I Like Ike by John Robert Greene

Author:John Robert Greene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2017-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Let’s Talk Sense to the American People”

A brief recess was ordered before the nominee was presented to the convention. Truman appeared to a polite ovation, and his introduction of Stevenson was short, tense, and disappointing.

Stevenson’s acceptance speech on 26 July was another matter entirely. As he had done five days earlier, Stevenson once again astounded the delegates with his oratorical skill. He began hesitatingly, constantly clearing his throat and moving his eyes from the television camera at the back of the hall to the eyes of the delegates. In his usual self-deprecating manner, Stevenson spoke truth when he said that he had “not sought the honor you have done me,” and then paused and waited for the applause to swell. There were audible gasps from the audience when he metaphorically threw his hands in the air and accepted his fate with a biblical injunction: “If this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.” He got short, polite applause when he mentioned Barkley’s service to the party, but when he mentioned Truman near the end of the speech, there was wild applause for several minutes. He also won both hearty applause and laughter when he referred to “both Republican parties”—the party of Taft and the party of Eisenhower—and he received wild applause when he dryly noted that Eisenhower had been called upon to “minister to a hopeless case of political schizophrenia.”

Thoroughly warmed up, Stevenson boomed his way through the peroration, as he set the stage for the coming campaign. Slowly, emphatically, and with precise diction, Stevenson repeated his call from his welcoming address, reminding both the delegates and his television audience, “More important than winning the election is governing the nation. . . . Better we lose the election than mislead the people, and better we lose than misgovern the people.” The lofty theme for the Stevenson campaign was set: “Let’s talk sense to the American people.”132

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