Five days in Philadelphia: the amazing "We want Wilkie!" convention of 1940 and how it freed FDR to save the Western world

Abstract

The rousing, fascinating story of the rowdy political convention that produced the unlikeliest of candidates and thereby had the unanticipated result of saving the world from fascism When the Republican Party met in June 1940 in Philadelphia, to nominate its presidential candidate there were four strong contenders: the crusading young attorney and rising Republican star Tom Dewey, solid members of the Republican establishment Robert Taft and Arthur Vandenberg, and dark horse Wendell Willkie, utilities executive, favourite of the literati and only very recently even a Republican. The leading Republican candidates campaigned as isolationists. The charismatic Willkie, newcomer and up-stager, was a liberal interventionist, just as anti-Hitler as FDR. After five days of floor rallies, telegrams from across the country, multiple ballots, rousing speeches, backroom deals, terrifying international news, and most of all, the relentless chanting of We Want from the gallery, Wendell Willkie walked away with the nomination. The story of how this happened - and of how essential his nomination would prove in allowing FDR to come to the aid of Britain and prepare America for entry into World War II - is all told in Charles Peters' Five Days in Philadelphia. As Peters shows, these five action-packed days and their improbable outcome were as important as the Battle of Britain in defeating the Nazis.