On March 16 , his first day of campaigning in Wisconsin , Willkie made eight speeches , and the pace took a toll on his voice . The weather did not cooperate , and he travelled through a blizzard to reach a rally in the northern part of the state . Willkie attracted large crowds in most places , and he told them that the Republican party would fail unless it accepted the New Deal and recognized the need for the U.S. to remain active in the world after the war . The Democrats , he alleged , had been in office too long and they did not have the vision that was needed in the postwar world . Willkie 's speech in Milwaukee attracted 4,000 people to a hall that could hold 6,000 , and he left the state on the 29th for Nebraska , where he had also entered the primary . Once he was gone , Dewey 's backers , including most of the Wisconsin Republican leadership , flooded the state with billboard advertisements and radio commercials . On April 4 , Dewey gained 17 of Wisconsin 's 24 delegates , Stassen 4 , and MacArthur 3 . Willkie 's delegates ran last in every district . The following night , after giving his speech in Omaha , Willkie addressed the crowd : Defeated in his second bid for the White House , Willkie announced that he was returning to the practice of law , but his friends doubted that he would be content there . Roosevelt was anxious to dump Vice President Wallace from the ticket in his bid for a fourth term , and he had an intermediary sound out Willkie about running in Wallace 's place . Willkie was reluctant even to respond , knowing that Roosevelt had made promises to potential running mates which he did not follow through on . There were further discussions between Willkie and the White House , of which third parties were aware though the details are not known ; the vice presidential nomination went to Harry S Truman . Willkie got Roosevelt interested in a new liberal party which would be formed once peace came that would combine the left of the two existing major parties , but Willkie broke off contact with the White House after there were leaks of this to the press , because he felt that Roosevelt had used him for political gain . Roosevelt sent a letter expressing his regret for the leak , but that too was printed in the papers , and Willkie stated , " I 've been lied to for the last time . " In spite of their breach , Roosevelt continued to try to conciliate Willkie . Roosevelt 's son Elliott later stated that his father hoped to have Willkie be the first Secretary General of the United Nations , and the two men agreed to meet later in the year . Willkie had not been invited to speak at the 1944 Republican National Convention in Chicago that nominated Dewey for president , and he declined a pass as an " honored guest " . Dewey hoped to get Willkie 's endorsement , and he sent his foreign policy advisor , John Foster Dulles , to see Willkie . The former candidate refused to be drawn , and he made no endorsement before he died . Willkie wrote two articles for Collier 's , one urging an internationalist foreign policy , and the other demanding advances in civil rights for African Americans . He also explored becoming a newspaper publisher
1944 Republican National Convention
1944 Republican National Convention
Wendell Willkie