The Wilmington morning star., 1944-10-13
The Man Who Never
Held Office
,!KaM I
BY ROSCOE DRUMMOND

xzGLu OI1ICG
BY ROSCOE DRUMMOND
Wendell Wllkie always revealed himself to
the press fully, candidly, even indiscreetly.
Many Washington correspondents knew Will
kie well; it was his habit to talk with us frank
ly on almost any provocation, to disclose his
innermost thoughts on men and affairs with
out the caution and reserve which mark SO
many politicians. Thinking out loud was his
pastime; exchanging ideas was his passion.
Occasionally he would ask not to be quoted,
and when he did that, he would usually begin
by renarking: well, if we're being just
regular fellers,' I'll tell you exactly what I
think" And he would.
Mr. Willkie did not tarnish upon intimate
association.
Here was a political leader who did not
know how to play safe. It wasn't a trait
which was natural to him and he did not
deign to acquire it.
Now, in retrospect, it seems to me that Mr..
WILKES great and incalculable influence for
good upon the course of his Nation stemmed
in large degree from the fact that politically
he never could play safe. He had utterly no
ability to express cautious, discreet, expe-
dent opinions on great issues. Mr.. Willkie
was not consciously a fearless man. From
my acquaintance with him, I would say that
he was more than that; he was an utterly
fortnight man, a political leader OF such in
tellectual honesty that he never seriously con-
sidered whether he was being either coura
geous or fearless Because he was free of
political fear, he never needed to strive to be
fearless
Wendell Willkie was publicly and privately
the same man; he was himself.
In August, 1910, when Mr.. Willke was run
ming for the Presidency, he was informed
in advance and counseled to make partisan
issue over the action of the President, soon
to be announced, in exchanging so American
cruisers for Western Hemisphere e e n
bases. It would have been Smart politics.
it couldn't have hurt him, it might have
made him. Mr.. Willlxie believed that aid
to Britain was Americas best defense and he
chose to serve his beliefs rather than to en-
hance his political prospects. He wasn't being
courageous; he was being himself.
= Another example comes to mind During the
1910 campaign, considered recommendation
came from one of the shrewdest political minds
in the United States that Mr.. Willkie oppose
the passage of the Selective Service Act, con-
tending that the pacifist instincts of the Amer
lean people could be SO effectively played upon
by taking a sharp issue with the Adminstra-
ton over the draft that he could not fail to be
elected. But Wendell Willkie believed that the
draft was essential to the defense of America,
and he chose to serve his beliefs. I know that
he considered it form of hypnotism to let
himself be put in the position of opposing
something he thought right merely because his
opponent favored it. He wasn't being fear
less; he was just being himself.
Mr. Wlllkle never gave up playing his poll
tics unsafe" 1t is to be remembered that
the antipathy of many of the leaders of his
own party was directed more sharply at him
after the 1910 election than before. 1t was after
his dramatic trip to war torn Britain, after
his decisive advocacy, over the opposition of
his party, of the Lend Lease Act on his re-
turn, after his flight to Russia and his appeal
for an earlier opening of the Second Front"
that his intra party critics sought to smear
him with the label of Carbon Copy of Roose-
velt' because he supported these measures
he believed indispensable to Americas safety
but which his party was opposing.
Wendell Wilkie didn't know how to play
safe politics, but he knows today that he was
acting to keep freedom safe from Nazi con-
quest.
He was being himself.
And what of Mr. Wilkes position in the
1914 Presidential election which, because nel-
Their party measured up to his conception OF
what is needed, was for him a difficult choice,
do not have the answer, puC l ShOulQ ike
to put into the record that as of eight days
before his passing, when on Saturday NOR
ning September 80, talked with him for an
hour in his room at the Lenox Hill Hospital,
he had not decided which candidate he would
support.
It is not often that leader who does not
play his politics pretty safely reaches h e
heights of national influence to which Wen
dell Willkie attained in four turbulent years
of public Life. American democracy produced
Wendell Willkie; it deserved him; it listened
to him more attentively after he was defeated
| than at the peak of his political crusade.
| Mr.. Willkie exercised greater i nj lu e e
with the American people than with his fell
low politicians-if he could be counted a poll
tician at all; and his voice carried greater
weight with the country than with his wn
party.
That was all right, for I suggest that the
time will come when it will be seen that
7 Wendell Willkie-the man who never held Of
fice-made greater contribution to the Sc
curity, the welfare the progress, and the vision
Of his Nation than most elected Presidents
Christian Science Monitor.