By Edwin Cooney
Nineteen-forty was an absolutely amazing and historic year. Not only did we vote FDR (many reluctantly) to an unprecedented third term, but an American President dared to sign a national conscription bill nearing the close of the presidential campaign.
The first of January was a Monday in 1940. On Friday, the 5th, the Federal Communications Commission, for the first time, heard the clear static-free transmission of the FM broadcast signal. Two days later, on Sunday, January 7th, the world was shocked to learn that the Finnish army, despite inferior numbers, had defeated the Soviet army on the Raate-Suomussalmi Road. Winston Churchill would proclaim "Finland shows what free men can do!” However, the gallant Finnish army, which originally out-skied (more than out-gunned) the Soviets, wasn't strong enough to permanently hold off Stalin's forces.
Wednesday, January 24th saw the release of film director John Ford's "The Grapes of Wrath" starring Henry Fonda, based on author John Steinbeck's book by that name.
On Friday, February 2nd, Frank Sinatra made his singing debut in Indianapolis accompanied by Tommy Dorsey's orchestra. Walt Disney's "Pinocchio" was released on Friday, February 23rd. On Sunday, February 25th, W2XBS in New York televised an NHL hockey game for the first time which was won by the Rangers over the Montreal Canadians 6 to 2. Four days later, Thursday, February 29th, Hattie McDaniel became the first black woman granted an Oscar for her role as Mammy in "Gone With the Wind." Just the day before, Wednesday, February 28th, the Census Bureau announced the population to be 131,669,275. The black population was 12,865,518, constituting 9.8% of the total number.
On Thursday, March 12th, the Finns signed The Treaty of Moscow giving up 11 per cent of its territory to Stalin — thus saddening and disappointing the free world.
By Thursday, April 16th, the day Cleveland Indians' pitcher Bob Feller opened the American League season with a 1 to nothing no hitter over the Chicago White Sox, many Americans were beginning to wonder about the coming political season.
Before many Americans could begin analyzing our domestic political possibilities, there came Friday, May 10th in Great Britain. On that day, as Germany began its blitzkrieg of four nations, Parliament lost patience with its leadership. It wrenched power from Neville Chamberlain. King George VI finally decided to offer power to Winston Churchill, a member of The House of Commons, rather than to Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, First Earl of Halifax. The urgency and precariousness of Britain's lott, Churchill's naval background and the fact that he was half American were likely factors in the King's choice of Churchill over Halifax.
Meanwhile, FDR, whose stellar political reputation had been somewhat damaged in 1937 by his attempt to "pack" the Supreme Court, would still be a formidable candidate due to his personal charisma and experience if he sought a third term — an honor Ulysses S. Grant and FDR's fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt had unsuccessfully tried to achieve. Indiana Governor Paul McNutt was said to be interested, but Postmaster General Jim Farley, who had successfully captained FDR's 1932 and 1936 campaign troops, clearly had decided that 1940 was his turn. Otherwise, the Democrats might try Vice President "Cactus Jack" Garner, also a former Speaker of the House and a rich pecan nut farmer from Uvalde, Texas. Garner, whose agreement to serve as Vice President under then Governor Franklin Roosevelt had cinched FDR's fourth ballot nomination back in 1932, also coveted the 1940 nomination. There was also Secretary of State Cordell Hull, an old Tennessee populist, whose value to the administration was that he kept old-line Southern Democrats wedded to the New Deal. However, he was old, rather tired and ill. Over on the GOP side, the newly elected Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft (son of former president William Howard Taft) was popular with traditionally conservative Republicans. Thomas E. Dewey, born in Michigan but now a popular prosecutor from New York, had a reputation for controlling crime, second only to that of J. Edgar Hoover. Dewey also wanted to become president. Finally, there was an interested corporation lawyer, a native of Elwood, Indiana. He was a Democrat whose only quarrel with FDR was the New Deal's over-regulation of public utilities and this drove him to the Republican Party. His name was Wendell Lewis Willkie.
Republicans met in Philadelphia between Monday, June 24th and Friday, June 28th for their 22nd quadrennial convention. Wendell Willkie (one of three candidates from New York State) was nominated on the sixth ballot. Charles Linza McNary of Oregon was nominated for Vice President. The Willkie/McNary nominations constituted a move to the center of the political spectrum in an effort to capture the increasing number of progressive votes across the country. It was hoped that this would make them competitive with the New Deal dominated Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party which would meet in Chicago for its 28th quadrennial convention nominated FDR for that unprecedented third term on the first ballot. Although perhaps genuinely reluctant to run earlier in the year, by the time the convention opened on Monday, July 15th, FDR was clearly and cleverly planning his own "spontaneous" nomination. Former Commerce Secretary Harry L. Hopkins, who occupied three different headquarters during the convention, arranged through Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly for a voice to come from the cellar of the convention hall chanting "we want Roosevelt!” just after Kentucky Senator Alben W. Barkley had finished reading from the podium a letter from the President insisting that the delegates were perfectly free to nominate another candidate. Then there was the kerfuffle over FDR's insistence that Agriculture Secretary Henry Agard Wallace of Iowa become his vice presidential running mate. Eleanor Roosevelt went to the convention to speak for Wallace and FDR threatened to withdrawal his candidacy if Wallace was rejected. Many delegates resisted the Wallace nomination. However, by Friday night, July 19th, 1940, FDR was fully in command of the Democratic party and was seeking to master the British resistance to Adolf Hitler.
Although less apparent to contemporaries, FDR and Willkie had one outlook in common: they both rejected isolationism's "fortress America” as a necessary strategy for keeping America safe and free. Republicans charged that Roosevelt's brand of internationalism would be like his agricultural policy, that instead of plowing up one third of America's wheat, it would bury one third of all America's boys. It was one of the few Republican charges that deeply angered Roosevelt. By the close of the 1940 campaign, the drafting of American boys was the law and FDR participated in the ceremony where Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson drew the first draft number.
Births in 1940 included Eric Hilliard (Ricky) Nelson on Wednesday, May 8th, baseball Hall of Famers Willie Stargell on Wednesday March 6th, and Joe Torre on Thursday, July 18th. Perhaps most notably, the Beatles' John Lennon was born on Wednesday, October 9th during a German air raid over London.
As for the election on Tuesday, November 5th, Roosevelt received 27,213,945 votes to Willkie's 22,347,744. FDR earned 449 electoral votes, Willkie 82, with Roosevelt carrying 38 of the then 48 states.
A sad irony: Had Wendell Willkie and Charles McNary been elected over Roosevelt and Wallace in 1940, both men would have died in office. Under the Presidential Succession Act of 1886, whoever was Secretary of State, perhaps a younger John Foster Dulles, would have succeeded President Willkie! Charles McNary died on Thursday, February 25th, 1944 at the age of 69 and Mr. Willkie died on Sunday, October 8th, 1944 at age 52 following an unsuccessful attempt to regain the GOP presidential nomination. Even more ironic, this was exactly six months and four days before President Roosevelt's passing!
I think most historians would agree with this mere student of history that in 1940, America opened its eyes, conscience and awareness of the welfare of the world community to its own safety and even survival. By the end of the year (I believe it was Thursday, December 26th, 1940), FDR declared America a "good neighbor" to the world and asserted that America ought to be the world's “arsenal of Democracy.”
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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