Editing Adlai Stevenson II (section)

==Stevenson in popular culture==
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=== In film and television ===
Stevenson has been referenced in television episodes of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' in the episodes "[[Lisa the Iconoclast]]" and "[[The Secret War of Lisa Simpson]]" (appearing in the latter in an educational film, with [[Harry Shearer]] providing the cartoon Stevenson's voice. In the former, a gag occurs, as the mob of Springfielders exhume the corpse of Jedediah, Willie mistakenly throws dirt over the flame of a candle vigil set in front of Adlai's grave).
He has also been referenced in ''[[The Golden Girls]]'',<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0589846/quotes/?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu The One That Got Away  (1988)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328011119/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0589846/quotes/?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu |date=March 28, 2022 }} IMDb.</ref> ''[[Happy Days]]'' (in the January 28, 1975, episode "The Not Making of the President")<ref>{{IMDb title|596341|The Not Making of a President}}</ref> and ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''{{'}}s presentation of ''[[Manos: The Hands of Fate]]'' (a Stevenson lookalike buys a car and one of the MST3K characters comments on it). [[Murphy Brown]] briefly names her newborn son 'Adlai Stevenson'. He was also mentioned in ''[[The West Wing (season 7)|The West Wing]]'' ([[Arnold Vinick]] compares himself to Stevenson, the latter having been nominated twice to run for president)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://westwingwiki.com/2014/04/season-7-episode-20-last-hurrah/ | title=Season 7 - Episode 20 - "The Last Hurrah" | date=April 12, 2014 }}</ref>

Stevenson has also been referenced in films. [[Peter Sellers]] claimed that his portrayal of President Merkin Muffley in ''[[Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb|Dr. Strangelove]]'' was modeled on Stevenson.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uUJ6XVBxTYAC&q=%22adlai+stevenson%22+%22peter+sellers%22&pg=PA196 |title=Google Book Search: Mr. Strangelove |isbn=9780786885817 |access-date=December 20, 2011 |last1=Sikov |first1=Ed |date=October 15, 2003 |publisher=Hachette Books |archive-date=March 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331153734/https://books.google.com/books?id=uUJ6XVBxTYAC&q=%22adlai+stevenson%22+%22peter+sellers%22&pg=PA196 |url-status=live }}</ref> Stevenson's "[[s:Adlai Stevenson's Cuban Missile Crisis speech to the United Nations Security Council|Don't wait for the translation]]" speech to Russian ambassador [[Valerian Zorin]] during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] inspired dialogue in a courtroom scene in ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country]]''.<ref name="compendium">{{cite book|title=The Star Trek Compendium|first=Alan|last=Asherman|date=May 1, 1993|publisher=Pocket Books | isbn = 978-0-671-79612-9 }}</ref> The historical speech itself is depicted in the 2000 film ''[[Thirteen Days (film)|Thirteen Days]]'' with [[Michael Fairman]] playing Stevenson, as well as partially depicted in the 1974 television play ''[[The Missiles of October]]'' by [[Ralph Bellamy]]. Stevenson is also referenced in ''[[Wayne's World 2]]'' ("Waynestock" is held in an [[Aurora, Illinois]], park named for Stevenson), ''[[Plain Clothes (1988 film)|Plain Clothes]]'' (the high school is named for Stevenson), ''[[Annie Hall]]'' (Woody Allen's character tells a standup joke about the Stevenson-Eisenhower campaign) and ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.whysanity.net/monos/tiffany.html |title=Breakfast at Tiffanys |publisher=Whysanity.net |access-date=May 14, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529092548/http://www.whysanity.net/monos/tiffany.html |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Stevenson also appears in ''[[A Global Affair]]'' credited as himself.

In ''[[Pioneer One]]'', a crowd-financed TV series published under a [[Creative Commons]] license, one of the characters introduces himself as "Adlai Steve DiLeo", named after Adlai Stevenson, "someone who ran three times for president unsuccessfully".<ref>Pioneer One S1E3</ref>

In a [[Parallel universe (fiction)|parallel universe]] featured in the ''[[Sliders (TV series)|Sliders]]'' episode "The Return of Maggie Beckett", the German [[Wehrmacht]] breaks through the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] lines in the [[Battle of the Bulge]] in 1944, which causes World War II to drag on until 1947. General Eisenhower is relieved as the [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force|Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe]] and returns to the United States in disgrace. Consequently, Stevenson becomes president. The Stevenson administration makes the [[Roswell UFO incident]] in July 1947 public knowledge and signs the Reticulan-American Free Trade Agreement (RAFTA), giving the US access to advanced [[Zeta Reticuli|Reticulan]] technology. This leads to a [[human mission to Mars]] in the 1990s.

In the 2016 movie ''Bogie and Bacall'', Stevenson was portrayed by actor [[Ryan Paevey]].

=== In alternate history and science fiction ===
Stevenson comes close to being assassinated by a 12-year-old in [[James Patrick Kelly]]'s [[Hugo Award]]-winning [[Hugo Award for Best Novelette|novelette]] ''[[10^16 to 1|10<sup>16</sup> to 1]]'' (1999).

In Robin Gerber's novel ''Eleanor vs. Ike'', Stevenson suffers a fatal heart attack as he approaches the podium to accept the Democratic nomination in 1952. He is replaced as the Democratic presidential candidate by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

In the [[alternate history]] short story "The Impeachment of Adlai Stevenson" by [[David Gerrold]] included in the anthology ''[[Alternate Presidents]]'', Stevenson is elected in 1952 after Dwight D. Eisenhower makes the mistake of accepting Joseph McCarthy as his running mate instead of Richard Nixon. He successfully runs for re-election in 1956, once again defeating General Eisenhower. However, he proves to be an extremely unpopular president.

In [[Michael P. Kube-McDowell]]'s alternate history novel ''Alternities'', Stevenson is mentioned as having been elected president in 1956 and serving for two terms, though he is quoted as describing his second term as a curse.

The alternate history novella "Southern Strategy" by [[Michael F. Flynn]] (''Alternate Generals'', volume two, [[Baen]], 2002), is told entirely from Stevenson's point of view. In a world where the [[German Empire|Kaiser's Germany]] is the leader of something resembling a free world in 1956, Stevenson is a former senator of the United States, which is in ruins after a Second American Civil War. The novella follows Stevenson's increasingly futile efforts to negotiate an armistice between [[League of Nations]] peacekeepers led by General [[Erwin Rommel]] and several disparate guerrilla-terrorist bands with differing agendas. One of the terrorist bands is led by Richard Nixon.

In the alternate history novel ''[[Dominion (Sansom novel)|Dominion]]'' by [[C. J. Sansom]], World War II ends in June 1940 when the [[British government]], under the leadership of the Prime Minister [[E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Halifax]], signs a peace treaty with [[Nazi Germany]] in Berlin. Franklin D. Roosevelt is steadfast in his opposition to the Nazis and the treaty, which results in him losing the 1940 election to his Republican opponent, [[Robert A. Taft]], who becomes the 33rd president. Taft is re-elected in 1944 and 1948 but Stevenson defeats him in [[1952 United States presidential election|1952]], becoming the 34th President. Shortly after Stevenson's election in November 1952, ''[[The Times]]'', which is owned by the pro-Nazi British Prime Minister [[Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook|Lord Beaverbrook]], speculates that Stevenson will follow in Roosevelt's footsteps and pursue an [[interventionism (politics)|interventionist foreign policy]] regarding European affairs. Several weeks later, President-elect Stevenson gives a speech indicating that he intends to begin trading with the [[Soviet Union]] upon taking office on January 20, 1953.

=== In other media ===
The writer [[Gore Vidal]], who admired and supported Stevenson, based a main character in his 1960 Broadway play ''[[The Best Man (play)|The Best Man]]'' on Stevenson. The play, which was nominated for six [[Tony Awards]], centers on the contest for the presidential nomination at a fictitious political convention. One of the main contenders for the nomination is Secretary of State William Russell, a principled, liberal intellectual. The character is based on Stevenson; his main opponent is the ruthless, unscrupulous Senator Joseph Cantwell, whom Vidal modeled on Richard Nixon and the Kennedy brothers. The play was turned into a [[The Best Man (1964 film)|1964 film of the same name]], with actor [[Henry Fonda]] playing Russell. Fonda had been a Stevenson supporter at the 1960 Democratic National Convention.

''[[The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album]]'', a 2006 album by [[Sufjan Stevens]] of songs about the state of Illinois, contains a song called "Adlai Stevenson".