Today's campaign collectibles from a calmer time takes us the
rather strange 1940 contest -- between two Democrats?
Wendell Willkie was an attorney and business leader in Ohio and
most definitely a Democrat -- until 1939, when he realized that Franklin
Roosevelt would seek an unprecedented third term.
Willkie changed party affiliations. Ronald Reagan often gets
credit for the line "I did not leave my party. My party left me," but
Willkie used it first.
The Democratic convention found FDR challenged by his vice
president, John Nance Garner, who finished third and found himself bounced from
the ticket. He was replaced by Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace -- hence the
corn on the pin -- despite Wallace being deemed too liberal and too eccentric.
Willkee was a colorful dark house candidate in a crowded GOP
field that included Thomas Dewey, former President Herbert Hoover and Michigan
Sen. Arthur Vandenberg. His convention-selected running mate, Senate Minority
Charles McNary, was actually the leader of a "Stop Willkie" movement.
With war on the horizon, Roosevelt won handily. But FDR did tap
his vanquished rival as an international emissary, and Willkie gave the
president his full support -- much to the chagrin of the party he was, in
theory, leading.
There was also talk of Willkie accepting Wallace's spot as FDR's
vice president in the 1944 election, which eventually went to Harry S. Truman.
Willkie never did make it to that election, dying of a series of
heart attacks in October, 1944, at just 52 years old.
The 1940 election spawned all kinds of cool pins given the
unprecedented nature of FDR's bid for the third term and the awesome
alliteration of Willkie's name.
No comments:
Post a Comment