Five Days in Philadelphia

Charles Peters talked about his book Five Days in Philadelphia: The Amazing “We Want Willkie!” Convention of 1940 and How It Freed FDR to Save the Western World, published by PublicAffairs. He described the fight for the Republican presidential nomination at the Republican convention in June 1940, giving a detailed overview of candidates Tom Dewey, Robert Taft, Arthur Vandenberg and Wendell Willkie. He described the floor rallies, rousing speeches, backroom deals, and terrifying international news that led to dark-horse candidate Wendell Willkie’s nomination at the convention. Mr. Peters described the Republican convention events as significant to Franklin Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie’s bipartisan alliance which helped the U.S. on the eve of World War II. After his presentation the author responded to audience members' questions.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum hosted the Roosevelt Reading Festival III in the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center at close