Button, Adlai Stevenson, 1950s
notes: label: Description
content: Adlai Stevenson II, former governor of Illinois, was the Democratic nominee for president in 1952 and 1956. Stevenson and his grandfather, former vice president Adlai Stevenson I, endured mispronunciations of their first names throughout their political careers. Although the slogan on this button implies that “Adlai” rhymed with “badly,” it did not as the grandson explained in a 1952 letter to the International Mark Twain Society:
label: Description
content: Mark Twain has always been one of my favorite persons, although I have always felt he was somewhat responsible for the confusion that exists as to how to pronounce my first name. While my grandfather, Adlai E. Stevenson, was vice president under Grover Cleveland, Mark Twain was at a luncheon where grandfather was a guest. The newspapers of the time quoted Mark Twain as follows on the pronunciation of my first name:
label: Description
content: Philologists sweat and lexicographers bray,
label: Description
content: But the best they can do is to call him Ad-lay.
label: Description
content: But at longshoremen’s picnics, where accents are high,
label: Description
content: Fair Harvard's not present, so they call him Ad-lie.
label: Description
content: Anyway, the correct pronunciation is ‘Ad-lay,’ although to put it mildly, I have been called many things.
label: Description
content: One thing Adlai Stevenson was not called was president. He lost both times to the Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower.
topic: label: used
content: Political Campaigns
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, Campaign Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
label: Exhibition
content: American Democracy
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.0200.127
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0200.127
label: accession number
content: 2015.0200
objectType: label: Object Name
content: button
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/4 in; 3.175 cm