Electoral history of Adlai Stevenson II

Stevenson circa 1953

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

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1948

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1948 Illinois gubernatorial Democratic primary[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Adlai E. Stevenson 578,390 100
Total votes 578,390 100
1948 Illinois gubernatorial election[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Adlai E. Stevenson 2,250,074 57.11
Republican Dwight H. Green (incumbent) 1,678,007 42.59
Prohibition Willis Ray Wilson 9,491 0.24
Socialist Labor Louis Fisher 2,673 0.07
Write-in Others 12 0.00
Total votes 3,940,257 100

1952

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1952 Illinois gubernatorial Democratic primary[3]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Adlai E. Stevenson (incumbent) 708,275 99.97
Write-in Others 213 0.03
Total votes 708,488 100

Presidential

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1952

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Democratic primaries

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1952 Democratic Party presidential primaries:[4]

Democratic National Convention balloting

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1952 Democratic National Convention presidential balloting[5]
Ballot 1st Before Shifts 1st After Shifts 2nd Before Shifts 2nd After Shifts 3rd Before Shifts 3rd After Shifts Unanimous
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

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Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote[6] Electoral
vote[7]
Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote[7]
Dwight David Eisenhower Republican New York 34,075,529 55.18% 442 Richard Milhous Nixon California 442
Adlai Ewing Stevenson II Democratic Illinois 27,375,090 44.33% 89 John Jackson Sparkman Alabama 89
Vincent Hallinan Progressive California 140,746 0.23% 0 Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass New York 0
Stuart Hamblen Prohibition Texas 73,412 0.12% 0 Enoch Arden Holtwick Illinois 0
Eric Hass Socialist Labor New York 30,406 0.05% 0 Stephen Emery New York 0
Darlington Hoopes Socialist Pennsylvania 20,203 0.03% 0 Samuel Herman Friedman New York 0
Douglas MacArthur Constitution Arkansas 17,205 0.03% 0 Harry Flood Byrd Sr. Virginia 0
Farrell Dobbs Socialist Workers Minnesota 10,312 0.02% 0 Myra Tanner Weiss California 0
Other 9,039 0.02% Other
Total 61,751,942 100% 531 531
Needed to win 266 266

1956

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Democratic primaries

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1956 Democratic Party presidential primaries:[8]

Democratic National Convention balloting

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1956 Democratic National Convention presidential balloting[9]
Contender Vote
Adlai Stevenson 905.5 (65.9%)
W. Averell Harriman 210 (15.31%)
Lyndon B. Johnson 80 (5.83%)
Stuart Symington 45.5 (3.32%)
Happy Chandler 36.5 (2.66%)
James C. Davis 33 (2.41%)
John S. Battle 32.5 (2.37%)
George Bell Timmerman 23.5 (1.71%)
Frank J. Lausche 5.5 (0.4%)

General election

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Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote[10] Electoral
vote[11]
Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote[11]
Dwight David Eisenhower (Incumbent) Republican Pennsylvania 35,579,180 57.37% 457 Richard Milhous Nixon California 457
Adlai Ewing Stevenson II Democratic Illinois 26,028,028 41.97% 73 Carey Estes Kefauver Tennessee 73
(Unpledged electors) (n/a) (n/a) 196,318 0.32% 0 (n/a) (n/a) 0
Thomas Coleman Andrews States' Rights Virginia 108,956 0.18% 0 Thomas Harold Werdel California 0
Eric Hass Socialist Labor New York 44,300 0.07% 0 Georgia Olive Cozzini Wisconsin 0
Enoch Arden Holtwick Prohibition Illinois 41,937 0.07% 0 Edwin M. Cooper California 0
Farrell Dobbs Socialist Workers New York 7,797 0.01% 0 Myra Tanner Weiss California 0
Harry Flood Byrd Sr. States' Rights Virginia 2,657 <0.01% 0 William Ezra Jenner Indiana 0
Darlington Hoopes Socialist Pennsylvania 2,128 <0.01% 0 Samuel Herman Friedman New York 0
Henry B. Krajewski American Third New Jersey 1,829 <0.01% 0 Anna Yezo New Jersey 0
Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith Christian Nationalist Michigan 8 <0.01% 0 Charles Robertson Michigan 0
Walter Burgwyn Jones Democratic Alabama (a) (a) 1 Herman Eugene Talmadge Georgia 1
Other 8,691 0.01% Other
Total 62,021,328 100% 531 531
Needed to win 266 266

1960

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Democratic primaries

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1960 Democratic Party presidential primaries:[12]

Democratic National Convention balloting

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1960 Democratic National Convention presidential balloting
Candidate Votes Percentage
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

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References

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  1. ^ Illinois Blue Book 1947-1948. Illinois Secretary of State. p. 747. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  2. ^ Illinois Blue Book 1949-1950. Illinois Secretary of State. pp. 745–46, 785. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  3. ^ Illinois Blue Book 1951-1952. Illinois Secretary of State. pp. 757–758. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  4. ^ "Our Campaigns - US President - D Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1952". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  5. ^ Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records
  6. ^ Leip, David. "1952 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  7. ^ "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved August 1, 2005.
  8. ^ "Our Campaigns - US President - D Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1956". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  9. ^ Richard C. Bain and Judith H. Parris, Convention Decisions and Voting Records, pp. 294–298
  10. ^ Leip, David. "1956 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved August 1, 2005.
  11. ^ "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved August 1, 2005.
  12. ^ "Our Campaigns - US President - D Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1960". www.ourcampaigns.com.