2013 narrowly averted in 1944.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: TILTING at windmills - Partnership of Wendell Willkie and Franklin Roosevelt in the 1944 elections - Brief article

In 2005, I wrote a book about how the 1940 Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie's support for the draft in 1940 and for Lend-Lease in 1941 was essential to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's effort to prepare the country for World War II and to enable Britain, and then Russia, to hold out until we could get in. I wrote the book because I had become frustrated that so few people knew this thrilling story of how two opposed political leaders had worked together at a crucial time in our history. Now I'm delighted to report that three books with a similar message have all appeared this summer. It's good to know that more and more people will learn this story at a time when the country needs to hear it.

But there was one issue on which I thank providence Willkie refused to embrace Roosevelt's position. In 1944, FDR wanted Willkie to join him, possibly as a vice presidential candidate, in a new party...