Video: '1952 Adlai Stevenson Democratic Convention Acceptance Speech'

(Saturday, July 26, 1952, 2:13 a.m. CDT; during the 1952 Democratic National Convention) — Governor Adlai Stevenson II of Illinois accepted the Democratic presidential nomination early this morning at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago with a pledge to “talk sense to the American people.”

Stevenson was nominated on the third ballot, defeating Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee 617.5 to 275.5 votes (after shifts). This was the last nomination contest of either major U.S. political party (as of 2022) to require more than one round of voting to nominate a presidential candidate.

Senator John Sparkman of Alabama, a conservative and segregationist (party leaders hoped this factor would create a balanced ticket), was nominated vice president by acclamation on a voice vote (click here to watch a video clip of Sparkman’s acceptance speech).

Incumbent Democratic President Harry S. Truman did not seek a third term. When Truman announced that he would not seek re-election, Vice President Alben Barkley, 74, began organizing a campaign to win the Democratic presidential nomination. But labor leaders refused to endorse his candidacy because of his age, and he withdrew from the race.

The Stevenson-Sparkman ticket would oppose the Republican ticket of General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower of New York for president and Senator Richard Nixon of California for vice president (nominated two weeks ago) in the 1952 United States presidential election.