Difference between revisions of "US/1940 Presidential election"
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The '''1940 United States presidential election''' was held on Tuesday, November 5, 1940. Incumbent Democratic President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] defeated Republican businessman [[Wendell Willkie]] to be reelected for an unprecedented third term in office. | The '''1940 United States presidential election''' was held on Tuesday, November 5, 1940. Incumbent Democratic President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] defeated Republican businessman [[Wendell Willkie]] to be reelected for an unprecedented third term in office. | ||
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==British control== | ==British control== | ||
| − | {{QB|..the long-hidden early 1940s campaign by [[British Security Coordination|British intelligence agents]] to remove all domestic political obstacles to America's entry into [[World War II]]. A crucial aspect of that project involved the successful attempt to manipulate the Republican Convention of [[1940]] into selecting as its presidential standard-bearer an obscure individual named [[Wendell Wilkie]], who had never previously held political office and moreover had been a committed lifelong [[Democrat]]. Wilkie's great value was that he shared [[FDR|Roosevelt]]'s support for military intervention in the ongoing European conflict, though this was contrary to virtually the entire base of his own newly-joined party. Ensuring that both presidential candidates shared those similar positions prevented the race from becoming a referendum on that issue, in which up to 80% of the American public seems to have been on the other side. | + | {{QB|..the long-hidden early 1940s campaign by [[British Security Coordination|British intelligence agents]] to remove all domestic political obstacles to America's entry into [[World War II]]. A crucial aspect of that project involved the successful attempt to manipulate the Republican Convention of [[1940]] into selecting as its presidential standard-bearer an obscure individual named [[Wendell Wilkie|Wendell Willkie]], who had never previously held political office and moreover had been a committed lifelong [[Democrat]]. Wilkie's great value was that he shared [[FDR|Roosevelt]]'s support for military intervention in the ongoing European conflict, though this was contrary to virtually the entire base of his own newly-joined party. Ensuring that both presidential candidates shared those similar positions prevented the race from becoming a referendum on that issue, in which up to 80% of the American public seems to have been on the other side. |
Wilkie's nomination was surely one of the strangest occurrences in American political history, and the path to that improbable development was paved by quite a number of odd and suspicious events, most notably the extremely fortuitous sudden collapse and death of the Republican convention manager, a key Wilkie opponent, which [[Thomas Mahl|Mahl]] regards as highly suspicious. | Wilkie's nomination was surely one of the strangest occurrences in American political history, and the path to that improbable development was paved by quite a number of odd and suspicious events, most notably the extremely fortuitous sudden collapse and death of the Republican convention manager, a key Wilkie opponent, which [[Thomas Mahl|Mahl]] regards as highly suspicious. | ||
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Wilkie went on to suffer a landslide defeat at Roosevelt's hands in November, but quickly reconciled with his erstwhile opponent, and was sent abroad on a number of important political missions. Future historians would surely have been fascinated to learn some of the internal details of how British intelligence operatives had managed to "parachute" an obscure lifelong Democrat into leading the top of the Republican ticket in 1940, thereby fatefully ensuring American entry into World War II. But unfortunately all of Wilkie's personal knowledge of such momentous events was forever lost to posterity when he suddenly took ill and died of a [[heart attack]] - or according to [[Wikipedia]] 15 consecutive heart attacks - on October 8, 1944 at the age of 52.<ref>https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-our-deadly-world-of-post-war-politics/</ref>}} | Wilkie went on to suffer a landslide defeat at Roosevelt's hands in November, but quickly reconciled with his erstwhile opponent, and was sent abroad on a number of important political missions. Future historians would surely have been fascinated to learn some of the internal details of how British intelligence operatives had managed to "parachute" an obscure lifelong Democrat into leading the top of the Republican ticket in 1940, thereby fatefully ensuring American entry into World War II. But unfortunately all of Wilkie's personal knowledge of such momentous events was forever lost to posterity when he suddenly took ill and died of a [[heart attack]] - or according to [[Wikipedia]] 15 consecutive heart attacks - on October 8, 1944 at the age of 52.<ref>https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-our-deadly-world-of-post-war-politics/</ref>}} | ||
| + | ==Republican party nomination== | ||
| + | {{QB|There exists enormous evidence of major skullduggery by British agents, including the total manipulation of the nomination process by the convention manager, who was their close ally. Microphones were sabotaged at crucial points and duplicate tickets printed to ensure that all the galleries were completely packed by loud Willkie partisans, whose enthusiasm helped sway wavering delegates. Success might have been very difficult without such illegal machinations, and interestingly enough, the gentleman who arranged them only acquired his position of authority when the original convention manager, an ardent Taft supporter, had suddenly collapsed and died several weeks earlier. This occurrence, seemingly so crucial for Willkie’s nomination, may have been entirely fortuitous, but Mahl notes that the individuals recruited into the local British spy ring were explicitly warned that they might need to commit [[murder]] as part of their duties. | ||
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| + | Despite Willkie’s remarkable success at securing the nomination, his presidential campaign itself proved a total disaster, with many of his erstwhile supporters quickly dropping away or even transferring their allegiance to Roosevelt. His history as a Democrat and his advocacy of an aggressive internationalism hardly inspired Republican voter enthusiasm, while his [[Wall Street]] background constituted a perfect foil for Roosevelt’s populist positions. So despite enormous public doubts about Roosevelt, Willkie suffered a landslide defeat, thereby handling Roosevelt his third term.<ref>https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-alexander-cockburn-and-the-british-spies/</ref>}} | ||
{{SMWDocs}} | {{SMWDocs}} | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
{{Stub}} | {{Stub}} | ||
Latest revision as of 05:12, 18 November 2024
| Date | November 5, 1940 |
|---|---|
| Description | British spooks made sure both candidates wanted to join World War 2. |
The 1940 United States presidential election was held on Tuesday, November 5, 1940. Incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican businessman Wendell Willkie to be reelected for an unprecedented third term in office.
British control
..the long-hidden early 1940s campaign by British intelligence agents to remove all domestic political obstacles to America's entry into World War II. A crucial aspect of that project involved the successful attempt to manipulate the Republican Convention of 1940 into selecting as its presidential standard-bearer an obscure individual named Wendell Willkie, who had never previously held political office and moreover had been a committed lifelong Democrat. Wilkie's great value was that he shared Roosevelt's support for military intervention in the ongoing European conflict, though this was contrary to virtually the entire base of his own newly-joined party. Ensuring that both presidential candidates shared those similar positions prevented the race from becoming a referendum on that issue, in which up to 80% of the American public seems to have been on the other side.
Wilkie's nomination was surely one of the strangest occurrences in American political history, and the path to that improbable development was paved by quite a number of odd and suspicious events, most notably the extremely fortuitous sudden collapse and death of the Republican convention manager, a key Wilkie opponent, which Mahl regards as highly suspicious.
Wilkie went on to suffer a landslide defeat at Roosevelt's hands in November, but quickly reconciled with his erstwhile opponent, and was sent abroad on a number of important political missions. Future historians would surely have been fascinated to learn some of the internal details of how British intelligence operatives had managed to "parachute" an obscure lifelong Democrat into leading the top of the Republican ticket in 1940, thereby fatefully ensuring American entry into World War II. But unfortunately all of Wilkie's personal knowledge of such momentous events was forever lost to posterity when he suddenly took ill and died of a heart attack - or according to Wikipedia 15 consecutive heart attacks - on October 8, 1944 at the age of 52.[1]
Republican party nomination
There exists enormous evidence of major skullduggery by British agents, including the total manipulation of the nomination process by the convention manager, who was their close ally. Microphones were sabotaged at crucial points and duplicate tickets printed to ensure that all the galleries were completely packed by loud Willkie partisans, whose enthusiasm helped sway wavering delegates. Success might have been very difficult without such illegal machinations, and interestingly enough, the gentleman who arranged them only acquired his position of authority when the original convention manager, an ardent Taft supporter, had suddenly collapsed and died several weeks earlier. This occurrence, seemingly so crucial for Willkie’s nomination, may have been entirely fortuitous, but Mahl notes that the individuals recruited into the local British spy ring were explicitly warned that they might need to commit murder as part of their duties. Despite Willkie’s remarkable success at securing the nomination, his presidential campaign itself proved a total disaster, with many of his erstwhile supporters quickly dropping away or even transferring their allegiance to Roosevelt. His history as a Democrat and his advocacy of an aggressive internationalism hardly inspired Republican voter enthusiasm, while his Wall Street background constituted a perfect foil for Roosevelt’s populist positions. So despite enormous public doubts about Roosevelt, Willkie suffered a landslide defeat, thereby handling Roosevelt his third term.[2]
Related Quotation
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert A. Taft | “Every Republican candidate for president since 1936 has been nominated by the Chase National Bank” | Robert A. Taft | 1952 |
