Adlai Stevenson

Adlai Ewing Stevenson II ?ædle? February 5 1900 July 14 1965 was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965 He previously served as the 31st governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953 and was the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1952 and 1956 losing both elections to Dwight Eisenhower Stevenson was the grandson of Adlai Stevenson I the 23rd vice president of the United States Raised in Bloomington Illinois Stevenson was a member of the Democratic Party He served in numerous positions in the federal government during the 1930s and 1940s including the Agricultural Adjustment Administration Federal Alcohol Administration Department of the Navy and the State Department In 1945 he served on the committee that created the United Nations and he was a member of the initial US delegations to the UN In 1948 he was elected governor of Illinois defeating incumbent governor Dwight H Green in an upset As governor he reformed the state police cracked down on illegal gambling improved the state highways and attempted to cleanse the state government of corruption Stevenson also sought with mixed success to reform the Illinois state constitution and introduced several crime bills in the state legislature In the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections he was chosen as the Democratic nominee for president but was defeated in a landslide by Republican Dwight D Eisenhower both times In 1960 he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination for a third time at the Democratic National Convention After President John F Kennedy was elected he appointed Stevenson as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Two major events Stevenson dealt with during his time as UN ambassador were the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in April 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 Stevenson served as UN ambassador from January 1961 until his death during a visit to London on July 14 1965 He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in his hometown of Bloomington Illinois From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia