he grilled wilkie about all awful things that wilkie said about fdr in the campaign. wilk casually shrugged it off and said, that was all standard campaign oratory. after wilkie's long day of testimony, he and roosevelt had dinner alone in the president's study in the white house. wilkie stayed until after midnight, and fdr's secretary later said that from the sounds of laughter that she heard coming from the study, she could tell that the two men really enjoyed being together. fdr and wilkie became a team, and they would continue to work together during the war until wilkie died suddenly in october 1944, a few weeks before that november election. by then, the g.o.p. wanted nothing to do with their former candidate, and they wouldn't even let wilk speak at the 1944 party convention. his speech writer wrote that fdr admired wiling and profoundly and eternally grateful for his support in the battles against isolationism and fascism. once overheard the closest aid make critical remarks about wilk to the president, sherwood wrote that roosevelt angerly slapped hopkins dow

she wrote a letter to lew churchill asking wendell wilkie to deliver.is said tear churchill wendell wilkie will give you this he is helping me to figure out politics over here. this applies as much your people as it does to us. ceylon our union strong and a great with all the hopes of the future years is hanging breathless of thy fate. franklin roosevelt. so wendell wilkie was transformed from a substantial national figure into an errand boy for the man. of course, churchill latched onto this letter" end quote. it in speeches he gave back to the united states in that poll of was a metaphor for the american relationship. finally then hitler let the dice fly to order the invasion of russia and i again. >> host: team went to britain to confer with churchill and also led to me was joseph stalin in russia. it would give confidence the of roosevelt to go against the advice of his counsel he did just as "wild bill" donovan had done. in august as late as at the land to conference extraordinary meeting at sea that the bottom anglo-american relationship initiated

they hired, as their lead council, none other than wilkie. just a few months before pearl harbor, the subcommittee hearings were a nasty side show. fortunately, wilkie provided a healthy dose of sanity and realism. he told the senators that the motion picture industry was happy to plead guilty to being a hundred percent opposed to fascism. i wish to put on the record this simple truth, wilkie declared. we make no pretense of friendliness to the ruthless dictatorship of nazi germany. we abhor everything that hitler represents. we plead guilty to sharing with our fellow citizens a horror of hitler's nazis, and the industry desires to plead guilty to doing everything within its power to help the united states defend itself and the world against fascism. so, in conclusion, i personally would like to thank americans in 1940 for voting for franklin roosevelt or for wilkie, and i thank them for having watched, and i thank you for still watching great movies like foreign correspondent and the mortal storm and casa blanca to remind us of the night fai

wilky, like roosevelt, was an internationalist. wilky believed that the allies should be helped. and by taking that position, he took the issue basically out of the campaign. which was a great help. in fact he took some other issues out of the campaign, and then had a hard time finding something to run on. and that is why the campaign got kind of personal and nasty by the end. once roosevelt was elected, he could move forward a little more boldly, and what he proceeded to do was step-by-step increase american aid to the allies, increase the buildup of american armaments, and in every way possible, find outlets that would increase the finances available for all of this. because this is going to be an unprecedented set of expenditures. that's why the tax system was revolutionized during the war. the way it was revolutionized is a way that might surprise you. it was not a case of soaking the rich. it was more a case of moving the exemption down farther and farther until millions of people who had never had to pay taxes now did have to pay taxes. in other words, not just the middle b

susan dunn is the author of "1940: fdr, wilkie, lindberg, hitler- the election amid the storm" she's the parish third century professor of humidity at williams college she's been teaching since 1973. she graduated from smith college and has a ph.d. from harvard university. she has written and edited a dozen books that focus on two key periods in american history. the founding period and the president sincerity of franklin roosevelt. she's the author of "fdr purge." she's coauthor with pulitzer prize winning author james mcgreger burns of the three roosevelt leader who transformed america. she lives in massachusetts with jim burns and their dog roosevelt. and i know that -- [laughter] just on a personal note, for one thing, susan is a great friend of the library and me as well. james mcgrayinger burns is the roosevelt scholar. he wrote the first volume of biography. he's in williamstown, massachusetts, and will be watching the program later. we want to send our best to him in williamstown, massachusetts. [applause] so with that, i'm pleased to introduce sue san dunn. -- susan dunn. [a

hopes of future years it is hanging breathless on the fate as ever doors franklin roosevelt so paul wilky was transformed from a substantial national political figure into an errand boy that a man who had beat him and of course he latched on to this letter in the speeches in the united states and of the letter itself that roosevelt had a metaphor for the relationship. and then finally in the summer of 1941, hitler let it fly and ordered the invasion of russia and again it was the failed harry hopkins who dominated the proceedings returning to britain to confer with churchill and making the journey to moscow to meet with joseph stalin. the mission beaned him the confidence to gamble on the soviet union against the advice of most of his counselors. he provided a character reference for russia just as bill donovan earlier provided one for britain. in 1941 and august roosevelt and churchill met for the first time as leaders of the atlantic conference, the extraordinary meeting at which the modern american relationship was initiated and planned for the soviet union were decided and this repres