The “Miracle Man”Of 1940 the “Miracle Man”

HISTORYHISTORY— PAST AND PERSPECTIVE TheThe ““MiracleMiracle MMan”an” ofof 19401940 age of the convention in June 1940, Time reported: Even now the delegates came with solemn hope they would get a chance to tear up their chairs and set fire to their hats. They were more than will- ing to give him the benefit of all their doubts; they were eager to hear him demolish the New Deal; they were even more eager to cheer some chal- lenging declaration of faith. But in- flexible Mr. Hoover mushmouthed his delivery; the clear, hot words of his finest address got lost (as always) deep in his bulldog chops. He stood there awkwardly, a near-great man whose fate has been to cast his moth- er-of-pearl words before mobs who, whether friendly or bitter, always yell “Louder!” This standard account of the Hoover speech debacle was reinforced with the publica- tion in 2005 of Charles Peters’ Five Days in Philadelphia: The Amazing “We Want Willkie!” Convention of 1940 and How It Freed FDR to Save the Western World. The major reviews of the Peters book tended toward the glowing side, and those that mentioned the Hoover speech incident A look at the behind-the-scenes intrigue that tended to adopt the now commonly held catapulted unknown Wendell Willkie to head the view that Hoover blew it. However, historian Thomas E. Mahl, in Republican ticket in 1940 — and guaranteed FDR an his important 1998 book, Desperate De- unprecedented third term. ception: British Covert Operations in the United States, 1939-1944, finds that the AP Images Hoover speech fiasco was only one of a se- by William F. Jasper pant, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. ries of “inside job” incidents orchestrated However, when the roar of the con- at the convention by Sam Pryor, the Pan s the familiar figure strode to the vention crowd subsided and Mr. Hoover American Airways executive, close friend dais, the convention delegates rose began his much anticipated speech, his of the Rockefeller family, and OSS/CIA in a thunderous ovation of cheers voice could not be heard. His microphone operative. By the death of Ralph E. Wil- Athat went on and on. The figure was for- mysteriously didn’t work. It was a humili- liams a couple weeks before the Philadel- mer President of the United States Herbert ating experience for the ex-president and a phia gathering, Pryor had gained control Hoover, and he had been chosen by Re- disaster for this crucial party gathering in of the convention floor, as chairman of the publican Party leaders to deliver one of the Philadelphia during the hot, steamy June committee on arrangements. Williams had most important speeches of the 1940 con- of 1940. been a “Taftie,” a supporter of presidential vention. It was their hope that his speech Time magazine, reflecting the spin of aspirant Senator Robert Taft; Pryor was a would galvanize the party faithful behind much of the major media of the time, Willkie insider. The shift from Williams to the convention’s still unchosen candidate blamed Hoover’s inadequacy as a speaker Pryor — and the powerful unseen forces to unseat the reigning White House occu- for the speech failure. In its serial cover- behind him — proved to be momentous. 34 THE NEW AMERICAN • FEBRUARY 5, 2007 HISTORYHISTORY — PAST AND PERSPECTIVE Among other things, says Mahl, Pryor’s new position enabled him to “take over the convention and the allocation of essential credentials. Pryor reduced the ticket allotments to delegations committed to other candidates. Delega- tions committed to Willkie got their full allotment. Fi- nally, as Pryor told it years later, he printed a duplicate set of tickets and opened up the galleries to Willkie supporters, who responded with the ‘We Want Willkie’ chant so embossed on the memo- ries of participants.” In Desperate Deception, Mahl writes: Pryor ordered one other small job for which there is AP Images sworn testimony. Former Wall Street “populist”: Willkie, a wealthy corporate insider closely tied to the powerful J.P. Morgan empire, President Herbert Hoover campaigned as an outsider. He is seen here in his hometown of Elwood, Indiana. wanted to stay aloof from the war in Europe. He had worked positions on most important issues — to that FDR’s non-interventionist rhetoric on his isolationist speech for weeks, be the Republican standard-bearer. masked a pro-war agenda. and those who read it thought it the In addition, Roosevelt’s decision to seek best speech of his career. When he The “Miracle” in Philadelphia an unprecedented third term alienated marched to the podium a great roar The 1940 presidential election was one many in both parties, providing confirma- erupted from the fifteen thousand as of the most critical in American history. tion of his imperial ambitions. Not only did they stood and cheered, in expecta- The dark clouds of war were looming in this violate the sacrosanct two-term limit tion, for seven minutes. Europe and the Pacific. With the carnage that had been observed by every president Sam Pryor, or someone advising of World War I still vivid in the memory since George Washington, it upset the him, had foreseen this embarrassing of millions, America was overwhelm- plans of other Democratic leaders who had situation. An enthusiastic response ingly opposed to U.S. involvement in presidential plans of their own. Moreover, from the delegates to an isolationist any foreign war. President Roosevelt, de- many of FDR’s former supporters were speech would have set entirely the spite signing the Neutrality Acts of 1935, still heated up over his flagrant scheme to wrong tone. There was no great re- 1936, and 1937, and despite his many pack the Supreme Court, his wild deficit sponse; in fact, the delegates could public promises to do everything within spending, and his massive expansion of not hear the speech. Pryor had had his power to keep us out of war, had been the federal bureaucracy. a faulty microphone installed for moving us steadily closer to war. And, as Roosevelt knew he would be facing a the ex-president’s speech, and years the diplomatic history of the period and battle royal in the 1940 race — if, that later Hoover obtained a deposition the documents, notes, and to this effect. diaries of FDR and Washing- ton insiders later proved, the A great many strange quirks just seemed “Strangely,” notes Mahl, “Hoover also had president had been striving to “happen” at Philadelphia, culminating difficulty making himself heard at his con- mightily to find an incident vention press conference at the Bellevue that would drag America in the “miraculous” choice of Wendell Hotel, because a drum corps happened into the war. While most of Willkie, a virtual unknown — and a to march into the lobby as he was speak- his schemes remained hid- ing.” Yes, a great many strange quirks just den, his efforts had become life-long Democrat who mirrored FDR’s seemed to “happen” at Philadelphia, cul- sufficiently transparent that positions on most important issues — to minating in the “miraculous” choice of millions of voters, includ- Wendell Willkie, a virtual unknown — and ing many in his own party, be the Republican standard-bearer. a life-long Democrat who mirrored FDR’s were becoming convinced THE NEW AMERICAN • FEBRUARY 5, 2007 35 HISTORYHISTORY— PAST AND PERSPECTIVE cal columnists were daily compar- ing the nomination of anyone but Willkie to the Fall of France.... From the first night the galleries had shouted “We Want Willkie” over & over like a college yell. Delegates could hardly get into their rooms past the bundles of pro-Willkie telegrams from back home. Their suits came back from the hotel valet with Willkie buttons pinned on. Long-distance calls came from their wives, pas- tors, bankers, luncheon clubs, say- ing with one voice: “Willkie!” This tremendous outpouring of sup- port, said the Willkie supporters (and On whose side? General William J. Donovan (left), head of the OSS, still say political commentators), pins the Medal of Merit, America’s highest civilian award, on British master spy Sir William Stephenson, on November 30, 1946. was proof positive that the “Willkie AP Images phenomenon” sprang from the grass- roots. In truth, the Willkie Clubs that is, the Republican Party fielded a cred- son.” Mencken, an agnostic and an oppo- had sprouted shortly before the convention ible candidate. The leading contenders nent of interventionism and New Dealism, and that directed the continuous avalanche — Senator Robert Taft of Ohio (the son of was, most likely, being facetious. of telegrams and telephone calls to conven- President William H. Taft), Senator Arthur As we’ve already noted, it was Sam tion delegates, were the creation of Oren Vandenberg of Michigan, and Manhattan Pryor, not the Holy Ghost, who stage- Root, grandnephew of the famous senator District Attorney Thomas Dewey — were managed the convention outcome. “Pan and Secretary of War Elihu Root. Like his all non-interventionists who could be ex- Am Sam” was indeed fronting for higher great uncle, Oren Root was closely tied to pected to give him a tough run on both powers, but not the heavenly kind. Here the powerful banking dynasty of J.P. Mor- his domestic and foreign-policy records. is Time’s description of the events as they gan, as a member of the Morgan law firm of These seasoned frontrunners, however, unfolded at the convention: Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Gardner, & Reed. were upstaged by an unknown dark-horse Oren Root represented just the tip of the candidate who, previously, had never even With the third day came something Morgan iceberg lurking beneath the folksy run for any public office.

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