Eleanor Roosevelt
BY ED FELIEN
“The road not taken,” a lecture by Michael A. Meeropol, will be Tuesday, July 23, 7:30 p.m. at the Women’s Club (410 Oak Grove St.). Admission is free.
As an historian, and someone who has lived American history as the eldest son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Michael will talk about two important choices the U.S. made in history and a looming choice to be made today. His presentation will combine an appreciation of the role Wendell Willkie played in America in 1940 and 1941 as well as what many on the left feared was an incipient American fascism during what was incorrectly called the “McCarthy Era.” He will then ask if these historical stories have any lessons for Americans today as we approach a presidential election in November.
Michael A. Meeropol is a professor emeritus of Economics at Western New England University in Springfield, Mass. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Swarthmore College, a B.A. and a M.A. in Economics from Cambridge University in the U.K., and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the co-author, with his brother Robert Meeropol, of “We Are Your Sons, the Legacy of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg,” as well as the author of “The Rosenberg Letters, The Complete Prison Correspondence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg,” and “Surrender, How the Clinton Administration Completed the Reagan Revolution.” He is a regular commentator on WAMC Radio, the National Public Radio affiliate in Albany, New York.
Wendell Willkie
Meeropol’s presentation launches the new Roosevelt/Willkie Forum, named for political figure, activist and diplomat Eleanor Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie, attorney, corporate executive, and the 1940 Republican nominee for president of the United States. Within a month of losing his bid for presidency to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Willkie began allying himself with his 1940 opponent. He supported a military draft in peacetime and, at FDR’s request, went to London in January of 1941 to meet with Winston Churchill. Willkie returned to testify before Congress in support of FDR’s Lend Lease program to provide weapons to England. Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson later wrote, “Willkie placed principles above compromise. It was this kind of selflessness, following so closely on the disappointment of a political defeat, that should keep Wendell Willkie’s memory alive for all Americans.”
There will be a garden party at the historic Purcell and Elmslie House, 2625 Newton Ave. S., Minneapolis, to welcome Dr. Meeropol on Sunday, July 21 beginning at 4 p.m. Come meet Dr. Meeropol and other fascinating guests, tour this wonderful home, and enjoy drinks and dinner. The garden party is free but donations to The Woman’s Club are gratefully accepted.
The Roosevelt/Willkie Forum is made possible by a generous donation from Phil Willkie.
