He never has held an elective office and until a few weeks ago, his presidential candidacy did not exist. Then his supporters started a whirl—wind drive that ended with this morning's victory.
The balloting showed Mr. Willkie gradually increasing his strength, with numerous delegations swinging to his support with every new ballot.
Trailing in third place behind Mr. Dewey and Senator Taft in the fi three ballots, Mr. Willkie forged ahead in the fourth ballot, gaining 306 votes against 254 for Senator Taft and 250 for Mr. Dewey. In the fifth ballot he polled 429 votes, while Senator Taft gained 377 Mr. Dewey faded out with only 57.
Mr. Dewey led all candidates at the end of third ballot with 315 votes.
Mr. Dewey forged into the lead in the first ballot and held this position through the two succeeding ballots, but his support began to weaken after the first poll.
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Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.