Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-10-10
Letters Of WiIIkie
To Lawrence Revealed
Had Reached No Decision on
Candidate, Says Writer
By Dapid Laurence

WAiCA way Weuucll WlllKle would nave
voted are merely wishful thinking by
partisans. For he intended to reach no
final decision as to which candidate he
would support until the very end of the
campaign.
This intent Is plainly revealed in let
tiers written by Mr.. Willkie under date
of July and July II and Aug. / of
this year. The correspondence devel-
oped In connection with dispatches
written by this correspondent which
read in part as follow:
July 5-Many a man in public life
has made himself martyr to cause
and his name has lived on in history
long after the names Of men who actu-
ally became President have been for
gotten. Wendell Willkie has chance to
do a service to the nation and to the
Republican party in particular by car
rying on public campaign that will
hold Gov. Dewey tightly to the first
part OF the plank on foreign policy in
the platform and dissuade him from
appeasing the isolationists or nation
alists In the party who wrote the sec
ond part of that plank >.
Mr.. Willkie has congratulated Gov.
Dewey on his opportunity Presum-
ably this means that Mr.. Willkie, rs a
private citizen, along with millions of
others, will wait to see between now and
November what the Governor does with
his opportunity"
Comment Of July 5
In commenting on the foregoing Mr..
Willkie in letter sent from New York
on July S, 1914, wrote:
Il read your article. None has been
written of late which I appreciate
more. You outlined exactly what I ex-
pect to do"
On July IL, 1914, Mr.. Willkie, refer
ring again to this correspondents dis
patch Of July 5, wrote from New York:
I want to repeat what I have said in
my first letter-nothing that has been
written has stated my attitude or in
tent so we'll"
Then on July 81, 1914, this correspon-
dent wrote dispatch which read in
part as follows:
Ever since the Republican conven-
ton was held, there have been rumors
that Wendell Willkie will support Gov.
Dewey, but this does not have the
slightest foundation. Almost every day
some Willkie supporter joins the Dewey
ranks and this is taken to have some
particular significance.
Actually, authentic information has
reached here that Mr.. Willkie has not
made up his mind yet whether he will
support Gov. Dewey
Those who have talked with Mr..
Willkie since the convention find him
not in the slightest degree piqued by
the fact that he was excluded from the
convention councils in Chicago, but they
do find him very much interested in
what the Republican party is going to
do about important issues of the day.
1T is conceivable that Mr.. willkie
will wind up supporting Gov. Dewey
and it is possible that he will not ex-
press any preference in this campaign
at all but will adopt completely pas
sive role, making no speeches or public
statements. This latter course, however,
does not seem to be in line with the
Willkie conception of leadership and it
may, therefore, be expected that before
the end of the campaign he will an
nounce whether he intends to vote for
President Roosevelt or Gov. Dewey.
The decision is not likely to come
until autumn. by which time Mr.. Will
kie will have had q chance to examine
the addresses and utterances of both
candidates and decide for himself
which Of the two appears to him as
likely to exert the best efforts for
international collaboration and world
peace"
Under Date Of August 1
After reading the foregoing article in
the press, Mr.. Willkie wrote from New
York under date of August as follows:
ut could not have been said better
nor more accurately. OF course, you
appreciate the basic reason that could
not fight for the principles in which
believe at the convention was because
the Dewey forces in New York did not
include me as delegate-at- large,
would have liked very much to have
been able to fight for some Of the opin-
ions In which you and believe on the
convention floor"
On August 80 this correspondent had
his last talk with Mr.. Willkie, In which
the latter indicated that there was no
change in his attitude or In the pro-
gram that had been outlined In these
dispatches in the preceding July and
that he was still waiting to read the
remainder of Gov. Deweys speeches
From the foregoing it can hardly be
concluded that Mr.. Willkie had made
up his mind either way. He was like
other independent voters who wanted
to see what Mr.. Dewey would do on the
subject of foreign policy In the closing
weeks OF the campaign. Since fate de-
prived Mr.. Willkie of the opportunity
TO read the remainder Of Gov. Dewey's
speeches, 1t would seem best for all con-
cerned not to try to infer what he
would have done II he had lived through
the campaign.
The final decision viii never be
known because all the evidence and all
the argument in the case had not ret
been submitted and Mr.. Willkie had the
fairness not TO prejudgs anybody or
anything.
@lsppsSsst,o, N;shss nes,v~sA,
Blue Waters Edge