1940: Republican Party

The Republican Party, one of the two major political parties in the United States, was again relegated to the position of a minority opposition by the elections of 1940. In January, 1941, of the 96 Senators, 28 were Republicans; and of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, 162 were Republicans. Also in January, 1941, there were 19 Republican governors in the 48 states. Although the Republican candidate for the Presidency, Wendell L. Willkie, polled more votes than any previous Republican candidate, he was defeated by a popular plurality of nearly five million votes. The Republican party received 82 electoral votes, as opposed to 449 for the Democrats.

The deadlock between the Republican and Democratic parties with respect to setting a date for their national conventions was broken by the Republicans on February 16, with the announcement in Washington that the Republican National Convention would be held in Philadelphia, beginning Monday, June 24. Philadelphia won out against its rivals by putting up $200,000 in cash and agreeing to take care of certain expenses, making a total bid of approximately $250,000. At the Washington conference at which the foregoing was decided, John D. M. Hamilton, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, reported that the Committee had a balance on hand of $9,238 after having met all its obligations.

Principal Contenders for Presidential Nomination.

During the early months of 1940, the race for the Republican nomination for President seemed to be largely between District Attorney Thomas E Dewey, of New York, Senator Robert A. Taft, of Ohio, and Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, of Michigan, with Dewey apparently in the lead. The latter, who had demonstrated his power as a vote-getter even in his losing contest for the governorship of New York in 1938, was reported by the Gallup poll as being the popular choice among enrolled Republicans. Moreover, in the few state primary elections which were contested, Dewey came out on top. He refused to enter primaries in states which had 1 'favorite son' candidate, and in several states Dewey enjoyed a walk-over because of the total absence of any opposition. Nevertheless, political experts viewed these primary victories as relatively unimportant. They did have the effect of showing that Dewey was more popular than Vandenberg in the farming districts of the Middle West, but there was a widespread opinion that several powerful figures in the Republican party were opposed to Dewey's candidacy. Even in his own State of New York, and right in his home territory of the Borough of Manhattan, where he was district attorney, Dewey ran afoul the opposition of the county's Republican leader, Kenneth W. Simpson. The result was a serious rupture between up-state and down-state factions, which ended with the elimination of Simpson from membership in the Republican National Committee. This particular upshot of the quarrel, though, was hardly a help to Dewey's candidacy since Simpson's hostility was not lessened thereby, and Dewey's inability to control the New York State delegates undoubtedly weakened his chances at the National Convention.

Of course, public opinion polls are of questionable accuracy, but those which were taken in the early months of 1940 showed there was a strong tide of popular disapproval running against both the New Deal and the possible third-term candidacy of President Roosevelt. The war in Europe appeared to be enhancing somewhat the President's chances, but even so, many political experts believed that the Republicans were confronted with a golden opportunity to elect a President, provided they could find a good candidate. None of the three leading prospects seemed wholly to fill the bill. Dewey's youth and his somewhat narrow experience in public office cast some doubt upon the wisdom of nominating him despite his popularity and demonstrated power as a campaigner and vote-getter. The other two principal candidates, Senators Taft and Vandenberg, were somewhat alike in being sound men who thoroughly believed in Republican doctrines, and who had shown an ability to win elections in their own state, but who unfortunately were regarded as rather sober, colorless figures with no power to fire the public's enthusiasm.

Such was the situation with respect to the choice of a Republican nominee for President when Wendell Willkie loomed on the party's horizon. A good talker, a really glamorous figure, a frequent opponent of the New Deal, and a man noted for his success in business, he was soon recognized by the other candidates as the most serious threat to their own chances. There were, of course, a few serious objections to him. His having been the head of one of the largest corporations in the country, and a public-utility holding company at that, was not likely to go down well with a substantial portion of the country's electorate. His having been a Democrat until 1938 might be, it was recognized, a drawback in the eyes of dyed-in-the-wool Republicans, but that would be more than offset by his attractiveness to independent Democrats. Then, too, it was pointed out that, for all his magnetism, he was utterly untested as a vote-getter. He not only had never been elected to a public office, he had never even been a candidate for one.

A more weighty objection to Willkie than any of the foregoing, however, was the belief that he subscribed to certain policies of the New Deal, especially to those involving foreign affairs, which had been opposed, almost as a party measure, by the Republicans in Congress. Republicans for months had been hailing the approaching opportunity in the November elections for a showdown of public opinion, not only on Roosevelt himself, but on his policies. Now, if Willkie were nominated, the issue would not be so clearly joined, since he had publicly indorsed certain New Deal measures, particularly the all-important foreign policy. This disapproval of the prospective selection of an anti-New Deal Democrat to head the Republican ticket led to the drafting of a statement by Republican congressmen at the Philadelphia Convention in June to the effect, that the party could best serve the nation by nominating a candidate for President whose personal views would present an opportunity for a clear-cut vote on the Republican record in Congress on foreign and domestic issues. Senator Charles L. McNary's approval of this statement and certain other remarks he made, of an uncomplimentary nature to Willkie's candidacy, subsequently caused considerable amusement when he became the latter's running-mate on the Republican ticket. Passing over the extent to which this argument against Willkie may have been motivated by a desire to promote other candidacies, there is no question that the Republicans during the campaign were put in an awkward position by the difficulty of reconciling the party's record in Congress on neutrality and preparedness measures with Willkie's publicly expressed opinions on these same subjects.

Opening of Convention.

The Convention opened in the Municipal Auditorium at Philadelphia on Monday, June 24. The keynote speech was delivered by Governor Harold E. Stassen, who was too young to be eligible for the nomination, and who presumably typified a new and vigorous element in the party. He stressed the inefficiency of the Administration in putting the country in a state of preparedness. The defeat of the New Deal, he said, was vital to the defense program. The next day, Representative Joseph W. Martin, Jr., of Massachusetts, was installed as Permanent Chairman of the Convention; and the Convention listened to a rather long address from former President Hoover which many interpreted as his bid for the nomination.

The Republican Party Platform.

The party platform reported and adopted on June 26, declared that the general objectives of the Republican party were stated 'in the simple and comprehensive words of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States.' On the important question of the European War, the party was described as 'firmly opposed to involving this nation in a foreign war.' 'To all peoples fighting for liberty,' or whose liberty was threatened, the party, the platform said, favored the extension 'of such aid as shall not be in violation of international law or inconsistent with the requirements of our own national defense.' At the same time, the party deplored 'explosive utterances by the President directed at other governments' and condemned 'all executive acts and proceedings which might lead to war without the authorization of the Congress of the United States.'

The evening of June 26, the Convention proceeded to the business of nominations. Alabama, the first state called, yielded to New York, with the result that Dewey's name was the first to be presented to the Convention, his name being placed in nomination by John Lord O'Brian. Representative Charles A. Halleck, of Indiana, another young Republican who supposedly represented the new blood in the party, nominated Willkie; and Grove Patterson, a Toledo newspaper editor, nominated Senator Taft.

The Nominees.

Balloting began June 27, the first ballot resulting as follows: Thomas E. Dewey, 360; Robert A. Taft, 189; Wendell L. Willkie, 105; Arthur H. Vandenberg, 76; Arthur H. James, 74; Joseph W. Martin, Jr., 44; Frank E. Gannett, 35; Hanford MacNider, 34; Herbert Hoover, 17; Charles L. McNary, 13.

After the first ballot, the balloting settled down to a contest between the three leaders, with Dewey steadily losing his supporters to Taft and Willkie whose total votes increased on each successive ballot, up to the fifth. On that, Willkie had 429 votes; Taft, 377; and Dewey, 57. On the sixth and last ballot, Willkie received 659 votes and the nomination; Taft, 312; and Dewey, 8. Of crucial significance in the balloting were the shift of the bulk of New York's votes to Willkie on the fifth ballot and the switch of all Pennsylvania's and Michigan's votes to him on the sixth.

After designating Senator Charles L. McNary as the party's nominee for Vice President, the Convention adjourned without taking any action upon the organization of the campaign. There was a general acceptance of the belief that the campaign should be largely under the direction of Willkie and his supporters who had gained the nomination for him. At a meeting in Washington, July 9, Representative Joseph W. Martin, Jr., House minority leader and Permanent Chairman of the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia, became the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, displacing John D. M. Hamilton, who had occupied the position since 1936. Hamilton, it was announced, would remain with the Committee as Executive Director, and as such would continue to receive his salary of $25,000 a year. Martin was to serve without compensation. Naturally, Willkie's close followers were given conspicuous places in the campaign organization. Sinclair Weeks of Massachusetts was named Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota, Chairman of the Advisory Committee. Representative Halleck, who had nominated Willkie in the Convention, was put on the Advisory Committee. Russell Davenport, a former editor of Fortune, who had resigned to devote all his time to the campaign, was made Willkie's personal representative. Oren Root, Jr., of New York, another key figure in promoting the Willkie boom, was put in charge of forming Willkie clubs and other groups.

Organization.

The meeting at Washington attempted to unite in support of Willkie all the factions engaged in the struggle for the nomination at the Philadelphia Convention as well as the elements involved in the Dewey-Simpson split in New York. J. Russell Sprague of New York, manager of Dewey's presidential campaign, and David S. Ingalls of Ohio, who managed that of Taft, were made members of the executive committee. Howard Lawrence of Michigan, Vandenberg's campaign manager, was put on the Advisory Committee along with Kenneth F. Simpson of New York. Samuel F. Pryor, Jr., was later named Eastern Campaign Manager in an effort to intensify the regional direction of the campaign.

The organization of the Republican national party along these lines as well as the conduct of the campaign by the organization thus set up was afterwards the subject of severe criticism, especially after the defeat of the party in the November elections. It was pointed out that the campaign was largely in the hands of inexperienced leaders, many of them amateurs, and that numerous veteran campaigners were relegated to positions of unimportance where their abilities were never properly utilized. Furthermore, the presence in the campaign, both nationally and locally, of so many persons who were interested solely in Willkie's candidacy, and who had little or no interest in the Republican party otherwise, tended to leave the party in a confused and disorganized state after Willkie's defeat.

Indeed, as the year ended there were indications of disorganization and discord within the Republican party. Hamilton, the party's Executive Director, and former National Chairman, announced his resignation on Nov. 9 to re-enter business. The day before, Representative Martin, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, announced that he had only taken the post as a temporary one and that he would resign as soon as the party leaders had mapped the campaign of 1942. In New York, towards the end of 1940, in December, there was a renewal of the war between the Dewey and Simpson factions. Simpson, who had been elected to Congress in the November elections, was in December defeated in a dispute over the choice of a member of the local Board of Elections, a defeat which apparently foreshadowed his elimination as Republican leader of New York County. Previously, the disappointingly small vote for Willkie up-state led his followers to accuse Dewey's adherents of not fully exerting themselves in behalf of Willkie. Just how the so-called Willkie clubs, manned largely by independent Democrats and zealous amateurs previously uninterested in politics, will hereafter fit into the Republican scheme of things nobody seems to know. Willkie, in December, urged them to stay in existence for the sake of the nation, but to drop his name. Even Willkie's future relation to the Republican party is a question the answer to which was not definitely known at the end of 1940.