NEVER AGAIN

The chief interest of the 1940 Presidential election arises in relation to the national and international crises of the period. The authors' third-term approach (whence the title) is a silly one, but the issue occupies only a fraction of the book. Both candidates come across clearly: FDR's mixed feelings and astute maneuvers. Willkie's personal merits and deviation from his Wall Street image. The minutiac of conventions and campaigns are reported for the most part on the level of rhetoric: superficialities include repeated mention of John L. Lewis criticisms of the second New Deal, without recording them. The book bypasses the major issues of economics and the bipartisan push for foreign expansion. What it does stress is the war in Europe, but the key groups pro and anti U.S. entry are never adequately delineated. The authors also emphasize the role of grassroots sentiment. Their account of the unexpected groundswell for Willkie invites comparison with McCarthy 1968, here the details are significant and absorbing. On the whole a bit shallow for specialists, a bit-narrow for general readers, and a late runner for those who have already purchased Warren Moscow's roughly comparable Roosevelt and Willkie (p. 634).