Adlai Stevenson - reminding the press it did have a responsibility, no matter who was in office.
Adlai Stevenson Addresses Convention Of Newspaper Publishers – 1965 – Past Daily Reference Room
Adlai Stevenson – Address to Annual Convention of Newspaper Publishers – April 1965 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Adlai Stevenson. Unless you are a student of political history of the 20th century, you would probably have no idea who Adlai Stevenson was.
Which is a shame because Adlai Stevenson was one of the most eloquent, well-spoken and thoughtful of any politician during the 20th century, certainly one who ran for President twice. He is probably most notable for his dramatic showdown with Russian Ambassador Zorin over the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 when Adlai Stevenson was U.S. Ambassador to the UN during the Kennedy Administration.
In 1948 Adlai Stevenson was elected governor of Illinois by a larger majority than any other candidate had received in the history of the state. His administration was characterized by far-reaching reforms: establishment of a merit system for state police, improved care and treatment of patients in state mental hospitals, greater state aid for schools, and a revitalized civil service.
In spite of his refusal to seek the presidential nomination in 1952, he was drafted by the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He waged a vigorous campaign, but the popular appeal of wartime hero Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower proved irresistible. Stevenson was defeated a second time four years later, again by Eisenhower.
With the election of Pres. John F. Kennedy in 1960, Adlai Stevenson was appointed chief U.S. representative to the UN, holding cabinet rank and the title of ambassador. He served until his death, helping to assuage some of the worst international tensions—brought on by the financial difficulties of the parent organization, by the Cold War, and by the sensitivity of emerging African and Asian nations to traditional Western leadership. Stevenson’s published works include Call to Greatness (1954); What I Think (1956); Friends and Enemies (1958); Looking Outward: Years of Crisis at the United Nations (1963); and The Papers of Adlai E. Stevenson (1972–79).
For a sample of what Adlai Stevenson said and his style of staying it, not to mention Politicians are nowhere in evidence anywhere in our current political climate, of either party, here is an Address by Adlai Stevenson as given to the Convention of Newspaper Publishers in April of 1965, just three months before his death.
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