He lost two presidential elections to Dwight D. Eisenhower by wide margins, but Adlai Stevenson remained a popular and respected figure in American politics. Unlike Ike, Stevenson favored progressive politics of social programs and expansion of civil rights. Americans preferred their World War II hero, Eisenhower, and his more conservative policies. Had Stevenson won either election of 1952 or 1956, the course of American history would have been different. Instead, the more cautious approach of Eisenhower at home, and his tougher stance against communism abroad, won out and influenced the 1950s.

Born Adlai Ewing Stevenson in Los Angeles, California, on February, 5, 1900, to Lewis Green Stevenson, a former secretary of state for Illinois, and Helen Louise Davis, Stevenson was part of a prominent family in Bloomington, Illinois, where they returned to live after he was born. His grandfather, Adlai E. Stevenson (1835-1914), was vice president during the...