| Interment Location | Visited | Sequence in Graves I Have Visited |
|---|---|---|
| Bloomington, IL | February 24, 2012 | 34th Vice President visited |
Grover Cleveland ran for the presidency in three consecutive elections — each with a different running mate. He won with former Governor Thomas A. Hendricks in 1884, but Hendricks’ death less than a year into his term necessitated that a new candidate round out the ticket in 1888. Democratic delegates chose former Senator Allen G. Thurman. Republican Benjamin Harrison was victorious that year, but then was ousted by the resurgent Cleveland in 1892. Cleveland’s running mate in that unprecedented, non-consecutive second election win was Adlai Stevenson, who had served in his first administration as assistant postmaster general. The 24th vice president is interred in Bloomington, Illinois, in the same plot as his better-remembered grandson, Adlai E. Stevenson II.
Though not as famous as the Bush or Kennedy dynasties, the Stevenson family has had several politicians in its ranks. Vice President Stevenson’s son, Lewis, was secretary of state in Illinois. His grandson, Adlai II, was the state’s governor, a two-time presidential nominee, and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. His great-grandson, Adlai III, served for a decade in the U.S. Senate.
Each member of the Stevenson family has their own individual stone, separate from the large Stevenson-Scott monument. The VP’s marker is two rows behind it and appears directly next to my left arm in this image.
Here, I crouch behind Stevenson’s headstone. He was my third vice president on this February 2012 trip, following Charles Dawes and Henry A. Wallace.
Fast Facts
Born: October 23, 1835 in Christian County, Kentucky
Spouse: Letitia Green Stevenson (m. 1866-1913)
Political Affiliation: Democratic Party
Vice Presidential Term: 1893-1897 under Grover Cleveland
Died: June 14, 1914 in Chicago, Illinois
Age: 78
Interment: Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, Bloomington, Illinois
"Vice-President Stevenson had a strong sense of humor which did not show itself at all times, especially when he was presiding over the Senate in that historical contest between the forces of sound money and free silver, and even less in the days of the first Cleveland administration, when he was an official axman who beheaded Republican office-holders with the precision and dispatch of the French guillotine in the days of the Revolution."
- Senate Sergeant at Arms David S. Barry
1924 in his book, Forty Years in Washington
Sources Consulted
Barry, David S. Forty Years in Washington. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1924. https://books.google.com/books?id=5st2AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
