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Title details for The Improbable Wendell Willkie by David Levering Lewis - Wait list

The Improbable Wendell Willkie

The Businessman Who Saved the Republican Party and His Country, and Conceived a New World Order

by David Levering Lewis
Mike Chamberlain
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In the wake of one of the most tumultuous conventions in Republican history, the party of Lincoln nominated in 1940 a prominent businessman and Wall Street attorney for president. Though Wendell Willkie would lose to FDR, David Levering Lewis reveals in this news-making reclamation that the story of this Hoosier-born corporate chairman's life is the story of an America that could have been. Popular for his down-home Midwestern charm and unaffected candor, Willkie possessed a supple intellect and a concealed disdain for political opportunism that, had he not died prematurely, would have revolutionized American politics with its advocacy of bipartisanship and social responsibility. Not only was he the first presidential candidate to speak before the NAACP, advocating a civil rights movement in the 1940s, but Willkie also bucked American isolationism and became the first to champion the nation's involvement in international politics. Vibrantly recounted, The Improbable Wendell Willkie affirms the legacy of an American icon.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 18, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781684411696
      • File size: 369460 KB
      • Duration: 12:49:42

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 23, 2018
      Two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Lewis (God’s Crucible) breathes new life into the onetime Republican standard bearer and now historical footnote. In folksy prose, Lewis tracks Willkie’s evolution from small-town Indiana Wilsonian Democrat to utility company executive, then to, in Lewis’s description, “certainly one of the most unexpected, if not unlikely, candidates for presidency” ever on the Republican ticket. The bulk of the narrative focuses on Willkie’s approximately five years of national prominence, from his 1939 appearance on the cover of Time magazine for his role in challenging New Deal policies to his death in October 1944 at age 52 after an unsuccessful second bid for the GOP nomination. Lewis highlights Willkie’s role in gaining Republican support for the Lend-Lease Act and supporting the nascent civil rights movement. Those looking for parallels to recent elections featuring moguls-turned-politicians will be disappointed; Willkie took a globalist stance and favored bipartisanship to further his political missions. Lewis does not shed much light on Willkie’s personal relationships, but his swift, thoughtful biography makes clear Willkie’s importance in WWII-era America and his lasting impact on domestic and international policies.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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