1950's Government and Politics | Stevenson, Adlai Ewing 1900-1965

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, 1952,1965

Democratic Presidential Hopeful.

In the 1950s Adlai Stevenson came into the national limelight as a successful Illinois governor who battled the excesses of McCarthyism and as the Democratic heir apparent to President Harry S Truman.

Reluctant Candidate.

The Democratic presidential candidate in 1952 and 1956, Stevenson ran campaigns that became famous for his eloquent stump speeches and for the candidate's emphasis on issue-oriented substance rather than on style and image. In early 1952 Truman asked Stevenson to run for the nomination, but Stevenson refused. Instead, he wanted to return to the governor's mansion in Illinois and finish the programs he had started. Despite his many statements that he did not want the presidential nomination, even with Truman's support, Stevenson was drafted on the third ballot.

Intellectual Campaigner.

Often...