The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-07-29
LIFE OF ADLAI'
E. STEVENSON

Editors note: This third Of
five-parf series on The life Of Ad-
lei e. Stevenson, Democratic
nominee for President, covers
the war years, HE birth Of HE
U. N. and she AIssr Hiss easel
BY ROGER r. LANE
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. R-When he
returned to Washington In 1871,
Adlai Stevenson already had &C
quired a vision Of Americas place
in the shrinking, strife-ridden
world.
His knowledge Of international
relations grew in succeeding years,
until eventually he assisted in the
birth Of the United Nations and
participated in its first and Sec
ond general assemblys.
By the middle 194O's, Stevenson
was working on foreign policy
problems with the late Sen. Ar
thur Vandenberg, John Foster
Dulles and Sen. Tom Connally, all
far better known then to the pub
lie.
His original interest in the SUBJ
ject probably sprang from boy
hood travels with his family in
Europe and his experiences in 1926
on tour Of the Near East and
Russia.
II ripened In the 1930s as q men,
Der, and finally president, Of the
Chicago Council on Foreign Rela-
tons. The council welcomed for
eign diplomats, debated their pro-
nouncements and weighed possible
effects on the United States of far
away events.
It's discussions-and Stevenson's
voice-were out Of harmony with
the predominant sentiments of a
city whose mayor once threatened
to bust King George of England
in the "snoot" and which became
a stronghold of the America First
movement.
Stevenson's Willingness to swim
against the tide gave a glimpse
Of a characteristic that reappeared
in the Alger Hiss case and in some
unpopular acts as governor of Illi-
n0is.
He held resolutely to his foreign
policy views. In 1910 after Adolf
Hitler's panzers sliced through
Northern France to Paris, he be-
came Chicago chairman of the
william Allen White Committee to
defend America by aiding the Al
lies.
+ Stevenson returned to Washing
!, ton as a special assistant to Navy
Secretary Frank Knox, one of two
Republicans then in FDR's Cab.
met.
| Knox put him to work laying
legal groundwork for seizure oil
struck shipyards at Kearney, N
j. The machinery he devised
served as pattern for 60 subse
quene seizures.
After Japan's Dec. Z, 1871 strike
against Pearl Harbor plunged the
u. S. into World War III, Stevenson
was dispatched to the Caribbean
area and the Panama Canal Zone
to gather information on defense
preparations.
Next, he accompanied Knox and
high Navy officers on a tour oil
the nations bastions in the Pa.
cific.
Further wartime travels lay
ahead. Before he was through,
Stevenson visited Algeria. Tunis
and Liberia in Africa, and Italy,
France, England, Belgium, Hol.
land. Luxembourg and Germany
in Europe.
Perhaps his most important as.
signment was as chief of Foreign
Economic Administration mission
to Italy. Its purpose was to plan
for relief and rehabilitation Of the
liberated areas.
His report, covering agriculture.
industry, communications, curren.
cy, transportation and import prob
lens. won commentator from su.
periors in Washington as a model
document Of its kind.
In Italy. Stevenson met the man
who eight years afterwards was
to be his rival for the presidency
Gen. Dwight d. Eisenhower.
The brief encounter occurred In
the corridor of a Naples office
building. Eisenhower asked how
things were going and Stevenson
said as well as could be expected,
That's all there was TO the ex'
change.
Knox died In April 1874 and Stew
enson resigned. However. he IN
dertook another wartime assign.
ment that fall. serving on an Army
air mission To eyaluate strategic
bombing damage In Germany.
In lsks Stevenson moved over
few notches into the domain Of
diplomacy proper
The Stale Department. mindful
Of has growing experience, called
CO Ssegenson to help promote pah'
BIC understanding Of the forthecn.
Ing United Nations Conference Ut