Five Days in Philadelphia: The Amazing "We Want Willkie!" Convention of 1940 and How It Freed FDR to Save the Western World - Hardcover

Peters, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1586481126 ISBN 13: 9781586481124

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2005

Synopsis

There were four strong contenders when the Republican party met in June of 1940 in Philadelphia to nominate its candidate for president: the crusading young attorney and rising Republican star Tom Dewey, solid members of the Republican establishment Robert Taft and Arthur Vandenberg, and dark horse Wendell Willkie, utilities executive, favorite of the literati and only very recently even a Republican. The leading Republican candidates campaigned as isolationists. The charismatic Willkie, newcomer and upstager, was a liberal interventionist, just as anti-Hitler as FDR. After five days of floor rallies, telegrams from across the country, multiple ballots, rousing speeches, backroom deals, terrifying international news, and, most of all, the relentless chanting of "We Want Willkie" from the gallery, Willkie walked away with the nomination.

The story of how this happened — and of how essential his nomination would prove in allowing FDR to save Britain and prepare this country for entry into World War II — is all told in Charles Peters' Five Days in Philadelphia. As Peters shows, these five action-packed days and their improbable outcome were as important as the Battle of Britain in defeating the Nazis.

About this title

About the Author

Charles Peters managed John F. Kennedy's 1960 primary in West Virginia's largest county, then moved to Washington D.C. to help launch the Peace Corps and to found the Washington Monthly , which he edited for thirty-one years. He won the Columbia Journalism Award and the first Richard M. Clurman award for mentoring young journalists, such as James Fallows, Nicholas Lemann, Michael Kinsley, and Pulitzer Prize winners Katharine Boo and Taylor Branch. His previous books include How Washington Really Works , which the New York Times called, "wise, funny."

Review

...this anecdotal book does a service in giving Willkie back his lost and much deserved political stature. -- Dennis Lythgoe, The Deseret News, 8/14/05

A fascinating book about an earlier Willkie at the five-day 1940 Republican presidential convention. -- The Washington Times, July 24, 2005

A refreshing look at when politics was still a spectator sport and conventions were its World Series. -- Dallas Morning News, 8/21/05

Charlie Peters offers us a fascinating account of a nearly-forgotten U.S. presidential campaign. -- Charleston Gazette, July 24, 2005

In Five Days in Philadelphia, Charles Peters makes a grand claim for the 1940 Republican political convention. -- Washington Post Book World, July 17, 2005

June 1940 recalled with relish [this] fizzy nonfiction book could be a rejoinder to The Plot Against America. -- The New York Times, July 25, 2005

Mr. Peters has produced an engaging volume in the very best Teddy White tradition. -- New York Sun, July 6, 2005

Peters lovingly brings to life the era just before America entered the Second World War. -- The New Yorker, August 1, 2005

The prose in Mr. Peters history lesson is efficient..., affable and sermon-free... he knows how to tell a story. -- The New York Observer

This marvelous history--speculative, vividly written, engrossing--of a kind, sad to say, that few professional historians dare to attempt. -- The Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2005

Edition details

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1586481126
• ISBN 13: 9781586481124
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288