This is the electoral history of Adlai Stevenson II, who served as Governor of Illinois (1949–1953) and 5th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (1961–1965), and was twice the Democratic Party's nominee for President of the United States, losing both the 1952 and 1956 presidential general elections to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Stevenson was elected as a Democrat in the 1948 Illinois gubernatorial election. In 1952, he had won his party's nomination to seek a second term as governor. However, he was nominated as his party's presidential nominee at the 1952 Democratic National Convention, being successfully drafted at the convention. As a result, Stevenson had to withdraw from the gubernatorial election in order to run for president. Stevenson and his running mate John Sparkman lost the presidential election to the Republican ticket of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.
In 1956, he successfully sought to again receive his party's nomination for president. He and his running mate Estes Kefauver lost to the Republican ticket of Eisenhower and Nixon.
At the 1960 Democratic National Convention, Stevenson launched a late effort to again receive his party's nomination, but this was unsuccessful, and John F. Kennedy was nominated for president instead.
Gubernatorial 1948
1952
Presidential 1952 Democratic primaries 1952 Democratic Party presidential primaries: Estes Kefauver - 3,169,448 (65.04%) Pat Brown - 485,578 (9.97%) Richard Russell, Jr. - 371,179 (7.62%) Matthew M. Neely - 191,471 (3.93%) Robert J. Bulkley - 184,880 (3.79%) Hubert Humphrey - 102,527 (2.10%) Adlai Stevenson (write-in) - 81,096 (1.66%) Dwight Eisenhower (write-in) - 64,911 (1.33%) Harry S. Truman (inc.) - 62,345 (1.28%) Unpledged delegates - 46,361 (0.95%) Robert S. Kerr - 45,285 (0.93%) William O. Douglas - 29,532 (0.61%) W. Averell Harriman - 19,806 (0.41%) Jerome F. Fox - 18,322 (0.38%)
Democratic National Convention balloting +1952 Democratic National Convention presidential ballotingRichard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records Ballot1st Before Shifts1st After Shifts2nd Before Shifts2nd After Shifts3rd Before Shifts3rd After ShiftsUnanimous Estes Kefauver 300.5 340 362 361 279.5 275.5 - Adlai Stevenson 248.5 273 329.5 324.5 613 617.5 1,230 Richard Russell Jr. 267.5 268 294 294 261.5 261 - W. Averell Harriman 126 123.5 121.5 121.5 - - - Alben W. Barkley 49.5 48.5 81 81 67.5 67.5 - Robert S. Kerr 69 65 5.5 5.5 - - - Paul A. Dever 37.5 37.5 30.5 30.5 0.5 0.5 - G. Mennen Williams 40.5 - - - - - - Hubert Humphrey 26 26 - - - - - J. William Fulbright 22 22 - - - - - Brien McMahon 16 - - - - - - James E. Murray 12 12 - - - - - Harry S. Truman 6 6 1 6 - - - Oscar R. Ewing 4 4 3 3 3 3 - Paul Douglas 3 3 3 3 3 3 - William O. Douglas 0.5 0.5 - - - - - Not Voting 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 -
General election
1956 Democratic primaries 1956 Democratic Party presidential primaries: Adlai Stevenson II - 3,069,504 (50.70%) Estes Kefauver - 2,283,172 (37.71%) Unpledged delegates - 380,300 (6.28%) Frank J. Lausche - 278,074 (4.59%) John W. McCormack - 26,128 (0.43%) Dwight D. Eisenhower - 6,358 (0.11%) W. Averell Harriman - 3,368 (0.06%) Robert Meyner - 1,129 (0.02%) John F. Kennedy - 949 (0.02%) Harry S. Truman - 728 (0.01%) Stuart Symington - 402 (0.01%) Paul A. Dever - 207 (0.00%) Lyndon B. Johnson - 2 (0.00%) Others - 3,610 (0.06%)
Democratic National Convention balloting +1956 Democratic National Convention presidential ballotingRichard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records, pp. 294–298ContenderVoteAdlai Stevenson905.5 (65.9%)W. Averell Harriman210 (15.31%)Lyndon B. Johnson80 (5.83%)Stuart Symington45.5 (3.32%)Happy Chandler36.5 (2.66%)James C. Davis33 (2.41%)John S. Battle32.5 (2.37%)George Bell Timmerman23.5 (1.71%)Frank J. Lausche5.5 (0.4%)
General election
1960 Democratic primaries 1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries: John F. Kennedy - 1,847,259 (31.43%) Pat Brown - 1,354,031 (23.04%) George H. McLain - 646,387 (11.00%) Hubert Humphrey - 590,410 (10.05%) George Smathers - 322,235 (5.48%) Michael DiSalle - 315,312 (5.37%) Unpledged delegates - 241,958 (4.12%) Albert S. Potter - 208,057 (3.54%) Wayne Morse - 147,262 (2.51%) Adlai Stevenson - 51,833 (0.88%)
Democratic National Convention balloting + 1960 Democratic National Convention presidential ballotingCandidateVotesPercentage John F. Kennedy 806 52.89% Lyndon B. Johnson 409 26.84% Stuart Symington 86 5.64% Adlai Stevenson 79.5 5.25% Robert B. Meyner 43 2.82% Hubert Humphrey 41 2.76% George A. Smathers 30 1.97% Ross Barnett 23 1.51% Herschel Loveless 2 0.13%Pat Brown 1 0% Orval Faubus 1 0% Albert Rosellini 1 0% Abstentions 1.0 0.00%
Maps
References