A man in a collared shirt, slacks, and a wide brimmed hat stands among other men in shirts and hats, looking at a manual plow,

Connect

Adlai Stevenson II knew that people cannot live in isolation, that people across the globe are mutually dependent on one another. He valued CONNECTING with others. He believed that Americans should pay attention to the needs of people in our own country as well as those in faraway lands. He dedicated himself to a life of public service in response to those needs. Stevenson felt that the United Sates must neither separate itself nor impose its values on the rest of the world. Rather, the U.S. should serve as a model of a just and compassionate nation.

Adlai Stevenson II visits India during his five-month tour of thirty-five nations in 1953.; courtesy Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.

Be mindful of our neighbors.

Adlai Stevenson believed we have a responsibility to our neighbors — at home and abroad.

During his life and career, Stevenson worked to reduce the gap between the "haves" (the rich) and "have nots" (the poor). As ambassador to the United Nations, he believed it was the responsibility of richer nations to help poorer ones. Wealthy countries like the U.S. had the responsibility to strengthen the UN in order to promote international peace and prosperity.

Related Article: The Organization of the United Nations.

Engage the wider world.

Adlai Stevenson saw the world as interconnected — that all nations, all people depend on one another. One of Stevenson's strengths was his engagement in the wider world.

He reached out to people of different cultures. He sought to understand global perspectives. He also worried about the use and abuse of American power on the world stage. He believed a positive use of that power could make the world a better place.

Related Article: Strengthening the International Development Institutions.

Don’t be an isolationist.

Adlai Stevenson argued that the United States could not "go it alone" in the world. Isolationists opposed U.S. involvement in world affairs. Internationalists, on the other hand, thought the U.S. should remain active in international matters.

Throughout his career, Stevenson opposed those who wanted to close off America's involvement the world. The clash between isolationists and internationalists was never more apparent than during the time before America's entry into World War II. After the war's end, technology (such as jet airplanes, satellites, and nuclear weapons) made actual isolation impossible.

Related Article: Debate against Clay Judson.

Serve the Public

Adlai Stevenson felt called to public service. He believed public servants should serve the public interest. When it came to public service, Stevenson was both a realist and an optimist. He understood the distrust many Americans had for government. Yet he believed such mistrust made honest, committed public officials even more important.

He believed that those who held government offices needed to earn the public's trust, listen to people's needs, and serve with compassion and integrity.

Related Article: Final Report to the People of Illinois — Radio Address.

Adlai’s son reflects on how his father’s life portrayed a desire to connect with the broader world.

Long before globalization became a cliché — it was a reality for my father.

Starting as a boy correspondent for the family owned Daily Pantagraph in 1921 when he visited the military cemeteries of Europe and in Russia [and] saw the orphaned wolf children of war fighting like animals for scraps of food in the streets he never ceased connecting with people the world over.

He rummaged in their barrios and markets to learn how they lived, in their monuments and ruins to discover their past, always listening, and, before it was all over, listened to by the great and the mighty who hailed him everywhere as a peacemaker and representative of the America they wanted to believe in.

He saw something of World War II in the Pacific and Europe while serving in the War and Navy departments. He was present in San Francisco at the UN's founding and US representative to the UN Preparatory Commission in London in 1945 where he would die twenty years later - again serving at the United Nations.

His life was devoted to closing the gap between the "haves and the have nots" and controlling strategic arms in an interdependent, nuclear world where peace had become "a condition of human survival."