Editing Adlai Stevenson II (section)

===Family===
[[File:Adlai E. Stevenson II's home in Mettawa.jpg|thumb|[[Adlai E. Stevenson II Farm|Stevenson's home]] in [[Libertyville, Illinois]] (now [[Mettawa, Illinois]])]]

On December 1, 1928, Stevenson married [[Ellen Stevenson|Ellen Borden]], a well-to-do socialite. The young couple soon became popular and familiar figures on the Chicago social scene; they especially enjoyed attending and hosting costume parties.<ref>(Martin, pp. 154–155)</ref> They had three sons: [[Adlai Stevenson III]], who would become a U.S. Senator; Borden Stevenson, and John Fell Stevenson. In 1935, Adlai and Ellen purchased a {{convert|70|acre|ha|adj=on}} tract of land along the [[Des Plaines River]] near [[Libertyville, Illinois]], a wealthy suburb of Chicago.<ref name="McKeever, pp. 67-68">(McKeever, pp. 67-68)</ref> They built a home on the property and it served as Stevenson's official residence for the rest of his life.<ref name="McKeever, pp. 67-68"/> Although he spent relatively little time there due to his career, Stevenson did consider the estate to be his home, and in the 1950s, he was often called "The Man from Libertyville" by the national news media.<ref>(Baker, p. 279)</ref> Stevenson also purchased a farm in northwestern Illinois, just outside [[Galena, Illinois|Galena]], where he frequently rode horses and kept some cattle.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

On December 12, 1949, Adlai and Ellen were divorced; their son Adlai III later recalled that "There hadn't been a good relationship for a long time. I remember her [Ellen] as the unreasonable one, not only with Dad, but with us and the servants. I was embarrassed by her peremptory way with servants."<ref>(McKeever, p. 141)</ref> Several of Stevenson's biographers have written that his wife suffered from mental illness: "Incidents that went from petulant to bizarre to nasty generally have been described without placing them in the context of the progression of [her] increasingly serious mental illness. It was an illness that those closest to her – including Adlai for long after the divorce – were slow and reluctant to recognize. Hindsight, legal proceedings, and psychiatric testimony now make understandable the behavior that baffled and saddened her family."<ref>(McKeever, pp. 65–66)</ref> Stevenson did not remarry after his divorce, but instead dated a number of prominent women throughout the rest of his life, including [[Alicia Patterson]], [[Marietta Tree]],<ref>(McKeever, pp. 142, 272)</ref> and Betty Beale.<ref>{{cite news
 |url          = http://www.georgetowner.com/articles/2012/sep/05/those-were-days/
 |title        = Those Were the Days: Betty Beale and the Party World of Post-War Washington
 |last         = Evers
 |first        = Donna
 |date         = September 5, 2012
 |work         = The Georgetowner
 |access-date  = December 18, 2013
 |archive-date = December 19, 2013
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20131219065325/http://www.georgetowner.com/articles/2012/sep/05/those-were-days/
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| url       = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060702167.html
| title       = Washington Star Society Columnist Betty Beale, 94
| date       = June 8, 2006
| newspaper       = [[The Washington Post]]
| access-date       = December 18, 2013
| archive-date       = September 12, 2014
| archive-url       = https://web.archive.org/web/20140912041240/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060702167.html
| url-status       = live
}}</ref>