Evening star., 1940-06-29
WiIIkie Wins Press
With Humaneness
And Sincerity
Candid ToIk, With No
Qualifying Phrases,
lmpresses Writers
BY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.

PHILADELPHIA, June 29.-The
big news in Philadelphia yesterday
was not the completion of the ticket
national committeeman. The big
news was a press conference before
which Wendell Willkie presided in
the ballroom of the Warwick Hotel.
Here were gathered 400 or 500 news
papermen and cameramen. They
had to wait almost an hour. They
were diverted for moment or two
by foolish and ill-advised appear
ance of young Phillip Willkie, who
was ushered before the mob, scared
and pale and doing his best-looking
like one about to be hanged. Some
one blundered-probably not the
Willkie family-when he was sent
in to amuse the waiting reporters.
The poor kid was shunted out of the
way quickly by the stage managers
and after a little time his father
appeared.
How he reminds one of Borah,"
one heard from every hand from
men who had not seen him before
shaggy, large and smiling. full of
friendliness that even the Klieg
lights of the cameramen, which
bleared his gray and ingratiating
eyes for moment, could not erase.
His dlsarming grin electrified the
room. Obviously the reporters fell
for him. He is like AL Smith in this
respect-if you are going to be his
enemy you must avoid him.
Unsophisticated Pleasure.
What he said, of course, was said
with MidWestern accent-it was
almost a drawl. His ''rs" were hard
and he called "ahmS" arms and
spoke of his "fahm,' where he will
be officially notified as his farm
And he had the Middle Westerners
obvious unsophisticated pleasure in
himself, pleasure which is not van
ity, but a comradely sense of equal
ity.
What he said was, of course, can
did and not off the record. He
used no qualifying phrases, no dead
ening qualifications when he made
"nay-nay" He said, "Of course, L
am for the Hatch bill and shall ask
our committee to impose its re-
strictions on our campaign whether
the bill passes or not and I hope it
will pass He spoke the direct
Kansas language of the prairieS. He
said, II want to limit all contribu-
fn iry, tn 7
want lots of small contributors;
this is a peoples movement. They
should pay for it, He was not
hypocritical. He really believed it
and made the reporters believe that
he believed it.
Muffs No Questions.
He was not above a wisecrack
President Roosevelt had said early
yesterday he would like to talk over
with Mr.. Willkie our defense plans.
When the reporters asked the Re-
publican candidate about the Presi-
dents proposed conference, he said,
Sure, I will be glad to see him
and talk things over. l have al
ways believed man should be cour-
teous to his predecessor, And the
laugh of the 500 reporters amused
him and he laughed back, Groton
and Harvard, LaWrenceville and
Princeton, Hardness and Yale would
hardly do that. Mr.. Willkie muffed
no questions. When he didn't want
to talk he said SO. When he couldn't
talk on any subject he said so and
explained why. He was cordial,
frank, human. The bulldog asperity
of Thomas E. Dewey and the bird
dog seriousness and self-conscious-
ness of Senator Taft had no coun-
terpart in the big, Newfoundland,
romping, glad-eyed nozzling of this
Indiana thoroughbred
1t was above everything a Mid
western show of man who knew
many answers and was not ashamed
to acknowledge it when he didn't
know an answer, no vanity, no
pompous pride.
What show he will make in this
campaign They will flock to see
him as to circus all across the
land. 1t may be curiosity which
draws crowds. Curiosity often fools
politicians. They think it carries
conversion. But in Wendell WILKES
case his circus crowds really may
believe what he says. There can be
no doubt that here is a man who
can sell soap. He sold his line to
these reporters. 1t was a great job.
1t was the news of the day. They
did not feel kindly toward him be-
cause they felt sorry for him, but
because he was their kind and they
were bit proud of him.
Released by the North American News
paper Alliance, Incl