The Thing to Do

Wendell Willkie, the bear that walks like a Republican, scooped out some honeycomb wisdom for his political followers. What should be the role of a political opposition in wartime? Said he to the National Women's Republican Club:

"Republicans, it is our duty as a party and each in his individual capacity to do all we can to assist the man who has been appointed to bring American productive effort to the utmost.

"Friends of mine say to me from time to time, 'Mr. Willkie, don't you know that the national Administration and the Democratic Party are using the defense effort for political purposes? . . . Do you not recognize the conniving that goes on in Washington?'

"My fellow Republicans, no one in the U.S. sees these things with a sicker or more weary heart than I do. Others say, 'Since you recognize these things, do you not want the Republicans to adopt similar methods?' My plea is: 'Don't do it under any circumstances. Don't do it because this country is at war. Don't do it because freedom is at stake.'

"The Republican Party should be engaged in finding more efficient ways of winning this war, in finding better ways to build the instruments of warfare, in seeing to it that our military operations are carried out effectively, that the people's substance is not wasted . . . and that social changes are not brought about in the guise of the emergency. ... As Republicans it is the most practical thing to do. ...

"If the Republican Party becomes and remains a constructive force for the saving of freedom, then the Republican Party will return to power. If it returns to power as such a force, it will play a major part in the reconstruction of the world after this war, the construction of a world in which free men can live."

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