wendell wilkie was born in a modest home, like millions of americans. he went to the public grade and high schools, just like millions of americans. his hard-working parents later moved to this home, from which wendell wilkie went on to success in law and business. >> wendell wilkie was born the day we declared war on germany in 1917 wendy wilkie delisted in the armed and fought in france, with his brothers promptly joining him in uniform. (music) he married edith, wilkes, a librarian in brush veil, where he now owns farmland. he has learned our needs and problems not from books or reports or bosses from city machines, but by living and working with us, face-to-face, shoulder to shoulder, and it is face-to-face he would like to meet you now to talk about problems facing all-americans. >> i would like very much to talk to everybody in this country personally about the issues of this campaign. few understand that the size of the country and the time i have to devote this campaign make that impossible, but i take this method of presenting to you my views o

landon he supported in 1936 and wendell wilkie in 1940 over f.d.r. in fact here is al smith on the radio talking about his support for wendell wilkie. >> i'd just like to make a little observation. i'd like to wonder what could be going through the mind of the 16 million men that are in the draft. i wonder if they're not saying to themselves, if this becomes serious, if it upon the record, would you sooner be behind? the third-time candidate or a wilkie? in my opinion the only hope for the people is the election of wendell wilkie, who believes -- [applause] -- who believes in the constitution of the united states and the principles upon which it was founded. when he has -- is chosen to guide this nation, then and then only will the stars and stripes again wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave. [applause] >> >> beverly gauge, what's your >> reaction to hearing that? >> well, it's really remarkable how quickly and how viciously al smith ends up going after the people who had once been his greatest supporters. i was trying to think if

our focus this week is on wendell wilkie and we want to hear from you. there are so many images from that campaign, tickertape parades that we don't see in modern campaigns. why was that significant and what does that tell you about the support that he had from certain sectors of the public? >> of course, there is no television. the candidate really has to get out there with the people. he spends a lot of time crossing the country on trains. retail politics in towns and cities all across america with all the hoopla and all the stuff that gets people engaged and excited about the campaign. >> was franklin roosevelt worried about wendell wilkie? >> i think he enjoyed it. he says i'm not going to pretend this is an unpleasant duty for me. franklin roosevelt was a warrior and wilkie was a warrior and both of them gurded and enjoyed that process. he respected him as a contender from the beginning. you see him dropping comments, that one i am worried about, unlike the that's a real contender as well. others. he was ready for the battle. >> we are going to hear

wendell wilkie wanted a second shot at the presidency. general mcarthur's admirers, and we have reason to believe, that the general himself would have liked to have been nominated. taft flirted with it for a while, but he went john bricker who we already mentioned sort of ran it instead. i suppose there was a halfhearted contest. governor dewey did not announce his candidacy, i think, until the last minute. it was a quasi-draft, and it's an unusual year because it's war time and the great -- -- anyone who won the republican nomination would have a challenge. it's not only that you're running against this formidable wartime commander in the middle of the war, but you don't know when the war is going to end. and the dewey appeal, if america was at peace in 1945, it was believed he'd have a much stronger electoral case than if the country was still at war. >> we'll go to naples, florida next. stewart? >> caller: good evening. thank you for having me. i just want to commend richard norton smith and ken burns for preserving the history which i

wendell wilkie declared on the campaign trail in 1940 referring to new deal reforms saying these were different names for the same things. arbitrary hands in the power of government. his campaign book was one of the first books to be titled "free enterprise." he said something interesting which became a very important part of free enterprise rhetoric, which is that the danger today is not big business, it is big government. that is the key theme in my chapter on the essay that i elaborate. the same year, 1940, in the case against the new deal, thomas dewey claimed that the coming presidential election where he was the front runner for a time, the american people will be called upon to make the most critical decision they have in 80 years. as of the election of 1860, voters have two conflicting and opposing systems. dewey was far from alone in evoking the civil war and especially abraham lincoln's framing of the competing and composing economic systems. in a world of binary choices, the only point according to doing was to revive free enterprise. critics routinely used the house divide

tonight, lawyer and businessman, wendell wilkie. at 8:00 p.m.rs," eastern on american history tv. presidents" available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book presents biographies of every president inspired by conversations with noted historians about the leadership skills that make for a successful presidency. as americans go to the polls to decide who should lead our country, this collection offers perspective -- perspective in the events that forged each president's legal styles. to learn more visit c-span.org/thepresidents. order your copy wherever books are sold. washington journal" continues. joined by julie rovner. we will dive right into it by a headline from "the washington times." democrats fear for obamacare, senators turn hearing into a health care referendum. it was their line of focus not surprisingly yesterday. tell us what they are not looking forward to in terms of the case that will come before the supreme court the week after the election. guest: i think the democrats did not plan it this way, but it is playing into their campaign theme for this year. in 2018, the

america first, that's just a slogan and it's a borrowed slogan we heard that in 1940 bymckinley and wendell wilkiequestion is what does it mean? if he's using a slogan and tries to backfill it with something to his advantage -- the world today is different from then. we are interrelated and interdependent. there are alliances. by saying america first, they extracted the united states out of everything. it was not a question of old-style jingoism, go america, not like at the olympics where we shout usa. but when it's a question of trying to make it seem like the rest of the world doesn't matter , like were going to erect a wall, not just a physical wall on the southern border, but a virtual wall around us, that itairs us even more than impairs them. and the comment about black lives matter. it's important for white people it'sderstand, once again, not something that began in 2020 or 2016 or earlier like with ferguson. this is something that has been going on for hundreds of years. it is now surfacing. a lot of white america does not seem to recognize that there is fundamental white privilege. a lot

when bill wendell willkie i've indiana, and mick miry of oregon. mr. wilkie visited with the family of one of his operating, louis. at his left is mary, who succeeded the league father in law of mr. wilkie as manager of the farm. it's a hot day and mr. wilkie refreshes himself at the -- before his turban specks and begins. he doesn't let up anything stand in his way, these are not high parker states, these are practical corn forms. his interest in americas young people is genuine. in them, he sees the future of america. >> from the republican national committee, i want to ask you, he described himself as a liberal. this is an important point to understand, liberalism in the 1940s is very different terms than how we view it today. >> when wilkie said liberal, he met the liberalism of the individual. your individual rights, your human rights, that's a big issue for him. not the liberalism of the group, not the progressive block. he saw an opposition there. that's quite different from liberalism that's progressive, where we have blocks, such as farms, such as ve

wendell willkie declared in 1940, referring to new deal reforms, these are different names for the same things. absolute and arbitrary power in the hands of government. wilkie's campaign book of that year was one of the first books to be titled "free enterprise" and wilkie said something interesting here which became an important part of free enterprise rhetoric which is that the danger today is not big business. it is big government. and that's a tkey theme in my chapter on the "i pencil" essay. in 1940. thomas dewey claimed that in the coming presidential election for which he was the republican front-runner, the american people will be called upon to make the most critical decision they've made in 80 years. as in the election of 1860, voters faced a fateful choice between two conflicting and opposing systems. dewey was far from alone in evoking the civil war and especially abraham lincoln's framing of the two systems. the only option was to revive free enterprise, quote, the system which made america great. dewey like so many others so routinely used the house divided metaphor to explain why a mixed economy was unsustainable. as early as 1936, the "new yor