Wendell L. Willkie (1892–1944)

I bought this book, not for the contents, but for the inscriptions on the title page and cover. During WWII, Wilkie traversed much of the world, writing about his travels as he did. This book was purchased in 1943, while the world was still deep in war.

It's a pity that he died so early. One has to wonder where the world would have gone if he'd been around to influence politics after WWII was over. He was principled, and smart, and respected, and civil rights probably would have come to the fore a decade before it did, and with perhaps less animosity. This is an interesting book, and insightful. Perhaps it's just as well he didn't live, to see all those worthy lessons (mentioned in other reviews here on LT) ignored.

Worth reading.

Title Page: http://www.librarything.com/pic/4688174

Title Page from One World by Wendell L. Wilkie, with further signatures, including Roy Owen Webb. The further signatures and information on the title page itself may be signatures of friends, or of later owners.

Fly Leaf: http://www.librarything.com/pic/4688170

Fly Leaf from One World by Wendell L. Wilkie, comprised of signatures from people who gave the book to one Roy Owen Webb, and each of them signed it. Completely fascinating.

(I just gave this book away, to someone far younger than I, who will enjoy reading it.)… (mehr)

153. One World, by Wendell L. Willkie (read 8 May 1944) When I read the book in 1944 Willkie had already dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination, he having not gained even one delegate in the Wisconsin primary, to my dismay. I knew Dewey would be nominated and I knew Senator Burton Wheeler, who predicted that FDR would not run and that Dewey would win in a landslide, was not a good prophet. This book was about Willkie's trip around the world and not explicitly about the political situation and so I was not as interested as I would have been if I had read it a bit earlier.… (mehr)

While it is interesting to follow Willkie around the world and see through his present tense eyes how the war is going, how the US is perceived and how world leaders array themselves in the scheme of things, the most useful information is glossed over. Willkie accurately describes the goodwill shown to the US in time of war as social and political capital. If unwisely spent, the capital will be gone and the US will have nothing to show for it. In particular, he points out several times and ways that the US is in its high position precisely because it did not have territorial claims of its own; that unlike others, when it "liberated" a country, it did not replace invaders with itself. For that reason alone, Americans were welcomed everywhere. It was taken for granted they would go home. Clearly, these lessons have not been learned by anyone in power in the US since the second world war.… (mehr)