Editorial: Willkie’s opportunity
Wendell Willkie’s withdrawal as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination is a bow to the inevitable. He chose to make the Wisconsin primary, in which he was the only active candidate, a personal test. Crushing defeat was the result. As he admitted last night with commendable candor: “It is obvious now that I cannot be nominated.”
He says:
I earnestly hope that the Republicans will nominate a candidate and write a platform which really represents the views which I have advocated and which I believe are shared by millions of Americans. I shall continue to work for these principles and policies for which I have fought during the last five years.
As an American, he knows the meaning of sportsmanship. As a politician, he knows the public has no use for a poor loser.
This defeat is at once a test of his character and a new opportunity. In losing his chance to be the Republican nominee, Mr. Willkie by good sportsmanship may get a better chance to serve the ideals he professes. Now that the personal ambition barrier has been removed, the people may hear him more readily than ever. If he believes in his crusade enough to serve in the ranks, he may yet achieve in another way the results and the popularity he missed.
He has been fighting against the administration’s excesses and failures on the one hand, and against “economic Toryism and narrow nationalism” on the other. Well, that fight goes on. It will go on with or without Mr. Willkie.
But Mr. Willkie can help in the fight. He can help very much, for he has a great deal to give. We hope he will.