Not for the Exercise

The problems of what to say, and how to say it, and when, were agonizing for Adlai Stevenson. He had been brooding about this ever since that disastrous night of defeat in 1952, when he said that he was "too old to cry, and it hurt too much to laugh." As he traveled about the U.S. in 1954, speaking at Democratic rallies, loyal supporters urged him to try again. By the end of last summer he had made the decision: he would run.

In 1952, he had never said that he wanted the nomination. But he knew he could not be a reluctant draftee a second time. Even though Stevenson was miles ahead of any other Democratic candidate, the script for 1956 called for an early start toward formal campaigning -most of which could be directed against the Republicans rather than against his hopeful Democratic rivals.

The Torture of Decision. But when should he announce? To some, the Democratic National Committee's $100-a-plate dinner at Chicago last week, where he was scheduled to speak, seemed to be an ideal platform. But Democratic National Chairman Paul Butler, a Stevenson man, included New York's Averell Harriman and Tennessee's Senator Estes Kefauver on the program for the sake of party peace.

Democrats not inclined to support Stevenson would resent his using the dinner for his personal sendoff. So he decided to announce just before the Democrats began to gather in Chicago.

But how to say it? Adlai thought of making a simple statement that he was a candidate, but that might seem too wholly political. Perhaps he should explain, in a dignified manner, why he was running. And yet he did not want to skim the cream off his first post-announcement speech at the dinner. For two days, at his farm home in Libertyville, Ill., he labored over his pronouncement. Most of the time he worked alone, but on the second day he called in staff members and tried the statement on them. He decided it would not do, went to work on it again. Then. finally having decided what to say, he was ready.

"Roll 'Em." The announcement stage had been set carefully. On the dance floor of the Boulevard Room in Chicago's Conrad Hilton Hotel, workmen had put together the setting of a business office. There was a mahogany desk equipped with an "in" box, a telephone and a lectern, with an American flag at one side and a plain grey curtain in the background concealing the nightclub decor. Gathered in the room, on the appointed day, were some 100 reporters and a few politicians.

Stevenson arrived ten minutes late, stepped down the aisle and sat down quietly at the desk. This was television and newsreel day. His staff had informed reporters that the candidate would make his statement for the cameras, but would answer no questions until a press conference the next day. Stevenson placed a typed copy of his statement on the lectern and accepted a glass of water (on his standing order, it contained no ice) from an aide. He looked uncertainly at Radio-TV Executive Leonard Reinsch, who was directing the show, and asked how much time he had. Director Reinsch told him to take all the time he wanted, checked with the cameramen, and then sang out: "Roll 'em."

"I shall be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President next year," Stevenson began. And then, typically, he ad-libbed: "which I suspect is hardly a surprise." The heart of his statement gave his reasons for seeking the nomination: "In the first place, I believe it is important for the Democratic Party to resume the executive direction of our national affairs. Second, I am assured that my candidacy would be welcomed by representative people in and out of my party throughout the country. Third, I believe any citizen should make whatever contribution he can to search for a safer, saner world."

Three times Stevenson read the statement, so the cameramen could get a variety of shots and would have three separate films. When he was through, he leaned back with a relieved air, and quipped: "Now the question is, should I read one for Vice President?" Then, looking around at his aides, he asked: "Is that all? May I go now?"

Needed: New Adjectives. In the same setting, next day, Stevenson met reporters to answer questions. First, Stevenson announced that he had appointed Pennsylvania's Secretary of the Commonwealth James Finnegan, a seasoned Philadelphia political veteran, as his pre-convention campaign manager. Finnegan's chief assistant would be Chicago Attorney Hyman B. Raskin, a former deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Acting as advisers would be former Democratic National Chairman Stephen Mitchell and onetime (1946) National Housing Administrator Wilson W. Wyatt, who were the key managers in Stevenson's 1952 campaign. When a reporter commented that this chain of command showed that Stevenson had decided to use professional politicians this time instead of "socalled bush-league advisers," the candidate waved in the direction of Mitchell and Wyatt and cracked: "Will you bushmen all stand up, please?"

Stevenson said that he would enter, the Minnesota primary (where he already had assurances of support from the powerful organization headed by left-of-center U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey), but decisions about other primaries would have to wait. When a reporter pointed out that there had been talk about Senator Humphrey as a likely candidate for Vice President, Stevenson covered the field: "I think he is an admirable Democrat and a most competent and gifted man. I have said, I think, the same thing about some half-dozen by this time. I will have to get some new adjectives."

Would he accept Estes Kefauver as his running mate? "Well. I would say this about Senator Kefauver or anyone else: that, after all, the national convention has to make that decision. As far as I am concerned, I think he is eminently qualified for exalted public office, indeed he already holds one, and that isn't to say that there are no others likewise qualified, equally qualified, and also there is a question of whether he would be available for such an office, and I gather from what I have heard that he would not."

"With Money, I Hope." How would he finance his campaign? "With money, I hope," as the correspondents laughed. What lay behind the timing of his announcement? "I have not made this statement before for a variety of reasons, mostly to do with my convenience, with the forthcoming Democratic dinner which the party's leaders, and the treasurer particularly, attached some importance to keeping some elements of this uncertainty alive, and also because I wanted to make quite sure about certain regions of the country and certain individuals in my candidacy."

Was he confident that, if nominated, he could beat any Republican nominee? "Well, let me say to you that while I believe, as I said yesterday, everyone should do what he can, consistent with our political traditions, to serve his country and his party, therefore, I think one runs regardless when he feels it is consistent to do so, consistent with the principle whether he feels he can win or not. I might say that I am not entering this campaign for the exercise."

When the reporters asked questions that involved the South, where the seeds of a Democratic Party split lie, Stevenson was cautious. What did he have to say about the fact that some Southern states have chosen to circumvent the Supreme Court's school-desegregation ruling? "I don't know that I can comment about that in the abstract. I think the Supreme Court's decision speaks for itself, and I believe that the law should be supported by all of the citizens of the country." When a reporter sought to ask him about the case of Emmett Till, the Negro boy who was murdered in Mississippi, Stevenson interrupted the question to continue an explanation of his attitude on taxes ("While I might be against a tax reduction, which would mean revenue reduction, I might be in favor of tax adjustment"). After Stevenson had finished the tax statement, Chicago Sun Times Reporter John Dreiske cut off the Conference with, "Thank you. Governor Stevenson."

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