Supporters of Wendell L. Willkie outside the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium during the 1940 United States presidential campaign. Wendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 - October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive, and the 1940 Republican nominee for President. His Democratic opponent, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, won the 1940 election with about 55% of the popular vote and took the electoral college vote by a wide margin