On the verge of power: Wendell Willkie and American foreign policy

Wendell Willkie, a Democratic corporate lawyer who became the Republican presidential candidate in 1940, lost the election to President Franklin Roosevelt but stayed on as political leader of the Republican Party. After the election Willkie was quick with his support to Roosevelt and portrayed himself as loyal opposition to the Roosevelt Administration. Willkie’s loyal opposition to Roosevelt can best be explained by looking at Willkie’s views on foreign policy: he was an idealist with an international focus which he shared with his political opponent Roosevelt. Willkie is most known for his world tour in 1942 which he made as Roosevelt’s special representative, which led to the publication of his best-seller book One World. The travelogue meets opinion piece One World described Willkie’s ideas and ideals for American foreign policy during World War II and in the post-war world order. Roosevelt and Willkie’s political cooperation on foreign policy in the period 1940-1944 is unique in American history, bus hardly researched. Because it is known that Willkie and Roosevelt cooperated on matters of foreign policy in this period, the assumption is made in this research that Willkie, although not an official member of the Administration, influenced the American policy. Therefore, the research question of this thesis is to what extent did Wendell Willkie’s internationalist ideals influence American foreign policy in the period 1940-1944? This research question is answered by investigating Willkie’s views on foreign policy and Roosevelt’s foreign policy. The relationship between Roosevelt and Willkie can be seen as an indication to what extent and on which occasions Willkie influenced foreign policy in this period. American foreign policy is studied by using Costigliola and Paterson’s individual analysis of foreign policy, seeing that scholars agree that Roosevelt, as Commander in Chief, was the main executive in creating foreign policy in this period. The influence of Willkie on Roosevelt’s foreign policy is measured by using Banfield’s method of influence measurement as described in Political Influence. By combining secondary literature and primary sources Willkie’s and Roosevelt’s views on foreign policy, their relationship and the occasions on which Willkie influenced, altered or supported Roosevelt’s foreign policy are elaborated on. The main results of this thesis are that Willkie exerted influence on American foreign policy in the period 1940-1944 through his direct or indirect contacts with Roosevelt. As such, he supported Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease Bill which aided the Allies, proposed foreign policies in Turkey and Iran and convened with Roosevelt on strategies to eliminate isolationism in American politics and replacing it with internationalism. Changing the foreign policy discourse from isolationism in the 1930s towards internationalism in the 1940s is seen by scholars as one of the greatest accomplishments of Roosevelt. This thesis can only speculate on the role of Willkie’s contribution tot his changing discourse, for harsh conclusions more research is needed. This thesis hopes to shed new light on the forgotten persona of Wendell Willkie and his role in American foreign policy.