Adlai Stevenson II

1900 – 1965

Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was an American politician and diplomat who served as the 31st governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953 and as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965. The Democratic Party's nominee for president in 1952 and 1956, he lost both elections to Dwight D. Eisenhower while becoming a defining liberal voice for the party in the early Cold War era. His most famous moment in office came at the United Nations in October 1962, when he confronted the Soviet ambassador with reconnaissance photographs of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM