Warmest thoughts and prayers for the family and thanks for the many accomplishments of former Senator Adlai Stevenson III of Illinois (1930-2021). I had the honor of delivering Senator Stevenson's mail and operating his Xerox machine as a 16-year-old intern in his DC office.
I once heard Senator Stevenson joke about being a young political candidate who had to audition before a Chicago boss in the boss's saloon. Stevenson recalled being pleased to overhear the boss say afterwards, “Well, the little ___ wasn’t as bad as I expected!!"
The Chicago boss for whom Stevenson auditioned was the locally famous Alderman Paddy Bauler [center], who operated a speakeasy during Prohibition and was later best known for crowing, “Chicago ain’t ready for reform!"
At least by legend, the old Mayor Daley allegedly once told Adlai Stevenson III (1930-2021), “My advice for you is don’t change your name."
One of the items I delivered to Senator Adlai Stevenson III (1930-2021) as a 16-year-old intern working in the mailroom of his DC office was the Congressional Record (see photograph):
Stevenson III was a fine gentleman and an excellent and honest Senator:
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Sixty years ago today, two heroic, courageous and idealistic young Black Americans, Vivian Malone and James Hood, entered the University of Alabama after JFK federalized the Alabama National Guard and Governor George Wallace stepped aside after trying to bar them:
During a partially-improvised Oval Office speech, JFK declares civil rights "a moral issue" and pledges to send comprehensive bill to Congress, sixty years ago tonight:
Medgar Evers, World War II veteran and NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, was murdered outside his home, hours after the civil rights speech JFK gave sixty years ago tonight:
Now why would anyone possibly think that a sudden, loud, unexplained boom in Washington DC on a Sunday afternoon might alarm anyone?
We take you now to the Ellipse, near the White House in Washington DC, where a flying saucer has landed. U.S. military tanks have rolled up, and a nervous crowd has gathered. . .
Someone has just stepped out of the flying saucer that landed near the White House after we heard that boom. He's shouting, "Take us to your leader -- Truman!"