STEVENSON, ADLAI E(WING)

born Feb. 5, 1900, Los Angeles died July 14, 1965, London Stevenson waving to supporters before speaking at Madison Square Garden, New York City, 1952 U.S. political leader and diplomat who helped found the United Nations (UN), where he served as chief U.S. delegate (196165); he is mainly remembered by his countrymen as the eloquent, witty, but unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1952 and 1956. Moving with his family in 1906 to Bloomington, Ill., he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, Vice Pres. Adlai E. Stevenson (189397), by entering the practice of law (Chicago, 1926) and devoting himself to public service. He headed the Civil Rights Committee of the Chicago Bar Association, andin a period when isolationism was rampant in the Midwestwas chairman of the Chicago chapter of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies. From 1941 to 1944 he was special assistant to the U.S. secretary of the navy, and in 1943 he headed a Foreign Economic Administration mission to Italy to develop a U.S. relief program. Two years later he became assistant to the secretary of state and served as an adviser to the U.S. delegation to the San Francisco Conference that founded the UN. He was named senior adviser to the U.S. delegation at the first meeting of the UN General Assembly in London (1946) and was a U.S. delegate at Assembly meetings in New York (194647). In 1948 Stevenson was elected governor of Illinois by a larger majority than any other candidate had received in the history of the state. His administration was characterized by far-reaching reforms: establishment of a merit system for state police, improved care and treatment of patients in state mental hospitals, greater state aid for schools, and a revitalized civil service. In spite of his refusal to seek the presidential nomination in 1952, he was drafted by the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He waged a vigorous campaign, but the popular appeal of wartime hero Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower proved irresistible. Stevenson was defeated a second time four years later, again by Eisenhower. With the election of Pres. John F. Kennedy in 1960, Stevenson was appointed chief U.S. representative to the UN, holding Cabinet rank and the title of ambassador. He served until his death, helping to assuage some of the worst international tensionsbrought on by the financial difficulties of the parent organization, by the Cold War, and by the sensitivity of emerging African and Asian nations to traditional Western leadership. Stevenson's published works include Call to Greatness (1954); What I Think (1956); Friends and Enemies (1958); Looking Outward: Years of Crisis at the United Nations (1963); and The Papers of Adlai E. Stevenson (1972 ). His eldest son, Adlai E. Stevenson III, was elected to the U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1970 and again in 1974 (retiring in 1981), after serving in the state legislature (196567) and as state treasurer (196770). born Oct. 23, 1835, Christian County, Ky., U.S. died June 14, 1914, Chicago Adlai Stevenson. 23rd vice president of the United States (189397) in the Democratic administration of President Grover Cleveland. Stevenson was the son of John Turner Stevenson, a tobacco farmer, and Eliza Ann Ewing. After studying law, he began his practice in Metamora, Illinois. Stimulated by the famous LincolnDouglas Debates, which took place during the Illinois senatorial campaign of 1858, he became active in local and national politics and was appointed to his first public office as a master in chancery of Woodford County's circuit court in 1860, a position he held throughout the American Civil War. He served as a presidential elector for General George McClellan, the failed Democratic Party candidate in the 1864 presidential election. In 1865 he was elected state's attorney and twice won election to the United States House of Representatives (187577; 187981), where he favoured low tariffs and a soft-money policy. He also played a conspicuous role in the congressional debate over the disputed presidential election of 1876 between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden, which was decided by a special Electoral Commission. As first assistant postmaster general under President Cleveland (188589), Stevenson received the enmity of the Republican Party for his removal of thousands of Republican postmasters throughout the country. After unsuccessfully seeking the vice-presidential nomination in 1888, Stevenson was named associate justice of the Supreme Court for the District of Columbia, though the Republican-controlled Senate blocked his nomination. When Cleveland was renominated in 1892, Stevenson was selected as the vice-presidential candidate who could best unite all factions of the party. As vice president, he strongly supported Cleveland's policies and won wide admiration for his impartiality as presiding officer of the Senate. After failing to capture the Democratic nomination in 1896, he was appointed by President William McKinley to serve as chairman of a commission sent to Europe to work for international bimetallism. Afterward he ran unsuccessfully for vice president (1900) and for governor of Illinois (1908). His grandson, Adlai Ewing Stevenson II, served as a governor of Illinois and was twice an unsuccessful candidate for president (1952 and 1956).