party's nomination less than a year later. It was, by all accounts, a meteoric rise--to win the nomination Willkie defeated such party stalwarts as Thomas Dewey, Robert Taft, and Arthur Vandenberg. These Republican front-runners had been insisting that the war in Europe wasn't a national concern since two oceans protected the U.S. from the aggressors, while for months Willkie had warned of the danger of a Europe controlled by fascists. Shortly before the GOP convened in Philadelphia, Hitler's armies swallowed Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries, and France. In a time for heroes, Willkie was a man of the hour. Almost overnight Willkie moved the Republican party out of its hidebound isolationism and sent a message to the world that Americans stood together against Axis aggression. Roosevelt, although recognizing Willkie as a formidable political opponent, called his nomination a "godsend" because it finally brought national unity. Roosevelt's election to a third term--and Willkie's defeat--turned out to be the closest presidential race in a generation, and Willkie received more votes than any previous Republican candidate, setting a record that stood until Eisenhower's '52 landslide. And despite his defeat, Willkie grew in stature becoming Roosevelt's special envoy during World War II, first to London during the Blitz and later to the Middle East, to Russia, and to China. On the home front Willkie became the spokesman of the One World philosophy that influenced U.S. foreign policy for a generation and the conscience of American politics, speaking out against isolationism, imperialism, and the persecution of minorities.
Reviews
On Sep 6 2015, a reader said:
Long before John McCain began his political career, Wendell Willkie served as the model for a Republican Party maverick. A Democrat for most of life, Willkie emerged as one of the most prominent critics of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s. His charismatic public persona and opposition to the administration's policies towards business made him a national figure, and at the urging of admirers Willkie became a Republican as a prelude to winning the GOP presidential nomination in 1940. With a world war as a backdrop, Willkie was defeated in a close election, yet much to the chagrin of Republican leaders he used his newfound prominence to endorse his opponent's foreign policy -- a move that contributed to his defeat when he sought a rematch four years later.
A longtime political reporter and columnist, Steve Neal's biography offers quite a few insights into the factors and failings of Willkie's presidential run Yet his book overall is a disappointment as a biography. Neal devotes most of the book to Willkie's political career, with over a third of its pages spent on his 1940 presidential campaign alone. While this makes sense from the standpoint of Willkie's significance to American history, it effectively condenses the majority of Willkie's years as a lawyer and business executive to a prelude to his political activities. Often, key developments in Willkie's life are not analyzed or even described, merely noted in Neal's rush to get to what he wants to write. As a result, much of Willkie's development, particularly of his political views, tends to get lost. The result is an account that, while readable and even gripping in its evocation of the Willkie phenomenon, comes up short as the book it is advertised as being.
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Details
- Bookseller
- The Saint Bookstore (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- B9780700604531
- Title
- Dark Horse: Biography of Wendell Wilkie
- Author
- Steve Neal
- Book Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 10
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0700604537
- ISBN 13
- 9780700604531
- Publisher
- University Press Of Kansas
- Place of Publication
- Lawrence, Kansas, U.s.a.
- This edition first published
- 1989-11
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