Has anyone ever seen that Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph? Accurately reflecting 'his thrifty nature', according to one of the biographies I have of him. Made Joe Kennedy look like a pimp.
A lovely portrait shows him in a pin collar/knitted tie combo...
http://www.flintjournal.com/125/paper/galleries/history/image/pulitzer.jpg
http://www.nndb.com/people/683/000026605/adlaistevenson.jpg
Spot on!!
I like Stevenson. He was 'old school', in a way the peat-cutters never could be. Elvis dug him early on. James Agee voted for him.
stevenson was the prototypical out-of-touch, limousine-liberal egghead. when he was running for senate the chicago organization had to assign him a babysitter (machine also-ran mike howlett) to follow him around and leave tips, remind him to say please and thank you, etc, he was leaving such a god-awful impression on anyone who wasnt a member of the D.A.R. the fact that the man won any office higher than dogcatcher is a testament to the political skills of daley and his minions. he more than anyone else attached the "elitist" tag to the democratic party which they have been unable to shake ever since.
but he did have an air of "sprezzatura". that tends to happen when youre snotty to the "help", however.
Last edited by shamrockmonkey (2010-06-21 21:51:02)
who'd you call a peat-cutter? joe kennedy probably fit the bill. i suppose that i happened to be fuming over the latest politically suicidal/fratricidal exploit of adlai's political descendant when i went off on that one. the legacy of "ad-lie" is a personal bug-bear of mine.
Last edited by shamrockmonkey (2010-08-18 23:42:40)
I find it hard to forgive Joe Kennedy for certain things, but Christ knows I've had enough Irish Catholic buddies not to get shitty about ethnicity. Teaching history and politics in past times, though, I had students who imagined the Democratic Party to be exactly like Labour (only Labour as it was before Blair). My university professor put me off FDR for life, but I still have a sneaking respect for Harry Truman. I'm not sure that he liked Adlai either.
This was meant to be a fairly light-hearted posting, reflecting upon the notion the old boy didn't feel the necessity of having his shoes repaired. I would not allow my wingtips to get in quite the same condition. My comments about Joe Kennedy were perhaps a little mean, but he was an old hoho. I'm sure Mayor Daley would have hastened to have his shoes repaired before having them spit-shined by some little black kid and tipping big.
I love this, so I'm bumping it as a Christmas present to myself (and while Woof's off somewhere making merry).
American posters would sometimes come down on me like a ton of bricks for dissing the Kennedy clan.