AKRON, Ohio _ The Republican Party once chose a presidential nominee who was successful in business but had never held political office. Who went from being a Democrat to a Republican, but was a maverick in his new party. He would often speak off the cuff, was not much of a churchgoer, had what one historian called "a magnetic personality" and was not always faithful as a husband.
He was definitely a dark horse when he began his campaign against veteran candidates but won the GOP nomination in defiance of the political establishment, with what one observer called "a tendency to make his own decisions in his own good way."
He wasn't Donald Trump.
He was Wendell Willkie, a former Akron resident who became the Republican nominee in 1940, challenging Franklin D. Roosevelt's bid for a third term. Willkie lost, was swiftly rejected by his party when he ran again four years later, and died of a heart attack late in 1944.
To many he is barely remembered, if at all. But he did better than any other candidate had against FDR. Historians such as Charles Peters, in his book Five Days in Philadelphia, have praised Willkie for an internationalist perspective in contrast with other Republican candidates' isolationism. Even as Willkie was running against FDR, Peters said he "gave Roosevelt essential support on issues like the draft and Lend-Lease," helping to save embattled England and prepare America for war.
Comparisons of Willkie to Trump are not perfect. Trump is a more abrasive speaker, for one thing. And while Trump highlights his luxury-laden life, a close friend of Willkie said he was "no big spender."
But both men could stir things up. Much the way Trump astounded those who at first thought his campaign ludicrous, author Henry O. Evjen said "no one had given (Willkie) a ghost of a chance" until just before the 1940 convention.
In the introduction to a collection of Willkie essays, historian James H. Madison said, "At a time when Republicans were thought of as stodgy, stiff and narrow-minded, Willkie burst on the scene with a charisma and appeal unmatched in his party since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. His plain, direct manner in speech and dress touched a chord with millions of Americans."
He was a natural performer, whether delighting audiences as a guest on a radio quiz show (think of it as "reality radio") or playing Abraham Lincoln in an Akron pageant.
Like Trump, Willkie understood the importance of personal image to politicking. His Indiana upbringing prompted easy media references to him as a "bucolic hayseed," said essayist George T. Blakey; in fact, Willkie spent most of his life in urban settings, including Akron. Willkie owned farms only as investments, and made his fortune as a business magnate.
But he went along with the "rural myth" because it worked politically, Blakey said. Such a life was still real to many Americans in 1940, and those who had moved to cities nonetheless felt nostalgic for rural life.
Willkie began shaping himself in Akron, apparently with help from a local media baron. While he was at times said to have had no political experience when he ran for president, that meant only that he had not held an office. An editorial praising him as he left Akron for a New York City law firm declared him "prominent in political affairs." He was a delegate to the Democratic convention in 1924. The following year he battled the Ku Klux Klan over control of the local school board; he had also been part of opposition to the Klan at the 1924 convention.
He made strong connections in the community, notably with John S. Knight, who was then rising through the ranks at the Akron Beacon Journal, owned by his father, C.L. Knight. Willkie and the younger Knight were both World War I veterans, and close in age, Willkie about three years older.
Knight later said that he and Willkie were "exceedingly good friends, but were often on opposite sides in local Akron issues." Knight's "soul was Republican," said biographer Charles Whited, while Willkie was a Democrat until shortly before his 1940 campaign. But, Whited added, they later shared a dislike of FDR.
And there is great affection in the letters between them in the University of Akron archive of Knight's papers. When Willkie received the New York offer, he consulted Knight. The newspaperman said it was a great opportunity but, if it did not work out, Willkie could come back to Akron and run for Congress _ in a district that C.L. had represented.
Willkie returned to Akron only as a visitor, often for speeches, as his New York work took him in a few years to the presidency of a major public utility. Knight rose as well. In 1940, following his father's death seven years earlier, Knight owned newspapers in Akron, Miami and Detroit, and was among newsmen invited to meetings with FDR. He had influence that, along with that of several other media giants, helped Willkie's campaign.
Knight was even with Willkie when he won the Republican nomination, and took part in the discussion of a running mate _ although Knight disliked Willkie's choice, Oregon Sen. Charles McNary. The Beacon Journal files are loaded with clips, often laudatory, about Willkie, both during his time in Akron and after.
Knight was not unaware of Willkie's flaws. In a letter to Willkie biographer Steve Neal in 1978, Knight declined to discuss "some fascinating aspects of his personal life," most likely Willkie's infidelity, which was known by reporters. Although Knight would later question whether Willkie could have been a good president, in 1940 the Beacon Journal endorsed Willkie both for his personal qualities and because it objected to Roosevelt seeking a third term. Willkie sent Knight a letter of thanks for the support.
Of course, Willkie had enemies. Rock-ribbed Republicans disliked many of his stances. In 1943, a former Akron mayor, Republican C. Nelson Sparks, wrote a nasty broadside against Willkie to hurt any chances of Willkie's becoming the Republican nominee in 1944. Recalling Willkie's defenses of a power company in personal injury lawsuits, Sparks noted that Willkie had used his legal talents to prevent "people who lost their eyes, arms or legs" from being compensated by "his employing corporation."
Trump's professional practices have also been questioned. But he has become a political sensation. Willkie was one, too, years before Trump was even born.
