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The Stevenson Era

Democratic Conventions 1952-1956

By John HeckenlivelyPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Adlai Stevenson (right) was the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956

The 11th in a 20 part series on the Democratic National Conventions

1952: “I will give you all I have”

Dates: July 21 - 26, 1952

Venue: International Amphitheatre, 4220 South Halsted, Chicago, Illinois. Built near the Union Stockyards, it was a venue for both sports and concerts between 1934 and 1999. Today it is the site of an Aramark Uniform Services Plant.

Events: Faced with dismal approval ratings, Harry Truman decided to retire from politics. This led to a fight between several of the Democratic party’s leading lights. While 15 people got votes on the first ballot, there were really only three major contenders: Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, Georgia Senator Richard Russell, and Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. Each had around 300 votes on the first and second ballots. Truman, not wanting a southerner heading the ticket, threw his support to Stevenson, who got 600 votes on the third ballot. Kefauver and Russell conceded, and Stevenson was nominated unanimously. 1952 was the last convention where the decision for president went to more than one ballot.

Perhaps as a sop to the South, delegates stuck Stevenson with Alabama Senator John Sparkman, a noted segregationist, as his running mate.

One of the key planks in the 1952 platform was the repeal of the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Labor unions are still trying to repeal it 70 years later.

November 1952: Stevenson had the bad luck to be running against Dwight Eisenhower, who had “Defeated Adolf Hitler” on his resume. Eisenhower and his running mate. California Senator Richard Nixon (more on him later), won 39 states and 442 electoral votes. Eisenhower also whomped Stevenson in the popular vote, 34 million to 27 million.

1956: The Winning Team (Not Exactly)

Dates: August 13 - 17, 1956. This was the latest date a national political had been held since 1864.

Venue: International Amphitheatre, 4220 South Halsted, Chicago, Illinois. Built near the Union Stockyards, it was a venue for both sports and concerts between 1934 and 1999. Today it is the site of an Aramark Uniform Services Plant. It hosted five national political conventions between 1952 and 1968.

Events: 1956 was the first year the primaries played a major role in the elections. Adlai Steveson and Estes Kefauver battled things out in several primaries, with Stevenson ultimately beating the Tennessee Senator by winning states like Florida and California.

While Adlai Stevenson was no longer Governor of Illinois, he was still popular with most Democratic party members. He coasted to an easy 65 percent victory over New York Governor Averill Harriman, who had 15 percent. In a shadow of things to come, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson received some votes for President.

The race for Vice President was more interesting. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee ran against a then largely unknown young man from Massachusetts, Senator John F Kennedy. Kefauver won the first round, but Kennedy made a strong showing in the second. Before the third round, Tennessee Senator Al Gore, Sr and Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey threw their support to Kefauver, and he won the Vice Presidential nomination.

In keeping with Stevenson’s intellectual persona, the party platform was over 12,000 words in 1956. It was also quite hawkish on foreign policy, perhaps necessary when running against a popular war hero.

Celebrity Watch: Singer Mahalia Jackson performed at the convention.

November 1956: While Eisenhower proved to be a better general than President, he still had “Defeated Hitler” on his resume and Adlai Stevenson was no less nerdy. Eisenhower beat Stevenson by an even bigger margin than 1952, winning the electoral college 457 to 73. The popular vote was also more lopsided, with Eisenhower crushing Stevenson 35 million to 26 million. This led Democrats to go with someone more charismatic in the next election.

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