My damn kid's middle school is named for Adali Stevenson. Who was he? I read about him in history books, and all I can remember is that he was a senator who unsuccessfully ran for president, and served as UN ambassador. When my kid started at the school I looked him up, figuring I must have missed something important. I can't find anything more than what I wrote above. Is he worth naming a school after? Maybe if he wad from our neighborhood. Can anybody convince me that he's worth naming a Michigan school after?
My kid's previous school was named for James Madison. Now there's a worthwhile white guy; I proudly told my kid that he's one of the guys who penned the revolutionary Federalist Papers, which I keep by my bedside. But Adali Stevenson?
2006-03-13
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I remember Adali Stevenson most as the guy who Richie Cunningham supported for president (against Ike, his father's choice) in an episode of "Happy Days".
The high school in Westland is named after John Glenn who was a senator. All he did before that was take a joy ride around the earth in a space capsule. I don't think he has any Michigan ties either. Is he worthy of having a school named for him?
I found out why Paul doesn't like Adali Stevenson. From the article:
"Stevenson’s decision to seek election as governor of Illinois in 1948--a race he won handily--coincided with the start of the Cold War and McCarthyism, a fear of Communist strength both overseas and within America. Stevenson refused to believe that government was riddled with Communists, as some of the extreme partisans were charging, and he frequently clashed with these critics. He once stated, “The whole notion of loyalty inquisitions is a natural characteristic of the police state, not of democracy.”
Because of his growing national popularity, the party nominated Stevenson for President in 1952, but the Republican nominee, ex-General Dwight D. Eisenhower, rolled to a convincing win, and repeated this victory against Stevenson in 1956.
It was during that second campaign in 1956 that Stevenson challenged Americans and all the world’s peoples to step back from the nuclear precipice and unite around their common humanity. This would preoccupy him, above all other issues and controversies, until his death in 1965. As President John F. Kennedy’s United Nations ambassador from 1961 until his death, Stevenson soon became the world’s most insistent voice for disarmament while urging the richest nations to tackle the questions of world poverty."
Paul doesn't believe we have a common humanity as some of us are more "civilized" than others. He also is a fan of McCarthyism and is a staunch advocate of its reinstatement today, this time targeting "pinko" liberals and muslims. It must also be noted that Paul will support the impeachment of George W. Bush if he doesn't "nuke the hell" out of Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Jon Stewart and "those commies who wrote Syriana.
Adali Stevenson's real claim to fame is that he's the one who represented the USA vs. the Russians at the UN during the Cuban Missle Crisis. He has always been celebrated for the way he managed to stay cool as a cucumber during that ordeal.
Yeah, I think John Glenn probably deserved to have a bunch of schools named after him at the time. But I'm sure today's kids have no clue who he is.
The only factor that works for me in naming the school after John Glenn is that his name offers an immediate visualization of a spectacular achievement. But I can think of many better choices.
One of my gripes with our schools is that they don't promote their own namesakes. I ask Alexis's friends for whom their schools are named, and none of them know. By this I mean that they don't know the first name of "Madison" or "Stevenson", in addition to having zero idea what these people did. I attended our buddy Lee's middle school basketball game; he is the team's head coach. I asked several students, parents, and teachers for the full name of the school's namesake, and what that person did noteworthy. Not one person could answer either question.
I consider this to be a problem. I think that the schools too often pick uninspiring people as their namesakes, and apparently never promote their namesake's accomplishments. One of the schools that does a great job is the university Tuskeegee, which transforms its alumni into knowledgeable promoters of Booker T. Washington. I note that graduates of Tuskegee have impressed me as the alumni group with the best overall educations and most attractive and tolerant personalities that I have ever encountered, Nadir's wife representing one of the rare exceptions.
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