REPUBLICANS: Moose on the Loose

The reawakened Wendell Willkie last week demonstrated in Washington, D.C. how not to win Congressional friends.

For three hours, Willkie parried questions and thrust answers at an off-the-record dinner of freshman G.O.P. Congressmen. His hearers (who included such guests as Republican Leader Joseph Martin and New York’s veteran James Wadsworth) agreed that Willkie’s manner had been aggressive, some even said truculent. Willkie told Congressmen he could have the Presidential nomination if he wanted it; he was ready to go over their heads to the people. Old wiseheads, not hostile to Willkie, summed: a poor show.

Two nights later Willkie addressed Syracuse Republicans, this time made a good showing. In urging voters to elect Republican Joe R. Hanley (TIME, Oct. 11) as Lieutenant Governor, Willkie was gesturing helpfully toward his chief Presidential rival, Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Said Willkie: “Governor Dewey has given . . . sound, clean and able administration. . . . Let us elect a Lieutenant Governor who will work with him. . . .” Afterwards, Dewey wired: “It was great. Many thanks.” Wired Willkie: “My Dear Tom: . . . Thanks for your gracious wire . . . Kindest regards. . . .”

The rest of the Willkie week: > He warned Britons, in an interview with the London Standard, not to meddle in U.S. politics, either by suggesting that Franklin Roosevelt’s re-election is necessary, or by questioning the motives of those who oppose the Administration.

> He presented Freedom House’s first annual award for service to freedom to Pundit Walter Lippmann. In a speech he urged more general discussion of foreign policy, warning that the subject is too important “for us blindly to delegate its conduct to a few specialists.”

“He Is Dynamite.” In Nebraska Willkie’s personality sparked an argument between two influential newspapers. Said the Omaha World-Herald:

“Wendell Willkie is as bold as he is clever. He has influence and a following within the party not likely to be ignored. He will not permit it to be. . . . Republican leaders as a rule don’t like Willkie. They never have. They mistrust him as another ‘big cock of the roost,’ stubbornly bent on having his own way, with contempt for all others whether of high degree or low, if you are not as smart as he is. But what to do about him? . . . Impossible to ignore Willkie; highly dangerous to defy him. For he is dynamite. Like Roosevelt he is glamorous, he is a romantic, dashing figure with a popular appeal.”

The Lincoln Star answered: A true picture of Willkie, but what’s wrong with having a man like that? Does the country want someone who doesn’t know his own mind, who subordinates his conscience to party regularity, who is a well-disciplined stooge? Is the U.S. crying for another “Cautious Cal,” another Harding? Said the Star: “Mr. Willkie could be a Bull Mooser, with one of the largest horn spreads of any moose on the loose. . . . He can’t be Cal Coolidge.”