The public had not heard much about it, but the future of the Republican Party was quite possibly at stake. Politicians watched each little development as soldiers watched the news from Libya. The cast of characters was of the highest political stature: Franklin Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie, Herbert Hoover, Thomas E. Dewey, Alf Landon, Charles L. McNary, James A. Farley, Herbert H. Lehman, Joe Martin, and on down to a host of others.
Behind the scenes in New York the nation's political leaders were maneuvering deliberately, delicately, dangerously in perhaps the most significant political contest of the year. The only thing...