Adlai

Adlai is a first name I haven't heard or read about in a while. Of course growing up in the '50's I was well aware of Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic candidate for president in 1952 and 1956 against Ike. 'I Like Ike', Dwight Eisenhower's nickname. Adlai had no nickname, wasn't the Supreme Allied Commander, didn't help defeat the Germans, and therefore didn't win the two presidential elections.

I never realized the presidential candidate Adlai came from such a long line of Illinois politicians. I never realized he was Adlai Stevenson II. His son, Adlai Stevenson III, just passed away at 90, and was the subject of another informative obituary in the NYT by the peerless Robert McFadden, no doubt pre-written, and now updated by Jesus Jiménez.

McFadden crystalizes the Stevenson family when he tells us Adlai III came from a family "...with a bad case of hereditary politics." When we think of political dynasties we think Kennedys, or Bushes, but the Stevensons reach further back in history when you learn Adlai III's great-great grandfather was Jesse Fell, a patron of Abraham Lincoln.

I didn't know Adlai III took over for Senator Everett Dirksen, who passed away in office. Adlai was then elected to his own six-year term. Adlai III recognized his fate for public services when he said, "It was ordained at birth that I would go into a life of public service."

There were attempts at running for president for Adlai III, but they fell short. He had the education of an intellectual, like his father, who they called an egg head, which as a kid I remember him being called. Maybe that was his nickname.

And an intellectual life was his to the extent he went to numerous private schools, even abroad, and his parents, Adlai II and his mother Ellen spoke only French at the dinner table, and afterward "their father read aloud to the them [the three boys] from literary classics for an hour each evening." Talk about life with father.

Adlai II, aside form his presidential run was the U.N. Ambassador for the United States in the era when French was going to be the international language. Later, English won out.

But what of the name Adlai? Surely it's a maiden name from someone, no? When these somewhat unique first names pop up they are generally a mother's maiden name. and often these names get imbedded as middle names, like Nelson A. Rockefeller's first and middle name from his maternal grandfather, Nelson W. Aldrich.

The best unique first name I can remember is Edsel, the son of Henry Ford II, whose name derived from Henry Ford's only son Edsel. Online research tells us then the name means, "a male given name from Old English meaning "rich" and "hall." Certainly fit.

Unfortunately for Edsel, his name became attached to the make of a Ford car that was widely made fun of with his horse collar front, despite some nifty innovations like push button shifting. The word Edsel alone connotated failure.

Adlai III's grandfather, the first of the Adlais in the family, was Grover Cleveland's vice president from 1893-1897. Adlai was born in 1835, no doubt when someone had a Bible open. The name Adlai, when researched, is Hebrew in origin meaning, "God is just."

In Robert McFadden's obituary it is impossible to write of the son Adlai III without weaving in bits of the father, the presidential candidate, and the subject of a Pulitzer award winning photograph when Bill Gallagher snapped a photo of Adlai II sitting on a stage revealing a serious hole in his shoe.

McFadden writes of Adlai III, he "...could not replicate the charm of a presidential hopeful famously pictured with a hole in his shoe." 

The 1952 photo actually helped Adlai's campaign gain some traction in his run against Eisenhower. 

I remember holes in my own shoes like Adlai's. When my feet got wet it was time for a new pair.

The progression of Adlais in politics will have to wait through two generations that have no interest in the political scene. Adlai IV is a businessman and former media reporter in Chicago, and his son, Adlai V, born in 1994, is into computers.

But according to the research on then name Adlai, it is gender flexible. 

"Adlai as a boy's name (also used as a girl's name Adlai) is pronounced AD-lay. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Adlai is 'God is just.'"

Imagine a female Adlai entering Illinois politics as Adlai Stevenson VI. It's got to happen. After all, the family has a "bad case of hereditary politics."

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