Your television provider. Ladies and gentlemen of the convention, my fellow citizens, i accept your nomination and your program. [ applause ] and now, my friends, that you have made your decision, i will fight for that office with all my heart and soul. [ cheers and applause [ cheers and applause ] and with your help, i have no doubt that we will win. Help me to do the job in this autumn of conflict and of campaign. Help me to do the job in these years of darkness and doubt and crisis which stretch beyond the horizon of tonights happy vision, and we will justify our glorious past and the loyalty of silent millions who look to us for compassion, for understanding and for honest purpose. Thus we will serve our great tradition greatly. I ask of you all you have. I will give you all i have. That was our contender this week, Adlai Stevenson, accepting the democratic nomination for president in 1952. We are joined by historian Richard Norton smith here in Adlai Stevensons old study in libertyville, illinois. Who was this oneterm governor of illinois . Well, to millions of americans, thats all he was, a oneterm governor of illinois. They knew nothing more about him. They had never heard a voice like his. They did not know that in some ways a political evolution was being touched off that night and that for the next decade, Adlai Stevenson would certainly be the voice of the Democratic Party, someone who would transform american politics, even though he was never successful in his quest for the white house. How did he get the nomination in 1952 and in 1956 . Hes arguably the last candidate to be drafted. Hes the last candidate to require more than one ballot at a convention. He didnt want a nomination, is the short answer. Especially if the republicans nominated, as they did, Dwight Eisenhower, who everybody thought was unbeatable and who stevenson secretly thought wouldnt be such a bad president. The fact is there was a vacuum in the Republican Party. Harry truman was retiring. There was no obvious successor, and stevenson gave a remarkable welcoming address at the Chicago Convention that had the effect almost of Wayne Jennings bryants cast of gold and he delivered this speech you just heard. Welcome to illinois and the contenders. This is part of our series looking at the men who ran for president and changed american politics. Tonight is Adlai Stevenson. 1900 to 1965 is his years of living. Were joined by historian richard smith. Were about 40 miles outside of chicago at the stevenson family farm. We are in Adlai Stevensons old study in the house. In just a minute well be joined by newton minnow who knew and worked with Adlai Stevenson for years. Well be joined by senator Adlai Stevenson iii, the son of Adlai Stevenson and tenyear senator of the state of illinois. Before we leave this office, there are some things sitting around that we hopefully get to learn a little more about governor stevenson. First of all, what is this hand . Stevenson said he suffered from a bad case of hereditary politics. There are multiple generations of stevensons that are part of the story. His greatgrandfather was a man named jesse fell who actually helped persuade Abraham Lincoln to run for president in 1860. The lincoln connection was a very powerful one with stevenson. This is a cast of lincolns hand, one of the bulk life mast that was created in 1860. Also on the desk here, on Adlai Stevensons desk, is an address book. Some of the names in this address book include Eleanor Roosevelt, walter and jean kerr, john steinbeck, archibal archibald clease. He was a nonpolitician, in many ways, who was lionized by intellectuals and academics, by men and women of letters, and eventually by millions of americans who proudly declared themselves stevensonians. Standing between us is this old office chair. A very historic piece. This is governor stevensons cabinet chair. During the Kennedy Administration, no doubt well talk about this later on, he had a historic stint as American Ambassador to the United Nations. As such he was made a member of the cabinet. This is the chair that commemorates that somewhat difficult relationship that he had with the Kennedy Administration. Now, richard smith, you referred to the stevenson political dynasty a little earlier. Here on the wall are some artifacts. Very quickly. Yeah, governor stevensons wife ellen said the stevensons all suffered from a bad case of ancestor worship. His grandfather was under the president of the United States. Under grover cleveland. Yes. Then he ran again unsuccessfu y unsuccessfully. This is grandfather stevensons hat and you can see the Campaign Items as well. Richard norton smith and i are going to work our way over to the stevenson barn here on the family farm. Were currently in the house in the study, but next to it is a barn. This was a semiworking farm at one point with animals, sheep and horses, et cetera, and were going to work our way over there where there is a new display about Adlai Stevenson, so youll be able to see that as well. But first we want to show you some Campaign Commercials so you can see some of the video of Adlai Stevenson. These Campaign Commercials are from 1956 and 1952. In fact, one of them were going to show you was filmed right here in this study. Its wonderful how sitting right here in my own library, thanks to television, i can talk to millions of people that i couldnt reach any other way. Im not going to let this spoil me. Im not going to stop traveling in this campaign. I can talk to you, yes, but i cant listen to you. I cant hear about your problems, about your hopes and your fears. To do that, ive got to go out and see you in person, and thats what ive been doing. For the past several years, i have traveled all over this country hundreds of thousands of miles. Ive been in every state, many of them more than once. And ive met thousands of you and millions of you have seen me. Its adlai to you, adlai to me. I dont care how you quote it just go out and vote it. Stevenson id rather are a man with a hole in his shoe a hole in everything he says id rather have a man who knows what to do when he gets to be the pres i love, i love the governor of illinois i know the gov will bring the dove of peace and joy when in illinois the gop double crossed he was the boy who told all the crooks get lost adlai, love you madly and what you did for your own great state youre going to do for the rest of the 48 were going to choose the gov that we love he is the gov nobody can shove we want the gov for president of the usa old mcdonald had a farm back in 31 conditions filled him with alarm back in 31 not a chikkarangappa here chickch ay ck there. Farmer mac knows what to do election day of 52 going to go out with everyone in the usa to vote for Adlai Stevenson to keep his farm this way with a vote vote here and a vote vote there, a vote for stevenson everywhere its good for you and its good for me all of america loves that farm, vote stevenson today. And if you should elect me your president next november, i shall be the better for having done it, im sure. Because i know that the strength and the wisdom that i need must be drawn from you, the people. So finally i hope that the next time we meet, it will be person to person and face to face. Im Adlai Stevenson. You and i have been hearing from our republican friends that things are so good, they couldnt be better. Better for whom, i wonder . Do you think that things cant be better for the small businessman like this one . Small business profits are down 52 , that they cant be better for our farmers like these . Farm income is down 25 . Are your schools good enough for the richest nation in history, yo your schools like this one . They need a third of a million more classrooms. What about you . Are you out of debt . D do you have a comfortable backlog in the bank . Do you pay less for things or more . Do you think things cant be better . Of course they can. Working together, we can and will make them better. Vote democratic. The rising cost of farming, lower farm income . Caught in a squeeze . Then vote democratic, the party for you, not just a few. Vote for Adlai Stevenson for president and estes keifer for Vice President. And we are back live at the stevenson farm in libertyville, illinois. Richard norton smith and i are now joined by newton minnow. You may know him as the former chairman of the federal Communications Commission. Have you ever heard the phrase tv is a vast wasteland . That was newton minnows phrase, but for our purposes tonight, he worked with and was an associate of Adlai Stevenson for many years. Newton minnow, if you can start by telling us when did you first meet governor stevenson . I was a law clerk at the United StatesSupreme Court for chief justice vincent. One of our law professors, cal mcgowan, came to visit one day. He later offered my clerk a job as his assistant in springfield as assistant to the governor. It turned out howard wasnt interested, but i was. I ended up being interviewed by governor stevenson at 7 00 a. M. For breakfast in the spring of 1952. And he said to me, if i hire you, young man, is there any reason why you wouldnt take the job . And i said, if my current boss, chief justice vincent, runs for president , and it was rumored in the press that he would be a candidate for president , if he asked me to stay with him, i would like to do that. And governor stevenson looked at me and he said, i dont think thats very likely. I then drove him to his next appointment. I went to work at the Supreme Court. I picked up the new york times. It said, truman offers stevenson the president ial nomination; vincent out. This was the moment after president truman had asked adlai to run. I was hired. I reported for work and he was then nominated for president. What was he known for as governor . Even as a student,ive worked i have worked on his campaign for governor as a College Student in 1948. He was known to be, first of all, totally honest, which was not necessarily a prerequisite for election in illinois. But he was a different kind of candidate. He was honest, he was an intellectual, he cared deeply about Good Government and he brought a whole different culture and tone to the office of governor. Richard norton smith, the u. S. In 1952. Set the stage for us. Well, politically, there is no doubt i think one of the reasons, and you would know much, much better than i, that entered into his hesitation, at least, about seeking the presidency was a sense that the democrats had been in power for 20 years. And even the most partisan democrat who thought they had been 20 glorious years nevertheless thought that perhaps the party, as well as the country, would be well served by a change. But the great issue was which Republican Party would replace harry truman if harry truman were to leave . Would it be the isolationist conservative midwestern party of bob taft, or would it be the internationalist, if you will, modern republicanism of Dwight Eisenhower . Stevenson had to, among other things, calculate the chances of which party he might be running against. He was very reluctant to run, wasnt he . He did not want to run, and who could have beat Dwight Eisenhower . It was like running against jesus christ. It was an impossibly thing to win, and as richard said, hes got it exactly right. If it had been robert taft as the opponent, i think adlai would have relished running because there would have been a clear difference and philosophy about their place in the world. Remember, the democrats tried to draft eeisenhower. The democrats tried to get eisen hour to run as a democrat. Eisenhower was both parties. When Adlai Stevenson gay tvee welcome address in chicago in 1952, was he a nationally known figure at the time . Was he considered a candidate . He was not that well known. I remember the first time he appeared on National Television was that spring. He was on meet the press. It was the first time he was ever on National Television. He was never good a television. When you were with him personally, you walked away with a better feeling about yourself. But when you watched him on television, he was nervous, he was never himself, but the country didnt know him. So he gives the welcome address and he essentially gets drafted, wins on the second or third ballot, is that correct . Thats right, and it was really unfortunate for him, because the timing was wrong. If he had run for president dwi probably could have run. And who does he pick for a running mate . John sparkman from alabama. Its still the solid south, and he has to worry about keeping the south solid. Absolutely. And it taught me a lesson also about how we pick Vice President s. John sparkman was picked at the last minute. Did he have a relationship with John Sparkman . No, not really. The way we do things in this country, the stage has run so successfully for a couple hundred years. Did keith auber want to be on the ticket . I think he always wanted to be on the ticket. Keith auber of tennessee ended up being the Vice President ial candidate of 56. Who harry truman liked to call cow fever. Richard norton smith and then newton minnow, harry truman in 1952 and his relationship with Adlai Stevenson. Truman today is regarded as a great president , someone we all woke up to for his decisiveness, for his ability to make Big Decisions and to commit the United States in the cold war. But the fact is at the time he was a very unpopular president. The korean war was an unpopular war. He had fired Douglas Mccarthur which, again today, basically there is a consensus he did the right thing for the right reason but at great political cost. So harry truman, and harry truman had been in power seven years. And he had decided seven years was enough. He had the power to prevent cal from becoming the nominee, he probably had the power to keep stevenson from being the nominee, but with that power went the dead weight of the truman administration. My sense is that truman and stevensons relationship never quite recovered from that fact. I think it was worse than that. There was another factor. There had been a lot of corruption in the Democratic Party. There had been a scandal with one of president trumans assistants, and there had been it was not a happy thing to become the democratic candidate for president in 1952. Especially if you had Harry Trumans impramater on you. I went to see the chief justice to say goodbye, and he was very close to president truman, chief vincent. He said to me, your guy is not going to make it. I said, what . He said, no, i was with the president last night, and he told me that hes lost patience with adlai. He doesnt say yes, he doesnt say no. Its going to be alvin barkley. Alvin barkley was then the Vice President of the United States. Age 74. Right. And they tried they actually tried to get it for barkley, but everybody said, hes too old. So that opened it up again and then stevenson was drafted. We are live from libertyville, illinois, the stevenson family farm about 40 miles outside chicago. The phone number is on the screen because we want to hear from you as well, especially if you remember Adlai Stevenson as a candidate. 2027370002 if you live in mountain and pacific time zones. The results of 1952, by the way, that election was held 59 years ago tonight, november 4, 1952. Adlai stevenson won 27 million votes. He got 89 electoral votes and he won nine states. Dwight david eisenhower, 442 electoral votes. He won 34 million votes, and he won the rest of the states which would have been 40some at that point, 41 states. The one thing to keep in mind about that election is to compare it with 1948. In losing, governor stevenson got 3 million more votes than harry truman had in winning three years earlier. Dwight eisenhower got 12 million more votes than thomas dewey. What you had was the largest increase in Voter Participation in four years since the 1820s. Why . Because you had two, in many ways, outstanding candidates, each in their own way, who were able to excite the electorate in a way we hadnt seen since that period of time. Heres a little of Adlai Stevenson. The concern of both parties is not just winning this election, but how it is won. How well we can take advantage of this great quadrennial opportunity to debate issues sensibly and soberly. I hope and pray that we democrats, win or lose, can campaign not as a crusade to exter