I stand before you without a single pledge or promise or understanding of any kind except for the advancement of your cause and that of democracy. [applause] the republicans Wendell Willkie ran for president in 1940. Some images of him on the campaign trail. We are here with david willkie. I want you to introduce the audiences of some of the fervor. Your grandfather ran for president and try to defeat Franklin Delano roosevelt, who was seeking a third term. What an exciting time in the country. Here we are just entering into the great depression, the end of the hoover administration, eight years of the roosevelt administration. President roosevelt was right at the height of its power. That opened up a tie for a dark horse candidate. Keep in mind the state of the Republican Party. It was a party defeated by roosevelt in 1932. What were the republicans looking for and why was your grandfather the person they chose . And nobody else had run for a third term before, going back to the time of George Washington. When washington stepped down, no one had even dreamed of running for a third term for the presidency. When roosevelt announced that he did, it changed the whole dynamic of what was out there. Certainly looking at europe, world war ii, the autopsies were the nazis were going over to northern europe. The republican said, what do we do . Yet it was a Republican Party that had Herbert Hoover was hoping the party would come back to him. You had thomas dewey of new york. This was a convention in philadelphia that went for six hours. And nobody had come from a business side. Nobody was actually doing that except for Wendell Willkie. He certainly rose up and had an electric personality and Magnetic Energy about him that brought people to him. You obviously never do your grandfather. He died at the age of 52. We will learn more about his life. Why did he ultimately decide to run for the nomination . He did set the groundwork in 1939 for a possible predator to bed in 1940. A possible president ial did in 1940. He was always interested in politics, even from growing up in his hometown. He talked about it in his life, in his childhood with his parents, when they got to college it was always an integral part of its life. We are in russellville, indiana, one of the homes of Wendell Willkie. This is a wooden post card sent to the United States mail, sent from aberdeen, washington. All of the people in the town actually signed the back of the postcard to say we want willkie. We want Wendell Willkie to run for the president ial nomination for the presidency. What was the Campaign Like . You had or will keep clubs. You had boxes of buttons and banners. People wanted something new and different that they had not had before. This is where the willkie name started to take off. Here was someone who had challenged the new deal successfully. He had been a strong proponent of individual freedom and liberty. People were drawn to the message. We are about a block off of main street. Your mother, Wendell Willkies daughter in law, lived a few blocks from here. If it was my grandmothers home town. My grandfather grew up in elwood. When they married, this was the place they generally call home. In the family, my great great grandfather had lost his shirt during the depression. Instead of giving his father in law a handout, when the willkie and bought a farm land. He asked his fatherinlaw if he would manage it. How much time did he spend in rushville. His wife and son would come back constantly, but during the campaign, this was the headquarters. Indianapolis and in the center of the state. We are in rushville. Where is elwood. The northeastern part of the state, north of rushville about an hour and a half from here, a little bit of an hour from indianapolis. Why is elwood so important for the 1940 campaign . The decided to accept the nomination in elwood, indiana. It is the largest political rally ever in the history of indiana. The Historical Society said the people were honking horns and cheering that the hometown boy was the republican nominee. He was improbable going into the philadelphia. No question. He was the dark horse. During the nomination speech, it was such a high sweltering indiana at bay. It was a carnival atmosphere with books and paraphernalia. Some of it you may see here today. David willkie, who is the grandson of Wendell Willkie. Well be checking in with you over the next two hours. Tonight we are coming to you from rushville, indiana. In a moment, well be joined by amity shlaes, the author of the forgotten man, and james madison, prof. Of history at the university of indiana. We are going to show you the scene in elwood, indiana, and the speech by Wendell Willkie. Im lent to do shoe to our guests coming up in just about a minute and a half. I will introduce you. I say that we must substitute for the proxy of distributed scarcity and the philosophy of unlimited productivity. I stand for the restoration of full production and reemployment by private enterprise in america. [applause] the new deals effect on business has had the inevitable results. Investor has been afraid to invest his capital. The businessman has been afraid to expand his operations. Millions of men have been turned from the unemployment office. Irresponsible experiments in the country as deprive the former of this market. For the first time in history, american industry has remained stationary for a full decade. I charge that the path of this administration is following will lead us to the end of the road. I say that this course will lead us to economic disintegration and dictatorship. I say that we must substitute for the philosophy of spending, the philosophy of production. You cannot buy freedom. You must make freedom. From elwood, indiana, in august of 1940 to the west countys Historical Society here in indiana. This is one of the postage stamps from 1992 a 75 cent stamp celebrating the centennial of Wendell Willkies bert. Amity shlaes is with the George Washington institute in dallas tx. The george w. Bush institute in dallas, texas. You have been a professor of history at indiana university. Let me begin with that speech he gave in elwood indiana elwood, india. Its as the groundwork for why he was challenging Franklin Delano roosevelt. He ran against roosevelt and the new deal and against the tide of policies and politics represented by the new deal. We will have a Good Opportunity to talk about those in detail. It was a fairly standard political speech, but not a fairly standard political rally. It was a massive rally. 150,000200,000 people in the small indiana town in august at a time when as hoosiers say, you can hear the corn grow. He spoke with eloquence, yet the atmosphere was such the speech was a bit flat in terms of the audience, in terms of the reception. That was not the best part for the campaign. We now know looking back that it was rather indicative of the campaign itself some of the difficulties that the amateur had. One note about the speech, it was heard on radio by millions of americans. This was the time for radio. People sat by the radio and listened intently. You have written extensively about the new deal. This is now eight years after Franklin Roosevelt promised a new deal for the american people, yet unemployment still in the double digits, still a lot of concern about the economy. Why did republicans turned to an outsider . It is probably the first time in American History that a non military not a politician was the party nominee. This was a political expression. I see the speech as a enormous success of some kind. The Republican Party was bailing the country. It was not giving an answer to what the democrats had offered. The democrats were not delivering recovery. The recovery was choosing to stay away. Willkie was an expression of the people. The gop had never expected a rally like that. It was a genuine grassroots event of a kind that is very rare in the u. S. You start way down there and get to the nomination for president. Why him . What did he do to try to lay the groundwork that allowed the party to turn to this outsider, this businessman from indiana who spent some time in new york at the 1940 nominee . It is easy to underestimate willkie. The long term career politicians did just that. He did have no political experience to speak up. He had never ran for office. He never held office. He was a businessman, a lawyer, but very smart and very sophisticated. His business experience was really, in a way, political experience. He was a wonderful communicator. He knew how to work with people. He knew how to make a case, how to make an argument the kind of skills a deployed as a president ial candidate. Yet Alice Roosevelt longworth said it was a grassroots of 1000 country clubs. You are smiling. In the grassroots complaint campaign is part of the politics and politicking. It truly was a grassroots in what it intended, but willkie was not a common man. He was a wealthy corporate lawyer and businessman. He had an agricultural interest, but he was not a farmer. He said he formed by conversation, not by actually farming. He was far from the grass roots, but he tried to appeal to the grassroots. Amity shlaes, lets talk about the 1940 convention. This had the governor of minnesota delivering the speech. Herbert hoover, former president , who is hoping the party would turn to him one more time. Tom dewey, and, of course, robert taft, who is hoping the party returned to him. We get in a little trouble when we draw analogies. Dewey was the prosecutor from new york who overrated himself. We often have new yorkers come out and say they are going to win, especially when they have a legal background. Taft was mr. Republican, people had heard of him before. Taft was a name. That was not particularly new. Herbert hoover was a wonderful man. He was getting in the way of the progress of the party because he kept wanting to run again. This time was probably past. What was exciting about willkie was he went to hear Herbert Hoover and they could not believe that harbor hoover would hog the nomination. In that way, willie was a grass roots. He, himself, was not of the grass. He was chosen by people who were voting against the party. The other names were the parti. Willkie came in as somebody different, not what we expected. He retired and an exciting man. I think for many people, it was none of the above. It was the perfect atmosphere for an outsider who promises and looks very different from the standard of the late 1930s. What was the state of the democratic party, amity shlaes, and Franklin Roosevelt and his support in 1940, eight years after the new deal at a time when most residents would step down . Roosevelts victory 46 out of 48 states in the preceding election was so hard to get past. Even as the party was beginning to get past it, this idea of having a third term the war was coming closer. War in 1940 had already been declared in europe. Germans had invaded poland and britain. All of a sudden, roosevelt was good at war. They knew that. They knew that when he served as secretary of the navy. He might be a good war leader. All of a sudden, people were tongue tied and did not protest against roosevelt. Still, it was quite amazing. Amazing. Professor madison, the headlines in the summer of 1940 with one at the republican nominee, hitler moving to france and declaring victory. The big question, is Great Britain next . Juxtapose the politics of 1940 and the limning clouds of war in 19401941. France surrendered to the not nazis a couple of days before the Philadelphia Convention began. They knew they needed a wartime leader. Roosevelt looked a lot better in that context than did any of of the other republicans. We are coming to you from the rush county Historical Society indiana, one of the homes of Wendell Willkie. He was born in elwood, indiana. Our focus this week is on Wendell Willkie. 7370001. If you live in the eastern time zones, 7370002. There are so many images from that campaign. There are things we do not see in modern campaigns. What was that significant . What did that tell you about the support Wendell Willkie had with certain sectors of the public . Of course, there was no television. They really had to get out there with the people. He spent a lot of time crossing the country on trains. Retail politics in towns and cities all across america, with all the hoopla, with all the stuff to get people engaged in keep them excited about the campaign. Campaign. Was Franklin Roosevelt worried about Wendell Willkie . I think he enjoyed it. He said, i am not going to pretend that it is an unimportant duty for me to campaign. Both of them were warriors. Both of them enjoyed that process, yet he respected willkie as a contender. From the beginning, you see him dropping comments that 1 i am worried about their he was ready for the battle. We will hear from Franklin Roosevelt in just a minute. Who was behind the willkie campaign . Who are some names are audience might be familiar with . He had the good fortune to meet people in the publishing and newspaper business. People who bought bank by the barrel. The editor of forbes magazine, the book editor of the new york tribune, the editor of time life, and others. These people in the publishing world like him very much and were very strong behindthe scenes in advocating a working for his nomination and election. Yet, he was a democrat before becoming the republican nominee. He had more credibility as an outsider. He supported the league of nations. He was a democrat right up to 1935. You can find documents with will willkie associated with democrats. Matt gave him more power because he would not a party man. He became a republican out of conviction. He saw what was wrong with the democratic philosophy of governance. When you look at the beginning of his career as a businessman, he thought he was a democratic utilities man. They gradually came to be as the government was putting the private utilities and he grew angry. It was speaking truth to power. That is what he represented. He really was angry for what happened to this country his company. He had seen his shareholders lose money and his company be hurt. That is someone observing from the political sphere. The Unemployment Rate in 1940 was what . The Unemployment Rate for 1940 was 10 or below. It was above where we are. It is a little bit muddy because you are moving towards a world war ii. The average Unemployment Rate was in the teens. That is the important thing to know. Some people say 14, some say 15. It is the difference between terrible and awful. Wendell willkie talking about unemployment and jobs on the campaign trail in hoboken, new jersey. We are going to listen to part of that and then a conversation, part of the recordings of president roosevelt in the oval office from october 1940 as president roosevelt discusses the challenge. One of the things that struck me as i was driving up the streets of hoboken, why is the average store window why does the average store window have pictures of my opponent and his running mate on the new deal ticket . I do not know of any more appropriate place to put those pictures. [applause] [indiscernible] Franklin Roosevelt and recordings from 1940. James madison, Franklin Roosevelt was a politician. We hear a little bit of that in this oval office reported. There is probably never anyone in the white house the was more of a wily politician than Franklin Roosevelt. He had a skill and ability and success that has few if any rivals. Willkie had the misfortune of running against that skillful politician. Was Wendell Willkie consistent all the issues in the 1940 campaign . I do not think so. The campaign started to go badly for willkie. The disorganization, the chaos. In the last part of the campaign, he moved in the position on the war and a new deal that he may not happily agreed with. They were more harsh than the truth Wendell Willkie. Amity shlaes. He was inconsistent, but we cannot downplay is a success. He won more votes in that election with any republican had ever won. Electorally, roosevelt was that wily fox. On the popular vote, it was much narrower. Willkie got much closer to the democrats than republicans have before. To the tape we just heard of roosevelt, roosevelt really did become worried. Maybe we will hear tonight another tape where he worried about whether he could use willkies mistress as a back to him in theo be election. There is a lot of stuff going on and they are beginning to take him seriously. That was the future of the campaign. A very important girlfriend back willkie had. You write about are in your book. Lets take a few phone calls. We are in rushville, indiana. His own his home is literally two or three blocks from where we are now. Our first caller is kurt from ohio. Welcome to the conversation. Good evening. This is a Great Program and i hope that a lot of people take advantage of this Great Service to you are giving to the american people. My question is i have a couple of comments the first one is being in the suburbs of akron, ohio, i wanted to know a little bit more about Wendell Willkies role as a