author
Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing) Stevenson
1835–1914
A sharp Illinois lawyer who rose to become Grover Cleveland’s vice president, he was a major Democratic figure in the late 1800s and later worked as a U.S. diplomat. His long public career moved from Congress to the post office, the vice presidency, and an ambassadorship in London.
1 Audiobook
Something of Men I Have Known With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective
by Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing) Stevenson
About the author
Born in Christian County, Kentucky, in 1835, he moved with his family to Bloomington, Illinois, in 1852, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1858. He built his career in Illinois politics, serving as a district attorney and then as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
He became widely known as a Democrat during the Grover Cleveland years. Stevenson served as first assistant postmaster general, where he gained national attention for replacing many Republican postal workers, and was elected the 23rd vice president of the United States, serving from 1893 to 1897. He later remained active in national politics and was the Democratic nominee for vice president again in 1900, this time on William Jennings Bryan’s ticket.
In the final stage of his public life, he served as U.S. commissioner of claims and then as ambassador to Great Britain and Ireland from 1909 to 1913. He died in Chicago in 1914. He is also remembered as the grandfather of Adlai Stevenson II, continuing a political family name that stayed prominent in American public life.