Show o v. v I J I I l' l This Man Willkie No As 4 As 4 As Young Ohio Lawyer He Fought 1 l Fourth of six stories on the life of Wendell Willkie By TOM TO WOLF Young lawyer Willkie didn't know a soul in AKron AltrOn when he arrived There was a convention convention convention conven conven- tion in town and the hotels were full Willkie spent his first night on a cot in a hotel lobby When seasoned counsel Willkie Willkie Willkie Will Will- kie left for New York ten years later he was listed three different different different dif dif- ferent ways in the Akron phonebook phonebook phone phonebook book so his many business and social frie friends ds could find him- him Wendell Lewis Wilkie a common common common com com- mon misspelling Lewis Wendell Wendell Wendell Wen Wen- dell Willkie his correct name and the accepted Wendell Lewis Willkie which he used after a ar r recruiting officer accidentally inverted his name when he joined the army In Akron Willkie earned a reputation as the Bill Borah of Akron and as a great poker player He still loves cards and frequently plays rummy on his trips Mrs Willkie is the only person who consistently beats him Willkie's Akron successes were doubly impressive because he was a leader in the fight against the Ku Klux Klan As Asa a delegate to the 1924 Democratic Democratic Demo Demo- Democratic cratic national convention he worked against McAdoo be because because because be- be cause of the senators senator's Klan backing So vehement was wasE E Episcopalian pis cop a I i an Willkie that thinking he must be Catholic a Catholic group once offered him the marshals marshal's job in their parade KLAN OPPOSITION DANGEROUS STAND So strong was the Klan in Ohio in the early that tobe to tobe tobe be openly against it was dangerous dan dan- socially socially physically andin and andin andin in business business- Socially it never mattered to Willkie He has s never been a country clubman club clubman clubman man likes few active sports sport s other than fishing Physically he could take care of himself capably as his six feet one pounds still show In business there was no one who overlooked overlooked overlooked over over- looked a lawyer who could as Willkie did triple his firms firm's business After a brief career with Firestone Firestone Firestone Fire Fire- stone Willkie joined the law firm of Mather and Nesbitt Here he first became connected with the utilities In his work defending various large companies he soon found as he later wrote that among the mass of people a feeling exists eist against large corpora corpora- He reasoned then as now that this was no argument ent for control government oWn W I stained the BetraYal Betray yal Of I business me men records he c 1 the same thing Is ise public true officials e By 1926 gained the t r B. B C C. Cobb notice then Of then of the head heads Mather and companies Nesb tt W to I a Nesbitt sel Willkie copy of still tr b firms firm's senior Cobbs Cobb's obb's let says I 1 think part ko e. e he a comer and our eye on him We sh BECAME IE HEAD EAD AT 41 91 In 1929 29 three I merged to for large larn t form dollar Com m the e V. V Southern corPora I Cobb lion became Its 1 one of hIs first b for Willkie act p Rob income for U J 1 the years Cobb told Ill I'll double tOld W 1 salary If You'll that ohi York as an cOlte i Weadock to be 1 for ge gene ern 1 Willkie came but He b wasn wasn't t sure like New York he be R as Ic It d slickness it lie Ib particular hank never ever I 1 street for and all its And 1 even tOday ht he-deJl he observing th that his n twenty-first twenty flo floor k of National bank Ite Ee sk sky Lower so is a a block Manhattans Manhattan's G olt Pitt He accents the I When Cobb Word if lt reset of illness in 1933 1911 to picked Wendell L. L l succeed him The 41 lawyer who fore had slept p hotel lobby before on hIs a I fur job was now nations nation's twenty corporation The lob job he did he bee him wide nation nation Next |