FOREIGN RELATIONS: Gulliver’s Traveler

The big, weary man got through with the Washington airport greetings as fast as he decently could. His stop at the Carlton Hotel did not even give him a chance to straighten his tie or give his pants a badly needed hitch. Under orders from the Commander in Chief to hurry, he crammed his bulk into a limousine, lumbered out in front of the Executive Offices and for a moment faced a battery of cameras. Then Wendell Willkie went in to see the President.

Not for 90 minutes did he emerge. What the two men talked about across the cluttered desk is not yet known. But last week it was evident to anyone who even looked at him that Wendell Willkie must have said plenty.

Thirty-one thousand miles of flying (most of it in a big Consolidated Liberator with “Gulliver” painted on its weathered nose in Chinese,* English and Russian), through nearly a score of countries and territories flaming with war, separated Wendell Willkie from his last meeting with Franklin Roosevelt. As the President has yet to do, Willkie had met and talked with Joseph Stalin and Chiang Kaishek. He had spent 161½ hours in the air, smelled the smells of Cairo and looked down from his airplane windows at uncountable square miles of Siberian vastness. He had seen American soldiers in many countries, listened to the beefs and urgings of many men. Into his ears had been poured the stupidities & wranglings, the hopes & fears of more than half the world. He was so tired he could only toy with the Scotch & soda to which he had so long looked forward. But when he faced the newsmen they could see, underneath his grey fatigue, a burning urgency they had never seen before, even in an urgent Wendell Willkie.

In seven and one-half weeks Wendell Willkie had seen the war as no other private citizen had ever seen it; perhaps more of it than even Winston Churchill has seen so far. What he thinks about it, Private Citizen Willkie will soon say in a full, frank report to the U.S. people. He is entitled to do that, having made his private report to Mr. Roosevelt.

No one knows what he will say. But Wendell Willkie speaks more freely to newsmen than any other man of his public importance. And from what they heard him say, have come vibrant clues:

Victory. “Certainly we are going to win. The question is how soon? And at what costs in human values, human lives? . . . It makes a lot of difference how we win.”

Russia. “. . . Put aside your thoughts about Communism, godlessness. This is a fascinating country. The progress Russia has made is astounding. . . . Siberia is an inexhaustible storehouse of strategic war materials. I wish I could tell you. . . . In my judgment Germany will never conquer Russia.”

China. “. . . No foot of Chinese soil . . . should be ruled from now on except by the people who live on it. . . . There is in China a great reservoir of admiration and affection for the U.S., but the reservoir is leaking fast. . . . We have talked a lot about our production figures, but some of our Allies have seen very little of our actual arms. . . .”

The War. “Men need more than arms to fight and win this war. They need enthusiasm for the future. . . .”

Americans perked up. This was no dew-and-sunshine optimism. This was pungent talk. They had a feeling that courageous Wendell Willkie, who soaks up impressions like a sponge, who spits out simple truths with brutal candor, would be even more pungent when he reports to the people. To Washington newsmen, who can add two & two, the White House had been powerfully moved by what it had heard from him.

This week Wendell Willkie was deservedly resting at Rushville, Ind., tramping over his farms, getting cockleburs on his pants, sifting his thoughts, deciding what to tell the U.S.

Active among the guessers were the nation’s politicians. Election Day (Nov. 3) was only days away, and they know a potential doldrum-disturber when they see one.

* There is no real Chinese word for “Gulliver” so a phonetic approximation was used. Literal translation: “High Standard Man.” The Chinese had a phonetic name for Willkie, too, meaning “Strengthen your inner self.”