Wendell L. Willkie Portrait

Photograph of Wendell Willkie on a black background with black text inside an illustrated nametag.

In the 1940 U.S. Presidential Election, Wendell Willkie ran for office under the Republican banner, promoting interventionist policies to align the United States more closely with Great Britain and the allied cause in World War Two. He began his career as an attorney but eventually rose from legal counsel to corporate president of the Commonwealth & Southern corporation. Despite losing to President Roosevelt, Willkie regularly assisted the President in strengthening ties with Britain with informal trips to London.