Adlai Stevenson I | |
|---|---|
 Stevenson in 1892 | |
| 23rdVice President of the United States | |
| In office March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1897 | |
| President | Grover Cleveland |
| Preceded by | Levi P. Morton |
| Succeeded by | Garret Hobart |
| 21st First AssistantUnited States Postmaster General | |
| In office August 1, 1885 – March 4, 1889 | |
| President | Grover Cleveland |
| Preceded by | Malcolm Hay |
| Succeeded by | James S. Clarkson |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's13th district | |
| In office March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas F. Tipton |
| Succeeded by | Dietrich C. Smith |
| In office March 4, 1875 – March 3, 1877 | |
| Preceded by | John McNulta |
| Succeeded by | Thomas F. Tipton |
| State's Attorney ofWoodford County, Illinois | |
| In office 1859–1869 | |
| Preceded by | Major W. Packard |
| Succeeded by | Martin L. Newell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1835-10-23)October 23, 1835 |
| Died | June 14, 1914(1914-06-14) (aged 78) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Resting place | Evergreen Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, includingLewis |
| Relatives | Stevenson family |
| Education | Centre College (BA) |
| Signature |  |
Adlai Ewing Stevenson I (October 23, 1835 – June 14, 1914) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 23rdvice president of the United States from 1893 to 1897 under PresidentGrover Cleveland. A member of theDemocratic Party, Stevenson served as aU.S. Representative forIllinois in the late 1870s and early 1880s. He was the founder of theStevenson political family.
Appointed assistantpostmaster general of the United States in 1885, duringCleveland's first administration, Stevenson fired many Republican postal workers and replaced them withSouthern Democrats. This earned him the enmity of the Republican-controlled Congress, but made him a favorite as Cleveland's running mate in1892, and he was elected vice president of the United States. During his term of office, Stevenson supported thefree-silver lobby against thegold-standard men like Cleveland, but was praised for governing in a dignified, non-partisan manner. He became the first vice president to serve under a president who won a non-consecutive second term for a second presidency.[a]
In1900, he ran for vice president withWilliam Jennings Bryan.[1] He was the paternal grandfather ofAdlai Stevenson II, a governor of Illinois and the unsuccessful Democratic presidential nominee in both1952 and1956.
Adlai Ewing Stevenson was born inChristian County, Kentucky, on October 23, 1835,[2][3][4] to John Turner and Eliza Ann Ewing Stevenson,[2]Wesleyans ofScots-Irish descent. The Stevenson family is first recorded (as the Stephensons) inRoxburghshire, Scotland, in the early 18th century. The family appears to have had some wealth, as a private chapel in theArchdiocese of St Andrews bears their name. At some point, probably shortly after theJacobite rising of 1715, the family migrated toCounty Antrim, Ireland, nearBelfast. At least one Stephenson was a police officer. Adlai's great-grandfather William Stephenson was a tailor who specialized inmillinery. After William's father died in the 1730s, his family moved toLancaster County, Pennsylvania. William joined when his apprenticeship was completed in 1748.[5]
In 1762, the family moved to what becameIredell County, North Carolina. Including lands given to his children, William Stephenson (Stevenson after theAmerican 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.
Stevenson was born on the family farm in Christian County. He attended Blue Water School in what becameHerndon, Kentucky.[citation needed] His childhood playmates includedJames A. McKenzie, a future representative for Kentucky, and Amanda Barkley, the grandmother of future Vice PresidentAlben 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 toBloomington, Illinois, where his father operated a sawmill. Stevenson attendedIllinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington and graduated fromCentre College, inDanville, Kentucky, where he joinedPhi Delta Theta.[8] His father's death prompted Stevenson to return from Kentucky to Illinois to run the sawmill.
Stevensonstudied law with Bloomington attorney Robert E. Williams. He wasadmitted to the bar in 1858, and commenced practice inMetamora. As a young lawyer, Stevenson encountered such celebrated Illinois attorneys asStephen A. Douglas andAbraham Lincoln, and he campaigned for Douglas in his 1858 Senate race against Lincoln. Stevenson's dislike of Lincoln might have been prompted by a contentious meeting, at which Lincoln made several witty quips disparaging Stevenson.[9] Stevenson made speeches against the "Know-Nothing" movement, a nativist group opposed to immigrants and Catholics. That stand helped cement his support in Illinois' large German and Irish communities.[citation needed] In a predominantly Republican area, the Democratic Stevenson won friends through his storytelling and his warm and engaging personality.
Stevenson wasstate's attorney ofWoodford County beginning in 1859. During theAmerican Civil War, he was appointed a master in chancery (an aide in acourt of equity). In 1864 Stevenson was apresidential elector for theDemocratic ticket.
In 1866, he marriedLetitia Green. They had three daughters, Mary, Julia and Letitia, and a son,Lewis Stevenson. Letitia helped establish theDaughters of the American Revolution as a way of healing the divisions between the North and South after the Civil War, and succeeded the wife ofBenjamin Harrison as the DAR's second president-general.
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.
TheDemocratic Party nominated Stevenson for theUnited States Congress in1874. Stevenson was well-liked byRepublicans and levied influence in the localMasonic lodge. Stevenson also received the nomination of theIndependent Reform Party, a state party that foughtmonopolies following thePanic of 1873.[10] Stevenson campaigned against Republican incumbentJohn McNulta. He attacked McNulta's support for high tariffs and what became known as theSalary Grab Act, where congressmen increased their salaries by 50%. He spoke little of his own positions other than railroad regulation. McNulta attacked back, accusing Stevenson of membership in theKnights of the Golden Circle. Thanks to the votes siphoned away from the Republican Base by the Independent Reform Party, Stevenson won the election with 52% of the vote, though he did not carry his hometown of Bloomington. He was elevated to the44th United States Congress, the first under Democratic control since the Civil War.[11]
In1876, Stevenson was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. The Republican presidential ticket, headed byRutherford B. Hayes, carried his district, and Stevenson was narrowly defeated, getting 49.6 percent of the vote. In1878, he ran on both the Democratic and Greenback tickets and won, returning to a House from which one-third of his earlier colleagues had either voluntarily retired or been removed by the voters. In 1880, again a presidential election year, he once more lost narrowly, and he lost again in 1882 in his final race for Congress. He considered a run in 1884, but aredistricting made his district safely Republican.[12]
In between legislative sessions, Stevenson increased his prominence in Bloomington. He rose to become grandmaster of his Masonic chapter and founded theBloomington Daily Bulletin in 1881, a Democratic newspaper that sought to challenge the RepublicanPantagraph. Stevenson directed the People's Bank and co-managed the McLean County Coal Company with his brothers. The company founded Stevensonville, acompany town near the mine shafts. Employees were purportedly fired if they did not support Stevenson in an election year.[13]
The Stevensons vacationed at lake resorts inWisconsin during summers. There, Stevenson befriendedWilliam Freeman Vilas, a growing voice among Midwest Democrats and a friend of Grover Cleveland. Stevenson was a delegate to the1884 Democratic National Convention, and after briefly supporting a local candidate, he threw his support behind Cleveland. Vilas and Stevenson personally informed Cleveland of the nomination. When Cleveland was elected that November, Vilas was named postmaster general. Although a different supporter was initially named assistant postmaster general, Stevenson received the position after the first choice fell ill.[14]
The new position put Stevenson in charge of the largestpatronage 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 theSupreme Court of the District of Columbia judgeship left vacant by the death ofWilliam 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 afterBenjamin Harrison was inaugurated. A disappointed Stevenson returned to Bloomington at the conclusion of Cleveland's term.[15]
Cleveland was renominated for president on the first ballot at the1892 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. At the time, the vice presidency was considered a "final resting place for has-beens and never-wases." Nonetheless, Stevenson's brothers and cousins advocated for his nomination for the position. Likewise,Carter Harrison III (themayor of Chicago) threw his support behind Stevenson as a native son, believing that he could influence the state to vote Democratic. Stevenson was nominated on the first ballot.[16]
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 thePopulist Party. With his Kentucky roots, Stevenson proved popular at his Southern engagements. Stevenson also publicly opposed theLodge 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 thespoils system. He never hesitated to feed names of Democrats to the Post Office Department. Once he called at theUS Treasury Department to protest against an appointment and was shown a letter he had written endorsing the candidate. Stevenson told the treasury officials not to pay attention to any of his written endorsements; if he really favored someone he would tell them personally.
A habitualcigar-smoker, Cleveland developedoral cancer requiring immediate surgery in the summer of 1893. The president insisted the surgery be kept secret to avoid anotherpanic onWall Street. While on ayacht inNew York Harbor that summer, Cleveland had part of hisupper jaw removed and replaced with an artificial device in an operation that left no outward scar. The cancer surgery remained secret for another quarter century. Cleveland's aides explained that he had merely had dental work. His vice president little realized how close he came to the presidency that summer.
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.
Stevenson was mentioned as a candidate to succeed Cleveland in1896. Although he chaired the Illinois delegation to the Democratic National Convention, he gained little support. Stevenson, 60 years old, received a smattering of votes, but the convention was taken by storm by a 36-year-old former representative from Nebraska,William Jennings Bryan, who delivered his fiery"Cross of Gold" speech in favor of afree silver plank in the platform. Not only did the Democrats repudiate Cleveland by embracing free silver, but they also nominated Bryan for president. Many Cleveland Democrats, including most Democratic newspapers, refused to support Bryan, but Vice President Stevenson loyally endorsed the ticket.
After the 1896 election, Bryan remained the titular leader of the Democrats and frontrunner for the nomination in1900. Much of the newspaper speculation about who would run as the party's vice-presidential candidate centered on Indiana SenatorBenjamin Shively. When reporter Arthur Wallace Dunn interviewed Shively at the convention, the senator said he "did not want the glory of a defeat as a vice presidential candidate." Disappointed, Dunn said that he still had to file a story on the vice-presidential nomination, and then added: "I believe I'll write a piece about old Uncle Adlai." Shively responded:
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 aforlorn hope ticket."[18]
The Populists had already nominated the ticket of Bryan andCharles A. Towne, a pro-silver Republican fromMinnesota, 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 presidentWilliam McKinley andTheodore Roosevelt.
Stevenson was the third U.S. vice president to win nomination for the office with a different running mate. He was seeking to followGeorge Clinton who served in Thomas Jefferson's second term and James Madison's first as well asJohn C. Calhoun who served under John Quincy Adams and then in Andrew Jackson's first term. As of 2023, RepublicanCharles W. Fairbanks' failure to win a second vice-presidential term in1916 is the only example since.
By May 1899, theNorth American Trust Company had directors such asJohn G. Carlisle, Adlai E. Stevenson andWager Swayne.[19]
After the 1900 election, Stevenson returned again to private practice in Illinois. He made one last attempt at office in a race forgovernor of Illinois in1908, at age 73, losing narrowly. In 1909 he was brought in by founderJesse Grant Chapline to aiddistance learning schoolLa Salle Extension University.[20] After that, he retired to Bloomington, where his Republican neighbors described him as "windy but amusing."[citation needed]
Stevenson's wife Letitia died on December 25, 1913. William Jennings Bryan sent a letter of condolence to Stevenson. After this, Stevenson was emotionally broken, and only lived six more months.[21] He died in Chicago,[22] on June 14, 1914, aged 78.[2][4] His body is interred in a family plot inEvergreen Cemetery,Bloomington, Illinois.[23]
Stevenson was the founder and patriarch of theStevenson political family, which has been called "Illinois's longest-lasting political dynasty–the only one to span four generations".[24] Stevenson's son,Lewis G. Stevenson, was Illinois secretary of state (1914–1917). Stevenson's grandsonAdlai Ewing Stevenson II was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in 1952 and 1956 and governor of Illinois (1949–1953). Great-grandsonAdlai Ewing Stevenson III was aU.S. senator from Illinois from 1970 to 1981 and an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Illinois in 1982 and 1986.[24] He was also a contender for the 1976 Democratic vice presidential nomination.[2]
There is a bust of Stevenson in theUnited States Capitol building as part of theUnited States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection. It was sculpted in 1894 byFranklin Simmons.[22][25] Reportedly, Stevenson never sat to model for it, and Simmons only used photographs of Stevenson for likeness.[22] The bust originally sat on a gallery-levelniche in theSenate chamber, but in 1910 the bust collection was reorganized, and Stevenson's bust was placed in the main Senate corridor.[22] In 1991 it was moved to the opposite end of the corridor, which required moving the bust of Vice PresidentCharles W. Fairbanks. Stevenson's bust was moved that time to make room for the incoming bust of then-president and former vice presidentGeorge H. W. Bush.[26]
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.[27]
Stevenson's home inMetamora, Illinois is now a museum. It was the family residence from 1859 to 1869.[28]
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General
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's 13th congressional district 1875–1877 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's 13th congressional district 1879–1881 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States 1892 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democraticnominee for Vice President of the United States 1900 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democraticnominee forGovernor of Illinois 1908 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Vice President of the United States 1893–1897 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
