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to change, or when he changed. The Republican machine didn't like it because he was a Republican. The Republican Party, however, was being quite “me too” in 1940. Their platform, which Willkie didn't have anything to do with was quite “me too.” They were going to do all the things, including Social Security, that the Democrats had already done and do them better. They were going to administer them better. They never said the Democrats had started all this, but they laid it on thick about shorter hours, better wages, minimum wages, unemployment insurance, old age insurance, protection of children, no child labor. I remember listening to the adoption of the Republican platform over the radio. I had to go to somebody's house to do it, but I wanted to hear what they really got in and how it sounded. I remember then turning to my host, who was the information man in the Department of Labor and saying, “Well, now I think we can sleep quietly and peacefully. The Republicans have adopted our platform and that means that our program is permanent. The United States has got this program and will have it forever, because the Republicans have now adopted it and they can't do otherwise.”

So it wasn't Willkie's fault alone that it was all “me too.” although in own speeches he couldn't help





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