Statement by the President on the Death of Adlai Stevenson

The flame which illuminated the dreams and expectations of an entire world is now extinguished. Adlai Stevenson of Illinois is dead.

I am sending a delegation of distinguished Americans, headed by Vice President Humphrey, to London to bring back his body to America on the airplane of the President of the United States.

His great hero, Abraham Lincoln, said at the beginning of his political career, "I have no other ambition so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem."

And although his disappointments were many, in this, like Lincoln, he was vindicated.

Like Lincoln he was rooted in America's heartland, yet his voice reached across every boundary of nation and race and class.

Like Lincoln he was a great emancipator. It was his gift to help emancipate men from narrowness of mind and the shackles which selfishness and ignorance place upon the human adventure.

Like Lincoln he will be remembered more for what he stood for than for the offices he held, more for the ideals he embodied than the positions in which he served. For history honors men more for what they were than who they were. And by this standard, Adlai Stevenson holds a permanent place on that tiny roster of those who will be remembered as long as mankind is strong enough to honor greatness.

It seems such a short time ago, that out of Illinois came that thoughtful eloquence summoning an entire Nation back from its dangerous drift toward contentment and complacency. For an entire generation of Americans he imparted a nobility to public life and a grandeur to American purpose which has already reshaped the life of the Nation, and which will endure for many generations.

One by one he sounded the great themes of our time--peace and justice and the well-being of humanity. And many men will labor for many years toward the vision and the high purpose which was the generously crafted outpouring of this great man's heart and skills.

He was an American. And he served America well. But what he saw, and what he spoke, and what he worked for, is the shared desire of all humanity. He believed in us, perhaps more than we deserved. And so we came to believe in ourselves much more than we had. And if we persevere, then on the foundation of that faith we can build the wondrous works of peace and of justice among all the nations.

He will not see that day. But it will be his day still.

So let us therefore, adversary and friend alike, pause for a moment and weep for one who was a friend and who was a guide to all mankind.