| Share on Facebook |
Adlai Stevenson Biography
State Governor
Adlai Stevenson was a leading Democrat of the 1950s, famed for his quick wit and deep intellect and for his eloquence in support of liberal causes. (Those same qualities led detractors to nickname him the Egghead.) He was the Democratic candidate for president in 1952 and 1956, losing badly both times to Dwight Eisenhower. Stevenson was governor of Illinois from 1949-53 and served as the American ambassador to the United Nations during the John Kennedy administration. Stevenson's son, Adlai III, later was a U.S. senator from Illinois (1970-81).
Extra credit: Stevenson's grandfather, the first Adlai Stevenson, was vice president during Grover Cleveland's second term (1893-97)... During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Stevenson made a dramatic speech in the United Nations, confronting the Soviet Union about its missiles in Cuba. In modern politics, similar incidents of high political drama are sometimes called "Adlai Stevenson moments."
Stevenson joins Orville Wright and Laura Bush in our loop Accidental Killers.
Four Good Links
The Last of the Beautiful Losers
Slate article from June 2000 on Stevenson's place in US political history
Adlai Stevenson Papers
Index and a solid biography from Princeton; too bad the papers themselves aren't online
The Adlai Stevenson Moment
The Washington Post remembers his famous U.N. speech during the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Times Looks Back: 1952-56
Swell New York Times collection on Stevenson vs. Eisenhower, with many archived articles
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Death
14 July 1965
(heart attack, age 65)
Best Known As
Presidential runner-up of 1952 and 1956