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Adlai Stevenson II

Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (/ˈædl/; February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965. He previously served as the 31st governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953 and was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in 1952 and 1956, losing both elections to Dwight D. Eisenhower in a landslide. Stevenson was the grandson of Adlai Stevenson I, the 23rd vice president of the United States.

Adlai Stevenson II

Adlai Ewing Stevenson II

(1900-02-05)February 5, 1900
Los Angeles, California, U.S.

July 14, 1965(1965-07-14) (aged 65)
London, England

Ellen Borden
(m. 1928; div. 1949)

3, including Adlai III

1918

Raised in Bloomington, Illinois, Stevenson was a member of the Democratic Party.[1] He served in many positions in the federal government during the 1930s and 1940s, including the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Federal Alcohol Administration, Department of the Navy, and the State Department. In 1945, he served on the committee that created the United Nations, and was a member of the initial U.S. delegations to the UN.


In 1948, he was elected governor of Illinois, defeating incumbent governor Dwight H. Green in an upset. As governor, Stevenson reformed the state police, cracked down on illegal gambling, improved the state highways, and attempted to cleanse the state government of corruption. Stevenson also sought, with mixed success, to reform the Illinois state constitution and introduced several crime bills in the state legislature.


In the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections, he was chosen as the Democratic nominee for president, but was defeated in a landslide by Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower both times. In 1960, he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination for a third time at the Democratic National Convention. After President John F. Kennedy was elected, he appointed Stevenson as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Two major events Stevenson dealt with during his time as UN ambassador were the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in April 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. He was still serving as UN ambassador when he suffered a heart attack during a visit to London on July 14, 1965, later dying that day at the age of 65. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in his hometown of Bloomington, Illinois.

Early career[edit]

In July 1933, Stevenson took a job opportunity as special attorney and assistant to Jerome Frank, the general counsel of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Following the repeal of Prohibition in December 1933, Stevenson changed jobs, becoming chief attorney for the Federal Alcohol Control Administration (FACA), a subsidiary of the AAA which regulated the activities of the alcohol industry.


In 1935, Stevenson returned to Chicago to practice law. He became involved in civic activities, particularly as chairman of the Chicago branch of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies from 1940 to 1941.[27] As chairman, Stevenson worked to raise public support for military and economic aid to the United Kingdom and its allies in fighting Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Stevenson "believed Britain [was] America's first line of defense" and "argued for a repeal of the neutrality legislation" and support for President Roosevelt's Lend-Lease programme.[28] His efforts earned strong criticism from Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the powerful, isolationist publisher of the Chicago Tribune, and a leading member of the non-interventionist America First Committee.[29]


In 1940, Major Frank Knox, newly appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Secretary of the Navy, offered Stevenson a position as Principal Attorney and special assistant. Stevenson accepted the position and in this capacity wrote speeches, represented Secretary Knox and the Navy on committees, toured the various theaters of war, and handled many administrative duties. Since Knox was largely a figurehead, there were few major roles for Stevenson. However, in early 1944 he joined a mission to Sicily and Italy for the Foreign Economic Administration to report on the country's economy. After Knox died in April 1944, Stevenson returned to Chicago where he attempted to purchase Knox's controlling interest in the Chicago Daily News, but his syndicate was outbid by another party.[30]


In 1945, Stevenson took a temporary position in the State Department, as special assistant to US Secretary of State Edward Stettinius to work with Assistant Secretary of State Archibald MacLeish on a proposed world organization. Later that year, he went to London as Deputy United States Delegate to the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations Organization, a position he held until February 1946. When the head of the delegation fell ill, Stevenson assumed his role. His work at the commission, and in particular his dealings with the representatives of the Soviet Union, resulted in appointments to the US delegations to the United Nations in 1946 and 1947.[31]

Aldous, Richard. Schlesinger: The Imperial Historian. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.

Baker, Jean H. (1996). . New York: W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0-393-03874-3.

The Stevensons: A Biography of An American Family

Bain, Richard C. and Judith H. Parris. Convention Decisions and Voting Records. The Brookings Institution, 1973.

Broadwater, Jeff. Adlai Stevenson and American Politics: The Odyssey of a Cold War Liberal. Twayne, 1994. 291 pp

Cowden, Jonathan A. Adlai Stevenson: a Retrospective. Princeton University Library Chronicle 2000 61(3): 322–359. ISSN 0032-8456

Dallek, Robert. Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House. New York: HarperCollins, 2013.

Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1993.

Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest. New York: Random House. 1969.

Hartley, Robert E. Battleground 1948: Truman, Stevenson, Douglas, and the Most Surprising Election in Illinois History (Southern Illinois University Press; 2013) 240 pages

Manchester, William. The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932–1972. New York: Bantam Books. 1975.

Martin, John Bartlow . Adlai Stevenson of Illinois: The Life of Adlai E. Stevenson (1976) and Adlai Stevenson and the World: The Life of Adlai E. Stevenson (1977), the standard scholarly biography

McKeever, Porter (1989). . New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 978-0-688-06661-1.

Adlai Stevenson: His Life and Legacy

Murphy, John M. "Civic Republicanism in the Modern Age: Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 Presidential Campaign," Quarterly Journal of Speech 1994 80(3): 313–328. ISSN 0033-5630

Schlesinger, Arthur M. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1965.

Schlesinger, Arthur M. Journals: 1952–2000. New York: Penguin Press, 2007.

Slaybaugh, Douglas. Adlai Stevenson, Television, and the Presidential Campaign of 1956 Illinois Historical Journal 1996 89(1): 2–16. ISSN 0748-8149

Slaybaugh, Douglas. Political Philosophy or Partisanship: a Dilemma in Adlai Stevenson's Published Writings, 1953–1956. Wisconsin Magazine of History 1992 75(3): 163–194. ISSN 0043-6534. Argues, by 1956, Stevenson had alienated many of his well-placed and well-educated supporters without winning over many new rank-and-file Democrats.

White, Mark J. "Hamlet in New York: Adlai Stevenson During the First Week of the Cuban Missile Crisis" Illinois Historical Journal 1993 86(2): 70–84. ISSN 0748-8149

White, Theodore H. The Making of the President 1960. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. 2004.

Wills, Garry. The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power. New York: Mariner Books. 2002.

Wyden, Peter. Bay of Pigs: The Untold Story. New York: Touchstone Books. 1979.

. Portrait [of] Adlai E. Stevenson: Politician, Diplomat, Friend. New York: Harper & Row, cop. 1965. ix, 299 p. + [24] p. of b&w photos.

Whitman, Alden

at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University

Adlai E. Stevenson Papers

at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University

John J.B. Shea Papers on Adlai E. Stevenson

Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy

Adapted parts from: , part of a series on notable American Unitarians

Adlai E. Stevenson: A Voice of Conscience

in Libertyville, Illinois. Open to the public.

The Adlai E. Stevenson Historic Home

includes speeches, photographs, and more.

Adlai Today

United Nations AssociationMcLean County Chapter.

A brief biography

Text of Stevenson's First Presidential Nominee Acceptance

Text and Video Excerpt of Stevenson's United Nations Security Council Address on the Buildup of Soviet Missiles in Cuba

Text and Audio of Stevenson's UN Memorial Remarks for JFK

Text and Audio Stevenson's UN Memorial Remarks for Eleanor Roosevelt

Radio spots of Adlai E. Stevenson from the 1952 Presidential election

in the University of Florida Digital Collections

Open Access Photos of Adlai Stevenson

interviewed by Mike Wallace on The Mike Wallace Interview June 1, 1958

Adlai Stevenson

Booknotes interview with Porter McKeever on Adlai Stevenson: His Life and Legacy, August 6, 1989

from C-SPAN's The Contenders

"Adlai Stevenson, Presidential Contender"

McLean County Museum of History

Adlai Stevenson II

McLean County Museum of History

Helen Davis Stevenson

(Bloomington, Illinois, newspaper)

Stevenson faced anti-U.N. mob in 1963 – Pantagraph

Albert Herling worked on Stevenson's 1956 campaign among others. His campaign is located at the University of Maryland Libraries

memorabilia