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Quotes of the Day for 5 February 2010 – Adlai Stevenson
Adlai Ewing Stevenson was born at Los Angeles, California on this day in 1900. He grew up at Bloomington, Illinois, went to Princeton and then Harvard Law where he failed, but got his law degree at Northwestern in 1926. His family was very political, and Adlai was coached by his grandfather who had been vice president under Grover Cleveland. He served as assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, then to the Secretary of State, and represented the US at the UN from before the founding of that body until 1948, when he was a reluctant but successful candidate for governor of Illinois. An intellectual and astute observer of foreign affairs, he made foreign policy the key of his 1952 and 1956 campaigns for president. His advisors said such a campaign would fail, they were right. He deferred to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 campaign, the young president sent him back to the UN where Stevenson served until his death in 1965. I was too young to know anything about him at the time, but my parents loved him for his inight and gentle wit. Here is a sample.
You will find an expanded profile, photo, additional biographical links, and all quotes from this author on the author's Notable Quotable page.
The quotes:
Who shall say that the American dream is ended? For myself, I believe that all we have done upon this continent is but a prelude.
I'm not an old, experienced hand at politics. But I am now seasoned enough to have learned that the hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.
I have learned that in quiet places, reason abounds, that in quiet people there is vision and purpose, that many things are revealed to the humble that are hidden from the great.
The relationship of the toastmaster to speaker should be the same as that of the fan to the fan dancer. It should call attention to the subject without making any particular effort to cover it.
The sound of tireless voices is the price we pay for the right to hear the music of our own opinions.
In America any boy may become President, and I suppose it's just one of the risks he takes.
All from Adlai Stevenson, 1900 - 1965
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