Willkie Quadrangle is named for Wendell Lewis Willkie. He was educated at Indiana University where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, and School of Law. After fighting in World War I, Willkie moved to Akron, Ohio and soon gained status in the local Democratic Party. In 1929, Willkie became a legal counsel for the New York-based Commonwealth & Southern Corporation, the country's largest electric utility holding company. He rose through the ranks of the company, and became president in 1933. In 1940, Wendell Willkie ran for president against Franklin D. Roosevelt. After losing the campaign he became one of Roosevelt's allies.

Willkie also devoted much of his energy promoting civil rights and civil liberties. A consistent theme of "One World" and Willkie's later writings was the idea that America wouldn't be able to oppose colonialism in the post-war period until she first ended her own colonial attitudes toward her racial minorities, and in particular black Americans. And in late 1942, Willkie went before the Supreme Court to defended a member of the Communist Party in a landmark case regarding civil liberties (Schneiderman vs. United States). Willkie won the case, but lost much political support for having defended a communist. In this regard, Willkie said: "Those who rejoice in denying justice to one they hate, pave the way to a denial of justice for someone they love."