29 War Years DURING THE THIRD-TERM campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, some Tribune readers thought they detected a change in the political policy of the newspaper. Those readers were wrong but there was an understandable reason for their reaction. The Tribune did not change its position but for the first time in thirty years it figuratively took off its editorial gloves and really tried to influence its readers to accept its point of view. The editorials took on a more aggressive tone. While it did not wage the sort of slashing, eye-gouging attack on the opposition which was its trademark in an earlier period, it did carry on a sustained and hard-hitting editorial campaign in behalf of Wendell L. Willkie. The Tribune had given mild support to the Republican candidate in 1936. But in 1940, while simultaneously defending Roosevelt's preparedness program from attacks of the so-called America First isolationists, it argued with old-time fervor for rejection of the third term bid and for the election of Willkie. The campaign and the reaction of third-term supporters to its editorials provided an occasion for the newspaper to restate its policy on more than just the current campaign. A few days before the election The Tribune said in a twocolumn editorial: Primarily, The Tribune is a newspaper with a mission and a reputation for gathering, printing and
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