He was involved in many legal battles in the course of his career . In one instance , a British judge called him " an unscrupulous and ruthless financier " and said " I do not accept him as a witness of truth . " In 1940 , Davis arranged for multiple contributions , evading the restrictions of the Hatch Act , to finance the October 23 radio address in which John L. Lewis attacked FDR and backed Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie , all without Willkie 's knowledge . The following spring , Willkie heard Davis had disparaged him and inquired as to the truth of what he had heard . To Davis ' reply he wrote : " I have your very impertinent letter . I had written as one gentleman to another concerning a statement that had been attributed to you . Your replies are merely cheap inferences . " During the 1940 U.S. elections , Davis used funds provided by the German government to contribute approximately $ 160,000 to a Pennsylvania Democratic organization to help defeat Sen. Joseph Guffey , a Democrat and a prominent critic of Germany , and to bribe the Pennsylvania delegation to the 1940 Democratic National Convention to vote against Roosevelt , moves which both failed . The German government allocated $ 5 million , stored at the German embassy , to support Davis 's efforts
1940 Democratic National Convention
1940 Democratic National Convention
William Rhodes Davis