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FDR’s Envoy
The Middle East
Russia
China
Legacy
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Considering the state of political affairs in the United States today, it's hard to imagine a sitting President and the leader of the opposition party publicly cooperating with one another. Yet, in August 1942, President Roosevelt accepted Willkie's proposal to embark on a tour of Europe, the Middle East and Asia as FDR's personal envoy. The trip would demonstrate that despite the presence of a large and vocal opposition party, the United States was unified in its commitment to defeat the Axis powers. Willkie and FDR also wanted to show that the Allies were in firm control of the strategic air routes that Willkie's plane would use. For the trip, FDR provided Willkie with a specially modified U.S. Army bomber and notified the Foreign Service that Willkie had official status as a personal representative of the President.
On August 26, 1942, Willkie left New York City's Mitchell Field for a 50-day trip to more than a dozen countries on three continents. The trip was high drama, for Willkie visited several battle fronts, and the foreign correspondents in the countries he visited reported all the details for a very interested audience back home. Although Willkie made a few minor political and diplomatic mistakes on the trip, overall the trip was extremely successful. When he returned, Willkie went immediately to the White House to brief the President on his experience. A week and a half later, Willkie addressed the nation in a radio broadcast that reached an estimated 36 million listeners, his largest audience ever.
Map by Sol Immerman, as printed in One World |
Flight of the Gulliver |
| Notes: | |
| FDR’s Envoy | TOP |
Roosevelt quickly accepted Willkie's proposal to tour America's allies in the Middle East, Russia and China, and Willkie met twice with FDR to outline an itinerary. FDR told Willkie that he could not stop in India, as it would upset the British who were dealing with a smoldering independence movement there. It was decided that Willkie would deliver personal messages from FDR to several of the leaders Willkie was to meet, and notes of the meetings also indicate that Willkie was to perform several unspecified duties for the President. It's unknown whether Willkie carried sensitive information or materials abroad for the President, but it's very likely. FDR was quite fond of using "personal representatives" to accomplish his foreign policy goals, which angered Foreign Service officers and FDR’s own ambassadors who resented having someone else perform "their" duties.
 The crew of the Gulliver |
For reasons known only to him, FDR also decided not to tell Willkie that the Allies had decided to launch a second battle front against Hitler's armies. This was to be in Africa, and not in Europe as Josef Stalin had hoped. This issue, and Willkie's public statements about it while abroad, would prove to be the most controversial aspect about his trip. It also put Willkie at a strategic disadvantage when he met the Soviet leader, who discussed the issue incessantly with Willkie on the two occasions they met. FDR did warn Willkie that he might be arriving in Egypt just as Cairo might be defeated by the German Army. Willkie said that the possibility of personal danger did not bother him, and that his willingness to visit the battle lines would increase the effectiveness of the trip. Willkie would, in fact, visit three front lines during his trip: in Egypt, Russia and China.
Willkie made his trip in a four-engine Army Liberator bomber that had been converted into a transport plane. Named the Gulliver, the plane took off from New York City's Mitchell Field on August 26 with a seven-man crew, Willkie, and two travelling companions aboard. Willkie's companions were two old journalist friends, Gardner Cowles and Joseph Barnes, who were by then working for the Office of War Information. Barnes, who would later write a very flattering biography of Willkie, would prove to be a constant source of good advice to Willkie during the trip. Prior to the war, Barnes had been a foreign correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune, and he spoke Russian to boot.
| The Middle East | TOP |
Unlike today, a transatlantic flight in 1942 required several stops for refueling and servicing. Willkie's first official stop was in Cairo, Egypt, but he arrived there only after touchdowns in Florida, Puerto Rico, Brazil (two stops), Ascension Island and Africa (three stops). When Willkie arrived in Cairo, the city was awash in rumors that the British Army was about to pull out of Egypt altogether due to its recent losses against German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's forces. But as Willkie would soon discover, the Allies had just scored a decisive victory against the Germans.
 Willkie and Gen. Montgomery on the front line near El Alamein, Egypt Credit: The British Information Service |
Willkie learned of this defeat while visiting the front line at El Alamein as the guest of British General Bernard Montgomery. Willkie and Montgomery agreed that Willkie would tell the world of the German's defeat, and together they wrote a statement that Willkie gave to the press. It began in dramatic fashion: "Egypt is saved. Rommel is stopped and a beginning has been made on the task of throwing the Nazis out of Africa." The announcement would boost the morale of the Allied forces in Egypt and around the world, but not immediately. The British censors would not allow the statement to be released, and Willkie could only get the word out after he left Egypt and repeated the news to reporters at his next stop, in Ankara, Turkey.
One of the goals Willkie and FDR had for this trip was to raise the morale of America's allies in the Middle East. Beginning with his announcement in Turkey, Willkie did just that. Based on the red carpet treatment that Willkie received at every stop, it was also clear that foreign leaders were getting the message that Willkie represented America's unity in its resolve to win the war.
From Turkey, Willkie went to Beirut, Lebanon, where he met with French General Charles de Gaulle. Willkie later wrote that he thought de Gaulle was obsessed with, and more than a little arrogant about, the struggle between France and Britain over control of Syria and other parts of the Middle East. General de Gaulle, who had been virtually ignored by FDR's administration (and indeed by most of the world as well), was equally unimpressed by his visitor.
Perhaps because of his humble origins, Willkie was equally comfortable with ordinary people as he was with heads of state. Several times during his trip, Willkie insisted that his itinerary include time for him to meet informally with people on the streets and in the cafes. Seeing the vast differences between the wealthy rulers and the poverty-stricken population merely reinforced Willkie's dislike of the anti-democratic governments throughout the Middle East. He also saw the people of the Middle East yearning to be free from their colonial rulers, Britain and France. Willkie would not forget what he saw and heard in the streets and cafes; all his subsequent writings and speeches would have strong anti-colonialism themes.
| Russia | TOP |
After stops in Jerusalem, Baghdad and Teheran, Willkie headed to the Soviet Union, first setting down 500 miles southeast of Moscow in the city of Kuibyshev, the nation's wartime capital. Willkie's first full day in the city was spent touring munitions factories and collective farms, where the workers repeatedly asked him when the Allies were going to open a second front in western Europe. Although the American ambassador accompanying Willkie thought the workers had been coached to ask that question, Willkie was not convinced. After all, he was now an eyewitness to the terrible destruction that Russia had suffered at the hands of Hitler's armies, and it was only natural for Russian citizens to wonder when the Allies would come to their aid. Whether the questions were coached or not, Willkie clearly became sympathetic to the Russian cause and before he left the Soviet Union, he made the most controversial statement of his trip when he called for the Allies to aid the Soviets by opening a second front in Western Europe as soon as possible.
 With Soviet leader Josef Stalin Credit: Sovfoto Radiophoto |
Willkie's remarks made headlines throughout the free world. Roosevelt said he was disappointed by Willkie's remarks and that Willkie was clearly expressing his personal opinions, and not those of the Roosevelt administration. In retrospect, this controversy would have been avoided had FDR told Willkie of the Allied plans to open a second front in Africa in November. Furthermore, Willkie did not have a complete picture of the current military capabilities of the Allies. If he had, he would have known that the Allies had insufficient men, weapons and equipment to launch a second battle front in Europe in 1942.
Willkie saw Josef Stalin twice while he was in Moscow, first at a two-hour closed door conference in the Kremlin where Willkie presumably presented the Soviet leader with any communiqués he was transporting on behalf of Roosevelt. This is speculation, however, as no records of the meeting were kept. The second meeting was a more formal and open affair, a Saturday evening banquet at the Kremlin given in honor of Willkie's visit. Here, Willkie boasted that he joined in a classic Russian pastime by drinking "fifty-three vodka toasts -- bottoms up, glass over the head." Stalin kept pace with Willkie, but neither man forgot the political undercurrents present that evening.
After the vodka began to flow freely, Stalin chastised the British ambassador for his country's role in appropriating more than 150 Allied fighter planes that had been bound for Russia. Willkie proposed a conciliatory toast, saying that all great alliances have their differences, but to split apart now over those differences would play into German hands. Willkie forced the two men to accept the toast. The temperamental Soviet leader could easily have been insulted by Willkie's bold gesture, but he was not. Stalin, it seems, had begun to appreciate Willkie's ability to speak plainly and directly on the issues. In any case, political observers at the time and historians alike have concluded that Willkie's visits with Stalin brought about a much-needed improvement in Soviet-American relations, which had been severely strained at the time.
Before he left Russia, Willkie received his second experience of the front lines of battle. He took an overnight ride in a military jeep to Rzhev, where he could see and hear the mortar shells being exchanged between the Red Army and Hitler's forces. He also got a firsthand look at the devastating results of Hitler's "scorched earth" policy. When Willkie asked the Red Army general in charge how his defense was going, the general angrily responded by telling the translator, "You tell Mr. Willkie that I'm not defending anything -- I'm attacking." This experience, combined with the equally tremendous resolve he observed in every Russian he met, made a lasting impression on Willkie. As a capitalist, Willkie disagreed with the Soviet system, but he left the Soviet Union with a profound respect for its people.
| China | TOP |
From Moscow, Willkie made brief visits to Tashkent (then a republic of the USSR, now the capital of Uzbekistan), and to the following cities in China (old spellings in parentheses): Ürümqi (Tihwa), Lanzhou (Lanchow) and Chengdu (Chengtu). China was in political and military disarray during Willkie's visit: more than five million Chinese had already died in five years of war with Japan or in the power struggle between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists. The war with Japan actually caused Willkie to stay in Chengdu a day longer than planned: Japanese planes were spotted in the airspace the Gulliver was to use to get Willkie to his next stop, Chongqing (Chungking). Willkie stayed in Chongqing for six days, where he met with several high-ranking Chinese officials, most notably Gen. Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Chinese Nationalists, and his opponent in the Chinese power struggle, Communist Chou En-lai, who was in Chongqing because of a temporary truce. Both men told Willkie of stories of the tremendous losses the Chinese had suffered at the hands of the Japanese, but also told him of the determination of all Chinese people to rid their country permanently of foreigners. This meant not just the Imperial Japanese Army in Manchuria, but all the European colonial powers that had extraterritorial claims on Chinese soil.
 With Gen. and Madame Chiang Kai-shek Photo from One World inner sleeve |
There were two tangible outcomes of Willkie's stay in China. First, he invited the wife of Chiang Kai-shek to come to the United States and plead her country's case to the American public, which she did several months later. Madame Chiang was a perfect goodwill ambassador for her country: She was strikingly beautiful, well-educated (Wellesley College) and fluent in English. She single-handedly shattered American's outdated stereotypes of the Chinese people and her trip was very successful: Her speech to a joint session of Congress resulted in a thunderous standing ovation and eventually more military aid to her country.
Secondly, before he left Chongqing, Willkie insisted on meeting Colonel Chennault, who was the leader of the famous "Flying Tigers." These were American volunteer airmen who had arrived in China to fight the Japanese even before the attack on Pearl Harbor. In Willkie's words, Chennault's fighter pilots had performed "minor miracles" while fighting against the Japanese, even though they were under-supplied and the Japanese outnumbered them by more than ten to one at times. Chennault thought he would be able to score even more victories with better equipment, so Willkie told him to outline his needs in a letter to President Roosevelt. Chennault did so, Willkie delivered the letter to FDR, and Chennault was rewarded with more equipment and weaponry from Washington.
Before he left China, Willkie visited his third battle front of the trip, this time coming closer to the action than he intended. Leaving Chongqing, the Gulliver flew back to Chengdu, then on to Xi'an (Sian), where Willkie boarded a train to a battle line that straddled the Yellow River. While en route, Japanese bombers attacked four cities along the rail line and destroyed a blue train car identical to the one Willkie had been riding in. But at the front, Willkie saw little actual fighting, and his guides successfully hid from him the dreadful circumstances of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Army, which was corrupt, malnourished and lacked even basic weaponry. In general, Willkie did an excellent job at gathering information during his trip for the President, but in this instance, he truly failed to grasp the serious corruption rampant in Chiang Kai-shek's forces.
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On October 8, the Gulliver left Xi'an and Willkie began his long trip home. After three brief stops in the Soviet Union, and one each in Alaska and Canada, Willkie arrived in Minneapolis on the 14th. Although he wanted to rest, he immediately flew to Washington to meet with FDR. Willkie's top two goals on the trip were to spread good will and to gather facts. On the first goal, Willkie was certainly successful, but now Willkie had to decide what to tell the President, who Willkie knew had been upset by some of the things he had said and done on the trip. Specifically, Willkie knew that FDR had interpreted Willkie's call for a second European front as a criticism of the Administration's war strategy. But it should also be noted that by this time there was a lot of mutual respect between the two men, and so Willkie was very candid when telling FDR of America's flawed foreign policy in the regions he visited.
Specifically, Willkie told FDR that America must make it clear to the peoples of the Middle East that although America is allied with the French and British, we are opposed to their imperialistic and colonial traditions. Doing so would help the war effort immediately, as it would strengthen these countries' commitment to defeating the Axis powers, and it would go a long way toward creating post-war stability in the region. Regarding the Soviet Union, Willkie reported that Stalin was suspicious of America because we had been treating the USSR as a second-class power. The tangible result of this attitude, Stalin believed, was an inadequate amount of war matériel from the Allies, and that this, too, would lead to post-war difficulties unless corrected. On China, Willkie reported on Colonel Chennault's successes and recommended a larger military commitment to the war against Japan being waged from there.
Willkie reiterated and expanded upon these points in his famous "Report to the People" radio broadcast on the evening of October 26, which reached an estimated 36 million listeners, his largest audience ever. Reporters of the day called it Willkie's greatest speech, and historians have agreed with that judgment. Biographer Ellsworth Barnard wrote: "To many who listened, these words had the quality of revelation. When he had finished, the world looked different -- and it would never look the same again." (p. 378)
Excerpts from the speech illustrate that Willkie was both bluntly critical of the nation's war effort and optimistic that America would adapt to the changing world situation:
Willkie's trip around the world, his report to FDR and his "Report to the People" speech did change public opinion and it did bring about tangible changes in American foreign policy and in the nation's war effort. Willkie's next task would be to refine his thoughts on these matters and put them into a book, One World, which would become Willkie's manifesto on America's proper role in the post-war world.
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