Evening star., 1944-10-12

any knew slIl
Wendell Willkie LEVEL Msllett.
better than I did, but few had
known him longer. We were born
In the same little town of Elwood.
I didn't pay much attention to him
as a boy, because he was years
younger; yet one picture of him has
remained yividly in my mind. 1t is
the picture of tall, gaunt man,
walking past our house with a small
boy clinging to each Of his hands,
They were stubby little fellows and
they had to reach high for the
hand held down to them. For his
part the man not only accommo-
dated his pace to theirs; he also
kept a firm grip on their hands.
If they stumbled-and they did, for
the bricks of our sidewalk were un-
even and their eyes were constantly
rowing in order not to miss anything
if they stumbled, the man held on
and a boy was sometimes left dan
Cling in the air for moment, never
allowed to fall.
One of those little boys was Wen
dell L. Willkie. The man was his
father. He was known to those of
my age as He'll Fire Willkie. getting
the nickname from his initials
H. F,-while principal of the towns
only school. He was friend of my
father, who considered him a very
smart man.
Withheld Intentions.
Only in recent years did I
become acquainted with the little
boy grown up. These were the
years of his swift temporary con-
quest of the Republican party or
ganization, the defeat of his ambi-
tion to be President and his arrival
on the world stage.
Like others, I endeavored this
summer to learn what Willkie in
tended to do in November. He
didn't tell me. He merely gave me
the impression, similar to that re-
ported by others, that he could not
support Gov. Dewey. He gave me
the impression also that he hoped
to help build new liberal party,
being certain the Republican party
never would fill that role, and yet
distrusting the conservative South
ern influence in the Democratic
party. The strongest impression he
left with me, however, was his
dogged determination not to permit
America to let the rest of the world
down, If he could prevent it.
WILKES true quality began to
appear in the 1910 campaign. In
all his loud and lusty challenging
there was a certain dignity and de-
cency. There was little of the
brazen thickness that has marked
the behavior of this years candi-
date. I don't believe, for instance,
that Willkie could have tried to
prey on the hopes and fears of the
soldiers families or risked weaken
ing the soldiers morale by trump
ing up the charge that the troops
were to be kept in the Army long
after they were needed
His real emergence among the
great men of his time came after
his defeat in 1910. Tirelessly and
effectively Willkie gave support to
the man who had beaten him.
Whatever his ambition for himself,
he revealed that his ambition for
his country and for humanity was
greater.
Failed in Second Attempt.
Seeking the nomination a second
time, he endeavored to win the party
organization over to his own liberal
attitude. The party managers were
afraid Of it, They were afraid of
Willkie himself. When he stumbled
no helping hand was held down by
the party's high command to save
him. and he met his political finish
in due time.
1t was not. the finish of Willkie,
the man. Willkie the man was still
walking upright, his face to the
light, when death came to meet
him. He had caught hold of a
faith that sustained him as firmly
as the hand of old He'll Fire sus-
tanned the little boy taking those
first uncertain steps on the uneven
bricks of Elwood,
The story of Wilkes. life is not
the story of failure, but of success.
The immediate measure of that sue