The Golden Gate by Amy Chua begins with the murder of Walter Wilkinson, who is a fictionalized version of Wendell Willkie, a Republican presidential candidate who lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. Wilkinson and Willkie both died in 1944, but their cause of death was vastly different — Willkie died of a heart attack instead of the gruesome murder outlined in Chua's novel. Yet, despite the author's imaginative liberties, there are some connections between the two.

Overall, Walter Wilkinson follows the same political arc as Wendell Willkie, launching a presidential campaign against Roosevelt in which he builds up significant support within a short period of time. Willkie unexpectedly obtained the Republican nomination in August of 1940 against the isolationist, fascist, and anti-Semitic Charles Lindbergh. The Golden Gate recognizes Willkie's much more politically nuanced and socially liberal stance, stating that "Wilkinson was a strange combination, a ladies' man and a ...