1942: Republican Party

The Republican party in 1942 continued to be the minority party in the Federal Government, but its fortunes rose notably as a result of the November elections, and at the end of the year its position was the best it had been since 1932. Representative Joseph W. Martin, Jr., of Massachusetts, continued as Minority Leader in the House, and as Chairman of the Republican National Committee until after the elections. Charles L. McNary of Oregon continued as Minority Leader in the Senate. Clarence Budington Kelland, the well-known author, served as executive director of the National Committee, relieving Representative Martin of much of the administrative work. Sinclair Weeks remained treasurer of the National Committee and the party reported, for the calendar year 1941, receipts of $170,145 and expenditures of $232,088.

Although all elements of the party joined in calling for more effective prosecution of the war and for strict economy in non-military governmental expenditure, the conflict continued between Wendell Willkie, titular head of the party, and longer established organization leaders such as Senators Taft and Vandenberg and Thomas E. Dewey. Curiously enough, although the latter group continued to control the party machinery, Willkie was able gradually to obtain party acceptance of his anti-isolationist views on world affairs, especially with regard to postwar settlement. On April 20, the National Committee, meeting in Chicago, adopted a resolution renouncing isolation in the postwar world. Although at Senator Taft's insistence, the wording was softened from that of Willkie's original draft, it marked a definite change in the avowed policies of veteran party leaders who, before Pearl Harbor, had been predominantly isolationist. Similarly, Willkie was able to use his prestige in New York to the advantage of his foreign policy. To gain Willkie's endorsement for their candidate's gubernatorial campaign, the Dewey leaders included an appropriate foreign policy plank in the Republican state platform. In the fall, Willkie made a dramatic trip, as the President's personal representative, but also as spokesman for his own frank thoughts, to Moscow and Chungking via the Middle East. His radio 'report to the nation,' delivered on his return, emphasized the need for a world-wide extension of democracy. He criticized some of the traditional aspects of the British Empire, a theme later taken up by one of his leading supporters, Henry R. Luce, the publisher of Life. On Sept. 22, the Republican members of the House of Representatives adopted an electoral program which called for victory and economy and renounced isolationism. On Dec. 7, the Republican National Committee met at St. Louis to elect a successor to Chairman Martin, and the conflict between Willkie and the regular leaders was renewed, with results similar to those of the spring. The leading candidate was Werner Schroeder of Illinois, supported by the strongly isolationist Chicago Tribune, and by many of the Republican Old Guard, including Senator Taft. Willkie and his followers left no doubt as to their bitter opposition to Schroeder, while western leaders indicated a preference for Frederick Baker of the state of Washington. After a two-ballot deadlock, between Schroeder and Baker, Harrison E. Spangler of Iowa was unanimously elected as a compromise candidate. The Chicago resolution of April 20 was reiterated and the New Deal roundly condemned. Thus, while the party machinery remained under the control of the old leaders, Willkie's stand against postwar isolationism became part of Republican party policy. This lessened the likelihood of a subsequent reversal of the foreign policy pursued by the Roosevelt Administration, but possible grounds for future differences were apparent in Willkie's attacks on imperialism and in his criticism of American relations with Admiral Darlan in French North Africa. Thus, while newly-elected National Chairman Spangler derided Vice-President Wallace's 'century of the common man,' the titular head of the Republican Party, Wendell Willkie, accused the President of moral weakness in handling foreign affairs.

Elections of November 3.

The off-year elections of 1942 did much to restore the Republican party's power and prestige. Republican House membership rose from 166 to 209, reducing the Democratic plurality to 13 votes. The Republicans gained 9 seats in the Senate, to bring their membership to 38. The number of Republican governors rose from 20 to 24, and gubernatorial victories were recorded in such pivotal states as New York, Michigan, California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, although a Progressive defeated Republican Governor Heil in Wisconsin. The Republican percentage of the popular vote in the congressional elections rose from 44.8 in 1940 to 50.6 in 1942, and the electoral votes of the states they won would have been sufficient in a presidential year to place a Republican in the White House.

Republican leaders were naturally jubilant, but were careful to insist that the election did not imply any lessening in America's determination to fight the war to a successful and victorious conclusion. They declared that the election meant the strengthening of democracy through the creation of a strong opposition, more efficient conduct of the war through the increased influence of sound business principles, the reaffirmation of America's faith in private business, and, finally, a condemnation of excessive bureaucracy.

Republican successes were less the result of an increase in the party vote than of a decline in the total vote cast which hit the Democrats more severely. The Republican congressional vote was about 8,000,000 less than in 1940, and 3,000,000 less than in the off-year election of 1938, but the Democrats received some 14,000,000 votes less than in 1940 and 4,500,000 less than in 1938. The Democratic vote declined most sharply in the Middle West and Far West, and held up even better than the Republican vote in some Eastern states. An interesting result is that Western, and especially Mid-Western, Republicans will be stronger in the party councils and, since Republican isolationism was most prominent in the Middle West before Pearl Harbor, it is possible that the party's public stand against postwar isolation may be subjected to strong internal pressure. While the election showed no uniform trend either for or against pre-Pearl Harbor isolationists, some of the most prominent among them, including Representative Hamilton Fish of New York and Senator C. Wayland Brooks of Illinois, were returned to office.

New York State Elections.

The Republican Party in the Empire State under the Chairmanship of Edwin F. Jaeckle, was well organized for the campaign of 1942. It had been apparent for several years that Thomas E. Dewey, who had lost a close race against Governor Lehman in 1938, would be the party's candidate for Governor, and by the spring of 1942 an overwhelming majority of the state Republican leaders were pledged to support his nomination. An effort on the part of pre-war interventionist leaders to draft Wendell Willkie made little headway, and Dewey was nominated on Aug. 24. The conflict within the Democratic Party between President Roosevelt and State Chairman James A. Farley, which resulted in the selection of the latter's candidate, John J. Bennett, as the Democratic nominee, led to the candidacy of Dean Alfange on the American Labor Party ticket. Alfange appealed to the New Deal and labor vote, and Dewey's election was a foregone conclusion. He won by a plurality of 647,628 over Bennett, while Alfange gained the surprisingly large total of 403,555. The minor parties polled about 80,000. Thus Dewey became the first Republican governor of New York in twenty years. He carried in the rest of the state ticket, with the exception of one Congressman-at-Large, although Thomas W. Wallace won the lieutenant-governorship by only 54,393 from the incumbent, Poletti, who had both the Democratic and American Labor nominations.

Presidential Possibilities for 1944.

At the close of 1942 there were four leading potential Republican candidates for the Presidency. Wendell Willkie, who continued to play the role of leader of a 'loyal opposition,' raising specific points of objection but not opposing the major outlines of Administration policy, still had wide support among the groups which had obtained his nomination in 1940, but he failed to gain strength with the regular party members. Thomas E. Dewey, by virtue of his successful career and triumphal election, was certain to be prominent at the Republican Convention in 1944. Gov. John W. Bricker of Ohio, reelected for a third term, had the announced support of Senator Taft, and a wide following in the Middle West. Gov. Harold E. Stassen of Minnesota, the 1940 keynoter, was extremely popular among liberal and younger elements of the party.