Editorial: Mr. Willkie’s two campaigns
Mr. Willkie’s final effort to obtain what he believes to be a necessary clarification of the foreign policy plank of the Republican platform failed, but he went down fighting. Mr. Willkie is a good soldier in any cause in which he believes.
Four years ago, Wendell Willkie polled 22,304,765 votes, not quite 5,000,000 short of the number that went to President Roosevelt. This year his campaign for the nomination failed, and there was evidence that much of his regular, dyed-in-the-wool Republican following had dwindled away.
Nevertheless, Mr. Willkie may feel that he stands high in the respect of his countrymen. He always had courage and sincerity. Four years of world tragedy taught him much and deepened his convictions as they broadened his sympathies. During the pre-nomination campaign he did all that a man could do, bravely and unselfishly, to awaken his countrymen to the desperate need of a decline plan to maintain a just peace after this war is over. More than any other individual he is responsible for such progress in this direction ads the Republican Party has made. Whatever his future career, public or private, he has deserved well of the American people.