Second Thoughts

He walked to the end of the board like a diver. He stood on his toes like a diver. He flexed his muscles and took a deep breath like a diver. But Adlai Stevenson finally decided not to take the political plunge. Last week he announced that he would continue as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations rather than run next year for U.S. Senator from Illinois.

The suggestion that he try for the Senate had come from Chicago's Democratic Mayor Richard J. Daley. In bad need of a big-name Democrat to contest Incumbent Republican Everett Dirksen, Daley had talked with the White House, said that he wanted to make the offer to Adlai. Getting no particular presidential objection, he telephoned Stevenson, put the question directly.

The Urge. The idea seemed interesting to Stevenson. As U.N. ambassador, he had little primary responsibility for U.S. foreign policymaking, and he was getting restless. Moreover, he had long had an urge to enter the U.S. Senate, where his grandfather presided from 1893 to 1897 as Grover Cleveland's second Vice President. In 1948 Stevenson wanted to run for the Senate, but Illinois' slatemakers picked Paul Douglas instead. Stevenson was selected as the Democratic candidate for Governor, and won by a 572,000 plurality that still stands as a record.

Many of Stevenson's closest associates, including his eldest son, Adlai Jr., advised him against running against Dirksen next year. But Adlai remained fascinated by the notion. Last fortnight he journeyed to Washington, discussed the matter with Kennedy. The President's reaction was such that Stevenson emerged from the White House to announce publicly that he was "considering" the Senate contest. In Chicago, Dick Daley understandably viewed this as a formal acceptance. He publicly predicted that Stevenson would trounce Dirksen by at least 500,000 votes.

The Urging. But, apparently almost overnight, Jack Kennedy had some second thoughts. Next day at Glen Ora, the rented Kennedy estate in Middleburg, Va., the President conferred with Stevenson again--and this time Kennedy strongly urged Adlai to stay at the U.N. He said Adlai would have a tough fight against Dirksen, particularly in the downstate counties; even if he won, and could wangle a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his influence as a junior Senator would still be negligible.

The President went on to say that Stevenson's performance at the U.N. was "admirable''; the U.S., he added, "needs you more" there than in the Senate. Further, said Kennedy, Stevenson would play "an expanding role" in determining U.S. foreign policy--meaning that Adlai might have more leeway in what he says, though Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk will still be in control.

That was enough for Stevenson. Last week, back in New York, he phoned Daley and turned him down, saying: "The President has greatly reinforced my view that I can best serve him and the country in the field of foreign policy."

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