Is Donald Trump 2012's answer to Wendell Willkie, the 1940 presidential candidate plucked from the private sector during the 1940 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia?
The comparison is tempting. Peter Grier, making the case in the Christian Science Monitor, called Willkie "trumpishly famous." Much like today, in 1940 the Republican party found themselves disappointed with their slate of candidates, which included New York Attorney General Thomas Dewey, Sens. Arthur Vandenberg and Robert Taft and former president Herbert Hoover. Both were high-powered businessmen -- Willkie the President of Commonwealth & Southern Corporation, the nation's largest electric utility holding company; Donald Trump, the real-estate scion who has grown his empire into the orbits of resorts, casinos and reality television.
Trump, on his road to the Republican nomination, has been forced to defend past donations and support for Democratic politicians. Particularly embarrassing for the nascent Trump campaign have been donations made during the most recent election cycle, including $4,800 to help Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defeat Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle. Willkie was a life-long Democrat (and a past Roosevelt supporter) who did not change his party affiliation until the year of his nomination.
The similarities between the two men extend beyond the public arena. Trump, currently on socialite wife number three, would presumably have much to talk about with Willkie, who carried on affairs with literary icons Irita Van Doren and Josephine Pinckney.
These comparisons, though, fail to hold up once tone and intent come into consideration. As Washington Monthly founder Charles Peters wrote in his excellent book on the 1940 election, Willkie ran a campaign that appealed to the best of the electorate. France surrendered to the Nazis the day before the 1940 Republican Convention, and the views expressed by the Republican Party that summer and fall would go a long way toward shaping American opinion of the ongoing war in Europe. The stakes were dire. One major candidate, Herbert Hoover, was even willing to pitch his candidacy to national columnists Drew Pearson and Robert Allen on pro-German grounds: "Hitler was going to rule the world and the United States would have to do business with him. What the country needed was a man in the White House who had not alienated Hitler and who had contacts in Germany."
Willkie, however, rose to the moment. On the campaign trail post-convention, Willkie praised President Franklin Roosevelt's support for the British naval fleet and the implementation of selective service. At a time when every other major Republican presidential candidate was firmly in the isolationist camp, Willkie proclaimed his "wholehearted support to the president in whatever activities he might take." Before he died in 1944, Willkie told a friend: "If I can write my own epitaph and I could choose between 'Here lies an unimportant president' or 'Here lies one who contributed to saving freedom at a moment of great peril,' I would prefer the latter."
Contrast this with Trump, who has staked his entire campaign on fomenting conspiracy theories alleging Barack Obama is an illegitimate president. Literally every day, Trump has ratcheted up the volume of his birth certificate queries. He descended further into the gutter last week when he repeated scurrilous Internet rumors that Obama's memoir, Dreams from My Father, was really authored by Bill Ayers.
Willkie's quest for the Republican nomination and the White House allowed Roosevelt greater latitude to aid Britain's opposition to Nazi Germany, and he conducted himself with the knowledge that the fate of the world was at stake. Trump told CNN he plans to announce his presidential intentions during the season finale of his reality show. While there may be surface-level similarities between the candidacies of Trump and Willkie, such comparisons imbue Trump's shenanigans with an undue air of legitimacy -- and insult the legacy of a man who had a profound and beneficial impact on history.
Last week, a gang of tax law professors did their best to start shining some light on the hidden Trump. They didn’t hire a private investigator. They just pointed on the Web to a 12-year-old archived CNN news story. In 1999, this amazing story relates, Donald Trump called for a $5.7 trillion “wealth tax” on America’s rich!
A one-time 14.25 percent tax on all individual taxpayer wealth over $10 million, Trump would go on to proudly note, would only impact America’s richest 1 percent — and raise enough money to retire the entire U.S. national debt.
From:
Institute for Policy Studies Program on Inequality
and the Common Good
Wilkie was a sincere patriot. He proved it time and again after the election-- as an outspoken champion of African-American rights long before it was fashionable for white folks; by setting aside his differences with FDR and serving the administration with distinction as an unofficial (and unpaid) ambassador-at-large around the world; by writing and speaking thoughtfully about America's place in the new postwar world order.
Trump's only sincere interest is Trump. It's an insult to Wilkie's memory to link him to such a vulgar, self-centered boor. Wilkie wasn't perfect, but he deserves better than this.
Opec will you pretty please cut your profit line.
Please pretty please.
Ya right.
https://jdrourke.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/memo-to-donald-trump/
Why are certain people so hostile to this issue? Why not close this issue quickly? Is this a Harvard thing? If I am from Harvard than I am above everyone else? I voted for Obama but I do not understand why he will not produce the birth certificate and it bothers me. Because it is a reflection of his character which I hold very high. He is getting horrible advise on this issue. The people he is dealing with have their noses up their " " on this and should be fired.
Produce the birth certificate and MOVE ON. Its not about race if it was I would never have voted for him or contributed to his campaign which I did. Its about character which is the most important quality in a president. Mr. Obama please produce the birth certificate. I would gladly mail you my birth certificate in a second if you asked me too.
Mr Trump's character, well, he is an open book. He hides nothing from the media. You either like him or you don't.
I like him.
The truth is, no amount of evidence can make dumb people understand something they refuse to understand. Can't be done.
My burning question is, how did all the dumb people in the U.S. end up in the Republican party?
The birther issue is interesting. Why? Excuse me? Its interesting because of what is not being said and its so very obvious to anyone of intelligence. What is not being said is "why is this an issue"? Why doesn't Obama quickly produce his birth certificate and move on? Why is he allowing this parade. Trump is clever. He is with this one issue attacking Obama's character. He is telling everyone look at how the president is acting. Either he was not born in Hawaii (0% chance) or worse he is too arrogant to produce this document.
That is what Trump is doing. Instead, whether this is true of not, Obama spends $2 million in legal fees to stroke his ego, per Trump, on how dare anyone ask such a question. That to anyone with an IQ above 100 is the real issue here.
Obama should immediate produce the birth certificate and apologize for the delay making Obama look presidential and showing true character. That is what I would advise if I were his campaign manager. It is all about character. Its a simple request by Trump and others and should NOT be an issue but Obama is making it an issue.
Wow x 2...
https://jdrourke.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/memo-to-donald-trump/
Ask yourself three questions: where did this number come from, where would the money come from, and what would it have been spent on?
Here, ask me to produce my long form birth certificate. I will say "no." You will walk away. Net cost to me: nothing. Even with the markup you get inevitably stuck with for being a public figure, how does this inflate to $2 million?
The genesis of this number comes from people who noticed that the Obama campaign had lawyers, and decided that this money must have been used to "seal his records" -- presumably with a couple of $1 million rolls of duct tape. They neglected to note, or at least neglected to point out, that McCain's campaign had lawyers too, and ran up a similar tab. What these fees were for were the costs of running and then winding down a political campaign.
This is a non-story. To quote someone else here: it's time to move on.
Let's face it, the GOP was made for reality TV. After all, both McCain and Thompson announced formally their candidiacies in 2008 on late night talk shows.
We don't know his position on several other important issues but it's early and he hasn't made a decision to run yet. The polls look suprisingly positive, which speaks to the public thirst for a serious candidate...Next 2 years should be interesting. In the meantime, keep these republican animals on a short, short leash.
"Saving freedom", wrote Willkie. What freedom are we talking about today? While we navigate social networks, state and crporate power knows just about everything about us through the same cyber systems.
With noses stuck into laptops and Blackberries, there is no time to think... there can`t be freedom without thought or some form of discrimination of facts and ideas.
We may have instantaneous means of communication, but but we are more bound by group think and electronic chains than ever.
America has defined herdelf by freedom, but lately the category, especially under the Bush-Cheney gang, has become obsolete or it has to be redefined for modern circumstances.
I think Trump is loving stirring up all this trouble for the GOP. Of course, he loves the attention and plans to make $$ off it. He has got Rove in an uproar and he couldn't be happier. I say let Trump keep going. He is doing more for the Democrats and the President than most Democrats are.