Adlai Stevenson I
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2020) |
Adlai Stevenson I | |
---|---|
State's Attorney of Woodford County, Illinois | |
In office 1859–1869 | |
Preceded by | Major W. Packard |
Succeeded by | Martin L. Newell |
Personal details | |
Born | Adlai Ewing Stevenson October 23, 1835 Letitia Green (m. 1866) |
Children | 4, including Lewis |
Relatives | Stevenson family |
Education | Centre College (BA) |
Signature | |
Adlai Ewing Stevenson I (October 23, 1835 – June 14, 1914) was an American politician who served as the 23rd
After his appointment as assistant postmaster general of the United States during Grover Cleveland's first administration (1885–1889), Stevenson fired many Republican postal workers and replaced them with Southern Democrats. This earned him the enmity of the Republican-controlled Congress, but made him a favorite as Grover Cleveland's running mate in 1892, and he was elected vice president of the United States. During his term of office, Stevenson supported the free-silver lobby against the gold-standard men like Cleveland, but was praised for governing in a dignified, non-partisan manner.
In 1900, he ran for vice president with William Jennings Bryan.[1] In doing so, Stevenson became the fourth vice president to run for that post teamed with two different presidential candidates (after George Clinton, John C. Calhoun and Thomas A. Hendricks). He was the paternal grandfather of Adlai Stevenson II, a Governor of Illinois and the unsuccessful Democratic presidential nominee in both 1952 and 1956.
Ancestry
Adlai Ewing Stevenson was born in
In 1762, the family moved to North Carolina in what is now Iredell County. Including lands given to his children, William Stephenson (Stevenson after the American Revolution) had amassed 3,400 acres (1,400 ha) of land by the time of his death.[6] One branch of the family, including Adlai Stevenson's father, then moved to Kentucky in 1813.
Early life
Stevenson was born on the family farm in Christian County. He attended Blue Water School in what is now Herndon, Kentucky.[citation needed] His childhood playmates included James A. McKenzie, a future representative for Kentucky, and Amanda Barkley, the grandmother of future Vice President Alben W. Barkley.[7] In 1850, when he was 14, frost killed the family's tobacco crop. Two years later, his father set free their few slaves and the family moved to Bloomington, Illinois, where his father then operated a sawmill. Stevenson attended Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington and ultimately graduated from Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky; at the latter he was a part of Phi Delta Theta.[8] His father's death prompted Stevenson to return from Kentucky to Illinois to run the sawmill.
Stevenson
Marriage and political life, 1859–1884
Stevenson was
In 1866, he married
In 1869, at the end of his term as state's attorney, he entered law practice with his cousin, James Stevenson Ewing, moving with his wife back to Bloomington, Illinois, and settling in a large house on Franklin Square. Stevenson & Ewing would become one of the state's most prominent law firms. Ewing would later become the U.S. ambassador to Belgium.
The
In
In between legislative sessions, Stevenson increased his prominence in Bloomington. He rose to become grandmaster of his Masonic chapter and founded the Bloomington Daily Bulletin in 1881, a Democratic newspaper that sought to challenge the Republican Pantagraph. Stevenson directed the People's Bank and co-managed the McLean County Coal Company with his brothers. The company founded Stevensonville, a company town near the mine shafts. Employees were purportedly fired if they did not support Stevenson in an election year.[13]
Election of Grover Cleveland in 1884 and the U.S. Post Office
The Stevensons vacationed at lake resorts in
The new position put Stevenson in charge of the largest patronage system in the country. Like his predecessors, Stevenson removed tens of thousands of political opponents from postal positions and replaced them with Democrats. Just before Cleveland left office, he nominated Stevenson for the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia judgeship left vacant by the death of William Matthews Merrick. Republicans controlled the U.S. Senate and refused to act, exacting a measure of revenge on Stevenson for replacing Republican postmasters while also secure in the knowledge that they would be able to confirm a Republican nominee after Benjamin Harrison was inaugurated. A disappointed Stevenson returned to Bloomington at the conclusion of Cleveland's term.[15]
Vice presidency (1893–1897)
Cleveland was renominated for president on the first ballot at the
Stevenson backed off his former support of greenbacks in favor of Cleveland's gold standard policy. Unlike Cleveland, who only appeared once in public to support his candidacy, Stevenson traveled with his wife across the country. Cleveland's advisers sent Stevenson to the south to curb the growing appeal of the Populist Party. With his Kentucky roots, Stevenson proved popular at his southern engagements. Stevenson also publicly opposed the Lodge Bill, a proposed bill which would have enfranchised southern blacks.[17] The winning Cleveland-Stevenson ticket carried Illinois, although not Stevenson's home district.
Civil service reformers held out hope for the second Cleveland administration but saw Vice President Stevenson as a symbol of the
A habitual
Adlai Stevenson enjoyed his role as vice president, presiding over the U.S. Senate, "the most august legislative assembly known to men." He won praise for ruling in a dignified, nonpartisan manner. In personal appearance he stood six feet tall and was "of fine personal bearing and uniformly courteous to all." Although he was often a guest at the White House, Stevenson admitted that he was less an adviser to the president than "the neighbor to his counsels." He credited the President with being "courteous at all times" but noted that "no guards were necessary to the preservation of his dignity. No one would have thought of undue familiarity." For his part, President Cleveland snorted that the Vice President had surrounded himself with a coterie of free-silver men dubbed the "Stevenson cabinet." The president even mused that the economy had gotten so bad and the Democratic party so divided that "the logical thing for me to do ... was to resign and hand the Executive branch to Mr. Stevenson," joking that he would try to get his friends jobs in Stevenson's new cabinet.
Post-vice presidency (1897–1914)
Presidential campaigns of 1896 and 1900
Stevenson was mentioned as a candidate to succeed Cleveland in
After the 1896 election, Bryan remained the titular leader of the Democrats and frontrunner for the nomination in
That's a good idea. Stevenson is just the man. There you have it. Uniting the old Cleveland element with the new Bryan Democracy. You've got enough for one story. But say, this is more than a joke. Stevenson is just the man.
For the rest of the day, Dunn heard other favorable remarks about Stevenson, and by that night the former vice president was the leading contender, since no one else was "very anxious to be the tail of what they considered was a forlorn hope ticket."[18]
The Populists had already nominated the ticket of Bryan and Charles A. Towne, a pro-silver Republican from Minnesota, with the tacit understanding that Towne would step aside if the Democrats nominated someone else. Bryan preferred his good friend Towne, but Democrats wanted one of their own, and the regular element of the party felt comfortable with Stevenson. Towne withdrew and campaigned for Bryan and Stevenson. As a result, Stevenson, who had run with Cleveland in 1892, now ran in 1900 with Cleveland's opponent Bryan. Twenty-five years senior to Bryan, Stevenson added age and experience to the ticket. Nevertheless, their effort failed badly against the Republican ticket of incumbent president William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt.
Stevenson was the third U.S. vice president to win nomination for the office with a different running mate. He was seeking to follow George Clinton who served in Thomas Jefferson's second term and James Madison's first as well as John C. Calhoun who served under John Quincy Adams and then in Andrew Jackson's first term. As of 2023, Republican Charles W. Fairbanks' failure to win a second vice-presidential term in 1916 is the only example since.
Final years
By May 1899, the North American Trust Company had directors such as John G. Carlisle, Adlai E. Stevenson and Wager Swayne.[21]
After the 1900 election, Stevenson returned again to private practice in Illinois. He made one last attempt at office in a race for
Stevenson's wife Letitia died on December 25, 1913. William Jennings Bryan sent a letter of condolences to Stevenson. After this, Stevenson was emotionally broken, and only lived six more months.
Legacy
Stevenson was the founder of the
In 1962, Stevenson's alma mater, Centre College, named a newly built residence hall "Stevenson House" in his honor. They had previously awarded him an honorary degree in 1893.[26] Stevenson's home in Metamora, Illinois is now a museum.[27]
There is a bust of Stevenson in the United States Capitol Building as part of the United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection. It was sculpted in 1894 by Franklin Simmons.[20][19] The bust originally sat on a gallery-level niche in the Senate chamber, but in 1910 the bust collection was reorganized, and Stevenson's bust was placed in the main Senate corridor.[19] In 1991 it was moved to the opposite end of the corridor, which required moving the bust of Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks. Stevenson's bust was moved that time to make room for the incoming bust of then-president and former vice president George H. W. Bush.[28]
References
Specific
- ISBN 0-393-03874-2.
- ^ a b c d "Adlai E. Stevenson (1893-1897)". Miller Center of Public Affairs. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
- ^ "On Oct. 23, 1835, Adlai E. Stevenson,...". Chicago Tribune. October 23, 1991. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
- ^ a b Kocher, Greg (October 5, 2012). "Two U.S. Vice president attended Centre College,home of the 2012 debate". Lexington Herald Leader News. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
- ^ Baker 1997, pp. 64–66.
- ^ Baker 1997, p. 69.
- ISBN 9780813167152.
- ^ "Adlai Stevenson". Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
- ^ Wheeler, Joe (2008). Abraham Lincoln, a Man of Faith and Courage: Stories of Our Most Admired President. p. 53.
- ^ Baker 1997, p. 117–118.
- ^ Baker 1997, pp. 121–122.
- ^ Baker 1997, pp. 126–127.
- ^ Baker 1997, pp. 127–128.
- ^ Baker 1997, pp. 129–131.
- ^ Baker 1997, pp. 131, 132, 143.
- ^ Baker 1997, pp. 146–147.
- ^ Baker 1997, pp. 148–150.
- ^ Dunn, Arthur Wallace (1972). Arthur Wallace Dunn, From Harrison to Harding: A Personal Narrative, Covering a Third of a Century, 1888-1921 (reprint of 1922 ed.). Washington, NY: Baker. pp. 174–77.
- ^ a b c d e "Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1835-1914)" (PDF). GovInfo. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
- ^ a b "Adlai E. Stevenson". senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
- ^ "Trust Company Election; The North American Chooses Alvah Trowbridge as Its Leader. He Succeeds Col. Trenholdm - The New Head Brings to the Corporation Important Financial Interests -- No Friction". The New York Times. New York City, United States. May 27, 1899. p. 3. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
- ^ Staff report (March 2, 1909). Stevenson to Quit Law; Former Vice President Will Aid La Salle Extension University. The New York Times
- ^ "Adlai E. Stevenson Case 1". Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
- Evergreen Memorial Cemetery. April 13, 2010. Archived from the originalon March 16, 2013. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
- ^ a b "The Stevenson Family's "Hereditary Case of Politics"". NBC Chicago. May 20, 2013. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
- ^ "Centre College Campus Tour: The Old Quad". August 20, 2009. Archived from the original on January 16, 2010. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
- ^ "Metamora Association for Historic Preservation to hold open house May 14". Courier News. May 10, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
- ^ "Heads are rolling". Tampa Bay Times. June 27, 1991. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
General
- Baker, Jean H. (1997). The Stevensons: A Biography of an American Family. New York City: ISBN 978-0393315981.
External links
- Works by Adlai Stevenson I at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Adlai Stevenson I at Internet Archive
- Official U.S. Senate biography
- Stevensons put stamp on history, www.pantagraph.com
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- United States Congress. "Adlai Stevenson I (id: S000889)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.