Adlai Stevenson III
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Adlai Stevenson III |
Adlai Ewing Stevenson III (born
October 10,
1930, in
Chicago) is an
American politician of the
Democratic Party. He represented the state of
Illinois in the
United States Senate from
1970 until
1981.
He attended
Harvard University (
Cambridge, Massachusetts) and received a bachelor's degree (
1952) and a law degree (
1957) there. Stevenson enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps during the
Korean war (1952-1954), serving as a tank platoon commander, and was discharged as a first lieutenant. He continued to serve in the Marine Reserves and was discharged in 1961 as a captain.
In
1957, Stevenson went to work as a clerk at the Illinois Supreme Court and worked there until
1958. In
1964, Stevenson was elected an Illinois state representative, in which capacity he served from 1965 to 1967. He then served as Illinois state treasurer (
1967-
1970). When U.S. Senator
Everett Dirksen (
R-
Ill.) died in office in
1969, Stevenson was elected in a special election to fill Dirksen's unexpired term. Stevenson was re-elected to the seat in 1974, serving in the U.S. Senate from
1970 to
1981. In
1980, Stevenson declined to stand for re-election again.
Stevenson unsuccessfully ran for
Governor of Illinois in
1982 and
1986, losing both elections to
James R. Thompson. In 1982 the initial vote count showed Stevenson winning, but after several recounts of Republican dominated counties, Stevenson conceded, giving the very narrow victory to Thompson. The difference between their vote totals stood at three-quarters of one percent, but Stevenson chose not to demand a statewide recount. Several young Thompson staffers were later convicted of vote fraud in that campaign. In the 1986 campaign two followers of
Lyndon LaRouche won the Democratic Party primary for the nominations to Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State. Stevenson objected to their platform and refused to appear on the same ticket. The
Solidarity Party was created to provide an alternate slate, which split and confused the opposition to Thompson.
Stevenson's great-grandfather,
Adlai E. Stevenson I, was
vice president of the United States (
1893-
1897). His grandfather
Lewis G. Stevenson was Illinois secretary of state (
1914-
1917). His father,
Adlai E. Stevenson II, was governor of Illinois and two time Democratic presidential nominee. Actor
McLean Stevenson was his third cousin.
Adlai Stevenson IV, Stevenson III's son, became a television reporter inChicago in the 1980's. It is reported that when asked if he liked his name, he said he intendedto become "Adlai the Last". This was not to be the case; in the fall of 1994, Adlai Ewing Stevenson V was born.
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Political Science: Analysis of the 1986 election "debacle" in Illinois
