One Worldor No World:

The Vision of WendellWillkie

EDITORIAL

ya_a G? N I 895, whenH. G. Wells'Time Machine appeared,he

told an interviewerthat its purposewas to emphasize
JT g that "Unlesshumanityhangstogether,unlessall strive
gI 1 j for the speciesas a whole,we shallendin disaster"(i).
That we aremovingto the brinkof that disaster-the
Kev-? final epidemic-is evident in a report of an address by
the Secretaryof Educationin the ReaganAdministration, Mr.William
Bennett,in whichhe saidthat"American schoolsshouldbeteachinghigh
school studentsmoreaboutthe evilsof communismandless aboutthe
consequencesof nuclearwar" (z). It takesonly a modicumof thought
to recognizethe frighteningimplicationsof this statement.
Thatfearof a nuclearwaris anurgentworldwideconcernis illustrated
by the resultsof a studyby Dr. RubenArdila,Professorof Psychology
at the NationalUniversityof Colombia,whicharereportedelsewherein
this issue.He concludesthat
Thereis greatconcernaboutthe possibilityof nuclearwar among
Colombianchildrenand adolescents,and this influencestheirway
of lookingtowardthe future.Theythinkaboutnuclearwar,make
theirlife plansin lightof preoccupationwith the possibilityof the
destructionof humanity,andin manycasesbelievetheydo nothave
a future.
Dr Ardilanotes that Colombiais a developingcountrywith difficult
socioeconomicproblems,no atomicweapons,and limitedinfluenceon
the worldscene.His findingsindicatethat
In reality,the possibilityof a nuclearholocaustis a planetarycon-
cern, not a problemof the SovietUnion, the UnitedStates,and
WesternEurope;it is a problemfor allpeople,one thatgoesbeyond
the geographicandculturallimitsof the peopledirectlyinvolvedin
I43

Palgrave Macmillan
is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to
Journal of Public Health Policy ®
www.jstor.org
I44 JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY * SUMMER I987

creatingnuclearwar capability,and has an importantinfluenceon

everyone.
This fear of the destructionof humanity was expressed in a recent
speechto the UnitedNations by SovietForeignMinisterShevardnadze:

We see the glimmerof light in the fact that at the time crucialfor
mankindthe peoples and an increasingnumberof governmentsare
becoming awareof the need to adopt a new way of thinkingin line
with the realitiesof the nuclearand space age.
The time is coming when considerationsof groups, blocs or
ideologiesarebeginningto giveway to the understandingthat peace
is a supremevalue. Only if peaceis translatedfrom declarationsinto
practicalaction is there a chance for survival.(3)

WENDELL WILLKIE: ONE WORLD

This call for a new way of thinking,which the presentAdministration

and the Congresshaveyet to achieve,was firstbroughtto world attention
by an outstandingRepublicanstatesmanmore than 40 years ago. Wen-
dell Willkie was a native of Elwood, Indiana,who became a successful
Wall Streetcorporationlawyerand the presidentof Commonwealthand
SouthernCorporation,a huge utilitiesholding company.A Democratin
the early 30s, Willkie turned Republicanbecause of what he felt to be
unwise governmentrestraintson business enterprise.As a Republican
presidentialcandidatein I940, opposing PresidentFranklinD. Roose-
velt's bid for a third term, Willkie receiveda popularvote of more than
zz million,the largesteverreceivedby a Republicanup to thattime (4).
In I94z, Wendell Willkie circled the globe in a U.S. Army plane,
accompaniedby the publisherGardnerCowles,Jr.,the journalistJoseph
Barnes,and representativesof the U.S.ArmyandNavy.He had an oppor-
tunityto see and talk to hundredsof people in morethan a dozen nations,
and to talk intimatelywith many of the world's leaders. A year later,
Willkie published One World,a fascinatingaccount of his experiences
and condusions (5). This is a remarkablebook, forthright,informative,
and, consideringthe fact it was written before the crisis of the nuclear
age, extraordinarilyperceptiveand statesmanlike.It is eminentlyworth
reading,from cover to cover;we shall quote, for reasonsof space, only
his major conclusions:
EDITORIAL * THE VISION OF WENDELL WILLKIE I45

On the MiddleEast
This problem,as it seemsto me, of bringingthe peoplesof the
MiddleEastinto the twentiethcenturyin technicaland industrial
termsis, in turn, intimatelylinkedwith the questionof political
self-government.ManyWesterners whom I met andtalkedwith in
thesecountriestold me the severalreasons,validin theirminds,for
the extremelyprimitivebackwardnessin which most Arabslive.
Thesereasonsrangedfromthe chargethatArabsactuallypreferto
die youngto the statementthat theirreligionpreventsthem from
accumulating thecapitalwithwhichto maketheimprovements they
need in theirway of life. To my mind,these reasonsweremostly
nonsense.Give any ArabsI saw a chanceto feel that they were
runningtheirown show,andtheywouldchangetheworldtheylive
in. (p. I 4)
On China
We must not expect Chinese ideals of personal libertyand demo-
craticgovernmentto be exactly the same as ours. Some of theirideas
may seem to us too radical, others may seem ridiculously archaic.
We should rememberthat in their eyes some of our customs appear
ridiculousand even distasteful.We must keep our minds fixed upon
the essential fact that the Chinesewant to be free-free in their own
way to govern their lives for the benefit and happiness of their own
people. (p. 45)
On Russia
There's still another thing I know: geographically,from a trade
standpoint, in their similarity of approach to many problems, the
Russians and the Americans should get along together.The indus-
trialization of Russia will require a limitless amount of American
products, and Russia has unlimited naturalresourcesthat we need.
The Russians, like us, are a hardy, direct people and have great
admirationfor everythingin America,except the capitalisticsystem.
And, frankly,there are many things in Russia that we can admire-
its vigor, its vast dreams, its energy,its tenacity of purpose. No one
could be more opposed to the Communist doctrine than I am, for
I am completely opposed to any system that leads to absolutism.
But I have never understood why it should be assumed that in any
146 JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY SUMMER I987

possiblecontactbetweenCommunismanddemocracy, democracy
shouldgo down.
So let me say once more:I believeit is possiblefor Russiaand
America,perhapsthemostpowerfulcountriesin theworld,to work
togetherfor the economicwelfareand the peaceof the world.At
least,knowingthat therecan be no enduringpeace,no economic
stability,unlessthetwoworktogether,thereis nothingI everwanted
moreto believe.Andso deepis myfaithinthefundamental rightness
of our freeeconomicandpoliticalinstitutionsthatI am convinced
theywill surviveanysuchworkingtogether.(p. 4z)
On America'sChoices
Americamustchooseone of threecoursesafterthiswar:narrow
nationalism,whichinevitablymeansthe ultimateloss of our own
liberty;internationalimperialism,whichmeanssacrificeof some
othernation'sliberty;or thecreationof a worldin whichthereshall
be an equalityof opportunityfor everyraceandeverynation.I am
convincedthe Americanpeople will choose, by overwhelming
majority,thelastof thesecourses.Tomakethischoiceeffective,we
mustwin not only the war,but also the peace,andwe muststart
winningit now.(p. 84)

WendellWillkie,unfortunately,didnotspeakfortheRepublican Party,
nor,for that matter,for the DemocraticParty,bothof whichhavefol-
lowedpostwarpoliciescomprisedof varyingproportions of thefirsttwo
choices:"narrownationalism, whichinevitablymeansthe ultimateloss
of our own liberty,"and "international imperialism, whichmeansthe
sacrificeof some othernation'sliberty."Therehas beenno peace;our
nationhasbeenengagedin extraordinarily destructive warsin Koreaand
Vietnam,andconductsmilitaryactions-directly orthroughproxies- in
CentralAmerica,theMiddleEast,AsiaandAfrica.TheReaganAdmin-
istration,with the supportof both Democratsand Republicans in the
Congress,is escalatingthe armsraceto unbelievable levels.
WendellWillkie'sthirdchoice,"thecreationof a worldin whichthere
shallbe an equalityof opportunityfor everyraceandeverynation,"has
yet to be taken.Perhapsit is too late; if so, the finalepidemicwill be
unleashedandhumanitydestroyed.Perhapswe canmovebackfromthe
brink;but this will requirethat the Americanpeople-Republicans,
Democrats,andIndependents of all classes,creedsandideologies-rec-
EDITORIAL * THE VISION OF WENDELL WILLKIE I47

ognize the dangerand demanda policy of peace.The survivalof this

fragileplanet dependsabove all on the willingnessof our nation to
implementthe vision of a greatAmericanstatesman,WendellWillkie.
The choicefor us all is One Worldor none.

REFERENCES

i. StanleyWeintraub.Review of H. G. Wells,DesperatelyMortal: A Biography

by David C. Smith. New YorkTimes, October i9, I986, Book Review Sec-
tion, p. 34.
z. Jill Lawrence, The Associated Press, Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, December
6, I986, p. 3A.
3. New YorkTimes, Septemberz4, I986, p. AiO.
4. Encyclopedia Britannica,Micropaedia Volume X, p. 690.
5. WendellT. Willkie. One World.New York:Simon and Schuster,1943 (paper-
back edition).