D2001cc

Great Americans

 Wendell Willkie

Statesman & 1940 Republican nominee for President

Chris Calle Stamp Designer Signature

Chris Calle 

Over the past quarter century, Chris Calle has designed more than 30 stamps for the U.S. Postal Service, and hundreds more for stamp-issuing entities as diverse and far-flung as Sweden, the Marshall Islands, and the United 

Collins Cover Announcement 

WENDELL WILLKIE 

75-cent "Great American" Issue

This prominent American came into national prominence in 1940 when he won the Republican nomination. He opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt who was seeking a third term. His popular vote count of 22 million was the highest ever for a Republican up to that time.

He graduated from Indiana University Law School in 1916. Starting as a corporate lawyer, he then became president of a utilities holding company. After his run for the presidency, he helped turn many of his fellow Republicans away from isolationism and toward postwar international cooperation.

The hand-painted cachet on this COLLINS features a portrait of Willkie as he appears before the delegates of the convention to receive the nomination as their candidate. It's a nice historical and political cover, and I'm most pleased with its over-all appearance. It should be noted that with a seventy-five cent value, the stamp issue adds to the desirability as the higher value stamps always seem to add a premium to the ultimate worth of covers on which they are featured. The postmark is from Bloomington, Indiana -- site of the university from which Wendell received his degree.

Travel back over half a century to the floor of the Republican Convention in the City of Brotherly Love -- Philadelphia. Item #D2001. $10.75.