Editing Wendell Willkie (section)

==Youth, education and World War I service==
Lewis Wendell Willkie was born in [[Elwood, Indiana]], on February 18, 1892, the son of Henrietta (Trisch) and Herman Francis Willkie.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ellsworth|first=Barnard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xurZhUonAMAC&q=%22Herman+Francis+Willkie%22&pg=PA8|title=Wendell Willkie, Fighter for Freedom|publisher=University of Massachusetts|year=1966|page=8|isbn=0-87023-088-3}}</ref> Both of his parents were lawyers, his mother being one of the first women admitted to the Indiana bar.<ref name = "ANB" >{{cite ANB |last1=Madison |first1=James H. |date=February 2000 |title=Willkie, Wendell Lewis (1892-1944), corporation lawyer and executive, politician, and civil rights activist |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0600718 }}</ref>  Willkie was the fourth of six children, all intelligent, and learned skills during the nightly debates around the dinner table that would later serve him well.{{sfn|Peters|p=25}}

Although given the first name Lewis, Willkie was known from childhood by his middle name.{{sfn|Neal|p=2}} Herman Willkie, who had come from [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] with his parents at age four, was intensely involved in progressive politics, and in 1896 took his sons to a torchlight procession for Democratic presidential candidate [[William Jennings Bryan]], who had come to Elwood during [[William Jennings Bryan presidential campaign, 1896|his campaign]]. The Willkie boys had a sidewalk fight with Republican youths, and though the Willkies won their battle, Bryan lost his to [[William McKinley]]. When Bryan ran again in 1900, he stayed overnight at the Willkie home, and the Democratic candidate for president became the first political hero for the boy who would later seek that office.{{sfn|Neal|p=3}}

By the time Willkie reached age 14 and enrolled in Elwood High School, his parents were concerned about a lack of discipline and a slight stoop, and they sent him to [[Culver Military Academy]] for a summer in an attempt to correct both. Willkie began to shine as a student in high school, inspired by his English teacher; one classmate said that Philip "Pat" Bing "fixed that boy up. He started preaching to Wendell to get to work and that kid went to town."{{sfn|Neal|pp=4–5}} Faced with a set of athletic brothers—[[Edward Willkie|Edward]] became an Olympic wrestler—Willkie joined the football team but had little success; he enjoyed the debate team more, but was several times disciplined for arguing with teachers. He was class president his final year, and president of the most prominent fraternity, but resigned from the latter when a sorority blackballed his girlfriend, Gwyneth Harry, as the daughter of immigrants.{{sfn|Neal|pp=4–5}}

During Willkie's summer vacations from high school, he worked, often far from home. In 1909, aged 17, his journey took him from [[Aberdeen, South Dakota]], where he rose from dishwasher to co-owner of a [[flophouse]], to [[Yellowstone National Park]], where he was fired after losing control of the horses drawing a tourist stagecoach. Back in Elwood, Herman Willkie was representing striking workers at the local [[tinning|tin plate factory]], and in August journeyed with Wendell to Chicago in an attempt to get liberal attorney [[Clarence Darrow]] to take over the representation. They found Darrow willing, but at too high a price for the union to meet; Darrow told Wendell Willkie, "there is nothing unethical in being adequately compensated for advocating a cause in which you deeply believe."{{sfn|Neal|pp=6–7}}

After graduation from Elwood High in January 1910, Willkie enrolled at [[Indiana University]] in [[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington]].{{sfn|Neal|p=7}} There, he became a student rebel, chewing tobacco, reading [[Karl Marx|Marx]], and petitioning the faculty to add a course on [[socialism]] to the curriculum.{{sfn|Peters|pp=26–27}} He also involved himself in campus politics, successfully managing the campaign of future Indiana governor [[Paul McNutt]] for student office, but when Willkie ran himself, he was defeated. He graduated in June 1913, and to earn money for law school, taught high school history in [[Coffeyville, Kansas]], coaching debaters and several sports teams. In November 1914, he left his job there for one as a lab assistant in [[Puerto Rico]] arranged by his brother Fred. Wendell Willkie's  commitment to social justice was deepened by the sight of workers suffering abuse there.{{sfn|Neal|pp=8–12}}

Willkie enrolled at [[Indiana University Maurer School of Law|Indiana School of Law]] in late 1915. He was a top student, and graduated with high honors in 1916. At the [[Graduation|commencement]] ceremony, with the [[Indiana Supreme Court|state supreme court]] present, he gave a provocative speech criticizing his school. The faculty withheld his degree, but granted it after two days of intense debate.{{sfn|Neal|p=13}} Willkie joined his parents' law firm, but volunteered for the [[United States Army]] on April 2, 1917, the day President [[Woodrow Wilson]] asked Congress for a [[1917 United States declaration of war on Germany|declaration of war against Germany]]. An army clerk transposed his first two names; with Willkie unwilling to invest the time to have the bureaucracy correct it, he kept his name as Wendell Lewis Willkie. Commissioned as a first lieutenant, Willkie was sent for artillery training. He arrived in France as the war was ending and  did not see combat. In January 1918 he married Edith Wilk, a librarian from [[Rushville, Indiana]]; the couple had one son, [[Philip Willkie|Philip]]. In France, Willkie was assigned to defending soldiers who had slipped away for time in Paris against orders. He was recommended for promotion to captain, but was discharged in early 1919 before the paperwork went through.<ref name = "ANB" />{{sfn|Neal|pp=17–19}}