Adlai Stevenson accepts Democratic presidential nomination 60 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Aug 17 1956)


Video: '1956 Adlai Stevenson Democratic Convention Acceptance speech'

(Friday, August 17, 1956, at about 11:00 p.m. EDT) — Former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois accepted the Democratic nomination for President tonight at the 1956 Democratic National Convention meeting at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.

Stevenson, the 1952 Democratic presidential nominee who lost to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, won the nomination by defeating New York Governor W. Averell Harriman by 905.5 to 210 votes on the first ballot cast Aug. 16, 1956.

Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee was nominated Vice President over Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts by 755.5 to 589 votes on the second ballot.

Stevenson and Kefauver would oppose the Republican ticket of President Eisenhower and Vice President Richard M. Nixon in the United States presidential election, 1956.


Video: '1956 Estes Kefauver Democratic Convention Vice President Acceptance Speech' (Aug. 17, 1956)


Video: 'Kennedy vs Kefauver '56' (Aug. 17, 1956)