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Adlai Stevenson: His Life and Legacy
An in depth biography of Adlai Stevenson II, an American politician, noted for his intellectual demeanor, eloquent oratory, and promotion of liberal causes in the Democratic Party. He served as the 31st Governor of Illinois, and received the Democratic Party's nomination for president in 1952 and 1956; both times he was defeated by Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.
592 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 3, 2021
Adlai Stevenson is someone who should be far better known than he is today. Actually, I am not sure that he is known at all. If you picked up a school history textbook, would he even appear in more than a passing mention? The former Governor of Illinois, two time Democratic Presidential nominee, and U.S. Ambassador to the UN was ahead of his time, and his party, in many ways. But if he is remembered at all today, it is probably for losing twice to Dwight Eisenhower.
Porter McKeever, who worked on one of Stevenson's campaigns and knew him, although not intimately, presents a largely admiring but well-balanced biography. McKeever clearly harbors a great deal of admiration for Stevenson, and indeed the first half of the book almost tipped too far in that direction for me to consider it relatively unbiased. But McKeever does not shy away from discussing Stevenson's missteps and flaws, and those really come to light in the last decade of Stevenson's life.
Stevenson was marred by a horrific childhood incident: he accidentally shot and killed a young girl when he was 11 years-old. It was a complete accident, done in front of several people at a dinner party that his parents were hosting (Stevenson was asked to bring a gun downstairs as his mother wanted to show it to one of the guests, he started playing with it, thinking it was unloaded because a slightly older relative had just looked at it and said it was not loaded). McKeever does not dwell on this, but notes that Stevenson carried this guilt around with him for the rest of his life, always trying to live for two people. Unfortunately, his private life would always be somewhat tortured as his wife, Ellen, developed severe mental instability and eventually divorced him, all the while making horrible (and often untrue) comments about him and their children. He never remarried despite having many close lady friends.
He was a successful lawyer in Chicago, and sated his interest in foreign affairs by becoming involved with, and eventually president of, the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. That led to him becoming involved in legal work for the Navy in WWII. He maintained his interest in foreign affairs and became an expert at the fledgling United Nations, helping to get it organized. He ran for Governor of Illinois in 1948 and surprisingly won (the governorship had been held almost exclusively by Republicans since the Civil War). As a former resident of that state, I can say that I wish Stevenson had been in office a lot longer than a single term. In a state riddled with corruption, Stevenson tried to weed it out where he could, or contain it where he couldn't eliminate it. He worked incessantly, always looking for cost savings to the point where he would become mired in minutiae. But he was an honest public servant, and kept the public's interest as his number one priority.
His two (almost three) presidential campaigns are covered at length. Stevenson was basically forced into the 1952 nomination by President Harry Truman, someone whom he did not get along very well with. They were diametrically opposite personalities, each misunderstanding the other. Truman basically anointed Stevenson because there was no better candidate able to run. Stevenson didn't have a chance in either campaign - nobody was going to beat Eisenhower, easily one of the most popular living Americans at that time. Stevenson knew this, but felt obligated to accede to Truman's wish that he run in 1952. The 1956 campaign was different: Truman had turned against him, Stevenson - always before attempting to be bipartisan - launched attacks at Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, and he did not have a compelling reason to run this time. In retrospect, he should have tried to sit it out and then try again in 1960. Speaking of 1960, there was a strong draft Stevenson movement, but Stevenson drug his heels and refused to announce as a candidate. McKeever takes the reader through all of Stevenson's dithering, and it made me want to reach out and say to Stevenson "What, exactly, were you waiting for here?" I am not sure if he could have gotten the 1960 nomination had he wanted it and openly declared his candidacy, but I do think it is safe to say that John F. Kennedy would not have won on the first ballot that year.
Stevenson had far-seeing policy proposals for his party, almost none of which were adopted in his lifetime, and some still not. He proposed something very close to what is now Medicare. He wanted nuclear disarmament with the Soviet Union. One of his focus areas as governor was infrastructure and the importance of it. He was a major force behind the equal-time provision that campaigns are able to get from the TV networks and is now taken for granted. He did not like Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policy and was moving steadily away from it at the time of his sudden death in 1965 while he was still UN Ambassador.
The last few chapters deal with his disappointment at not being Kennedy's pick for Secretary of State, and having instead to settle for the UN job, one that he did not want. It must have been galling for him to have to report to Kennedy, a much younger man with not nearly the amount of experience that Stevenson had amassed in an executive or foreign policy level. He was marginalized first by Kennedy, and then by Johnson, rarely being consulted despite promises to the contrary. Thus his last five years of life were somewhat frustrating.
I came away deeply impressed with his devotion to doing the moral or ethical thing, to not cutting corners, to always listening to others, to putting his own interests behind those of his country (and sometimes his party). He often used humor as a way to make a point, and as a way to make others feel at ease. He would not like today's America I don't think. I will close with excerpts of a speech that he gave in 1954, at the height of McCarthyism in America. Much of what he said sadly rings all too true right now. Pages 322-323: "We are witnessing the bitter harvest from the seeds of slander, defamation and disunion planted in the soil of our democracy.... Those of us - and they are most of us - who are more American than Democrats or Republicans count some things more important than winning or losing elections.... It is wicked and it is subversive for public officials to try deliberately to replace reason with passion; to substitute hatred for honest difference.... When one party says that the other is the party of traitors who have deliberately conspired to betray America... they violate not only the limits of partisanship they offend not only the credulity of the people, but they stain the vision of America and of democracy for us and for the world we seek to lead.... This system of ours is wholly dependent upon a mutual confidence in the loyalty, the patriotism, the integrity of purpose of both parties. Extremism produces extremism, lies beget lies. The infection of bitterness and hatred spreads all too quickly in these anxious days from one area of our life to another. And those who live by the sword of slander also may perish by it, for now it is being used against distinguished Republicans."
Grade: A-
Porter McKeever, who worked on one of Stevenson's campaigns and knew him, although not intimately, presents a largely admiring but well-balanced biography. McKeever clearly harbors a great deal of admiration for Stevenson, and indeed the first half of the book almost tipped too far in that direction for me to consider it relatively unbiased. But McKeever does not shy away from discussing Stevenson's missteps and flaws, and those really come to light in the last decade of Stevenson's life.
Stevenson was marred by a horrific childhood incident: he accidentally shot and killed a young girl when he was 11 years-old. It was a complete accident, done in front of several people at a dinner party that his parents were hosting (Stevenson was asked to bring a gun downstairs as his mother wanted to show it to one of the guests, he started playing with it, thinking it was unloaded because a slightly older relative had just looked at it and said it was not loaded). McKeever does not dwell on this, but notes that Stevenson carried this guilt around with him for the rest of his life, always trying to live for two people. Unfortunately, his private life would always be somewhat tortured as his wife, Ellen, developed severe mental instability and eventually divorced him, all the while making horrible (and often untrue) comments about him and their children. He never remarried despite having many close lady friends.
He was a successful lawyer in Chicago, and sated his interest in foreign affairs by becoming involved with, and eventually president of, the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. That led to him becoming involved in legal work for the Navy in WWII. He maintained his interest in foreign affairs and became an expert at the fledgling United Nations, helping to get it organized. He ran for Governor of Illinois in 1948 and surprisingly won (the governorship had been held almost exclusively by Republicans since the Civil War). As a former resident of that state, I can say that I wish Stevenson had been in office a lot longer than a single term. In a state riddled with corruption, Stevenson tried to weed it out where he could, or contain it where he couldn't eliminate it. He worked incessantly, always looking for cost savings to the point where he would become mired in minutiae. But he was an honest public servant, and kept the public's interest as his number one priority.
His two (almost three) presidential campaigns are covered at length. Stevenson was basically forced into the 1952 nomination by President Harry Truman, someone whom he did not get along very well with. They were diametrically opposite personalities, each misunderstanding the other. Truman basically anointed Stevenson because there was no better candidate able to run. Stevenson didn't have a chance in either campaign - nobody was going to beat Eisenhower, easily one of the most popular living Americans at that time. Stevenson knew this, but felt obligated to accede to Truman's wish that he run in 1952. The 1956 campaign was different: Truman had turned against him, Stevenson - always before attempting to be bipartisan - launched attacks at Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, and he did not have a compelling reason to run this time. In retrospect, he should have tried to sit it out and then try again in 1960. Speaking of 1960, there was a strong draft Stevenson movement, but Stevenson drug his heels and refused to announce as a candidate. McKeever takes the reader through all of Stevenson's dithering, and it made me want to reach out and say to Stevenson "What, exactly, were you waiting for here?" I am not sure if he could have gotten the 1960 nomination had he wanted it and openly declared his candidacy, but I do think it is safe to say that John F. Kennedy would not have won on the first ballot that year.
Stevenson had far-seeing policy proposals for his party, almost none of which were adopted in his lifetime, and some still not. He proposed something very close to what is now Medicare. He wanted nuclear disarmament with the Soviet Union. One of his focus areas as governor was infrastructure and the importance of it. He was a major force behind the equal-time provision that campaigns are able to get from the TV networks and is now taken for granted. He did not like Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policy and was moving steadily away from it at the time of his sudden death in 1965 while he was still UN Ambassador.
The last few chapters deal with his disappointment at not being Kennedy's pick for Secretary of State, and having instead to settle for the UN job, one that he did not want. It must have been galling for him to have to report to Kennedy, a much younger man with not nearly the amount of experience that Stevenson had amassed in an executive or foreign policy level. He was marginalized first by Kennedy, and then by Johnson, rarely being consulted despite promises to the contrary. Thus his last five years of life were somewhat frustrating.
I came away deeply impressed with his devotion to doing the moral or ethical thing, to not cutting corners, to always listening to others, to putting his own interests behind those of his country (and sometimes his party). He often used humor as a way to make a point, and as a way to make others feel at ease. He would not like today's America I don't think. I will close with excerpts of a speech that he gave in 1954, at the height of McCarthyism in America. Much of what he said sadly rings all too true right now. Pages 322-323: "We are witnessing the bitter harvest from the seeds of slander, defamation and disunion planted in the soil of our democracy.... Those of us - and they are most of us - who are more American than Democrats or Republicans count some things more important than winning or losing elections.... It is wicked and it is subversive for public officials to try deliberately to replace reason with passion; to substitute hatred for honest difference.... When one party says that the other is the party of traitors who have deliberately conspired to betray America... they violate not only the limits of partisanship they offend not only the credulity of the people, but they stain the vision of America and of democracy for us and for the world we seek to lead.... This system of ours is wholly dependent upon a mutual confidence in the loyalty, the patriotism, the integrity of purpose of both parties. Extremism produces extremism, lies beget lies. The infection of bitterness and hatred spreads all too quickly in these anxious days from one area of our life to another. And those who live by the sword of slander also may perish by it, for now it is being used against distinguished Republicans."
Grade: A-
September 9, 2016
The biography I read before this one was about George Wallace. What a change from reading about a populist who used racism to his benefit to reading about one of the greatest and most influential politicians of our time who never actually won. This book made me feel inspired and made me feel love for our country. Stevenson sought to better our country, and his observations are not dated to his time, but speak to us now.
July 29, 2015
In the history of the Democratic Party, Adlai Stevenson represents the bridge between the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman on the one hand, and those of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson on the other. The grandson of Cleveland's second vice president (for whom he was named), he emerged as a reform governor of Illinois in the late 1940s. Though twice defeated by Dwight Eisenhower for the residency, he nonetheless enjoyed a passionate following among many liberals in the 1950s. Chosen by John Kennedy to serve as America's ambassador to the United Nations, he served in the post during the tensest period of the Cold War before dying of a heart attack in London in 1965.
Stevenson had no shortage of admirers during his lifetime, and many of them wrote biographies about him after his death. Porter McKeever was among their number; as a longtime friend of Stevenson's his book is informed by his own personal insights on his subject. This is both the book's strength and its weakness, being less of a scholarly study and more of a glowing -- if not entirely uncritical -- tribute his subject. With it readers can understand how Stevenson was able to command such devotion from so many people, even though the justification for it is largely absent from Stevenson's career. Though a more dispassionate analysis of Stevenson's career remains to be written, until it is readers should turn to this partisan study to learn about his life and achievements.
Stevenson had no shortage of admirers during his lifetime, and many of them wrote biographies about him after his death. Porter McKeever was among their number; as a longtime friend of Stevenson's his book is informed by his own personal insights on his subject. This is both the book's strength and its weakness, being less of a scholarly study and more of a glowing -- if not entirely uncritical -- tribute his subject. With it readers can understand how Stevenson was able to command such devotion from so many people, even though the justification for it is largely absent from Stevenson's career. Though a more dispassionate analysis of Stevenson's career remains to be written, until it is readers should turn to this partisan study to learn about his life and achievements.
January 14, 2014
very informative biography on Adlai Stevenson with extremely insightful analysis of his impact on U.S. domestic and world policy throughout his career. A very good blend of his personal and family life, political career, and interaction with most important world events during his involvement in Presidential politics and especially evolution of the U.N.
August 22, 2014
The man who should have been President. The world would be a much better place if he had been elected. Even though he lost his influence is still being felt today. A must read for the Baby Boomer generation who only remember him as a failed Presidential candidate. He was so much more.
January 30, 2011
McKeever is a very compelling writer. His biography of Adlai II is insightful and informative, while at the same time a real "page turner". Can't put it down.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews