Wendell Willkie, Fighter for Freedom
Author: Ellsworth Barnard
Publisher: Marquette : Northern Michigan University Press
Published: 1966
Total Pages: 642
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Excerpt from the Introduction: "In this book my primary aim has been to record, once and for all, the essential facts in the life of Wendell Willkie ... Why is it worthwhile to tell the story of Wendell Willkie and get it straight? The answer is that he was the man who, during the last four years of his life, in a decisive period of American history, had a greater influence on the mind of the American people and the policy of the American government than any other person except Franklin Roosevelt. And he exercised this influence despite the fact that he held no office and spoke for no organization - except, briefly, the Republican party. He exercised it by sheer ability and force of character. For one thing, he embodied, as the story will show, the nation's legendary virtues: a carefree superiority to mean and petty motives; an unaffected sympathy for the underdog; reckless courage linked with ebullient energy; eagerness to enter, and unwillingness to quit, a fight in a good cause. His appeal also lay in his almost infallible sense of the dramatic moment, his unerring gift for the symbolic act that clarified the issue for millions of confused by well-meaning fellow Americans. -- Amazon.com.