Veeps: Adlai Stevenson I
Before there was the egg-headed guy named Adlai Stevenson who ran and lost twice to Dwight Eisenhower, his great-grandfather, another follically-challenged Illinois politician also named Adlai Stevenson was Vice-President of the United States in the second administration of Grover Cleveland from 1893 to 1897.
This Adlai Stevenson was born on October 23, 1835 on his family's farm in Christian County, Kentucky, the son of John Turner Stevenson and Eliza Ewing Stevenson, first generation Americans of Scots-Irish descent. As a youth Adlai attended school in Blue Water, Kentucky. The family owned a few slaves, but set them free in 1852, when the family moved to Bloomington, Illinois, where his father operated a sawmill. Stevenson attended Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington but later graduated from Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky. When his father died, Stevenson returned to Illinois to run the family sawmill.
Stevenson became a lawyer. He was admitted to the Illinois state bar in 1858 at age 23, and practiced in Metamora, in Woodford County, Illinois. As a young lawyer, he encountered such Illinois attorneys Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Stevenson didn't get along with Lincoln. In a meeting the two had, Lincoln disparaged Stevenson using his famous wit. In the 1858 Senate race between Lincoln and Douglas, Stevenson campaigned for Douglas and became a Democrat. He also made speeches against the "Know-Nothing" movement, a group opposed to immigrants and Catholics. That stand helped Stevenson gain support among Illinois' large German and Irish communities.
In 1864 Stevenson was elected district attorney. Two years later, in 1866, he married Letitia Green whom he had met and courted nine years earlier at Centre College. Her father, Reverend Lewis Warner Green, was opposed to the marriage, but he died, and Letitia and her mother subsequently moved to Bloomington. The Stevensons had three daughters and a son, Lewis G. Stevenson (who would later become Illinois Secretary of State). Letitia helped establish the Daughters of the American Revolution and succeeded Caroline Harrison, the wife of Benjamin Harrison, as the DAR's second president-general.
In 1868, at the end of his term as district attorney, he entered law practice with his cousin, James S. Ewing. Stevenson & Ewing would become one of the state's most prominent law firms. In 1874, Stevenson was elected to the United States House of Representatives, serving from March 4, 1875 to March 4, 1877. In 1876, he lost his bid for reelection, but he returned to the House in the 1878 election, only to lose again in 1880, and again in 1882.
When Grover Cleveland was elected President in 1884, Stevenson served as assistant postmaster general. He fired over 40,000 Republican workers and replaced them with Democrats from the South. The Republican-controlled U.S. Congress exacted its revenge by defeating his bid for confirmation when Stevenson was nominated for a federal judgeship.
In 1892, when the Democrats chose Cleveland once again as their standard candidate, Stevenson was chosen as his running mate. He was a prominent supporter of using greenbacks and free silver to inflate the currency as a means of and alleviating economic distress in the rural areas. This was in contrast to Cleveland, who was a gold-standard supporter. The team won the election and carried Illinois, although the Republicans won Stevenson's home district.
Those hoping for civil service reform were soon disappointed, as Vice President Stevenson resumed the spoils system. He had Democrats fill Post Office positions and enforced the hiring of Democratic supporters in other government departments.
When Grover Cleveland developed cancer of the mouth that required immediate surgery in the summer of 1893, Cleveland insisted that the surgery be kept secret to avoid a panic on Wall Street. While on a yacht in New York harbor that summer, Cleveland had his entire upper jaw removed and replaced with an artificial device, an operation that left no outward scar. The surgery remained secret for another quarter century. Cleveland's aides explained that he had merely had dental work. Even his vice president had no idea what was going on or about the possibility that he might have to succeed Cleveland as president.
Stevenson had a reputation for presiding over the Senate in a dignified, nonpartisan manner. Although he was often a guest at the White House, Stevenson admitted that he wasn't really called on much to give advice to the President. he said that Cleveland was "courteous at all times" but in fact Cleveland disliked Stevenson because of their disagreement over the currency issue. Cleveland told a friend that Stevenson had surrounded himself with a coterie of free-silver cronies who Cleveland called the "Stevenson cabinet."
Stevenson was mentioned as a candidate to succeed Cleveland in 1896, but he gained little support even in his home state. The convention was taken by storm by a thirty-six-year-old William Jennings Bryan, who delivered his fiery "Cross of Gold" speech in favor of a free silver plank in the platform. Many Cleveland Democrats refused to support Bryan, but Vice President Stevenson loyally endorsed the ticket. When Bryan lost the election, he still remained the frontrunner for the nomination in 1900. Stevenson was selected for the second half of the ticket at the convention, but the pair lost to the Republican ticket of McKinley and Roosevelt. (Stevenson and Republican Charles W. Fairbanks are the only two men to win the Vice-Presidency and then fail to win a second term with a different running mate.)
After the 1900 election, Stevenson returned again to private practice in Illinois. He made one last run for office in a race for governor of Illinois in 1908, at age 72, narrowly losing. He retired to Bloomington. Adlai Stevenson I died in Chicago on June 14, 1914. His body is interred in a family plot in Evergreen Cemetery, Bloomington, Illinois.
This Adlai Stevenson was born on October 23, 1835 on his family's farm in Christian County, Kentucky, the son of John Turner Stevenson and Eliza Ewing Stevenson, first generation Americans of Scots-Irish descent. As a youth Adlai attended school in Blue Water, Kentucky. The family owned a few slaves, but set them free in 1852, when the family moved to Bloomington, Illinois, where his father operated a sawmill. Stevenson attended Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington but later graduated from Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky. When his father died, Stevenson returned to Illinois to run the family sawmill.
Stevenson became a lawyer. He was admitted to the Illinois state bar in 1858 at age 23, and practiced in Metamora, in Woodford County, Illinois. As a young lawyer, he encountered such Illinois attorneys Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Stevenson didn't get along with Lincoln. In a meeting the two had, Lincoln disparaged Stevenson using his famous wit. In the 1858 Senate race between Lincoln and Douglas, Stevenson campaigned for Douglas and became a Democrat. He also made speeches against the "Know-Nothing" movement, a group opposed to immigrants and Catholics. That stand helped Stevenson gain support among Illinois' large German and Irish communities.
In 1864 Stevenson was elected district attorney. Two years later, in 1866, he married Letitia Green whom he had met and courted nine years earlier at Centre College. Her father, Reverend Lewis Warner Green, was opposed to the marriage, but he died, and Letitia and her mother subsequently moved to Bloomington. The Stevensons had three daughters and a son, Lewis G. Stevenson (who would later become Illinois Secretary of State). Letitia helped establish the Daughters of the American Revolution and succeeded Caroline Harrison, the wife of Benjamin Harrison, as the DAR's second president-general.
In 1868, at the end of his term as district attorney, he entered law practice with his cousin, James S. Ewing. Stevenson & Ewing would become one of the state's most prominent law firms. In 1874, Stevenson was elected to the United States House of Representatives, serving from March 4, 1875 to March 4, 1877. In 1876, he lost his bid for reelection, but he returned to the House in the 1878 election, only to lose again in 1880, and again in 1882.
When Grover Cleveland was elected President in 1884, Stevenson served as assistant postmaster general. He fired over 40,000 Republican workers and replaced them with Democrats from the South. The Republican-controlled U.S. Congress exacted its revenge by defeating his bid for confirmation when Stevenson was nominated for a federal judgeship.
In 1892, when the Democrats chose Cleveland once again as their standard candidate, Stevenson was chosen as his running mate. He was a prominent supporter of using greenbacks and free silver to inflate the currency as a means of and alleviating economic distress in the rural areas. This was in contrast to Cleveland, who was a gold-standard supporter. The team won the election and carried Illinois, although the Republicans won Stevenson's home district.
Those hoping for civil service reform were soon disappointed, as Vice President Stevenson resumed the spoils system. He had Democrats fill Post Office positions and enforced the hiring of Democratic supporters in other government departments.
When Grover Cleveland developed cancer of the mouth that required immediate surgery in the summer of 1893, Cleveland insisted that the surgery be kept secret to avoid a panic on Wall Street. While on a yacht in New York harbor that summer, Cleveland had his entire upper jaw removed and replaced with an artificial device, an operation that left no outward scar. The surgery remained secret for another quarter century. Cleveland's aides explained that he had merely had dental work. Even his vice president had no idea what was going on or about the possibility that he might have to succeed Cleveland as president.
Stevenson had a reputation for presiding over the Senate in a dignified, nonpartisan manner. Although he was often a guest at the White House, Stevenson admitted that he wasn't really called on much to give advice to the President. he said that Cleveland was "courteous at all times" but in fact Cleveland disliked Stevenson because of their disagreement over the currency issue. Cleveland told a friend that Stevenson had surrounded himself with a coterie of free-silver cronies who Cleveland called the "Stevenson cabinet."
Stevenson was mentioned as a candidate to succeed Cleveland in 1896, but he gained little support even in his home state. The convention was taken by storm by a thirty-six-year-old William Jennings Bryan, who delivered his fiery "Cross of Gold" speech in favor of a free silver plank in the platform. Many Cleveland Democrats refused to support Bryan, but Vice President Stevenson loyally endorsed the ticket. When Bryan lost the election, he still remained the frontrunner for the nomination in 1900. Stevenson was selected for the second half of the ticket at the convention, but the pair lost to the Republican ticket of McKinley and Roosevelt. (Stevenson and Republican Charles W. Fairbanks are the only two men to win the Vice-Presidency and then fail to win a second term with a different running mate.)
After the 1900 election, Stevenson returned again to private practice in Illinois. He made one last run for office in a race for governor of Illinois in 1908, at age 72, narrowly losing. He retired to Bloomington. Adlai Stevenson I died in Chicago on June 14, 1914. His body is interred in a family plot in Evergreen Cemetery, Bloomington, Illinois.